Step 1 is usually to sample a few brands to assure yourself that the gun will feed, shoot and eject those rounds properly. It would not be surprising to discover that the gun does not like one particular round by some manufacturer.

When it comes to buck and slug rounds while I’m no expert, the packaging usually will indicate “reduced recoil” if that’s what you’re looking for.

If you buy 3” shells (versus 2-3/4”) they will almost always be heavier hitting but remember they will also reduce the number of shells you can hold in the magazine tubes because of their longer length.

The difference between "practice" and "HD" slugs is whatever you define that difference as.

I make my own, I practice with the same load I might use when a horde of morons comes through the door/window.

What YOU choose to do, is what you choose to do.

There is a Tactical/HD forum on this site. Those folks are very knowledgeable about these types of questions. You might want to ask there.

Lion has authored six threads asking questions, and getting good responses.....but not yet a single reply?

well if he could buy any slug or buckshot shells it might be easier to point him in a direction, as it is on the shelves around here he's gonna be taking mostly target loads of one sort or the other and 'practicing' with those.

Yea and all of his posts were between 4:30 and 6:30 immediately after he joined the forum. Might have been after a night of heavy drinking or while sleep walking so he probably forgot he even signed up for the forum.

This poster doesn't pass the smell test. In this thread he says he has very little experience with shotguns and is a pistol guy.

Here's some of what he's said in other threads:

"I shoot a few Dove and Quail but am mainly a rifle guy."

"I want to add a new shotgun to more less buy a gun. I currently have 20’s and 12’s and interested in one more gauge to fit in the mix. I do small game and skeet for the most part."

"I'm considering the purchase of Browning extended choke tubes to protect the barrel on my Browning BT-99"

"So, over the past three years we have started doing an annual family trip with all of the men for opening weekend of Dove in Virginia."

"I've got my eyes on a supposedly new J.P.Sauer & Sohn Sterling Skeet 12 gauge 28" barrels with fixed Skeet Tula chokes."

7 posts in the span of 2 hours and going from "very little experience" to hunting doves for 3 years and shooting trap and skeet. Uh, huh.

Thanks Twohigh for putting that all together