Link to breakdown of shotgun barrels?

S

shredder4286

New member
Hi,

I'm pretty new to shotguns, not the rest of the firearm world. I'm trying to get a simple understanding of the variations that shotguns and their cartridges come in- 1) smoothbore or rifled barrels 2) shot shell or slug
what i'm wondering- can you shoot shot shell/bird shot ONLY through smoothbore? can you shoot a slug ONLY through a rifled barrel?

Any links to a good read that would answer my question would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
 
Shot works best through a smooth barrel. Slugs of different types do better through smooth or rifle. Rifled slugs do best in smooth bores, while a sabot-clad slug needs either a rifled barrel or at least a rifled choke tube
 
Here are some of the basics ...

on general configuration / action types ..

http://www.americaoutdoors.com/shooting/features/basics.htm

Here is another one ...

http://www.texashuntworks.com/index.php/Articles/Featured-Articles/Shotgun-Basics.html

Here is some info on slugs ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_slug

any basic internet search will gives you tons of info ...and more detail ...

What are you trying to do with a shotgun / how do you intend to use it - maybe some of us can give you more specific info ??
 
As usual, 1-oz and BigJim are spot on.

As to the slug controversy/confusion: any slug can be shot thru any barrel of the same gauge (assuming an otherwise safe modern gun), otherwise there would be a whole bunch of lawsuits. Just because a sabot can be safely shot in a smooth bore and a conventional slug can be shot in a rifled barrel doesn't mean it's recommended.


If you look at wjg686's thread Which slug for BPS with rifled barrel? you'll see that spending the extra for rifled barrels and premium sabots doesn't always lead to a marriage made in heaven. If you intend to become a serious slugster, be prepared to spend some trigger time at the range evaluating a variety of appropriate slugs to determine which perform best in your particular gun.
 
What are you trying to do with a shotgun / how do you intend to use it - maybe some of us can give you more specific info ??
Click to expand...

i'm considering getting a Taurus Circuit Judge, the one that shoots .410 and .45 colt. The .410 for squirrel and rabbit hunting, the .45 just for fun, or maybe to hunt other things.
I was just trying to understand how you could have a rifled barrel with the appropriate twist to stabilize a .45 colt bullet, and also have that barrel create a decent pattern for .410 shotshells.
Forgive me if i ask questions that could've been googled... i'm stuck in iraq, and do enjoy the chit-chat:o
 
That barrel will NOT shoot the shotshell accurately at all. It is a .45LC gun that happens to be able to shoot a 410 shotgun shell
 
The .45lc will also suffer a bit of accuracy, I hear, as the rifling is very shallow for the .410 capability.

They had to put some rifling so it wouldn't be classed as a short shot gun.

Brent
 
shredder4286,

First, many thanks for your service. We all appreciate how the holiday season is especially hard on those away from home.

My friends, BigJimP and oneounceload, and I made the erroneous assumption that you were talking about a typical shotgun. Frequently new shooters are uncertain about which type of slug will perform best in their shotgun, and we thought you were one them. That's why you got the typical party line on slugs.

When the Judge .410-bore/.45 Colt revolver was first introduced, many of us didn't know what to think -- it seemed to be neither fish nor fowl. I recall when the.410-bore/.45 Colt barrel was introduced for the T/C. One of my Skeet shooting buddies was going to get one just to mess around with. But, IIRC, the state attorney general banned them here in CA. The Judge revolver seems to be marketed to the handgun crowd for personal defense. The shot-gunners, with their tactical HD shotguns didn't give the "little" Judge much thought. If you've got a high capacity 12 or 20-ga HD gun, why would you wanna mess with the .410 Judge?

It seems the hand-gunners have embraced the Judge. Where the .410-bore shot-shell is a mouse in a long gun, it's a monster in a handgun. So, while the shotgun community generally ignored the Judge, it's been accepted by the hand-gunners. Here's a revolver, that I initially thought was doomed to failure, that has spawned a long gun and special HD .410-bore shot-shell loads.

I've yet to see a Circuit Judge, but was interested in the initial reviews. Most folks were interested more in how the cylinder gap was shielded from the shooter's arm supporting the forearm than the performance of the new gun. I suspect some of the reviews were "arm chair" jobs.

As a more accurate alternate to the Circuit Judge, you might be able to put your hands on a Savage Model-24F (now discontinued). I recall the old .22LR over a .410-bore combo rifle/shotgun from my childhood. Many a an old Savage was kept by the open kitchen window to deal with pests. The newest version has a center-fire rifle over a 12-ga barrel. One ad for a used one claims they are, "Ready for any and all squirrel attacks."

If you get a Circuit Judge, I'm sure a performance report will be of interest to many of us here at the shotgun forum. In the mean time, please feel free to drop in for a chat anytime.
 
zippy-

thank you for your "tailored" response to my question. i really have a lot of time to think here, and i keep seeing ads for the circuit judge popping up, so i find myself accidentally buying into the hype of things like that sometimes. it just seemed like a cool concept to have a gun that could shoot .410 and .45, just for the heck of it. However- if the above statements are true, and this particular firearm will shoot NEITHER cartridge well, it really takes the appeal away completely. just about anybody can make something that sounds great, but is crap when it comes down to throwing lead and copper downrange
 
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Zippy's right ....you have to be careful of "marketing speak" ... and as you know, if it souns too good to be true, its probably not true.

Thanks for your service ....stay well...
 
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