Buck shot from a rifled barrel?

[Torghn]

Are there any down sides for using a rifled slug barrel for a home defense shotgun? I'd like to buy a shot gun that can be used for home defense and trap shooting and I'm not sure which barrel length to get so I was contemplating one of the combo gun like this:
http://www.impactguns.com/store/047700255781.html

The one thing I'm concerned about is that the shorter barrel is a rifled slug barrel. How would this fair when shooting 00 buck?

 

[Prophet]

A squirrel hunting buddy tried to use shot in his slug gun one time for squirrel hunting, he said it didnt work out so well. He said the spread was so wide at even a couple yards that it wasnt even funny.

Others might tell you different, and this isnt coming from me, but thats what he said.

 

[Gunfighter123]

Shooting buckshot thru a rifled brl. is about like spitting into the wind. I tried it once at a shotgun steel match and I used almost TWENTY rounds of OO buck to knock down THREE steel poppers. I was FREAKING. The rifleing spins the buck out to about a 30" "group" at 20 yards out of my Rem. 1100 with about a 22/24" rifled brl. Oh well , live and learn !!!

 

[VARifleman]

Torghn, Find out the distance of the longest shot that you would be taking with buckshot out of that shotgun. As long as you're using 00, it should be fine out to about 7 yards. With my rifled choke, I was getting chest size doughnut groups at 10 yards with 00. That's down a long hall way. If you think you might have to go outside and shoot it with buckshot, definitely get a smooth bore for it, or load it with slugs. The rifling will make the pattern a kind of doughnut shape because of the rotation.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

a 30" "group" at 20 yards

Wouldn't that be god for home defense? I guess it depends on the size of your home.
Do some patterning tests at actual HD ranges. Use a tape measure to make sure you have the right distance.

 

[wdlsguy]

I would buy an 870 set up the way you want it for trap shooting, then pick up an 18" barrel for it from Remington or Mossberg. Mossberg does make barrels for 870s, strangely enough...

 

[mgkdrgn]

Are there any down sides for using a rifled slug barrel for a home defense shotgun? I'd like to buy a shot gun that can be used for home defense and trap shooting and I'm not sure which barrel length to get so I was contemplating one of the combo gun like this:
http://www.impactguns.com/store/047700255781.html

The one thing I'm concerned about is that the shorter barrel is a rifled slug barrel. How would this fair when shooting 00 buck?

At HD distances, it really isn't going to make much of difference. Ya, it's going to spread REALLY fast as opposed to a straight tube .... but at 20 feet (or less!) the BG is STILL going to get hit with enough buckshot to really ruin his day. Don't sweat it, it's an un-issue.

 

[VARifleman]

It is an issue if one of the pellets doesn't hit the guy and then goes through a few walls into who knows what.

 

[Old Grump]

Using #4 and #6 at 25 yards with rifled barrel put very few on paper. Worse at 50 yards they went into the ground, never touched paper. Shooting slugs out of same barrel I shot 3 groups at 100 yards and none of them went over 4", none of them were under 4" either so I have to say the barrel was consistent, forget the shot.

 

[jack the toad]

Think of a donut. The shot will spread but the pattern density sux.

 

[Jeff F]

Quote:
a 30" "group" at 20 yards

Wouldn't that be god for home defense? I guess it depends on the size of your home.

Nope, not a good thing at all. If I have to shoot I will be aiming at center of mass and thats where I want all my buck shot to hit. All 9 pellets in about a fist sized group is what I am looking for.

 

[Jst1mr]

Plus, that 30" group will have a large 'low density' hit area right in the center...

 

[JNewell]

No effect with the following hardware out to 25 yards:

FN SLP
Cation rifled choke tube
Federal 00 buck w/ Tru-Flite

I believe that the reason there is no effect is probably because the wad/cup is what engages the rifling, not the shot. The rifling also slows the wad so that the shot keeps going and it not affected by the spinning of the wad/cup, and because only the last 2" or so of the barrel is rifled with this arrangement, the shot itself never really starts spinning.

On the other hand, the improvement to 100 yards with slugs is dramatic, so this has been a win-win setup for me.