rifled vs smooth bore

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customaquatics

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is it really worth getting a rifled barrel for my Mossberg 500? were im at im not going to be sniping no 100+ yards at deer. an what i do need tho' is a cantilever barrel for the scope mount.
 
Do you like venison? My father in law missed 6 times at 50 yards and less on 2 deer. I hit 1 at 120 yards 1 shot. Guess who had a rifled barrel. It makes a huge difference.
 
is it really worth getting a rifled barrel for my Mossberg 500? were im at im not going to be sniping no 100+ yards at deer. an what i do need tho' is a cantilever barrel for the scope mount.
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Is it really worth getting a rifled barrel for my Mossberg 500? Where I'm at, I'm not going to be shooting farther than 100 yards. I would like to have a barrel with a cantilever scope mount.
 
I've seen some smooth-bore slug barrels shoot amazingly well. Slug barrels are VERY picky about the ammo they use. One barrel will favor a certain brand of ammo and another barrel with favor another brand. The only way to know is to shoot.

As to the cantilever mount, I'd personally avoid it. I've seen them flex and bend too much. Yes, there are some people that have had good results with them but I'd personally not risk it. For less than 100 yds, good iron sights will work fine unless you are eyesight challenged.
 
I have to go with Doyle on this one. I use a smooth bore 12 gauge single shot. The barrel seems to matter also. A thicker barrel is usually better with a smooth bore and ammo type realllllly makes a difference. Mine will shoot one ragged hole at 50 yards with 3 shots. I use Federal ammo. I know I have shot two deer at 70 yards and it hit where I aimed. I should use mid-range targets to determine where it finally goes wild, and will check that this summer. I gave my 20 gauge rifled gun to my Buddy. He shoots at a more open area and swears it is dead on at 100+. I don't know how far the sabots go, but that might be a consideration for you. I would rather have slugs that drop off fast where I am hunting.
 
I have both, the slug barreled gun sits in my rack gathering dust because I can shoot 4-6" groups all day long at any hunting distance I am likely to see from 25 to 100 yards with 3 of my smooth bores. Just tween you me and the neighbors dog your sights are more important than rifling in a shotgun barrel if you are hunting deer. I have two with rifle sights and one with a scope, the bead only guns aren't used for deer.
 
Is the barrel currently on your gun a rifle sighted smoothbore, or just a typical hunting barrel with a bead?

For the record, I use a rifle here to hunt big game, but do have a 20" rifle sighted smooth bore barrel on my HD 870. I use it mainly with buckshot, but have spent a little time shooting cheap foster type slugs through it at the range.

At 50 yards 3 shots tend to leave 1 rather large 2" or so hole in the target. At 100 yards I can keep 3 shots inside 4-5" with the iron sights. If I ever had to use it for deer hunting I feel pretty good about my chances out to at least 100 yards with the smooth bore.

The rifled barrels along with sabot slugs and optics will give you the accuracy and range to shoot to around 200 yards. Or so I'm told, never actually tried it.
 
My answer is no and I'll go as far as to say I hate rifled slug barrels. Or maybe I should say the cost of the ammo. Nothing like dropping $30 or more just to sight in. You won't catch me shooting them when I can do everything I need with the smoothbore. Under 100 yards (definetly under 75) it will make little if any difference.

Big Al HUnter, It wasn't your farther in laws gun. He's a crappy shot and you obviously just got luckier than him. :eek:

LK
 
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Been using the same old 12 ga. Rem. 1100, rifle sighted smooth bore for the last 30+ years. It shoots Rem. Sluggers very well out to 100yds. Up until two years ago, Sluggers were all I used. Tried the Brenneke KO's and the group tightened up a bit so I now use the Brenneke's.

With all that said, out to 100yds, which in this part of the country is usually the max shot, the smoothbore works as well as the rifled bbl.

The extra 50(or so) yds a rifled bbl shooting sabots would provide, IMO, is not worth going out and specifically buying the rifled bbl if you already own a smoothbore. With the right slug, it's capable of 100yd shots and that's the max distance you are hunting.

Save your $ , buy more foster slugs and enjoy more range time with what you have....

...or invest your $ in a decent black powder inline capable of 200-250yd shots and you can use it for shotgun and bp season. Of course that is if this is legal where your at.
This also gives you the excuse to buy another gun plus extends your overall hunting season ;)
 
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I too, cannot tell any difference in distances less than 100 yards. Perhaps, just perhaps, at the range, with a good rest, and out close to 100, but in a hunting situation. No.
 
rifled barrel smooth bore

I saw the CEO of Savage Arms drop a deer with his rifled bolt action shotgun in 20 gauge at 165 yards on a TV show,I would say the rifled barrel is worth it.:) Cliff
 
And then walking out to your stand there's the buck of a lifetime at 120 yards.

