[john l]

Guys,
Been doing some slug shooting with my 870 to see how far out I can hit targets with slugs and get some idea on the accuracy end of it.
My 870 has a Cylinder bore and I seem to get erratic results past the 30 yard area. (18 inch barrel) I have had predictable results at the 20 yard distance.
Now, my 1187 has an Improved Cylinder bore and with slugs I can easily hit predictably at 50 yards and beyond.
The slugs I use for all this is the Federal Tactical Slugs ( reduced recoil).
Is this type of thing normal when comparing Cylinder bores and Improved Cylinder bores? If it is then I can be assured to use slugs in my Cylinder bore SGs ONLY when the target is +/- 25 yds distant or closer.
Let me know some of your opinions based on experience,
thanks,
john l

[HSMITH]

Try some different slugs. You should be able to hit a man sized target at 100 yards pretty easily with a cylinder bore. You should be able to kill a deer humanely at 60 yards. IC seems to work just fine as well. I have not shot flugs through anything other than Cyl, IC and rifled chokes with rifled obviously being the best for accuracy.

[Dave McCracken]

Darn near all well made repeaters will do 3" groups at 50 yards with the right slug, regardless of choke. More open chokes tend to be best for this, though I've seen some good to excellent groups done with Full chokes.

There's at least one slug out there your 870 will "Like". Buy some 5 packs and bench test a bit.

Good candidates would be the various Brenekkes and traditional Forster style slugs. Sabot style slugs work best in fully rifled barrels.

HTH....

[Arkady]

The results you'll get from a particular shotgun/load combination have more in common with voodoo than any actual science. The most likely answer is that your shotgun just doesnt like the slugs you've been using--try a few different brands and i bet your groups will shrink right back to what the other gun does.

[Jayman]

I've heard that the low recoil slugs tend to get weird faster than the traditional ones, which may account for the erratic behavior at 30+ yards.

[Bruce626]

My 18" bbl, cyl bore hits man-sized targets at 114 yds consistently... but, I use Rem RR slugs which, on the box, have a graph showing a 6" drop at 100 yds. Hold at the head, hit at the heart... simple. But you gotta try it first to be sure.