Those will shoot out of smoothbore barrels without issue, they'll just start tumbling soon after they leave the barrel because they aren't capable of flying stably unless they're spun by rifling.Cendiv20 wrote:REMINDER they are only for fully rifled barrels!
870 Slug Barrel
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Re: 870 Slug Barrel
Re: 870 Slug Barrel
I have an 870 20 Ga that I bought not long ago. I decided I would take it with me for the bear/deer/partridge season. I go to a remote camp and will be nice to just transport 1 firearm. Could use it for all three, and any coyotes that may come along. With that thought in mind I purchased a Carlson Rifled Choke tube. Says "Slugs or Sabots". Tried some Remington Premier AccuTip Bonded Sabot Slug. These did not work at all and "keyholed" at 25 yds. Picked up a couple of boxes of other stuff. Among them was Hornady SST250 Gr FTX. They worked just fine at 25 yds. Just had to adjust my open (Williams) sight a little for windage. My question is why would they be designated (and I didn't notice they were designed for rifled barrels only til later) for rifled barrels only, and can I expect some sore of trouble with them whilst using the Carlson Rifled Choke tube?
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Re: 870 Slug Barrel
Not all saboted slugs are going to be stabilized by the couple inches of rifling you get in a rifled choke tube. And even if you find some that don't keyhole at 25 yards with just a rifled choke tube, they still might not be stable enough for precision work at longer ranges where they actually offer a substantial benefit. You may actually get better results with smoothbore slugs and an IC or skeet choke. Accuracy aside, there are no safety concerns with shooting spin-stabilized slugs in a smoothbore barrel, whether the choke is rifled or not.
If you want to get the most out of advanced slugs like the Remington AccuTips, you would be best off getting a fully-rifled slug barrel that you can swap on for longer-range deer hunting. You can get these with either a cantilever rail for scopes or open rifle sights, both of which should be compatible with your 870 (mostly depending on what accessories you're running on your receiver), and will maintain their zeroes while off the gun. It will be a bit more weight to pack to camp, but a lot less than another complete gun, and plenty of soft or hard cases will let you fit a second barrel alongside the shotgun.
If you want to get the most out of advanced slugs like the Remington AccuTips, you would be best off getting a fully-rifled slug barrel that you can swap on for longer-range deer hunting. You can get these with either a cantilever rail for scopes or open rifle sights, both of which should be compatible with your 870 (mostly depending on what accessories you're running on your receiver), and will maintain their zeroes while off the gun. It will be a bit more weight to pack to camp, but a lot less than another complete gun, and plenty of soft or hard cases will let you fit a second barrel alongside the shotgun.
- 20ga 870 slug barrels.JPG (16.1 KiB) Viewed 1942 times