smoothbore vs rifled choke tube?

[pigguy]

Looking to buy a slug barrel for a rem 1100 with 2 3/4 chamber.See lots of smoothbores on auction site at low prices( with rifle sights).The rem choke system barrels with sights are aroung $200.My shooting is inside 50 yds,so dont know if there would be much accuracy difference.Also,would the main difference be shootin sabots thru the rifled choke tube and foster style only thru the smooth bore? Thanks for yalls help.

[Lon371]

 We have 3 Mossbergs all are smooth bore. We have filled the freezer more than once with it. Most of the shots were 60 yards and less. My brother in law uses a Rem 870 with a rifled choke and swears by it, also taken lots of deer.
 If I were to pickup another shotgun for deer it would also be a smooth bore 

 A little food for thought. For the little you gain in accuracy at the range. Would the price of Sabot slugs be worth the extra cost? Not to me.
Lonny

[melsdad]

I have a fully rifled barrel on my Win. 1300. With that said the foster style rifled slugs available today are not far behind the accuracy of sabots in a fully rifled barrel. As for the rifled choke tube, I wouldn't waste the money. If your going to shoot sabots get the fully rifled barrel.

I think if you buy at least 5 different brands of rifled slugs, and put in the painful time at the bench your gun will tell you what it likes the best.

[mcwoodduck]

A couple years ago I picked up an 870 with a short barrel on it for 3 gun and went ot the range.
Was getting used to the gun and shooting all kinds of rounds through it seeing what it will do.
I bought a few boxes of slugs with it.
I started out close with the slugs and went ot 100 yards.
At 100 Yards I was able to hit a 2 Liter soda bottle 2 out of 3 shots.  And the 20" X 20" gong was a no brainer.
With a plain barrel with only a bead on it.  I was impressed at what it did, I thouhgt it was going to be a 10" pattern of slugs at 50 yard.
I was able to hit head sized targets at 50 yards.   I think rifle sights on it would make a difference in making the gun and slug combo more accurate.

[FLNT4EVR]

Take the smoothbore .Find out which brand of slugs it likes best and your good to go. Inside of 75 yds a foster slug will put down anything that walks on this continent. And the smoothbore is more versitile and cheaper to shoot.

[marine]

im with others buy the smoothbore!

[dougk]

For 50 yards and less, smooth bore.  Out to 100 yards I have found the  rifled choke makes a difference.

[tscott]

Years ago I bought a 1100 as a duck gun. At the time I also bought the smoothbore rifle sight barrel... What the heck $50!
Never used the deer barrel! Last year the owner of the farm I hunt finally agreed to smoothbore shotgun barrel. I put the smoothbore barrel on and bought a box of Remington sluggers.
50 yards... 1st shot was the high one! 

[melsdad]

Man you lucked out finding a slug combination your gun likes on the first try.  Nice group!!

[woodchukhntr]

I've got a 12 ga. 870 with a 21" ribbed Rem Choke barrel.  The I.C. choke shoots as well as the rifled choke with Foster slugs.  I've never tried sabot slugs in it.  The Winchester slugs worked best for me.

[JimFromTN]

You can get a rifled barrel for less than $200.  Go to gunbroker and you can probably get a hastings for under $200.  Rifled slug barrels are more versitile in my opinion.  You can shoot any type of slug through them from round balls to fosters to rifle slugs to sabots.  The only advantage smooth bore have over rifled barrels is that they can shoot buckshot more accurately through them.  I hunted with remington sluggers out of my 870 with a hastings slug barrel for years.  The leading is not nearly as bad as some would lead you to believe.  I went literally years without cleaning it after shooting sluggers out of it.  I have since pinned the barrel and mounted a scope on the receiver and get 2 to 3 inch groups at 100 yds with hastings 2 3/4 magnun slugs.  I really don't think you are going to get that kind of accuracy out of a smooth bore but I am sure there are some that will claim that they do.

If you do decide to go with a smooth bore, stick with rifled slugs like brennekes and fiochis as well as remington sluggers and federal trueball.  I really like the fiochis.  They are about $9 for a box of 10 and are very accurate.  Also, I think you will find that 2 3/4 slugs are more accurate than 3 inch slugs.

[Scibaer]

so you can shoot rifled slugs ( made with rifling for smooth bore barrels ) of out a slug barrel with rifling and it wont hurt the barrel and get good accuracy from the slugs ?

[tacklebury]

I have heard you need to watch for leading build-up, but it's perfectly acceptable and with good results here and elsewhere.  My buddy uses his rifled 20 ga. Mossy 500 slug barrel with the cheap $3.99 a box Remingtons without issue. 

[JimFromTN]

I shot sluggers for 10 years out of a hastings rifled slug barrel with no issues.  I never really notice any lead build up.  I went several seasons without cleaning the barrel.

[Scibaer]

my local wally world had the remmy's 15 count box on sale for $8, so i stocked up.
 im going to use em with my slug barrel and my smoothbore with a rifled choke. im all about options

[SwampThing762]

Scibaer,

I used to shoot Fosters made by Winny exclusively out of my Mossy 500 Slugster till I got into casting bullets and loading my own slugs. A fellow over on Shotgunworld gave me a few recipes that he uses, and the Blue Dot recipe does well out of my Mossy 500.    I do not think there is any critter in North America I cannot take down with my current slug load, including grizzly, brown and polar bears. It is a 450 grain very hardcast .52 caliber bullet in a Fiocchi hull at 1560 fps (a shotgun clone of the old 50-70 Govt buffalo cartridge). The Foster slugs do leave a little bit of lead as they swage down in the barrel, but is an inconsequential amount.    I just run a brush and patch down the bore and continue the range session.

