[osprey572ci]

When using a rifled slug barrel is it necessary to use the rifled slugs? If so isn't the rifling different on the slug than the barrel and what effect does this have? I have heard some say that when shooting a rifled barrel you need to use un-rifled slugs. How do sabot rounds fit into this question? Thanks for your input.

 

[zb338]

I live in a deer hunting with slugs or buckshot state. The slugs that have rifling on
them have it to lessen the contact with the choke. In other words if 50% of the slug
is grooved then only 50% will wipe the bore. Those slugs with the rifling and the
hollow base are the ones to use if you have a choked shotgun with no rifling.
If you have a rifled barrel go with the Sabots. They shoot flatter and are better
for accuracy. You can shoot the rifled slugs in barrels with rifling. They will not
hurt your barrel.
Zeke

 

[Cheezywan]

Rifeled slugs are intended for smooth-bores. Flight in air was suppose to make them spin. I've known a few that shoot purdy good.

A rifled barrel "makes" the projectile spin. Sabot slugs are designed to work in those.

To put a clock-wise spin on a counter-clock-wise slug would be kinda counter-productive!

Around ball makes more sence to me!

Cheezywan

 

[Old Grump]

Sabot is what it was designed for. Shooting Brenneke and Foster slugs in both my rifled and smooth bore shotguns show no appreciable difference in accuracy or range but a tremendous difference with Sabot slugs.

zb338 was right, the rifling only decreases surface area and therefore friction. The rifling was designed too impart spin and accuracy but that didn't happen. The decreased friction did increase speed and lower peak pressure. Experiments were made with horizontal and longitudinal grooves. It made little difference so the rifled slugs stayed as they were initially designed. A good idea is a good idea even if it turns out it was good for something else.

 

[osprey572ci]

Confused

So here is the question; I am going to buy my son a cantilevered slug barrel for his 870. He hunts alot of shotgun deer zones in Minnesota.
a) Should it be a rifled slug barrel?
b) What is the best shell to use for accuracy and range?

When I was hunting with a shotgun in the ol' days, we ran standard slugs through a regular full choke 30" 1100! Times have changed.

 

[Davers]

So here is the question; I am going to buy my son a cantilevered slug barrel for his 870. He hunts alot of shotgun deer zones in Minnesota.
a) Should it be a rifled slug barrel?
b) What is the best shell to use for accuracy and range?

When I was hunting with a shotgun in the ol' days, we ran standard slugs through a regular full choke 30" 1100! Times have changed.

Your Son should buy a rifled slug barrel, as they have more range and accuracy than a regular smooth bore firing Foster Shotgun rifled slugs. I own a Browning Gold 20 gauge slug gun and it has a rifled barrel. I found that Remington's Buckhammers are the most accurate in my particular shotgun. Other brands shoot well also. The biggest drawback of sabot shotgun slug loads is that they are VERY EXPENSIVE!! One has to shell out between $12 to $15 for FIVE shells.

 

[Old Grump]

Most any brand name slug will be minute of deer at 100 yards and dead on accurate at 60 yards or less. Just for deer hunting a slug barrel equipped with rifle sights is a fine option. Just need to practice with it and find out what his effective range is, the slug is good for 150 yards but most shooters aren't. That being said a smoothbore barrel with an IC choke will handle 90% of anything he might want to hunt with slug or shot. Not the optimum choice for all situations but a good choice for most situations.

Just 2 centavos worth of opinion from an old dinosaur with more guns than he needs and not near as many as he wants.

 

[osprey572ci]

Most any brand name slug will be minute of deer at 100 yards and dead on accurate at 60 yards or less. Just for deer hunting a slug barrel equipped with rifle sights is a fine option. Just need to practice with it and find out what his effective range is, the slug is good for 150 yards but most shooters aren't. That being said a smoothbore barrel with an IC choke will handle 90% of anything he might want to hunt with slug or shot. Not the optimum choice for all situations but a good choice for most situations.

Just 2 centavos worth of opinion from an old dinosaur with more guns than he needs and not near as many as he wants.

Lived in New Richmond for a while, nice area Grump.

 

[broom_jm]

Most any brand name slug will be minute of deer at 100 yards and dead on accurate at 60 yards or less. Just for deer hunting a slug barrel equipped with rifle sights is a fine option. Just need to practice with it and find out what his effective range is, the slug is good for 150 yards but most shooters aren't. That being said a smoothbore barrel with an IC choke will handle 90% of anything he might want to hunt with slug or shot. Not the optimum choice for all situations but a good choice for most situations.

Just 2 centavos worth of opinion from an old dinosaur with more guns than he needs and not near as many as he wants.

I don't like slug guns but I've introduced several people to shooting and hunting that went with them, because of the Indiana laws. I have a 100 yard range behind my house and have helped these guys sight in their shotguns shooting slugs. They really appreciated the 40lbs of shot on the ol' Lead Slead!

One thing I can tell you is that the rate of twist is CRITICAL in getting these guns to shoot accurately! After two separate episodes where guys couldn't get a 6" group at 50 yards, I started researching and found that some slug guns are rifled to shoot full-size slugs and others are meant to shoot sabots. The difference in weight is substantial and in both cases, slugs would keyhole through the target. From what I've seen, (and at the price of those shells!) it is worth the time to find out what the rate of twist is for YOUR shotgun slug barrel and then buy loads in the weight range it is designed for.

 

[osprey572ci]

I don't like slug guns but I've introduced several people to shooting and hunting that went with them, because of the Indiana laws. I have a 100 yard range behind my house and have helped these guys sight in their shotguns shooting slugs. They really appreciated the 40lbs of shot on the ol' Lead Slead!

