I need some help. I am going with my dad later today to shoot skeet. I am also going to carry some slugs and paper targets, to practice for deer season. I have a 12 gauge Mossberg 500AT with a full choke. I was wondering if I could safely shoot a rifled slug through the barrel? If so, how far do you think it would go? Thank you for your answers.
No problem shooting rifled slugs out of a full choke, just be sure to clean the choke well when you' re done. My dad has never used anything but full choke in a shotgun. His 20 guage 870 Wingmaster dates back before choke tubes so it' s got a fixed full choke 26" barrel. He' s killed dozens of deer with that shotgun, with the longest shot being 110 yards and never had a problem. It always seemed accurate enough. They say that imp. cyl. is best for rifled slug accuracy, but there isn' t anything dangerous about shooting slugs from a full choke.
I know they say not to shoot slugs through the full choke, but it is a fixed full choke, and I don' t have anywhere near enough money for a rifled barrel. I had I spend most of my money on repairs on 2 guns.
You can shoot a slug out of any choke, but the tighter the choke, the more errosion you will have. I have actually seen a bulge in the end of a barrel from shooting slugs in a full choke. Usually though it just wears out your choke and your gun won' t pattern anymore. Being that a turkey choke is tighter than a full it would just be asking for trouble to shoot a slug out of it.
I don' t think that you have anything to worry about. I say just shoot what you' ve got while you save up for a slug barrel. From my experience and that of my dad, while between the two of us have shot HUNDREDS of Remington " Slugger" rifled slugs through his 870 Wingmaster (made in 1968, so it' s not a spring chick) and he' s killed many deer with it, that there has been no detectable sign of wear to the bore. The next time I get down to my folks place I' ll throw a caliper on the muzzle and see if it' s expanded or eroded, but I doubt it. It still shoots a pretty good pattern and it' ll still drop a pheasant at 50 yards, so I don' t really believe there are any problem with it.
The reasons I doubt that a typical rifled slug would damage a fixed full choke barrel in good condition are:
The fixed choke tapers to the muzzle much more gradually than a full choke tube, giving the slug time to give.
The slug is made of fairly soft lead and is designed to give a fairly loose fit in the bore. The bore is sealed only because of the expansion of the skirt under pressure when fired. Most of the slugs mass is concentrated toward the front of the projectile which is narrower than the cylinder bore. Half of the slugs length consists of the skirt with would easily give a lot more than a full choke would require it to. Then there are the deep canted slots in the slug (the " rifling" ), which reduce the bearing surface by 50% and give plenty of room for the lead to give.
A rifled shotgun slug is an undersized, low velocity and low pressure projectile. Even subjected to the extra constriction of the full choke there would likely be very little erosion in the bore. And since the lead of the projectile is very soft compared to the hardened steel of the bore, and the slug is designed to give quite a bit, I find it very unlikely that the bore would show any noticable stretch. at the muzzle. Compared to a typical centerfire rifle that squeezes a much harder jacketed bullet down the bore at 2-3 times the velocity, pressure and temperature that any shotgun with non-magnum rifled slugs will ever achieve, the conditions inside the bore of the shotgun even with a full choke are minor by comparison. Yet those same rifles if cared for will shoot several hundred rounds before even the most dye-hard benchrest shooter would complain about erosion or wear.
My only serious concern with slugs would be leading toward the muzzle after many shots. I would clean the bore thouroughly after shooting a couple dozen slugs and check for excessive buildup of lead. I still say that he should just shoot what he has until he can save enough peanuts to buy a slug barrel or a barrel with replaceable choke tubes.
Shotguns are generally made of diffent steel than rifles. If he wants to shoot slugs through it fine, its his gun and his ass. Just make sure the other guys around you know what you are going to do.
I need a little help here people!
