Need advice- I bought a rifled 870

kissgoodnight

I did not notice the barrel was rifled and have never owned one.

How do you use a rifled barrel? I intended to shoot 00 or smaller, now I don't know this will work even with rifled slugs.

I assume it is not intended for rifled slugs, the only slugs I have ever used. However,
I just wanted it for home defense with nothing bigger than 00 buck.

Mr. Perfect

The rifled bbl is intended for use with slugs (non-rifled ones)... hunting primarily at ranges less than 200 yards due to bullet drop, primarily. Shot is not going to pattern well out of it. My best recommendation is to find another bbl for it, as they are plentiful and easy to swap out. For home defense you probably will just want an inexpensive cylinder bore and you won't need to worry about removable choke tubes, unless you intend to repurpose this shotgun at some point.

You can see the comparison between cylinder and modified here:
http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-45-shotgun-chokes-and-buckshot-part-two/

And for comparison, if you decide to try the rifled bbl with shot, your patterns are going to be rather "donut" shaped and unpredictable as the rifling tends to spin the shot out in a circle.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-43-buckshot-in-a-rifled-shotgun-barrel/

rufe-snow

The rifling would have a tendency to disrupt the shot pattern, at longer range. For up close and personal home defense. With buck, not going to make any difference.

When close range shooting with buck, (<10yds), you have to aim. Just like if you are using, a pistol or revolver. It just doesn't spread enough, to give you a large pattern fudge factor. Like some folks believe. Specially with the currently made shells. They have enclosed wads with the shot buffered with small plastic granules. These are made for extended range hunting. Not to spread at inside the house distances.

charliemeyer007

I would invest in a short smooth bore barrel for your stated purpose. I cut my 870 Express barrel to 20" and installed a screw in choke tube system. It is pistol gripped and has an extended magazine. For my Lyman cast 540 grain sabot slugs I installed a mid-bead in the rib to serve as a rear sight. It is 31 inches in overall length and when fully loaded recoil is very manageable.

With my 2.75" slug loads hits on 3# coffee cans at 90 yards are easy, the misses are usually close enough. I generally load 1.25 ounces of shot over 3.75 dram equivalent in my 2.75 shells. I don't reload 3" but I do like the factory 18 pellets of 00 or the 41 pellets of #4 buckshot.

I take it hunting for both bunnies and birds. Every year or so I take it to the range. A round or two of trap, skeet or sporting clays keeps me practice. Get a lots funny looks from the regular shotgun folks.

My favorite choke tube is marked Skeet #2. My last trap range shoot was with my H&R single shot Topper also cut to 20" and sharing the same choke tubes as the 870. I did manage one 25/25 round with the H&R using superlight reloads 7/8 oz of shot on 2.5 DE.

As a kid I shot many thousands of rounds of 00 because I could cast them. I have a Lee #4 buckshot mold that sort of works.

http://www.GunBroker.com/Gun-Parts/BI.aspx?Keywords=remington+870+barrel No FFL required for barrels. About $150 maybe less.

tsr1965

The rifled shotgun barrel is intended for use with Sabot slugs. In anything other than a Hastings rifled barrel, the regular Foster type rifled slugs will lead up the more in under 10 shots, rendering it inaccurate, with either rifled, or sabot slugs. I would go on the auction side, and look for a short smooth bore barrel for your purpose. There should be plenty of rifle sighted smooth bore 870 barrels out there, as they were/are a favorite of Law Enforcement Agencies...world wide.

Best

11b6r

EITHER the barrel or the slug can be rifled. But not both.

Stilwater36

Rifled 870 barrel--Use Sabot shotgun shells.Deer hunting.
Smooth 870 barrel with Rifle sights--Use FOSTER RIFLED SLUGS.
Purchase or trade the current RIFLED barrel,for a 18" smooth bored
18"riot barrel. This will give you what your after "self Defense"

MG1890

Trade for a smoothbore barrel.

That rifled barrel is gonna foul pretty quick with foster slugs.

Shot loads may be a little more forgiving as the plastic shot cup should be all that touches the bore, same as a sabot slug...

iceracerx

Since there isn't a true 'rifled slug' you might want to trade it for a smooth cylinder bored barrel intended for buckshot or lead slugs.

Or, you could invest in a box of Sabot slugs and be amazed at group size @ 100 yards.

tsr1965

quote:Originally posted by iceracerx
Since there isn't a true 'rifled slug' you might want to trade it for a smooth cylinder bored barrel intended for buckshot or lead slugs.

Or, you could invest in a box of Sabot slugs and be amazed at group size @ 100 yards.


Your bringing up a post from 2 years ago?

spirits

Some areas require rifled slug shotguns only (also black powder rifles) for deer hunting. So you might want to hold onto it for that purpose. The rifled slug shotguns work great with the old Foster slugs too as well as with the Sabot slugs.