hi all, ive been primarly hunting private land with rifles,i have state forest right in my backyard and am thinking of setting up a shot gun for next season,in Ct.only shotgun is legal on state land i have a mossberg 20g with a 24" slugster barell . the barrel is not rifled nor does it have the mount for a scope id have to use one of the saddles that hold on with the trigger pins
i also have a mossberg 500 in 12g that i could buy a rifled slug barrel for that has the scope mount on the barell
accuracy is important to me id like to be able to make a 100 yd shot if needed
any 1 have a 20g smooth bore that they had good luck with a certain slug?
or should i just set iup the 12g
thanks for any advice
If the end goal is to be able to take that 100yard shot if it presents itself you'll be time ahead to go and find a rifled cantilever (scope mounted to the barrel....not the reciever) barrel.
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Check out the Thompson Center Encore, rifled 12 gauge barrel. I believe they will out shoot anything out there in the slug gun world. And you can get other barrels. IMO it is the best choice out there. Tom.
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We need to stop using these terms today, "Sniper Rifle", "Tactical", "Assault Weapon".
Actually if you are looking for accuracy go with a 20 ga fully rifled cantilever barrel and a decent scope. The reason I say this is because the 20 ga barrels have better twist rates more suited to the high performance ammo currently on the market. The newer ammo is very simular to the loads used in modern inline muzzle loaders. And the barrels have simular twist rates as well, so they should have the potential to be more accurate, or at least more forgiving of different ammo.
Any of the modern 20 ga sabot ammo is more than enough to take a deer at 100 yards, even farther if you can shoot it that far.
The 12 ga barrels are good, but most don't have twist rates that are suited for the faster ammo, and even with the slower ammo accuracy can be a challenge. These guns can be pretty picky about what ammo they like. If I had it to do over again I would probably get a 20 ga for a dedicated slug gun.
For about what you would spend on a new barrel you could pick up a H&R ultra single shot slug gun. It has a heavy barrel and comes with a scope rail mounted on the barrel. I have the 12 ga version and it's pretty nice. I have heard very good things about the 20 ga version.
I'm not saying a 12 ga can't be accurate, just that everything I have seen and read leads to the fact that the 20 ga tends to be more forgiving in the accuracy department. And an inline muzzle loader would be even better yet since you can work up a load fairly easy and much cheaper.
When I say accurate I am talking about 1-2 inch 3 shot groups from a bench at 100 yards. If you are looking for something in the 3-5 inch range at 100 yards you should be able to get that with any 20 or 12 ga fully rifled barrel without too much hassle, providing you shoot well enough.
My opinions anyway.
Paul
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Look into the H&R ultra slugger.Its an absolute tackdriver and it costs half as much asthe encore.I have one in 20 gauge and get inch and a half groups at 100 yards shooting lightfields.
Get a cantilever slug barrel. 12 or 20 gauge, it does not matter which. The saddle mountsdo not work well. As soon as you remove the barrel for cleaning the zero is off. Been there done that, and i am now stuck with two rifled iron sighted barrels.
Get the 20. I will give you a few reasons why. As I stated they have a better twist rate for the new faster ammo. Will be pretty simular to shooting an inline muzzle loader with sabots a fair amount of powder.
Two the 20 ga Ultra is a bit lighter than the 12, both are fairly heavy though. Plus the 20 ga will kick less, not that it's a big deal with the weight of these rifles.
And three, the 12 ga ultra is not very versatile. With the H&R's you can have different barrels fitted to them and swap them out like the Encore rifles. The only difference is they need to be fitted, so you would need to send your reciever in to H&R or order the barrels when you order the gun. If you do this have a trigger job done as well. With the 12 ga ultra it is on the same frame as the 10 ga shotguns since it uses a 10 ga barrel blank bored to 12 ga. So the only barrel you can swap to it is a 10 ga smoothbore barrel.
Now if you get the 20 ga ultra it is on the same frame as the Handi rifles. So if you wanted different barrels you could get just about any centerfire and any 12 or 20 ga smoothbore. The only thing you couldn't put on it would be the 12 ga ultra heavy barrel since it takes a different frame.
This is why I said if I had it to do over again I would go with the 20. I sure would like to have a .243 barrel for mine. Now I will have to get a whole different rifle if I want one.
Good luck,
Paul
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slug barrell help
