20ga. slug barrels

[brutus51]

Running this on another forum but haven't gotten a lot of response.

Thinking of picking up a slug barrel for my 870.
Should I go with a Remington or are their better third party options available Hastings as an example?
Smoothbore or rifled?
Is it true that a saboted .45 slug through a rifled barrel is about the equivalent of a 300gr. 45/70 ( read this somewhere awhile back)?
which provides the best accuracy?
Can saboted components be purchased for reloading?
Thanks in advance.

 

[rule303]

Rifled is best for a dedicated slug barrel. The Mossberg manufactured 870 rifled barrels are very accurate, and cheaper than the Remington ones. That would be my first choice.
As far as matching 45/70 ballistics- kind of a misleading statement since there are a lot of different .45-70 loads, but a 300gr .458 bullet going 1700 fps is a .458 bullet going 1700 fps. It makes absolutely no difference what platform it is fired from.

 

[artee]

Rule303 has told you well. With the understanding that the .45-70 comparison load is the common 300 gn HP or Softpoint at about 1870 from Win/Rem/Fed then yes, modern sabot 20ga loads fly and hit like the .45-70.

Here's the "But" though. The 300gn rifle loads are 40 to 20 grains heavier so they have about a 10% better BC and sectional density and will fly a bit flatter and penetrate better on shots that angle through the body. Two five round boxes of sabot slugs cost about what a 20rd box of .45-70 does or what 4 boxes of 20 ga foster style slugs do, so "more bangs for the buck" with these and LESS with the 'rifled 20ga'. The smoothbore style 20ga slug barrel doubles with buckshot for defense better and comes in shorter lengths than the rifled tubes. Pump shotguns are long overall and don't handle so well with 24 to 28 inch 'birdshot' or rifled barrels but there's no problem finding 18-22 inch smooth/unrifled barrels. The 20in and less smooth barrel handles so much better moving around a room or in the brushy short visibility lands that are often found in "shotgun" only areas.

While you might not be worried about it, remember that the sabot slug is a low volume market for the ammo company, and it's getting lower. The "Great Lakes" states are a MAJOR part of the land area that is shotgun only (in some of these states thay had been exclusively shotgun only). The more these states allow a restricted use of rifles (like IN, and now this year OH and MI also) or pistol or "blackpowder rifles" in the regular gun deer season the fewer guys buying sabot shotgun shells. Look for the price of sabots to become even more ridiculous and than begin disappearing as they are loss leaders for the companies.

As to reloading, there are some components available. Most of these are of the foster/improved foster design (like the newer Lyman and Lee drive key and "pellet" style slugs--really just modified fosters). A "buckhammer" style is available. My opinion of the 'attached wad' style slug is it falls in the foster camp performance wise. Sabots to hold a jacketed pistol/rifle style bullet are about non existent in 20 ga. Not so in 12, but still very limited and lab tested load data is MINIMAL.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I don't think Mossberg makes a 20ga barrel for an 870. At least, it does not say on their website.

Hastings barrels are nice but I don't think they are worth even close to the premium they charge. The Remington barrels work well and are going for around 250. Only bad thing is they are the express finish so if you have a Wingmaster it wont match exactly.

 

[brutus51]

Never really cared for shot gunning deer, did most of my deer hunting where rifles are allowed. Occasionally get an opportunity to hunt on an Illinois farm which is shotgun only and boy those corn fed critters are muck tastier than their acorn & pine needle cousins. Recently acquired a short 20ga. SxS for grouse hunting which now means I have an old 870 20ga. pump collecting dust (even my gal pal prefers the SxS over the pump ), thought if I could achieve rifle ballistics and accuracy from it with a rifled barrel I'd have the best of both worlds. Seems like saboted slugs are pretty available from my local Cabelas currently. Thanks again for the feedback guess I need to ponder this a little longer.