Can I shoot Foster rifled slugs out of a mod choke?

T

tpcollins

New member
I was always told to shoot shotgun slugs with an IC choke if you had a smooth bore. I need to sight in a new red dot on my grandson’s Mossberg 500 20ga but the largest pattern choke is a mod.

I was going to use some cheap Winchester Foster-type rifled slugs to sight in the red dot to get it close, and then put the extra full choke in to pattern the turkey loads.

I was trying to save money (and my shoulder) versus shooting up a bunch of pricey turkey loads. Thanks.
 
My Benelli M1 tactical groups best with the Mod choke tube. Ive shot hundreds of slugs thru that gun with a mod choke. No issues.
 
YES

Can I shoot Foster rifled slugs out of a mod choke?
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Yes and for a number of years I even shot Fosters out of a full choke. You just have to put in some range-time, to verify how it shoots. All of my shots have been Midwest ranges and performance of the Fosters is fine !!

Be Safe !!!
 
The standard Foster "rifled" slugs can be safely fired through any choke. That's what the "rifling" on the slug is for, not to spin it, but to allow it to compress and pass through any choke, including FULL.

Best accuracy USUALLY comes from the most open choke, and cylinder bore is
considered the best for slugs, BUT test your own gun and the slugs you plan to use. Sometimes they will surprise you!
 
zeroing turkey guns

I've tried that trick, shooting slugs through the turkey gun first, to confirm the zero. It worked OK, but I honestly could find little difference in shooting affordable heavy field loads at about 20 yds or so, then moving out to 40 yds with a real gobbler getter to confirm I had what I needed.

At 20 yds, a field load will land in a pretty readable, tight pattern, even from modified choke, and you should be able to slide the pattern around with your sight system (you do have something adjustable I hope?) to center it up.
One thing to AVOID is to shoot your up close patterns with light game or trap loads! I've found they typically shoot low, likely due to low velocity and low recoil, and real turkey loads pattern way above them.

A bit of ranting. One of my objections to the "space shot" turkey loads at 7-10$ a shot is that folks are reluctant to shoot them up checking the zero of their guns. That needs done, as most shoot exceptionally tight with little fringe, and very little forgiveness. Missing a bird up close with space loads is very possible, whereas one might have collected him easily with lead.
 
"...need to sight in..." Your grandson needs to do that himself. You cannot sight in anything for somebody else. However, there's really no point sighting for a slug when he's going to shoot shot. He needs to pattern the thing with the shot, then sight in based on where the centre of the pattern is. Keeping in mind that most red dots are really too big.
You should look into having changeable chokes installed on Junior's shotgun too. Assuming that's not already done. An extra tight "turkey" tube won't be horribly expensive.
 
So True !!!

Your grandson needs to do that himself. You cannot sight in anything for somebody else.
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Good point !! For the past 5-yrs. My Grandson borrows my slug barrel. This past season I just gave it to hi with instructions to sight it in. I also gave him five boxes of Foster slugs. He got his deer and and when I asked him how it shot, he said that it was a tight group, 3" low and 2" to the left. We plan on going out and sighting it in. …… ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
reread

I just reread the OP. You've got a dot sight, and you've got a turkey choke.

Forget the slugs and the modified tube. Put the sight on the gun, get some std, 20 ga field loads with 1 oz of shot, screw in the turkey choke. Shoot the gun at 15-20 yds, off a bench, at a half dollar sized spot on a suitable backer. The object is to obliterate the dot. Slide the rat hole pattern you get around till the spot is totally plastered or dusted.

Once you've pasted that dot, move to 35-40 yds with your turkey load and shoot at a large, clean (no holes) suitable backer with a visible target, I use a hand drawn turkey head on a sheet of printer paper stapled to construction paper. Evaluate your pattern and move if necessary, but I doubt you will have to do much.

The slugs and mod tube will just be a waste of time and ammo.
 
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