Get the rifled cantilever barrel and a worthy scope.
 
^^^
...and if you do this, please make sure your willing to spend the $'s and time to be proficient at taking that 125yd shot or 150,175etc. with whichever you choose.

There always seems to be that trophy that shows up just out of my comfort range regardless of what I'm using. NOT taking that shot is challenging but,IMO, a must.
 
OLD GRUMP well stated,but I do like the rifled barrel, ON the other hand I own a slug barrel for my Browning Auto 5 and thats it. I was just impressed with the Savage Bolt Action 20 gauge rifled barrel shotgun!:) Cliff!
 
I was just impressed with the Savage Bolt Action 20 gauge...
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My sons FIL bought the same shotgun. He scoped his. I also, am impressed with it as I watched him shoot some very accurate groups out to 200yds using Hornady saboted slugs. He shot a nice doe @ 178 yds this last season. He'll also tell you the key to shooting distance with anything is knowing what your shooting and spending the time on the range getting confident of the long shots.

Spending a lot of time bow hunting, I couldn't agree with him more.

If I :...

...hunted more open areas

...didn't use the bp inline during shotgun season as much

...was in the market for a dedicated slug gun

I too, would be taking a very hard look at the Savage Bolt Action in 20ga. as they are flat shooting and impressive.
 
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Do you like venison? My father in law missed 6 times at 50 yards and less on 2 deer. I hit 1 at 120 yards 1 shot. Guess who had a rifled barrel. It makes a huge difference.
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Maybe he was using a SINGLE bead sight gun, in which case it was probably a factor, but he should not have taken the shots. Otherwise the gun had nothing to do with it.
Went hunting with a guy a few years ago who had his 1100 police with a brand new cantilivered slug barrel and boxes upon boxes of slugs. By far the most expensive rig out that day. Scariest time I have ever spent hunting. The guy reloaded multiple times during the day during single events.

I have a 12ga barrel.

It is more accurate than the smooth bores.
It still isn't all that accurate.
I use hornady sabotted slugs. and have tried several others.
Shooting enough sabotted slugs to learn the gun well is going to cost a lot.
The recoil bothers me ALOT more when using a scope than when using rifle sights.

I decided my muzzle loader was a better weapon than any shotgun iteration I have tried EXCEPT when pushing deer. In that case they are usually relatively close and moving, so the rifled scope isn't much good. My ML was much easier to learn to shoot than the shotgun as the recoil is very tame.

Ballistics on a 20ga are a little bit different, although I am not sure that is true for all the sabotted rounds(no reason one of them couldn't be the same projectile in a 12 and 20 ga sabotted round). If I was building a dedicated shotgun hunting rig with scope I would def go 20 or higher ga.

I am willing to bet there is a significant difference between a savage slugster barrel and a 500 barrel. The Savage are designed with Hornady slugs in mind I believe.

I am planning to sell my 12 ga 500 rifled barrel with rifle sights and a receiver mount for the scope If you are interested. The receiver mount works as well as any other and requires no gunsmithing. I also have the option of dropping it off whenever I want and using the rifled sights. Would be a lot cheaper than buying a New or even used barrel and it can all ship to your door. If you want to try it, lots of times it doesn't matter what other people tell you. You got to try it before you learn. I did.
 
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Maybe he was using a SINGLE bead sight gun, in which case it was probably a factor, but he should not have taken the shots. Otherwise the gun had nothing to do with it.
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Actually his shotgun had rifle type iron sights. And he is an excellent shot. The second deer he shot at with the shotgun only took one shot from his pistol. It is possible that he had a touch of buck fever but that doesn't explain the excellent pistol shot. I wanted to do some testing at the range but he was so mad he sold the shotgun before we went out again. I have to admit it could have been his sights were knocked out of alignment. But his shotgun was never that accurate to start with.

From my own testing with smooth bore and rifled shotguns the rifling makes them more accurate. The type of ammo makes the range stretch a bit. I have had great results with Hornady sabots in my TC encore pro hunter rifled barrel. I have only put it on paper to 100 yds so far but it beats the smooth bore hands down for accuracy. Until you do the testing for yourself you won't see the difference. The key to killing quickly and humanely is putting the bullet exactly where it needs to be. The best way to make that happen is to use the most accurate gun you can and practice as much as you can. Then keep yourself inside your known limits.
 
I have had Mossburg barrels with the cantilever mount in the past, both smoothbore and rifled. If you bend that Mossburg mount, you will distort/bend the barrel itself. It is short and very heavy duty as opposed to some of the other designs.

A rifled barrel will turn it into a true 150 yd rifle with the appropriate sabots.

On the Mossburg platform, because of the design, the cantilever is the most accurate.
 
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