24 inch barrel

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bspillman

New member
Guys I picked up a 24 inch smooth bore barrel with rifle sights for my maverick 12 gauge on the cheap. Now that I have it. What would this barrel be used best for? May be a dumb question idk.
 
Smoothbore barrels with rifle sights are "slug barrels".

They are meant for deer/bear hunting, the rifle sights allow you to be more accurate shooting slugs than the regular shotgun bead. They normally are cylinder bore (no choke).

The design comes from the days before someone figured out that they could put (shallow) rifling in a shotgun to aid accuracy when shooting slugs.
 
"...They are meant for..." They're good for the occasional riot too. snicker.
The length harkens back to BP days. The idea was that the longer barrel was required for the pressure to build more. That matters with BP, but not with smokeless powder.
Any Maverick barrel will also fit on a Mossberg M500 too.
 
Slug hunting and other stuff

As mentioned; for slug-hunting. However, you can also use it for general shot-shell hunting and home defense. Might want to confirm the choke but it is probably IMP-Cyl. ….. :confused:

Be Safe !!!
 
Thanks everyone. There is no choke at all in this barrel. It’s smooth all the way through. It’s just 24 inches long with rifle sights.
 
I couldn’t find anything on the barrel to confirm what choke is in it. Would it be safe to assume that it is improved cylinder?
 
I couldn’t find anything on the barrel to confirm what choke is in it. Would it be safe to assume that it is improved cylinder?
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No. Slug barrels are normally "cylinder" - meaning no choke at all.
 
Thanks Doyal so I should be able to shoot anything out of this barrel with good results except maybe sabot slugs correct?
 
chokes

Not getting it......is this a fixed choke gun, or is there a choke tube of unknown constriction?

It there's a tube, the degree of choke should be stamped on the tube, visible when removed. A choke tube wrench will get that done.......hopefully. If indeed the gun takes tubes, 24" has become very popular as a turkey tube, w/ full or extra full tube. The rifle sights are a plus when shooting modern, tight patterning turkey loads at Ol' Tom's noggin.

We put a mag extension on bamaboy's 24" Mossberg 835 and shot it in 3-gun for a bit, seems like it held 10+1. Half-loaded (tube only)with buckshot, and propped in the kitchen corner, it is a comforting thing
 
so I should be able to shoot anything out of this barrel with good results except maybe sabot slugs correct?
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Anything that doesn't need a choke, because you don't have one. :D

Slug barrels are normally cylinder bore (no choke). If you need a tight pattern (birdshot) you won't get one from a cylinder bore. Other than that, its fine. Foster type slugs are made to squeeze through a choked bore, safely (and so will sabots) but USUALLY are most accurate from a cylinder bore.

Totally safe to fire sabot slugs from a slug barrel. Its what they were built for, use in an unrifled bore. The (relatively) modern rifled slug barrels aren't a requirement, they are an improvement.

With a 24" barrel what you have was meant to be a slug gun, for hunting. It's "short" compared to the usual 26" and longer tubes of bird guns, but its not the 18-20" length of riot and trench guns. Also the sights. mostly, riot & trench guns don't bother with rifle sights. They just use a regular bead.

You should be fine shooting slugs, including sabot slugs. Fine for buckshot. If you need a tight pattern of #8 shot to nail a dove at 40yds, better look into a different barrel.

Hope this helps...
 
Even though you certainly "can" shoot sabot slugs, you probably won't want to. Sabot slugs are made for a rifled barrel. Shooting them out of a smooth bore will likely result in no better accuracy than a foster slug (and probably worse). The fact that they cost significantly more coupled with no accuracy improvement makes them a non-starter.

Personally, I always wanted to see if there was enough meat in that barrel wall to allow threading. A smooth bore 24" barrel with rifle sights and threaded for a choke tube would make an ideal turkey barrel.
 
Slug guns are handy for rabbits and grouse in thick cover where shots are fairly close. I
don't have any experience with Maverick slug barrels. I have cut a couple off to 181/4" for
HD guns. All the low end shotguns will surprise you when you cut them off. The bore is not
centered in barrel. However they extrude the barrels Muzzel is uniform. If I ever have one
that is beyond saving I would like to saw it off ahead of chamber and inspect berrel wall
thickness. I have cut dozens of older model shotguns and don't recall ever seeing off center
bore.
 
My dad always used his Ithaca Deerslayer for rabbit hunting and it had a 24 inch smoothbore fixed cylinder bore barrel with rifle sights, he loved the shorter barrel for moving through the woods and thick brush.
 
bspillman said:
Thanks Doyal so I should be able to shoot anything out of this barrel with good results except maybe sabot slugs correct?
Click to expand...
Sabots are for rifled slug barrels. Smooth bore slug barrels work better with rifled slugs. And even then, you'll have to try at least half a dozen brands and variations to see which one that barrel likes best.
 
Always pattern the loads ! Otherwise you might be surprised !
A O/U is 4" shorter than an auto' So my 24" barrel auto has the same total length as my 28" barrel O/U
A longer barrel has a different balance and sighting plane .Modern shotgun powders are fast and don't need long barrels to burn all the powder !
 
kymasabe said:
Sabots are for rifled slug barrels. Smooth bore slug barrels work better with rifled slugs. And even then, you'll have to try at least half a dozen brands and variations to see which one that barrel likes best.
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^This.

Some guys use 21 or 24" Rifle sight barrels in 3Gun as well.
 
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