Buckshot through smoothbore slug barrel?

[cherokee75]

I have a Rem. 1100 with a smoothbore slug barrel with rifle sights.  Can I shoot buckshot through it or any shot for that matter?

[Redhawk1]

Sure you can, it is a cylinder bore and the shot will spread out a lot quicker.

[GRIMJIM]

As long as it's a smoothbore it's fine. If the bore was rifled it would spin the shot in the rifling and when it left the muzzle itwould just scatter.

[Masterblaster1]

Federal flitecontrol buckshot rounds work great in cylinder choke barrels

[josie wales]

I am a long time buckshot user. It has been in the past few years that I have switched to slugs. My experience with buckshot is extensive. In a I.C. bore I would use only 00 or 0 buckshot and keep distance to 25-40 yards. I would not try #1 buckshot in a I.C. barrel. Forget #4 buckshot! Even with a modified or full choke #4's were leg breakers on deer. My favorite is #1 buckshot with a modified choke. Buckshot works well when driving and dogging deer and hunting with a big gang. It works also in areas where that have good pressure with other hunters and that running deer are what you see. #1 buckshot would hold a pattern and shoot POA. I found standard 16 pellets per shell were the best. If you use 00 or 0 keep the pellet count to 9 or 12. Do not expect much of a pattern but it would be worth your time to kill a few targets and get some idea how YOUR gun handles buckshot!

[Ranger J]

The best quail gun I ever had is my old Mossberg smoothbore slug barrel.  It is cylinder bore and really thrown a wide pattern.  While I killed a few deer with it I killed a lot more quail and doves.  If I could have only one gun and one barrel it would be that Mossberg 500 with that barrel.
RJ

[NYH1]

josie wales, living in New Yorkistan we're not allowed to hunt deer with buckshot. Not even in the "shotgun only" part of the state, have to use the minimum of a 20 ga. with a SLUG (which works pretty good!)! I always wanted to know how effective buckshot was on a deer? How quick is the kill? How far do they run after being hit with buckshot? Thanks! 

[Redhawk1]

I am a long time buckshot user. It has been in the past few years that I have switched to slugs. My experience with buckshot is extensive. In a I.C. bore I would use only 00 or 0 buckshot and keep distance to 25-40 yards. I would not try #1 buckshot in a I.C. barrel. Forget #4 buckshot! Even with a modified or full choke #4's were leg breakers on deer. My favorite is #1 buckshot with a modified choke. Buckshot works well when driving and dogging deer and hunting with a big gang. It works also in areas where that have good pressure with other hunters and that running deer are what you see. #1 buckshot would hold a pattern and shoot POA. I found standard 16 pellets per shell were the best. If you use 00 or 0 keep the pellet count to 9 or 12. Do not expect much of a pattern but it would be worth your time to kill a few targets and get some idea how YOUR gun handles buckshot!

I am glad to see the distances you listed for buck shot. We have some guys that think buck shot is good out to 100 yards. I tell them 45 yards is the max it should be used.

[Ricoh]

I personally do not like the use of buckshot on deer. I have been called upon too many times to track supposedly well hit deer that have gone way too far and suffered way too much or have not been recovered. I use a 20 guage Remington 870 pump with smooth barrel IC and i shoot CHALLENGER slugs. They work great and I ( Touch wood ) have never lost a deer. IMO a much better way to go.

[Redhawk1]

I personally do not like the use of buckshot on deer. I have been called upon too many times to track supposedly well hit deer that have gone way too far and suffered way too much or have not been recovered. I use a 20 guage Remington 870 pump with smooth barrel IC and i shoot CHALLENGER slugs. They work great and I ( Touch wood ) have never lost a deer. IMO a much better way to go.

I could not agree more. I am not a supporter of buckshot at all. I don't use it and never will, unless it was the law and my shots would never be longer than 45 yards. 

[mikedb]

I personally do not like the use of buckshot on deer. I have been called upon too many times to track supposedly well hit deer that have gone way too far and suffered way too much or have not been recovered. I use a 20 guage Remington 870 pump with smooth barrel IC and i shoot CHALLENGER slugs. They work great and I ( Touch wood ) have never lost a deer. IMO a much better way to go.

I could not agree more. I am not a supporter of buckshot at all. I don't use it and never will, unless it was the law and my shots would never be longer than 45 yards. 

A guy at work keeps saying he and his friend kill deer out to 100 yds with buckshot.  I told him I dont think so.  He says it works because they aim for the head.  I wonder how he can do that with the pattern size you would get at that range.  Even with all the facts before him he still claims to get at 100 yds. I guess either he can not judge distance well or has found some super buckshot.

