A modern shotgun slug is a heavy lead, copper-covered lead or other material (like steel or wax) projectile, with or without a plastic tip, that may have what appears to be rifling, but these are special cuts in the slug to let it deform when passing through a tight choke. Slugs are intended for use in a shotgun and often used for hunting large game. The first effective modern shotgun slug was introduced by Wilhelm Brenneke in 1898, and his design remains in use today. Most shotgun slugs are designed to be fired through a choked smoothbore barrel; they must be self-stabilizing in the absence of rifling.