Smoothbore Slug Accuracy

rainshadow1

rainshadow1

Custom Call Maker
I need accuracy at a distance in a shotgun only area, but I'd love it if I could use buckshot thru the same barrel.

Soooo... Anybody get decent accuracy at distance with slugs from a smoothbore slug barrel? What barrel and ammo? I'm wondering if I can reach out accurately with a shotgun and slugs thru a smoothbore, which will facilitate switching to buck at a moments notice for a very close in stand - - without changing barrels. Do you reckon I'm gonna need riflings to get any kind of accuracy at 100+ yds?
 
I guess it comes down to what you consider decent accuracy. At a hundred yards with a smooth bore and slugs you can probably consistently hit a refrigerator box lol.

I am in a shotgun zone for deer hunting, but switched to rifled barrels a long time ago. The rest of our party still uses smooth barrels and all I can say is that nobody is one holeing at even 20 yards.From what I remember, the foster slugs out of a smooth barrel drop in the neighborhood of 10-12 inches at 100 yards.Some of the newer sabot slugs have better trajectory,but with open sights and those ballistics I wouldn't expect much.

I would feel much more comfortable with a rifled barrel and slugs only than a smooth bore and two ammo choices. A slug at 20 yards is still accurate and deadly in a rifled gun.
 
I used slugs with the wad attached to the back of the slug. 20 bbl Remington 11-87 Police smooth bore - 3" chamber.

Sighted at 50 yds, the group could be covered with the palm of your hand.
At 100yds (with the same sight setting), the group would easily stay on a 9" paper plate. The center of the group was 9" low from point of aim,(with the 50 yd sight setting).
 
rainshadow1; You might want to first check the legalities of carrying two different types of shotgun ammo where you are.

I sight in with Brenekee slugs @ 50 yards and have taken shots a little farther. But I would say past 100 yards if you don't want to switch barrels if your shotgun takes scew in chokes take a look at choketube.com and most likely you can get a rifled choke for sabots.
 
Thanks guys, good stuff! I really appreciate it. I'm gonna Cull out some of these educated coyotes next year!

danurve, the shotgun part is all they care about. No rifles in this GMU.

Hey, how about that? Has anyone shot the rifled choke tubes with sabots? Will a choke tube stabilize a sabot slug enough to print at 100yards? That'd be a great alternative! Anybody with experience with rifled choke tubes at distance?
 
I stopped carrying my smoothbore a few years ago when I discovered TC handguns and what a good muzzleloader could do. I still have my slug gun, a Marlin 512 topped with an older Simmons pro diamond (awaiting abuse for cheap scope)

I sighted the slug gun in at 100 meters when I put the scope on it originally. It prints six inches high at fifty yards, and I would not hesitate to pull the trigger at 125, using Winchester 2 3/4 sabots (silver box stuff.)

I still shoot this gun every year, but haven't carried it in several seasons. At 100 meters, I can consistantly group less than five inches....of course, the fool thing weighs about ten pounds...and that might have something to do with why it stays in the safe as well.

smoothbore--oh yeah, almost forgot that aspect of the thread...beretta A391 extrema, shooting remington 2 3/4 foster slugs and cyl bore-- typical rock in a sock balistics. I can group at about six inches at fifty meters....most days.

Sorry so long.

WNYStalker
 
Thanks guys, again, great stuff. Looks like a smoothbore slug barrel with a scope will hit a coyote's ribcage at 125 yds with most skilled PM shooters! That's good to know. The search button seems to think that a rifled slug barrel can do more, but that's good to know about the unrifled barrels.

Arbor, thanks for the report.
WNY, I appreciate the detail.
MB, If I could convince the wife that I needed a $1200 gun I'd own a SBE!

I'd still like the hear from somebody who's shot sabots with the rifled choke tube.
 
rainshadow,

I'm a lot like WNYStalker regarding using handguns and dropping the slug gun many moons ago (thus my handle).
That was back when you really didn't ever hear of rifled slug barrels. Maybe Hastings had one in the works back then, but I never heard of it.
Using the Super X foster type slugs, I used to get excellent accuracy from certain guns sometimes around the 4 to 5 inch mark at 100yds. Other's, not so good.
Even though I gave up on the slug gun game for deer, I never gave up on trying to get a slug to shoot accurately. I've cast bullets since I was a pre-teen, so with that in mind, I first purchased the Lyman foster type slug mould to give it a run. After several years messing with that and getting no satisfaction, I gave up for awhile.

When Lyman came out with the "sabot slug" (the one that looks like an air rifle pellet), I decided to buy one and pick up where I left off.
Well, it only took a few different book loads, and the right wad/hull combinations before I hit "pay dirt".
Not to blow my own horn because I did nothing more than assemble book loads, but my father in law's Remington 1187 rifled slug barrel shot three rounds into one "slightly enlarged" one hole group at 50yds.
He's always touted the "Lightfield Slugs" as being the "Holy Grail" of loads for shotguns.
Surprisingly, my handloaded "sabot slugs" shot to the same point of aim with noticably better accuracy, and a resounding "SLAP", when they struck the backer at 100yds.

The best part of using these Lyman sabots was that they were initially developed for use in smoothbore guns. I haven't gotten around to running them through my smoothbore 870, but once I get it scoped, I'll be doing so.

After many, years of screwing around with handloaded slugs, it appears that I finally found a combination that works.


Bob
 


I have a Winchester defender model with the 18 inch barrel, and I could consistently shoot 1 -2 inch groups at 100 yards, using Winchester 2 3/4 sabots (silver box).
I have a Bushnell shotgun scope on it, haven't shot it in a while thou.
 
Quote:


I have a Winchester defender model with the 18 inch barrel, and I could consistently shoot 1 -2 inch groups at 100 yards, using Winchester 2 3/4 sabots (silver box).
I have a Bushnell shotgun scope on it, haven't shot it in a while thou.



That is impressive,better than many get from centerfire rifles. I may have to send my Marlin 512 slugmaster down the road for one of those. I have a Winchester pump with a slug barrel and it is not capable of those types of numbers either.I'm going to check into it for sure.
 


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