[josie wales]

This is a follow up to the buckshot questions and a little history. When I started to hunt I was 12 years old. The people I hunted with was made up of relatives and friends. We all used buckshot.When I started to hunt we had no doe permit system,we shot deer period! we drived blocks and if we had a fresh track we dogged deer. This was even better with a little blood in the track.You older hunters know what I am talking about. I was a dog because I was young and could read tracks. Deer never did stop much when driving or dogging. Our success rate was pretty good. The people I hunted with were depression raised people and used to hunt just to put food on the table. They ALL used buckshot! We have lost some deer but not many. I remember one that was shot in the hind quarter with a slug by another gang and I lost that one. Another one I was tracking,hit by 16 gauge #1's we never got either. My cousin was scraping his winshield and the darn deer was looking at him. It is funny I remember these and not the hundreds we dragged out. I guess it means buckshot is pretty good.
    The longest shot I ever saw with buckshot was around 100 yards with a twenty gauge model 11 Remington. It was shot on a cable line by the best shot I ever saw. I used to think #3 buckshot was pretty weak ,but that twenty in his hands was just fine. The longest shot I ever made was 65 yards ,I put three pellets in the deer,one each in the heart.lungs and spine. The deer just dropped. We do our own skinning and cutting and a few deer we could not find a hole in it. We use to say the deer died of fright.
     #1 buckshot will go through both lungs and stop on the inside of the skin opposite entry. #3 will usually go through one lung. Again #1 buckshot will hold a pattern! This is important and it was the fodder we used if you had a 12 or 16 gauge. The old timers would say they rather used #4 birdshot than 00. There were a few that would swear by 0 buckshot.
      I use slugs now there are no more hunters in Massachusetts to move deer around. The kids of today rather be in front of the TV playing hunting games than hunting. This is sad but I can not blame them,MA does nothing but make hunting almost impossible for most people.

[NYH1]

I use slugs now there are no more hunters in Massachusetts to move deer around. The kids of today rather be in front of the TV playing hunting games than hunting. This is sad but I can not blame them,MA does nothing but make hunting almost impossible for most people.

Thanks josie. One thing I think I have going for me "SO FAR" is my 5 year old son is old school, again...........so far. He loves to play with his toys and all but he much rather be elbow deep in something called work. The little fella amazes me to no end. He must get this from my father. If I'm out in the cold cutting firewood he'd rather be watching me from 20 feet away to see if he can help then sitting in front of the wood stove playing. And if I'm running the splitter he'll fight to stack the wood. He says he wants to hunt, we'll see I guess!

[GRIMJIM]

New york hunter, best of luck with your son. Mine says he wants to go hunting also. He's practicing with a bow now and when he can pull 40 lbs I'll take him out. One of the older gentlemen I used to hunt with before he passed away had three sons and not one of them had any interest at all in hunting. I hope you and I have better luck.

[mikedb]

I use slugs now there are no more hunters in Massachusetts to move deer around. The kids of today rather be in front of the TV playing hunting games than hunting. This is sad but I can not blame them,MA does nothing but make hunting almost impossible for most people.

Thanks josie. One thing I think I have going for me "SO FAR" is my 5 year old son is old school, again...........so far. He loves to play with his toys and all but he much rather be elbow deep in something called work. The little fella amazes me to no end. He must get this from my father. If I'm out in the cold cutting firewood he'd rather be watching me from 20 feet away to see if he can help then sitting in front of the wood stove playing. And if I'm running the splitter he'll fight to stack the wood. He says he wants to hunt, we'll see I guess!

My 16 yr old has 4 deer to his credit including 2  - 4 points.  Michigan just made it easier for new hunters.  A new hunter does not have to take hunter training until after hunting for two years as long as they are within sight and sound of an experienced hunter.  This gives them a chance to hunt and see if they like it before having to sit through 4 nights of hunter safety.  I understand the DNR has put a hunter safety course on the internet.  So my 13 yr old will hunt under the new apprenticeship program.  I hope he likes it as much as my older son.  However, I think this one may just like to shoot.  He wanted a 22 for Christmas.

[wink_man]

Josie, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts about buckshot, and just from reading them can see your experience with buckshot is extensive, and closely parallels mine. I hail from a state that until 1975 buckshot was the only legal implement to hunt deer with(New Jersey).  Anyone who tells me that #1 buck out of a modified barrel will give you the best general results and hold a good pattern has obviously put in his time testing and patterning. I have always said that a gun that can't pattern 00 buck will often find #1 buck to be its saving grace. While I too am a slug user I have patterned many 12 gauge guns with buckshot and draw the same conclusions as you. Buckshot is really a very effective killer if used properly to the maximum ranges you mention, I think the biggest problem with wounded deer is that most people don't take the time to pattern their gun and have no idea what kind of pattern it throws. They just go to a store, buy a pack of 00 buck and figure they're good to go.
I do however also use #1 buck in smoothbore slug barrels on occasion. While we prefer slugs, we have a few places where in very thick cover, my son and I will do a one man push to the other, the stander using a slug, the pusher using #1 buck. As you say, doesn't hold a pattern real well out of a slug barrel because of the open choke, however ranges would never exceed 30 yards in our case, and we have found that we can put 4 out of the 16 pellets into an 8 X 8 inch circle at 30 yards consistently out of our guns, which will effectively kill a whitetail. But again, we've taken the time to pattern them, and know what they can, and more importantly, can't do !!!!
Garry