Smoothbore Slug Gun Accuracy?

K

Keystone

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I want to purchase a dedicated shotgun for Deer hunting and have decided on the Rem 870 20" barrel "Deer Gun".

It can be had in either smoothbore with rifle sights or rifled barrel with rifle sights.

Whichever i chose, a scope will be added.

If I got the smoothbore, what kind of accuracy could I expect? I can't imagine shooting much further than 75 yards.

I am considerind the smoothbore v. rifled not because of the difference in the price of the gun but because of the difference in the price of the shells. Regular slugs can be had for $3 v. $12-13 for a box of Lightfields?

Thanks

Greg
 
Well, if you go with the smoothie, you'll save a lot on slugs, and you'll also save on the cost of a scope and mount because there's really not much point. You won't be shooting much past 75 yds.

Even a rifled 20" isn't all that great past 100. Why not go for the full-on cantilever deal? Either that, or if it is a "dedicated" slugger, go with a Savage 210, or even an H&R Slug gun?
 
I have seen quite a few smoothbores that will shoot well to 100 yards. I do not hunt with a shotgun much anymore, I either use my muzzleloader or .44 mag. I can say with complete honesty though that I have cleanly, one shot, killed more than one deer over 100 yards with my 20 ga. Browning BPS upland special. Smoothbore, improved cylinder choke tube, vent rib barrel with bead, no sights, using Activ slugs. I still have about 10 boxes of the Active's and would buy more if they were still made. Anyways, lots of guys have scopes on smoothbores and like them. You are right, you do not really have to jump on the rifled barrel, high dollar scope bandwagon unless you choose to. Now on the other side of the coin, a quality rifled barrel, cantilever scope, and those new Hornady slugs are making 200 yards shots possible if your gun is sighted in for that kind of range. They certainly do not give those slugs away though.
 
Of the few times I've carried my smoothbore Wingmaster in the deer woods, I most always seemed to see a deer out there a tad over 100yds...and have missed a few to boot.

My point:
Get a rifled barrel and buy some good ammo if you are going the shotgun route. There may be some smoothbore slug guns that shoot OK out to 75yds, but even that is stretching it, in my experience. Don't even bother with a scope...you'll only realize just how poorly a smoothbore shoots @ 100yds with an optic.

I hunt ALOT in shotgun areas and almost exclusively use my .50 cal muzzleloader with a quality 3-9 scope. It is far & away more accurate & effective on deer out to 150 yards reliably and a little farther with practice. I just got a CVA Kodiak Magnum for my uncle for his 60th b-day and that thing flat out SHOOTS!!! Cost $230 on sale...a bit more than a Remington rifled slug barrel, for reference.
Just trying to offer up some options for you. Bottom line is, having confidence in capable gear means meat in the freezer!
Lobbing cheapo slugs through a smoothbore will more often thatn not result in a frustrating experience...
 

Our hunting property is in a shotgun only zone, and all of
our guns have slowly been switched out from smooth bores to
fully rifled. They shoot just that much better. And the
point about getting the occasional +100 yard shots, happen
every few years. A few years back, I caught a nice buck
walking away from me at 115 yards. I was carrying a
Mossberg Model 695 fully rifled bolt action 12 ga. I made
the perfect quartering away shot that smashed the opposite
side shoulder, and the deer left about a 10 yard red
skid mark in the snow, where it's back legs pushed it,
as it died. I doubt if that would have happened with a
smooth bore, and a Foster style slug.

Me personally, with the low usage on slugs, for this kind
of hunting, I would not let the cost of slugs dictate that
I purchase a less accurate, and less range, firearm. I
shoot somewhere between 5 and 10 slugs a year, and most of
them are through paper checking sights. I would much rather
spend a few dollars more on ammo, and be able to take
that +100 yard shot accurately, than to pass because
my shotgun wasn't capable. So my vote is for the fully
rifled barrel, with a nice light gathering 2-7x scope.