ST762

[Swift One]

Winchester 1oz rifled slugs, Moss500tactical Turkey 12ga, a mod choke tube equals rounds touching at 50yds and 4" groups at 100yds. If I'm shooting in conditions that will present a further shot, I will go with the smoke pole.  BTW, my 500 is my go to gun on deer drives.

[mcwoodduck]

so you can shoot rifled slugs ( made with rifling for smooth bore barrels ) of out a slug barrel with rifling and it wont hurt the barrel and get good accuracy from the slugs ?

The rifeling on the slugs do two things for a smooth bore.
1) they impart kind of a spin to the slug  but not the tight spiral we think of.  And from a test I saw it was outside of the barrel that the fins grabbed air and started to spin.
2) the fins allow for the slug to crush and fit throught a full or x full choke with out ruining the choke and opening it up like a round ball will.

If you shoot it the standard foster or brenekee style slug in a rifled barrel the skirt on the foster or the wad in the brenekee slug will grab the grooves and impart spin to them.

[jomiri469]

Just picked up an older Mossberg turkey combo 500, with a 28 inch barrel with 3 choke tubes and a 24 inch "slug", non-rifled, barrel with rifle sights. Prior owner used it solely for turkey, which is my priority, but he also said that in experimenting with the slug barrel, it was not very accurate with older style slugs. Does anyone have any experience slug shooting with this gun as I'm thinking that the 28 inch barrel with the imp cyl choke or an after market rifled choke would be more effective than the shorter smooth bore slug barrel? Also wondering if you can use the newer sabots with a rifled choke? Any comments would be appreciated.

[Noreaster]

I had a Rem 870 w/22 inch slug barrel (smooth bore) and it didn't group well at all. I bought a Mossberg 500 with rifles sights and barrel and it did very well. Just recently I mounted a scope on my NEF ($179.00 gun) with 18.5 smooth bore cylinder barrel just because I had a bunch of Win 1oz slugs in the cabinet. Cheap Bushnell cirlce X scope.  It shoots winchester 1 oz slugs like a dream, one big hole at 50yds. This is the only gun I use now.

On a side note. My kid's Mossberg 500 bantam shot Rem slugs all in the black at 50 yds with a bead sight and modified choke. This year I bought him a 24inch smooth bore w/rifled sights and a bunch of Federal truball slugs. Fed Truball have a great reputation. I wasn't impressed. The bead sight and cheap remmy slugs did better! Slugs guns are funny sometimes.

My advice is to get a smooth bore barrel with rifled sights. I use the NEF with the cheap slugs much more the rifled mossberg with $16.00 slugs. The 1 oz win slug will take anything in North America. I love it when they roll a deer!

[gcrank1]

FWIW, if a lead alloy projectile can 'strip' the rifling in a barrel or short length of a rifled choke tube, leaving leading, I do not see how one can grab air and impart spin, especially at the relatively short shotgun ranges.
I could be wrong........have been before.

[gstewart44]

Just picked up an older Mossberg turkey combo 500, with a 28 inch barrel with 3 choke tubes and a 24 inch "slug", non-rifled, barrel with rifle sights. Prior owner used it solely for turkey, which is my priority, but he also said that in experimenting with the slug barrel, it was not very accurate with older style slugs. Does anyone have any experience slug shooting with this gun as I'm thinking that the 28 inch barrel with the imp cyl choke or an after market rifled choke would be more effective than the shorter smooth bore slug barrel? Also wondering if you can use the newer sabots with a rifled choke? Any comments would be appreciated.

this is exactly my combo (1986).  the slug barrel does not like any foster type slugs - maybe 4-5" groups at 70 yds.     It does however love the Brenekes.     I can get three shots touching making one big hole at 50 yds using Brenekes.   Wouldn't dream of that with Fosters.   

[rickt300]

I have long played with slug guns. I have 3 smoothbores, a 12 gauge Winchester 1200 pump that had the barrel cut to 20 inches and the reciever drilled and tapped for a scope mount. Three shots touching with Winchester rifled slugs. at 50 yards 2 inches high is good enough for any purpose. 5-6 inches at 100 yards and the wind does push the Fosters around a bit. This gun shoots the Remington sluggers into 6 inches a 50 yards? I have a Winchester 1400 semi auto also in 12 gauge which has no sights and I use it for following up feral hogs that get out of sight after being shot by night rifle shooters. The group size is plenty good enough for hog head shots at 20 feet or less and this is an easy pointing shotgun for me. Good thing as following up hit hogs at night can be tricky. The third smoothbore is a Remington youth 870 in 20 gauge. This gun likes anything Brenneke, has rifle sights and the reciever tapped for a scope. I have used this gun successfully on both deer and hogs. I am going to get a rifled tube for it someday so I can shoot buckhammers in it. The rifled tubes do widen the variety of slugs you can shoot and the Buckhammers have a lot of thump.

[gcrank1]

Rick300, Can you tell me what the bore dia. is (in thousandths) on the Win.1200 tube?