i don't know much about slugs and rifled shotgun barrels.

C

cajun47

New member
i have three 12 ga. mossberg 500s i picked up for $100 each. they are all hunting shotguns.

do they make an 18 1/2" rifled barrel with sights and a modified choke that i could shoot 00 buckshot as well as slugs? can i use regular slugs in these rifled barrels? or do they need special slugs? i ask cause aren't regular slugs rifled also?
 
They make a 18.5" barrel but you dont use chokes in a rifled barrel. The rifles barrels are for shooting sabots at deer and other big game mainly, they do make smooth bore barrels with rifled chokes that screw in that you can shoot reg. slugs out of and can also shoot sabots safely. But no you cant get a barrel thats rifled and has a tube. Just doesnt work out, Id take your 3 guns and get one setup with the rifled barrel, one set up smooth bore and the other do whatever you choose to do with it.
 
If you have a choice, you don't want to shoot any shot load through anything rifled. Rifling acts like a spreader choke and will open up shot patterns terrifically fast, and usually leave a hole with no shot in it right in the middle of the pattern to boot. If you want a really versatile shotgun, you'll want a smoothbore barrel. These days, with the right shot loads, choke is not going to be an issue, either. You can get patterns out of a Cylinder bore (no choke) barrel that will make people call you a liar if you tell them how small they can be.

I'm not a big Mossberg fan, but as far as I know the only 18.5" barrels Mossberg makes for the 500 have bead sights. and the shortest smoothbore barrel Mossberg makes for the 500 with sights is 24" long. That may have changed by now, no doubt one of the Mossberg guys here will weigh in soon enough if that's the case.

Your best bet if you want to be able to shoot shot and slugs without changing anything about the gun is most likely just to shoot both shot and RIFLED slugs out of a SMOOTHBORE barrel - unless you're planning to shoot slugs at more than 100 yards or so, and want a slug-specific gun to do it with. Sabot slugs in a rifled barrel (with enough experimentation to find what load that particular barrel likes best) will usually be accurate somewhat further out, but I have no trouble hitting with rifled slugs out to 100 yards or so with any of several 870s I have which have sights. I shoot Brenneke KOs, not the sabot kind, the rifled kind, because I only have smoothbore barrels on my 870s so they work well with buckshot loads too. The Brennekes are accurate by my measure, a good hard alloy sharp shouldered slug that makes cookie cutter holes, penetrates deep and they are reasonably inexpensive as well.

hth,

lpl
 
Rifled chokes are pretty much a waste. I've never seen them give any greater accuracy than a plain smoothbore with a properly selected slug (one which that particular barrel likes).
 
Mossberg does have an 18 1/2 inch barrel. It has bead sights on it and it is a smooth bore. My 500 came with 2 barrels..the 26 or 28 inch and the 18 1/2. If you can find one then you can shoot slugs out of it and buck shot out of it.

As mentioned above do not shoot buckshot out of a rifled barrel. Since you have 3 500s, you might want to look around and get a smooth bore 18 1/2 inch barrel and a 18 1/2 inch rifled barrel. The rifled barrel will let you shoot sabot slugs which have great range...100 yards easy.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=748383

That should get you started. Looks like they only make the rifled barrels in 24 inch now.
 
Actually the rifled barrel sounds like it'd be great for HD.

At HD distances the donut wouldn't get that big, punch a 4" dounut hole in the burger's chest.
 
If the information from that boxotruth link is any evidence I would not want that for home defense. 18" spread at 5 yards brings in too much uncertainty as to where your shot (plural) will go. Some WILL miss. I'd much prefer to have a clean tight pattern that is going where I point it.

18" donut on a target dummy aimed at the chest is more likely to hit shoulder-arm and abdomen rather than vital, center-mass.
 
I guess if you home has any spaces larger than 15 feet it would be bad... :(

If you take that normal shot through a smoothbore opens up at about 1" per yard I calculated that the Wolf though rifled barrel spreads 3.6 times that rate.

Normal shot through a smoothbore would give roughly a 5" pattern at 5 yards. The Wolf through rifled opens up to 18"

So firing Wolf at 6 feet should create a 7.2" pattern.

Maybe that's not even effective - you're kind of circling the heart.
 
18" spread at 5 yards brings in too much uncertainty as to where your shot (plural) will go.
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I'd say 5 yds in a house is a very reasonable maximum distance. Most HD shots would be even shorter. That 18" spread suddenly becomes quite manageable.
 
they are all hunting shotguns
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Are any of them already equiped with a smoothbore slug barrel?

If so, you're already set up like Lee Lapin is talking about.
A smoothbore OC(open cylinder) slug bbl is capable of shooting some nice patterns with 00buck using some of the Flight Control ammo. The same bbl. is capable of 100yd shots with rifled slugs, accurate enough for deer hunting if you do your part.

Since I use the same Rem. 1100 for HD and deer hunting, and given the fact that most shots on a deer around here with slugs are 100yds or less, I don't see the need to buy a rifled bbl. I know where the smoothbore hits at 100yds. or less with rifled slugs and i know the pattern it throws with buck at HD distance.

A smooth bore shoots rifled slugs.
A rifled bore shoots sabot slugs.
 
I'd say 5 yds in a house is a very reasonable maximum distance. Most HD shots would be even shorter. That 18" spread suddenly becomes quite manageable.
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Bring that in to 2 yards (6ft.) and the spread is still 7.2 inches. I can't believe I'm finally the annoying person bringing math into a defense discussion but I wouldn't prefer a 7inch spread on my target vs a < 2inch spread on target. Don't get me wrong, I sure as hell wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of either but rifled barrels and buckshot just don't mix.
 
I'm finally the annoying person bringing math into a defense discussion but I wouldn't prefer a 7inch spread on my target vs a < 2inch spread on target.
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In a HD situation I'd MUCH prefer a 7" spread thatn a 2" spread. That allows for a significantly greater margin of error if your aim is slightly off.
 
I'm partly responsible for it, but I don't want this thread to derail into something that belongs in a different section (tactics and training) so I'll agree to disagree for now. It's an interesting topic to discuss and I might make a thread there if you don't beat me to it.
 
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