Squeeze
 
I shoot several 3-gun competitions and since buckshot doesn't pattern through rifled barrels, we have to depend on smooth barrels (with chokes) for our slug work... Usual ranges are from 50-100yds..

Once you determine the POI for your gun, they are pretty darn accurate. Just be aware that different ammo, like a rifle, will have different POIs..
 
I shoot the Brenkee KO Slugs out of my smoothbore 870. The attached wad helps a lot with the accuracy. Two years ago I shot about a 200 pould buck at approx 75 yards with open sights. He took one step and fell over dead. He wasn't moving by the time I got to him, and I didn't wait to go ceck him out. The slug was found on the far side right under the skin with the wad still attached. I wouldn't hesitate to use mine at 100 yards.
 
I've been hunting NY state for the past 25 years. My first non rifled slug gun was a High Standard 12 guage. If you look around, you can find one fairly cheap. They have the barrels screwed into the reciever like a rifle. I had my barrel cut to 22" and recrowned drilled and tapped for a scope. I could hold a 4" group, with remington sluggers. When the rifled barrels and saboted ammo came out, I was the first in our party to purchase a Browning A-Bolt slug gun, and with lightfield hybreds, 150 yd group is about 4" I gained an extra very accurat 50 yds. I'd go rifled, even if I shot iron sights.
 
find a USED rifled barrel...save some bucks and have the advantages of the rifled barrel at the same time....
here in Ohio its 'no no' to center fire rifles, so every extra yard i can get out of my dedicated slug gun is worth while.
my rig is a mossy 500, rifled barrel , 1.5-4.5X 32mm scope...works well to about 125 yards with rem buckhammer ammo....i got a used barrel for a hundred or so, if I recall correctly.
OH
 
I have a dedicated slug shooter, its a Remmy 11-87 with a Lupy scope and using 3" lightfield slugs, its accurate to 200 yards. It will group 1 1/2" at 100. 200 Yard drop is 18 inches.

I use an 870 smoothbore for thick woods hunting and I believe that I will either try a rifles choke or buy an open sighted rifled barrel for my 11-87.

This past season I screwed up and took the smoothbore out on opening moring because I was going to sit in the rain all day. I had a deer at 148 yards and the smoothbore was not up to the task. the rifled barrel would have dropped it in its tracks.
 
As a diehard bullet caster and reloader, I've been messing with the shotgun slug thing for the past 20 plus years.
For some odd reason, I always felt it a challenge to create a factory accurate hand cast and loaded slug, even though, since the hangun laws allowed us to hunt with them, I hadn't carried my smoothbore slug gun since then.

Yeah, I bought the Lyman foster type slug mould, and although it shot like crap in most everything I loaded it in, I kept at it. The problem with that slug was that it had been "lawyered" up so much (smaller diameter to fit through full chokes) that it wouldn't shoot well through most improved cylinder (most smoothbore slug barrels) guns.

I had a machinist friend of mine make some swaging dies so that I could swage it out to fit the improved cylinder barrel and it shot far, far better.....at least as good as factory at that point, but still nowhere near enough for me to start shooting slug guns for deer again.

Well, about 8 or 9 years ago, maybe more, I bought the Lyman sabot slug mould (525grains) to try out. At first, they said that it was accurate through both smoothbores, and/or rifled barrels (which were just introduced shortly prior to that).
Some of my first loads through my smoothbores weren't much better than the other slug loads to be honest. I dropped the project for awhile, and went onto other endeavors.

As of last fall, it peaked my interest again and I cast up a whole bunch and started messing around once more. Well, grabbing a load (the most consistent) out of the Lyman manual for that sabot slug, I grabbed the components I had on hand that fit the recipe in the book, and after a few sessions during last year's pre-season bench sessions with several different "rifled" shotguns.....I finally hit paydirt.....!

