Is the rifle sighted smooth bore the best all around barrel?

[albanian]

I have an 18" rifle sighted factory Mossberg 12ga barrel that I think is great. For what I want a shotgun for, I think it is the most versatile. I can shoot slugs through it if I like but I can also shoot shot which is what I mostly shoot. You can shoot shot out of a rifled bore but you can out of a rifle sighted smooth bore.

Why isn't this combo more popular? It seems that if people have a slug barrel, it is almost always rifled. I guess specialization is more important that being about to do many tasks with the same gun.

 

[Fred Fuller]

For a multipurpose shotgun that has more than one barrel, IMO it's better to have sights on the short barrel. The 18- 20" rifle sighted smoothbore barrel is a good approach to the defensive applications a shotgun excels at, as well as to big game hunting. If a short barrel is fitted for choke tubes, it can do well for turkey hunting also. Having the sights on the barrel leaves the receiver clear for other uses when the barrel is changed for one suited to wingshooting, small game hunting or clay games. This takes full advantage of a shotgun's inherent versatility and lets the owner get the most possible use out of one gun.

lpl/nc

 

[axeman_g]

full agreement

I recently acquired a 20" rifle sighted smooth bore with a full choke tube for my 870 WM. The barrel is intended for SD, deer hunting here in NJ, Turkey next spring and maybe grouse while on a fishing trips to upstate NY in the fall.

I love the idea of an all around barrel and a wing shooting barrel. Mine shoot one inch high at 50 yds with slugs and a rifled choke tube. With Fiochi 000 it puts 9 pellets into 12" circle at 25 yds with a mod choke. I really like it. Can you tell....

 

[ChristopherG]

A 20" (or is it 18? I forget) rifle-sighted 870 Police magnum is my truck-gun. It's unloaded (the law for all long guns 'round these parts) but has 4 15-pellet 00's on the sidesaddle and 5 1 oz. slugs in a buttcuff. Bird and other shot abounds in a separate container.

A shortish barreled rifle-barreled smoothbore may not be the very best at any particular thing, but it'll do a very creditable job at many, many things.

 

[Mannlicher]

I think that a rifle sight barrel is the cat's PJs for defense. I know that others like ghost sights, but I like the rifle sight.
For hunting with my 870, I just swap out the barrel, and use the factory one.

 

[ChristopherG]

Oh, oh, yes; replace that stock front sight with a hi-viz bead; a bit faster to grab your eye and any available light.

 

[MCgunner]

Rifled barrels are best with Breneke (saboted, hour glass shape) slugs. A smooth bore won't stabilize 'em. The Breneke slug's exterior ballistics, as well as accuracy out of a rifled barrel, is a significant improvement over Foster type slugs. Hunters who hunt deer with shotguns (some states like Indiana mandate shotgun or black powder) prefer the accuracy and extended range effectiveness of the Breneke slug/rifled barrel combination.

As far as home defense, it don't matter. I'd rather not have a rifle sight on a shotgun in defensive shooting with buck shot. I can get on a target instantly with traditional bead. I don't need no stinkin' sights on a shotgun. I don't "aim" a shotgun, I point it, just like shooting birds only the target is much bigger and it ain't moving and dodgin' and if it is, I can hit it anyway with a shotgun. Besides, it's what I'm used to in a scatter gun. I've been hunting forty years with a shotgun and never had a set of rifle sights or a scope on one. For deer hunting, I pick one of my rifles. I don't live in Indiana. If I did live there, I'd use black powder, anyway.

A rifle sighted shotgun could be useful for turkey hunting, bear defense, and such. There are uses for 'em. I've been turkey hunting once and collected a tom at 40 yards with my bead sighted side by side using the full choke barrel. Didn't need rifle sights, but they would be advantageous in precisely centering the pattern on a tom's head, I'd think. I could see that. But, for home defense, I don't need no rifle sights. I keep the old side-by-side in the bedroom unloaded. It's right by the bed. I was keeping it out in my shop, but I was worried about the environment out there, so I'll take it out there sometimes, but rather keep it in the AC to prevent corrosion. I've had that thing since 1971 and it still shoots just as well as it did 35 years ago when I bought it. I've killed ducks, geese, doves, quail, rabbits, squirrels, turkey and DEER with it. Mostly was a duck/goose gun with occasion doves. Now, it gets little use, but it's still a good ol' gun. In a low light situation, I am so familiar with that old thing I can just point it where rifle sights would just obscure the view. Probably couldn't pick up a sight picture with it anyway if it was too dark.

