Which type of barrel for my shotgun??

Question

I've decided to get a Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun. My primary purpose for this gun is to hunt deer. For my area I'm required to shoot a shotgun instead of a rifle. I would like to know if it'd be better to get a smooth barrel or a rifled one and the ammunition that be best for that type. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

i have a rifled slug barrel that is off a 870 and it shoots dead on so go with one of them .

Answer 2

I hunt with a Mossberg 500 (12 gauge)

The answer to your question depends on the land scape. If your tree stand hunting or hunting if thick bush you can get away with a smooth bore and rifled slugs, good for 50 yards.

If you got a 100 yard range to play with, go for the rifled barrel and sabot slugs. Ultimately you can use the rifled barrel / sabot slug option for both situation, it just cheaper to use rifled slugs if you can get away with it.

And make sure your allowed to use rifled barrel in the area that you are hunting, some areas don't allow them

Answer 3

Definately stick with a rifled barrel. The reasons for a rifled barrel are simple: better trajectory and thus more accuracy. A rifled barrel with slugs that are designed for use in a rifled shotgun will give excellent accuracy and more predictable shot placements.

While I cannot quote the website at the top of my head, federal ammunition provideds an indepth look at their ammunition (good comparison between rifled or sabot slugs versus slugs that are designed for smooth barreled guns.

I personally use Brenneke 2 3/4 inch shells as the 3 - 3 1/2 inch shells chew up my shoulder too much ( I have a M500 so my results may not reflect your Rem 870). As I found out, my accuracy suffers greatly as my shoulder begins to get the consistancy of jelly  from shooting 3 inch slugs more than once.

Just food for thought. Peace.

Answer 4

Invest in a slug barrel for that 870. Accuracy will improve and with a rifled slug barrel you can shoot plain slugs.

With a little practice you should be able to hit a paper dinner plate at 75 yards 7 for 10.

You can spend about any amount for slugs these days. We killed a lot of deer with plain old 2 2/4 inch Remington and Winchester slugs back in the day....they are probably going on sale soon...

There are premium slugs and sabots out there.. some in 3" hulls... More effective? I dont know...but your shoulder will get sore faster shooting those heavy loads. Your wallet will get thinner too.

Jeff

Answer 5

First thing you have to ask yourself is at what distances do you expect to shoot a deer at???  Most deer are taken with shots under 100 yards... If that's about what you will be doing then the smooth bore barreled shotgun is just fine...... If you feel your shots will be longer range shots then a rifled barrel firing sabots would be the best choice.....

I personally have fired thousands of rounds of slugs with my 12 gauge shotguns and heres a few observations I have made.... A smooth bore barrel firing 2 3/4 inch foster type slugs work just fine.... Forget 3 inch slugs -- Heres why... When you practice its going to take quit a bit of ammunition to become proficient at hitting a deer at 100 yards... The recoil at least for me isn't a problem... I fire about 25 slugs at any practice session before my shoulder has enough of that.... 3 Inch shells will beat your body up after just a few rounds... How are you going to learn to hit anything when the shotguns knocking the snot out of you???

Purchase lots of 2 3/4 inch foster type slugs, practice a lot and only use that ammo for hunting..... DO NOT be tempted on hunting day to switch to 3 inch ammo... I gaurantee you will miss... Not sure why but when I target practice I can hit a 12 inch steel plate at 100 yards with my glasses off.... As soon as I switched to 3 inch I missed... I had to have a kid with spotting glasses watch where the slug was hitting for me to figure out what I was doing wrong.... As soon as I went back to 2 3/4 inch I was back on the money....

I am a bit old fashioned... A smooth bore shotgun with 2 3/4 inch slugs are fine... brenneke, Federal and Remington have all given me good results.... Forget this rifled barrel, whiz bang sabot slug stuff unless you really plan on taking long shots...

Shotgun Slug articles at Chuck hawks......

http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotgun_slugs....

http://www.chuckhawks.com/more_slug_guns...

http://www.chuckhawks.com/slug_guns_kans...

Remington slugs... These work great!

http://www.remington.com/products/ammuni...

Do not buy these -- I cant hit the side of a barn with them -- take it from a guy thats shot thousands of rounds of slugs!!

http://www.remington.com/products/ammuni...

Answer 6

an 870 express is a great choice. You can get one for @ 300. I would get the regular barrel with rem. choke system. buy a slug choke for @ $20 and some thru glo sights for @ $45 and your set for just about every thing. new 870s use to come with full,and mod. chokes.Ive got 3 870s dont have any complaints at all.

Answer 7

go with a Butler Creek Rifled Slug barrel.

your best ammo is Remington 3inch nitro mag slugs, if you can handle the recoil. i'm warning you now, it's gonna hurt like h**l, but you'll knock em down.