Out of 2 Remington 1187's, and my partner's Benelli, those loads easily outshot factory sabots. My father in law had such a love with the Lightfield's that I thought nothing would ever change his view of them.
Once he shot these handloads, they easily outshot the Lightfield's, and made him (and me) a believer. My partner with the Benelli had shot sabotted slugs since they first came out with them.......remember the BRI's ?.....

He's tried everything and when he came over to use the range, he knew what his gun did with them. After a handfull of handloads were shot through his gun, and with only a 4 power scope, he was a confirmed believer (and again, so was I). Shooting one hole 3 shot groups at 100yds (considering it was only a 4 power scope) was unbelieveable.

Those slugs have the diameter of a nickel on it's face, and at 1400fps, and 525 grains, they hit very HARD.
Needless to say, I think I've created a monster because now I can't keep up with casting & loading come deer season...

I'm happy never the less....

BTW- Hey Fred..........


Take care,
Bob
 
I believe the poster above who mentioned the High Standard, having the screwed in barrel, hit on something very important to smoothbore sluggers.

The barrel/receiver joint on most shotguns is just a slip fit, but several shotguns were made with fully threaded or interrupted (partially) threaded barrel to receiver joints.

some of those shotguns were:
Win. model 12 (interrupted thread w/ tensioning mechanism)
Ithaca 37 (interrupted thread)
Savage 67
J.C. Higgins M20 (High Standard Flite King)

In addition, the Smith and Wesson 916A (Nobles pump), and the Winchester 25 (non-takedown model 12) used fixed barrel to receiver unions. These guns should make superb sluggers.

A red dot sight on such shotguns can make the 100 yard smoothbore slug shot a consistent slam dunk. Many of these guns are old "house brand" chain store shotguns and a little modification won't hurt their values.

Then you have the many bolt action shotguns that were commonly in use years ago...most have fixed barrel to receiver joints, many have adjustable chokes which after a little experimentation will allow accurate slugging and tight buckshot patterns to boot. They typically just need a good set of sights....most will accept a sidemount for a scope.

I have often wanted to try building a smoothbore slugger out of one of the old 98 Mauser actioned "GEHA" shotgun conversions that were made in Germany years ago. One in good shape with a good bedding job and/or a freefloating barrel, and a good set of sights ought to be the apogee of the smoothbore slugger.
 
6mmADL,
I just about bought a Savage bolt action 12 guage a couple of months ago, to to a conversion on just for fun. Then I remembered just how much fun slug shooting is, and quickly changed my mind. The gun sold for $40. My Highstandard shot really well. But nothing like the Rifle Browning A bolt I have now. Smooth bores can be accurate enough to 100 yds for sure. I have taken a pounding over the years, but one of the nicest rigs I've shot, was the Remington 11-87 Deer gun. Had the Cantilever barrel. Real nice. One more thing, Slug guns are tough on glass. I found a straight 6x Leupold to be more than enough. A straight power scope in my opinion holds up to recoil of slug guns much better ( at least I've had fewer problems than my friends) Good Luck.
 
Regarding glass, I put a 42mm BSA red dot on my Ithaca, which is a very hard kicking gun. It has enough recoil to torque out of my hands shooting at the bench off bags. Of course I figured that the BSA, in a B-square saddle mount, would be destroyed in short order or unable to hold a zero. Would you believe that it has been on that shotgun for over 5 years now, and has been re-zeroed exactly twice in that time? The red dot is perfect for a slug gun.

For the low investment, a cheap red dot and a "house brand" slug gun are a very deadly combination.
 
I would look to a rifled barrel for a one purpose deer slug gun. The new slugs made for these seem to shoot very well. I have a smoothbore rifle sighted barrel on one of my really old Rem 1100's and it will shoot clover leafs at 75 yds with normal 1 oz slugs. I will say that after shooting alot of these types of shotgun some barrels are just better than others. Just like everything else.
 


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