One thing I can tell you is that the rate of twist is CRITICAL in getting these guns to shoot accurately! After two separate episodes where guys couldn't get a 6" group at 50 yards, I started researching and found that some slug guns are rifled to shoot full-size slugs and others are meant to shoot sabots. The difference in weight is substantial and in both cases, slugs would keyhole through the target. From what I've seen, (and at the price of those shells!) it is worth the time to find out what the rate of twist is for YOUR shotgun slug barrel and then buy loads in the weight range it is designed for.

Well maybe there are some slug experts here that can hook me up with their killer combination of barrel and slugs.

 

[Old Grump]

Don't know what to tell you. My Winchester with the 20" slug barrel and rifle sights groups Brenneke and Foster slugs 4" at 100 yards, My Mossberg with a 2.5x scope, 26" barrel and IC choke groups Brenneke and Foster slugs at 4" at 100 yards. My ancient old Stevens with a fiber optic front bead groups around 10" at 100 yards and my Winchester semi auto with the 18" ported barrel and rifle sights shoots about 12" at 100 yards. Minute of deer, all smooth barrel except for the one rifled barrel which really wants sabot but I'm to cheap to buy them.

Then I have an old single shot, no makers name on it to be found that I can barely keep on paper with slugs at 30 yards, shoots low left but centers shot beautifully???

My suggestion is only based on my experience and a smooth bore with an intermediate choke is as good an all around barrel as you can get. Also found if I shoot propped up on my elbows or on my hind legs that I don't take a beating like you do from sand bags. If I did my groups might be tighter but how tight do you need to be with a 1 oz. slug? Only shotguns in the house I haven't tried are the 3 double barrel guns and the Browning. I have a .410 but I wouldn't use it for deer. I have a 10 gauge coming and am looking forward to trying that one out, definitely not a bench gun.

Tried different brands and even though my guns range from 2 3/4" to 3" to 3 1/2" all of my tries have been with 2 3/4" shells, thats enough power for these old bones and deer don't seem to be able to tell the difference.

 

[broom_jm]

Brenneke and Foster slugs are full-diameter slugs, not sabots, right? Maybe what I should be saying is that if your gun is rifled for the lighter sabots, it may not stabilize actual slugs.

However, I would like to say that I do not consider 10" or 12" groups, "minute of deer" and that my buddies were both able to obtain 3-4" groups, at 100 yards, shooting sabots. For as few shots as any sane man is going to make with these heavy loads, and to get the best hunting performance, it makes sense to me to cough up the extra dough for the sabot rounds, which kick less, anyway.

My .02.

 

[bear458]

as i posted earlier my rem 870 with mossberg cantilever rifled ported barrel grouped real well at 100 yards with brenneke black and gold magic slugs but did not group at all with remington slugger or federal 3 inch rifled slugs. dont know the rate of twist right now but will post later. my bennelli super nova tactical with 18 1/2 barrel groups about 1 inch at 50 yards with the remington and the federal rounds. have not tried brenneke yet.

 

[Old Grump]

In my case I'm not shooting from the bench and the guns with the 10 and 12 inch groups could very well be better with better sights. Point of fact is when I am shotgun hunting I will not take a shot over 60 yards and I won't use a shotgun without rifle sights or scope for deer hunting because my eyes need all the help they can get. Definitely minute of deer. That is the advantage of a slug gun barrel with rifle sights or my turkey gun with the scope. Not just the barrel that counts but what you aim it with.

Killer combination is a myth because what is right for my gun or for broom_jm or bear458 may be completely wrong for osprey572ci. Best we can do is tell you what works for us.

When I was hunting with a shotgun in the ol' days, we ran standard slugs through a regular full choke 30" 1100! Times have changed.

Times haven't changed that much, the toys just got more expensive and they have more bells and whistles on them.

 

[broom_jm]

When it comes to hunting with shotgun slugs, I think times actually HAVE changed, quite a bit! I attribute much of this to states that do not allow you to use real rifle cartridges, so guys have demanded much better accuracy and performance out of their slug guns. Here in Indiana, seasoned hunters won't settle for only shooting 60 yards because they know modern guns/ammo are capable of so much more...three times that range, in many cases!

Personally, I think "killer combination" is a perfect way to put it, as my experience suggests that each particular gun/barrel will have a rate of twist that greatly favors a given load, whether it is a full-bore slug or sabot. With a modern slug gun, I would do the research and then work with projectiles in the right weight range until you find something that doesn't have you worrying about shots in the 150 yard range. It might be an expensive proposition, shooting those $2 loads until you find the right one, but when a great buck steps out at 100+, you'll be glad you have a round that you can confidently pull the trigger on.

 

[osprey572ci]

In the "old days" we were running slugs through a bird barrel and we found that 2 3/4" were actually more acurate than 3" and Winchesters seemed to be the best. 100 yd shots were pretty much luck when you are sighting down a vent rib with a bead on the end. I think Grump has a point too, optics and a sight may be more the advantage than anything. I would still think that the right rifling and projectile combo has got to be better.

 

[Bigguns]

Hastings barrel and federal/barns ammo

I have a 3" pre 64 Winchester model 12 that I had a hastings 2.75 Hastings rifled barrel installed on. I also had the rifled sites removed to install a cantilever scope mount on the barrel . Pro Porting on the barrel, limbsaver recoil pad and mercury recoil reducer is what I had to have done to tame the recoil. It has a perfect stock for this too, flat bottom for-end and high cheek piece. 2" center to center or better 100 yards with 1x4 Redfield scope. I am considering a scope change for more power. I also read some where that 2.75 sabots have a better accuracy than 3" ones