slugs and smoothbore shotguns

ReloadKy

Handloader
May 13, 2020
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I have a couple of boxes of 12 ga slugs that I have had for 25 years. I had thoughts about shooting them. My question is; all i have is a smooth bore Remington 870 with a modified choke in it, will slugs shoot accurately out of this shotgun? I have not hunted with a shotgun slug since I was like 10 years old so I have literally no experience with shotgun slugs so any help is much appreciated.
 
They might, out to a bit more than archery distances.
They might just as well not fit your combo.
Only way to find out: put out a target, shoot and decide if you are happy with them.
You might have to limit your distance or find other slugs that shoot better.

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Most slugs are shot out of a imp cyl or cyl bore barrel. You could try it through yours and see what accuracy it gives. Slug development has come along way. Find some Federal Truball slugs made for smooth bore barrels. I have shot them and at 50yds a 3 shot group will touch out of a Win mod 1300 slug barrel. Did not try them past this distance. Dan
 
wvbuckbuster":7707tihq said:
Most slugs are shot out of a imp cyl or cyl bore barrel. You could try it through yours and see what accuracy it gives. Slug development has come along way. Find some Federal Truball slugs made for smooth bore barrels. I have shot them and at 50yds a 3 shot group will touch out of a Win mod 1300 slug barrel. Did not try them past this distance. Dan

I have seen similar accuracy from tru-ball slugs through improved / cyl. barrels. It has been noted, shotgun barrels are not consistient in diameter or forcing cone and choke between makes and models. As a result some shoot better with a given preferred slug than others with that same slug.
Some say that the older Breneke or Rotwiel slugs shoot very well out of older guns. My FIL has a supply that he guards judiciously and only uses in his father in laws old Remington model 11, full choke. It has killed many a deer.

If you try your slugs in your gun, I cannot guarantee that you don't run the risk of damaging a barrel with a modified choke, but I doubt it, and they might shoot well.

As far as that goes, smooth bore slug guns are not considered "cutting edge" in accuracy technology. A cyl. bored 870 barrel might be had fairly cheaply. A cyl bored Mossberg can sometimes be had as cheap. If it shoots Tru-ball slugs with open sights as well as my 70+ year old FIL, who can hit a 10 inch plate at 100yds.... regularly.... Sorta makes my rifled barrel, scope, and custom adjusted trigger look silly dosent it. :) Were it me, I'd shoot em and find out. :) CL
 
What kind of slugs?

Remington sluggers are made for smooth bores. Generally the less choke the better with sluggers. The sluggers are themselves grooved to impart spin. The slugs for rifled shotgun bores are in a sabot like a muzzleloader shooting a saboteur bullet. Light field is one example.. and Remington makes saboted slugs too.

I’ve had both. Rifled barrels a sabots shoot best. Smooth bores and sluggers were great to 30-50 yards.

My father in law hunted hogs with a smooth bores pump and slugs and it worked fine on pigs under 200. He shot a 200# pig, and made the 800’er mad..he was ina palmetto swamp.. he shot in three time between the eyes .. each time it knocked the pig down, and each time it got up and continued the charge.. at 10 feet he put the last slug in its ear as it got up from the third heat shot.

He started taking the 3030 for hogs instead..

But for deer, if you shoot one in the head 3 times and it keeps coming.. consider well where that last slug goes.


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At least Brennecke and Rottweil are not grooved to spin, but to better get through chokes. Back then few shotguns in Europe had a cylindrical bore.

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The slugs are old Winchester slugs, literally 27 year old box. I am not planning hunting with them as I only have a box of 5. I guess the main reason I asked the question was just to make sure I was not going to damage my barrel by shooting them.
 
Should be good. They usually mention smooth bore or rifles.

Sluggers say rifled slug on the box like so. These are atleast 15 yrs old
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Winchester’s box says sabotted slug. Running sabots in a smooth bore is basically the same as a plastic wad.

Just go with a cylinder choke or the most open chock you have.

Unless the box does recommend something


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Sorry, should have been explicit. Rifled slugs, the slug itself has rifling, therefore the shotgun should be smooth bore.

Sabotted slugs have no rifling, therefore they perform best when spun by a rifles barrel.

Personally, I think the jargon is a little sloppy and could easily confuse anyone.


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ReloadKy":3p3aoe92 said:
The slugs are old Winchester slugs, literally 27 year old box. I am not planning hunting with them as I only have a box of 5. I guess the main reason I asked the question was just to make sure I was not going to damage my barrel by shooting them.

IMHO those REMINGTON slugs are rifled slugs and should be just fine in your 870 smooth bore. You will have to shoot them to find out how accurate they are. Similar "rifled" slugs should work fine and you will have to shoot some to find out what the gun shoots best. I just got off the phone with a friend, who is mentoring a hunter who is getting back into deer hunting after 30 + years. He wants to do so w/ "grandpa's model 12 Win. (how cool is that!) My friend tells me that the experiments showed about a 4 inch group at 50yards with "KO" slugs. Full choke. For where /how they will be hunting, they feel he is ready to go....

Again, my opinion, based on a lot of slug shooting and some study, the grooves in a rifled slug allow the slug to deform/ conform to the choke constriction as it passes through, much like the grooves in a TSX bullet allow the guilding metal to flow w/o deforming the bullet too much. The grooves in a slug do not impart much if any spin. MJC is right about the confusing nomenclature, "sabot" slugs are meant to grip the rifling in a rifled barrel, rifled slugs are meant for a smooth bore. You can shoot Sabots in a smooth bore, but why would you at three times the price.

I get it, and understand your concern re: damaging the barrel. I don't think Id run slugs through grand dads full choked model 12 but as has been noted, years ago every one did it with old breneke or rotwiel slugs. CL
 
Lol. You are reminding me. 25 years ago I blew the brass bead off grandads on single shot he bought in 1929.
It was a slug or magnum load.

At minimum his great grandson has taken pheasant with it.. maybe I should try it on turkey


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