Shotgun Slugs

[Bobson]

I've read the Slug Groups and Pattern Spread (101) thread, and I've read the Box O' Truth #46, and I haven't seen this question specifically addressed.

When shooting rifled slugs through a smoothbore barrel, is it safe to use any size choke? What size (or no choke at all) is typically best?

For testing different slugs, we're going to start with Remington Sluggers and go from there. The gun is a Maverick 88 (12 gauge). I think the barrel length is 28" but not positive. The owner only currently owns a modified choke (came with the gun).

Thanks for the help.

 

[dak0ta]

Modified will be fine. A Cylinder or Improved Cylinder usually gives the best results.

 

[Virginian]

In my experience, IC or Modified usually gives the best results.

 

[Jason_W]

A soft "rifled" slug can be fired through any choke since the "rifling" are really just swage grooves to give compressed lead a place to go when the slug is squeezed through a choke. Still, I would hesitate to fire any slug through a full or tighter choke and I would be a little reluctant to fire a harder slug like a Brenekke through even a modified choke.

Best results for all non-sabot slugs will be with improved cylinder, cylinder, or rifled chokes.

 

[bikerdoc]

Each gun is different but mine works best with a modified. The late Dave McCracken who was the pevious shot gun mod and a great guy helped me a lot. Read anything and everything he wrote about shot guns and you will be well on your way to a graduate level education in shotguning.

 

[dak0ta]

With regards to slugs and sighting. What's a good distance to sight in a regular foster slug for deer? Shots are 50-75 meters.

My 870 wears a 20'' IC barrel with rifle sights.

 

[Bobson]

That's what I've understood, doc. I've danbled in his 101 threads but to be honest, I've never been a HUGE shotgun guy. I enjoy em, but not the way I do rifles and pistols.

 

[Bob Bonillas]

Slug Hunter question

So I was just about to start looking for a 12 guage with the rifled slug barrel and I read an article that said : Sabot slugs work great in a rifled barrel but are about $3 per round and that regular slugs through a rifled barrel would cause lead fowling of the barrel in 3 to 5 rounds and that cleaning the barrel would be difficult at best. What say you?

 

[DM~]

With regards to slugs and sighting. What's a good distance to sight in a regular foster slug for deer? Shots are 50-75 meters.

My 870 wears a 20'' IC barrel with rifle sights.

Have you shot it at 75 meters to see if it's accurate to 75M?

"IF" it is, sight it in at that distance...

DM

 

[cromlw]

In my experience i see zero difference between rifled slugs through a Cyl,IC,Mod or full choke,,through my gun they all seem to hit what Im aiming at,,so...

 

[huntsman]

So I was just about to start looking for a 12 guage with the rifled slug barrel and I read an article that said : Sabot slugs work great in a rifled barrel but are about $3 per round and that regular slugs through a rifled barrel would cause lead fowling of the barrel in 3 to 5 rounds and that cleaning the barrel would be difficult at best. What say you?

To choose what to use you need to Identify your needs.

For thick cover deer hunting I'll use a 12 gauge shotgun with a mod choke and Brenneke Classic magnums, SD it's the same gun with Sluggers, long range shots from a stand it's a 20 gauge rifled barrel with scope using Copper Solids. I've heard the same thing about leading so I've not shot Foster type slugs in the rifled barrel. If your gun is threaded for choke tubes I'd try a rifled tube for Sabots before I'd buy the rifled barrel.

 

[200Apples]

cromlw

In my experience i see zero difference between rifled slugs through a Cyl,IC,Mod or full choke...

Outstanding, sir. Good to know. What brand/style slugs are you using? I too have read that the softer, typical "Forster"-style slug can be used through a full choke, but I have yet to muster the willingness to try it. Personally, I have not shot Forster-style slugs through any choke constriction tighter than Modified...

(I'd like to invest in a stash of Brenneke but I'd have to get them through a local ammuni.tion distributor/manufacturer. I live in a zip code prefix that's been red-flagged by ammo shippers.)

I love shooting Forster-style slugs (Remington Slugger, Fiocchi, Winchester...) through my 870s, one of which wears a cyl-bore (no choke) bead-sight and the other a Fred Fuller Special (Remington parkerized, Tritium rifle-sights MOD-choked) barrel but the particular brand's powder load determines how many I might shoot on any given range day. Hee. It's just good, clean fun.

I recently brought home an 1100 wearing a 22" smoothbore rifle-sights slug barrel. Can't wait to run a few boxes through that one!

 

[Sheepdog1968]

I know Breneke has some verbiage on their website regarding chokes.

 

[Candyman87]

Check with the manufacturer of your slugs. Besides my reloads I shoot Remington Sluggers which recommend on the packaging that their rifled slugs can be fired through any choke but yield the best results through Improved Cylinder.

I've shot them through Cylinder and IC chokes. I have no desire to use anything tighter.

 

[Loc n Load]

Slugs

Been hunting with slugs since the 60's.....over the years there has been a lot of information and misinformation on the subject.....a couple of years ago I dissected several different brands of slugs and dropped them down the bores of abt a dozen different shotguns and they literally rattled down the bore - including my 12 ga trap gun - which is full choked....and yes I know they are supposed to obturate to conform to the bore when fired.....over the decades I have shot thousands of slugs (commercial and my own cast) thru dozens of different shotguns ..... I have several shotguns with variable chokes & have shot slugs thru them ranging from I/C to full, just to see how they shot.... I have seen shotguns that you could not group with at 50 yds ( which is where I normally sight guns shooting conventional slugs) with one load - change brands and it would shoot a good group..The shotgun that I have harvested the most deer with is a Mossberg 12 ga. pump gun that I bought in the mid 70's....used a modified choke for years and then swiched to a Cyl bore bl with rifle sights.....nowadays I use a Savage 220 20 ga.with Federal 3" sabots (& a Leupold scope for my tired eyes )- which it literally stacks at 100 yds....the main thing is to take your chosen shotgun, see how it shoots with various loads....I normally shoot Federal slugs in the Mossberg ( that is what it prefers) - but several years ago I bought 10 rds of Brennekes - and accounted for a deer with each round....with today's guns and loads, you can come up with a combo that will work for you.

 

[Jason_W]

For consideration, TBOT did an investigation on shotgun slugs a while back. Part of that project involved putting 5 standard rifled sluggers through a fully rifled barrel. Not only did the slugs group well, but . . .

When we got home and cleaned the rifled barrel, the five non-sabot, rifled slugs had not really deposited any lead that we could notice. The barrel cleaned-up sparkling clean very easily.

link: http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-46-shotgun-slugs-sabots-and-smooth-bore-barrels/

If you think about it, firing full bore lead slugs through a fully rifled barrel really isn't much different than firing cast bullets through a rifle.

 

[Jason_W]

My last few seasons hunting deer in Vermont and Maine, I hunted almost exclusively with smooth bore shotguns. Everywhere I hunted was so thick that visibility was limited to 50 yards or less, so I didn't feel handicapped at all and in fact liked the idea of having a gun that would punch .700+" holes in deer if I saw them (I never did).

Accuracy wasn't as bad as people would expect. The group on the left was made at 50 yards with the 12 ga barrel of a Baikal combo gun, rifled choke tube installed firing Remington 3" sluggers. The group on the right was the same gun/choke/load combo at 100 yards.