870 rifled barrel for HD

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doctori

New member
I have a Remington 870 with a rifled barrel that I use for deer hunting. Can I shoot 00 buckshot through it for HD or would I be better off buying a tactical shotgun? or trying to find a smooth bore barrel? :confused:
 
From what I have heard (no personal experience) the pattern will "donut" pretty badly when you shoot buck out of a rifled shotgun barrel....meaning that it will spread out in a circular patter with the center of the pattern being empty, which means no shot hits the center of the target/aimed area.

You can just buy a smooth bore (18" long) barrel for it and have that barrel on the shotgun while it is loaded for self defense at home, then put your rifled barrel on it when you go out hunting. If you do buy a new barrel I'd recommend getting one with rifled sights on it.

Changing barrels on the 870 is very quick and easy to do, so the option is well worth it. Of course if you are looking for a reason to buy a whole new shotgun, then by all means have at it :D
 
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You'd be better off with a smooth bore barrel. Rifled shotgun barrels are designed to shoot sabot slugs, not shot.
 
Yes you can shoot buckshot from your rifled barrel. Is a smooth bore better? Yes.

For most HD distances you probably won't see to many negative effects from the rifled barrel. Get a few boxes of 00 and go try it at 10 yards or so before you drop the $ for another barrel.
 
870 smooth bore barrels are, very very easy to find. and cheap

did I mention how easy they are to find and how cheap they are?

cause they are
 
Shoot it and see how it works.
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This ^.

The patterns will eventually donut, when they get out far enough. The question is, at distances found in your home will they be acceptible. Take some measurements of your home, take some cardboard and 00 to the range and do some testing.
 
How could it throw a bad pattern at in the house distances?
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Yes, its fine, inside 30 feet, you wont see significant differences between your barrel and a smoothbore.

Keep in mind, your rifled barrel is probably slightly longer than most 18.5" HD Tac barrels you find, making it less wieldy. Its also waaaaaay heavier than a HD specific barrel. If these are significant issues to you, pick up the extra barrel; besides, just think of the intimidation factor with a door breaching, crenelated strike muzzled 18" barrel;)

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/SHT600-1.html
 
Thanks

Thank you all for the great advice! We all know that times are tough but I would really hate ruining my favorite 870. I did look at a few gun shops and they told me that the barrel would cost almost as much as a new 870 (although they did not want to trade). That seemed hard to believe :eek:

I'll do some more looking around and let you know how it turns out :)
 
Do some internet searches for 870 barrels only that are smooth bore. I can't imagine them being as much as the whole gun, new or used...but I have a Mossberg so I have not done any research on 870 barrels.
 
I normally steer clear of exotic ammo in my scatterguns...00 or 000 buck or regular old pumpkin balls work great for me. HOWEVER, in this particular instance a certain type of ammo popped in my head.

If you pattern your gun with normal 00 buck or whatever you select and find that it throws a donut pattern at a range where you'd like to keep the pattern tighter you _might_ want to check out this stuff:

http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catal...dual-load-ammo/cName/12-gauge-specialtyexotic

"This is 12 Gauge Pit Bull Ammo. This ammo is loaded with a dual load. It has six 00 Buck pellets and a 3/4 Oz. slug. The buckshot shoots out first followed by the slug. This is a great choice for home protection. If the buckshot don't get them, the slug will. This is a really powerful load. It is a 2 3/4" shell and is loaded to the max load. It is safe to shoot in all 12 Gauge shotguns."

I am thinking the buckshot might donut, but when you got a slug coming hard up the middle who cares? :D

Sure it is expensive and some guys might advise against specialty ammo for a variety of reasons. But it might be just what the doctor ordered until you can afford a dedicated HD barrel. Or you might want to someday have your slug barrel pinned to the receiver and not want to swap barrels.
 
If you search the for sale forums on the various gun boards you'll find a surplus of 870 barrels for sale for around 100.00 and some slightly less. Many of these will be 26 or 28" VR barrels, but with a little work they can be cut down to 18.5" length if you choose. Or they can be used just fine as is.

I wouldn't necessarily shop for new when it comes to replacement barrels when used can be found inexpensively.
 
I would really hate ruining my favorite 870.
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Buckshot is not going to damage your slug barrel. I used to shoot buckshot, birdshot, and slugs out of a rifled barrel 20ga (because it was all I had) and there were no ill effects to the gun.
 
i don't believe your shotgun should be used for HD in my opinion. if you want to use 00buck in your house then go ahead. shoot 5 rounds into your wall and see the damage. compare that to a pistol. plus in a worse case scenario, magazines are easier to reload than a choke.
 
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