Rifled Choke

[Karlo]

Who has experience with rifled choke's ?

I have 2 barrel's for my 870, both are smooth bore, one is a 18" Police Barrel and the other a 28" ribbed with a interchangeable choke.

I plan on doing some deer hunting in an area that is restricted to "Shotgun Only" and I'd like to shoot a sabot style slug. Also, at this point I don't feel like putting out the money for a rifled slug barrel if I don't have to, here are my questions .. .. ..
1.) stick with rifled slugs in the 18" ?
2.) Would the rifled choke in the 28" spin the slug enough to be accurate out to 100-yards ?
3.) Should I just Buck-up and get a rifled slug barrel ?

Thanks -

[Vitaly]

Here results of my tests: Testing Rifled Choke for Shotguns

There were no big difference between cylinder and rifled choke on about 54 yards. Plan to test rifled choke on longer distances.

[Karlo]

Here results of my tests: Testing Rifled Choke for Shotguns

There were no big difference between cylinder and rifled choke on about 54 yards. Plan to test rifled choke on longer distances.

You link sends me to a page for tacticle flashlights ( ? ) ... WTF ?

[Vitaly]

Sorry, link fixed.

[Synchronizor]

You don't need to make duplicate threads for a single topic.

A couple inches of rifling at the end of the barrel isn't much of a substitute for 20+ inches of rifling in a dedicated slug barrel. Rifled choke tubes are usually intended to either give a little extra stability to slugs intended for smoothbore barrels (though their efficacy here is questionable, as most smoothbore slugs are capable of self-stabilizing without spinning, and some report that the rifled choke actually works against this), or to spin a column of shot for a very fast-spreading close-range pattern (these are sometimes sold as "diffusion chokes").

I've heard some anecdotes of certain spin-stabilized slugs being "minute-of-deer" though rifled chokes, but others report that their slugs were not being stabilized and were key-holing. There are a wide variety of slugs and chokes on the market, so this isn't surprising. I'd expect your best chances for stable flight would be with a lightweight slug and an extended rifled choke, but even if you find a combination that doesn't keyhole, I'm not sure it'd still be effective out at 100 yards, especially with just a rib to aim with.

Personally, I would just stick with the less-expensive smoothbore slugs if you aren't able to get a fully-rifled slug barrel with good long-range sights or a scope. Find a load & choke that play well together, and practice with it until you know what the gun, the ammo, and you as a shooter are capable of.

[Vitaly]

Tested rifled choke with birdshot today. Distance was about 15 meters (about 16,5 yards) to test spread.

[Karlo]

You don't need to make duplicate threads for a single topic.

A couple inches of rifling at the end of the barrel isn't much of a substitute for 20+ inches of rifling in a dedicated slug barrel. Rifled choke tubes are usually intended to either give a little extra stability to slugs intended for smoothbore barrels (though their efficacy here is questionable, as most smoothbore slugs are capable of self-stabilizing without spinning, and some report that the rifled choke actually works against this), or to spin a column of shot for a very fast-spreading close-range pattern (these are sometimes sold as "diffusion chokes").

I've heard some anecdotes of certain spin-stabilized slugs being "minute-of-deer" though rifled chokes, but others report that their slugs were not being stabilized and were key-holing. There are a wide variety of slugs and chokes on the market, so this isn't surprising. I'd expect your best chances for stable flight would be with a lightweight slug and an extended rifled choke, but even if you find a combination that doesn't keyhole, I'm not sure it'd still be effective out at 100 yards, especially with just a rib to aim with.

Personally, I would just stick with the less-expensive smoothbore slugs if you aren't able to get a fully-rifled slug barrel with good long-range sights or a scope. Find a load & choke that play well together, and practice with it until you know what the gun, the ammo, and you as a shooter are capable of.

I've seen people get 3 and 4 inch groups with a smooth bore 18" police barrel at 100 yds. using a rifled slug ... the area I'll be deer hunting is thick coastal brush and I do not expect a shot over 75 yds. hence, I think my set-up will group 2 or 2 1/2 inches at 50 / 75 yards, hence ... I can live with that !