Slug gun, do I need one?

ineedabrowninggold

Hello All!

I have won a lottery to a hunt-yippee! Problem is I must use a slug gun. Living in Virginia where this is not a necessity, I do not own a gun that is marketed as a slug gun or one with a rifled barrel. My question is can I shoot a slug shell in my standard shotgun or do I have to buy a rifled barrel for it, or do I have to buy a separate gun all together? Please help.[?]

GreenLantern

Get something like a Remington 870 where you can interchange the barrel so you could have one gun, yet just swap out the barrel for birds, slugs, trap .... etc.

spectre7

I'm by no means the most well informed on this subject, however, I believe the simple answer to your question is "yes". You can fire a slug from a standard smooth-bore shotgun, though your ability to accurately engage targets beyond 50 feet (Taking this figure from an article involving low-recoil slugs in the june issue of gunworld) or so would be diminished by the absence of rifling in the barrel.

Typos and profanity, oh my! http://www.funky-town.org

bsally

You could just buy a rifled chock tube. Accuracy will not be a good as a rifled barrel though.

SALLY
Committee member-Ducks Unlimited

oldgunner

My first deer was taken with a Mossberg 500 and a 12 ga. slug. No rifling, improved cyl choke. Practice before the hunt showed reasonable accuracy to about 75 yards. I don't know if it would damage a full choke barrel, but other than that, it shouldn't be a problem at all.

There are no bad guns, only bad people.

longhunter

Oh for goodness sakes...50 feet??///so ALL early smoth bore rifles were only accurate to 50 feet? POWDER...Did YOu get this? Anthow,my own personal experiance,I've shot MANY deer,the 5 years that I spent in Ohio.Shotgun only,slug only.No special slug gun,not even sights...The remington 870 I had was not that great in this instance.TheMossberg 500 was Very accurate,well that being a misnomer,as accyrate as good be expected...Which was with 2 3/4 slugs,imp.cyl bore,I killed them from your 50 feet t0 over 60 yards...I would reccomend pushing the 60 yards as these slugs run outta umph way too quick.....My 2 cents guy,ask away,I'll help where I can. L.H.

drobs

Ineedab,

What kind of shotgun do you have & does it have interchangable chokes? Depending on the gun it might be easiest to just buy a new barrel.

Tho you must pratice with it.

Regards,

longhunter

Drobs,Yup I dropped the ball on that one...it is my experiance that different slugs work better in different barrels,so practice to figure which is best in yours is in order,and the MORE practice...L.H.

drobs

I have a 60's era Police Type Rem 870 Wingmaster Shotgun, has a cylinder bore & bead sight. I found that when I was shooting slugs with that bead site at 50yds all my shots were going low. Using a friend's Norinco 870 knockoff with rifle sights with the same slugs shots were dead on.

If I were you I'd get me at minimum a cylinder bore gun with rifle sights, or ideally a rifled barrel with sights or a catilever for a scope.

Regards,

toocarz

Worst case, you can use a "bird" barrel (full choke) to hunt deer. Where I grew up few people had the cash for slug barrels (screw-in chokes weren't around yet) and we still killed a lot of deer. However, bird barrels are not real accurate with a slug so my advice would be as long as you are taking the time, spending the cash for a license, etc. to go deer hunting, find a few extra bucks to get a slug barrel or slug gun. You will be glad you did.

headzilla97

get an 870 you will thank me later

He who dies with the most toys still dies "NO FEAR"

longhunter

Sorry Headzilla,I just can't agree.......and I LOVE REMINGTONS....however the 870 is a real disappointment as far as I am concerned.I put mine back in the chest and took out a mosseberg,yupp,thats what I said....I do not believe 870's are worth their cost IMHO.....L.H.

coffinhandler

I own 3 slug guns and I have been hunting with them for over 20 years. I have a Mossberg 500 Crown grade with a cantilever mount with a scope. The gun is very accurate but it does not eject spent shells well and it is very noisy in the forearm when you adjust to make a shot.The 870 Remington has a bolt on cantilever mount topped with a scope. It also has a rifled choke tube. It is a little quiter than the Mossberg, but it is not as comfortable to shoot and it is not as accurate, though I think the accuracy is very acceptable. It also ejects spent shells much better than the Mossberg. My third and favorite gun is a Remington 1100 with a rifled barrel. it is comfortable to shoot, no rattle for the deer to hear and always shoots well, and groups well. My recommendation is to go with an 1100 or go with a bolt action, Marlin, Savage, Browning, Etc. Two of my friends own the Browning and the Marlin 512, I believe, and they are extremely accurate and dependable guns.I think the Marlin was a little over 200.00 and the Browning substantially more. One more observation we made during our practice sessions were that the 3 inch sabots did not group as well as the 2 3/4 inch shells. I personally shoot Remington copper solids and both of my friends shoot Federals. all 2 3/4 inch with pretty good results.

marinerah

I hunted for years where I could only use a shotgun. Yeah, the slug barrel helps but you can use a bird barrel, 50 yards is good with it. I shot many-a-deer with my smoothbore shotgun and a slug!! Good luck.