As for the best "all around barrel", I'd figure that'd entail at the very least an

 

[9mmMike]

The rifle-sighted smooth bore is my favorite as well. I have a few on several 870's here at casa del 9mm, all 20"ers. I'd love to get an 18" version but I am concerned about the crappy patterning stories that I've heard of late about these newer barrels.
A bonus for me was that I need to fit my 870 stocks by lowering the comb UNLESS I am using a rifle-sighted barrel. These fit me me great.
I run Ashley Outdoors (AO) or Xpress, (or whatever they're calling themselves now), Big Dot sights on mine and these are terrific as well.
Mike

 

[ArmedBear]

I'm with MCgunner.

Rifle sights are for deer hunting with slugs. Not much of that around here. And unless F&G requires a smoothbore, a rifled barrel is a great thing. But I have an old .50 Hawken that would work as well, and it's kinda cool. ...if we had "woods deer hunting" here, which we don't really.

Home defense is all about quick acquisition of close, moving targets, not accurate target shooting at 25+ yards. A bead is the tool for the job, otherwise you'd see clay shooters with rifle sights. I have hit hand-thrown clays with a Mini-14 Ranch Rifle with the older sights -- similar to, but not exactly ghost rings -- but I wouldn't bother trying with open rifle sights. If you MUST have sights on a HD shotgun, ghost rings are the way to go, but shotgun practice is even better. With practice on moving targets, you'll learn to like a bead. I tried CAS briefly the other day; beads work fine on stationary targets, too. The beauty of the shotgun is that it's designed to be pointed quickly and accurately. Of the three guns, the SxS was the easiest to shoot fast and hit targets with, followed by the SAA revolver which pointed well but was slow to cock in my untrained hands, with the lever carbine last -- largely because CAS rules require traditional rifle sights on it. I missed only once, between all three guns, and it was because the rifle sights were much, much harder to see and line up while shooting fast.

Turkey hunting benefits from fiberoptic sights. Rifle sights are invisible in minimal light. A rib and bead are a lot better, even, because if you're familiar with a shotgun you can figure out where it's pointed by looking down the rib, without seeing the bead distinctly.

If I wanted a barrel that had the most possible applications, a 20" turkey barrel with fiberoptics would be my choice. Take out the turkey choke and you can shoot slugs at close range or buckshot for defense, and the glowing sights let you pay more attention to the target than the sights. Rifle sights require you to focus more on the sights; shotgunning is usually about being able to focus on the target and just know where the gun is.

Man, I never thought I'd sound like a proponent of the glowing plastic things, but they have their place.

 

[9mmMike]

I respectfully disagree. My AO nuclear sights are far faster to acquire than any ghost ring I've seen, especially in low light. The AO's have a very shallow rear groove with a tritium insert that the front big dot is, well, big.
The rifle-sights have no downside that I can see. If someone does no like them, fine. Personal preference maybe but certainly not detrimental to whatever task is at hand.
I have busted a gazillion clays with my rifle-sighted 870's. I use my '55 Wingmaster with a 28" single bead now because of it's wonderful classic look and feel but I will one day probably put a Bradley front bead and mid bead on that barrel (like all my skeet barrels from the factory) which is not too different than rifle-sights.
Mike

 

[ArmedBear]

The AO's have a very shallow rear groove with a tritium insert that the front big dot is, well, big.

Sounds like a great sight, combining the best of the bead with something even better than fiberoptics, and rifle accuracy when you need it. Never tried 'em. If I get the chance, I certainly will.

When I think of Mossberg or Remington smoothbore slug barrels with rifle sights, that's the last thing I picture. I should really clarify: I was referring to traditional open rifle sights, as supplied on these barrels.