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Slugs and smoothbore...

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  • Paul5388

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    Feb 17, 2013
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    Rusk County
    Here's the feral hog that was rooting my yard. 00 buck at 40 yards.

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    M. Sage

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    Jan 21, 2009
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    San Antonio
    How tight is the choke? I've fired slugs through chokes as tight as full, but I wouldn't suggest that tight. Buckshot might surprise you, a lot of the testing I've seen on slugs suggests some types like to fragment (the HP variety in particular) and not track straight after impact. As long as the range isn't too far, and depending on your choke, buckshot might be your best option. Ironically, controlled recoil buck (which is lower-powered) seems to penetrate a bit deeper because the pellets deform less, and the lower velocity will pattern tighter.

    Realistically, if you want to reach out past about 25 yards, a rifle is going to be your best choice. Slugs can vary in POI pretty radically past (or even at!) that distance if you change brands or even lots, so unless your shotgun has an adjustable sight for slugs (mine does), shot placement can become very iffy.

    I've said it before, but not in a while so... Slugs are a great way to turn a perfectly good shotgun into a really shitty rifle.

    Rifled slugs are spun/stabilized in the air by the rifling cast into the slug itself, from what I understand. So, no you don't need a rifled barrel unless you're looking for long range (100+). Modified choke and you should be good. I went put several through my 870 at the last Hicksville meet. They leave nice big holes behind. :evil:

    No. They don't spin at all. The "rifling" is there to allow the front of the slug to deform and fit through a choke. The back is hollow, so that deforms readily, and being the front is solid and rear hollow, the front-heavy profile is what stabilizes a "rifled" slug fired from a smoothbore barrel.
     

    General Zod

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    Sep 29, 2012
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    Kaufman County
    As I said earlier, I'm considering it as a solution for "oh shit" encounters. Not as a hunting weapon. As for the choke, I have no idea. It's the factory choke that came in the barrel, and I've long-since lost the choke removal tool. It's sounding like .00 buck is a viable solution, though. I've used it on coyotes but have yet to line up a shot on one of the hogs that are beginning to move in. I simply wasn't sure if buckshot would be effective on a hog before I started this topic and wanted to explore options and learn a bit.
     

    M. Sage

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    Jan 21, 2009
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    San Antonio
    As I said earlier, I'm considering it as a solution for "oh shit" encounters. Not as a hunting weapon. As for the choke, I have no idea. It's the factory choke that came in the barrel, and I've long-since lost the choke removal tool. It's sounding like .00 buck is a viable solution, though. I've used it on coyotes but have yet to line up a shot on one of the hogs that are beginning to move in. I simply wasn't sure if buckshot would be effective on a hog before I started this topic and wanted to explore options and learn a bit.

    Go pattern it. What kind of barrel is it, a choke tool shouldn't be too expensive, and if it's a fixed choke the constriction is noted near the chamber of the barrel.
     

    General Zod

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    Sep 29, 2012
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    Pretty sure a fixed choke wouldn't have come from Remington with a choke tool in the box...

    As for patterning it, I did mention earlier that it gives me a fist-sized pattern at about 20 yards with birdshot. At about 25 yards the pattern with .00 buck is only an inch or two larger than a coyote's head, judging from the hits I got and how few pellets hit the dense brush on the other side of Wile E. I can account for four pellets I know passed above, below, or in front of his skull out of nine in the shell.

    The next chance I'll have to casually do some backyard target shooting is...God knows when. Seriously, I'm more likely to stumble upon a hog while hiking first. So that's the best pattern size estimate I can give for the foreseeable future. I'm pretty confident buckshot will do the trick now, so the slug issue is not as pressing. I'm also fairly sure the gun came with a modified choke (from poking around on the internet as well as the comments here) but I'm not going to send a slug down it without being certain.

    And, like I said, if I'm after Porky on purpose, I've got a Mini-14 that'll do the job. The shotgun is something I'll take along if I don't have the Mini handy and if I don't feel like strapping on my .45 - I like having options, y'know.
     

    Andy

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    Sep 13, 2013
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    Dallas, TX
    Measure the inside diameter of the barrel and we can tell you what the choke is.

    That said, choke is less a matter of muzzle diameter as it is downrange results; I've seen a Full choke pattern like an Imp Cyl already - so for all practical purposes, it WAS an Imp Cyl choke :)
     
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