I have a Winchester 1300 Ranger with a 28" smooth bore barrel. I would like to use this gun to hunt this season ... in my area we have to use slugs. I could get a rifled barrel, but don't want to spend the money.
What I'm wondering is what is the best setup and/or can I get 40-50 yard kill zone accuracy with this setup? Obviously I'm going to get out there, sight it in and practice, but I wanted to know what the best setup is (choke?) and an estimate on how accurate I can be ...
I would at least see if a screw in rifled choke is available. The limiting factor for me when I used a smoothbore, was the big ole bead. At 40 yards that bead covered up the whole vitals of a deer and you are apt to shoot high since there is no rear blade. So I kept my shots under 30. Sabots won't do well for you with no twist. I suggest remington sluggers. Try two different chokes. Modified and improved. I could hit a pie plate at 50 pretty consistently.
I agree get yourself a rifle screw in choke if you can. Sabot slugs will do you no good, stick with any of the BIG 3 Winchester, Federal, Remington standard slugs, try your best to get good groups on a paper plate at 50yds., but you don't know what your missing when you have a rifled barrel, using sabot slugs, with a scope
You can use em with a rifled choke tube or smooth, just might not see any or much gain in performance. And with sluggers at $3/box, and sabots around 9-11 dollars, You want some real improvement.
Thanks for the advice thusfar ... it's been very helpful. From what I've heard, my most economical setup is using something like Remington Slugger rifled slugs (~$3/box) with my smooth bore and either a rifled, improved cylinder, or modifed choke. I have both an improved cylinder and modified choke. My next question is, how dramatic is the improvement with a rifled choke tube, versus an I.C. or modified choke? I ask because the cheapest rifled choke I've seen thusfar is around $40, so I'de like to get an idea before I go for it what benefit I would get. Thanks again!
If you go with a smooth bore and imp or mod choke, shoot rifled slugs only. Sabots may work OK sometimes, but once in a while the sabot won't come off the slug right, and accuracy will be ruined. Best case, they will fly no better than rifled slugs. So - smoothbore of any kind, stay with rifled slugs.
If you go to a rifled choke, you should see a pretty good improvement in accuracy. You will do nearly as well as if you had a full-length rifled barrel, from what I have read. You may not realize it though, because you haven't improved your method of aiming. You could add some rifled sights that mount to a vent rib, or better yet a scope. I don't like scopes mounted to the receiver area on a pump, but it's probably better that just the bird bead.
I have had good luck out to 50 yds with just the bead, smoothbore, and rifled slugs. Be consistent in how you aim it though. I would buy a couple boxes and try them. Can't go wrong for $2-3 a box. If they don't work well enough for you, get a rifled choke and shoot sabots.
Do not shoot rifled slugs through a rifled barrel or a rifled choke. You'll get it all gummed up with lead before long and it is a pain to remove.
There are also "hybrid" slugs out there that can be used in either smooth or rifled barrels. They are more expensive than rifled slugs, sometimes as much as sabots.
Flyer..As far as potential accuracy goes, with a smoothbore, the ONLY way to determine how accurate it is is to shoot some groups with each tube and see...Some smoothbore guns choked IC or mod will shoot very small groups at 50-100 yards..Others throw the slugs all over the landscape...Only shooting will tell you...By all means try your smoothbore choke tubes before you invest in the rifled tube... Probably the most limiting factor with your setup will be the sights, or lack thereof...If you only have a bead on your barrel, chances are you would not be able to take advantage of the improved accuracy of a rifled tube anyway... Buy some foster type (regular rifled) slugs and do some shooting with the tubes that you have..Your maximum range should be the farthest distance that you can CONSISTENTLY keep all of your shots on a 9" paper plate... Chances are it will be somewhere between 30 and 60 yards...
Slugs with smooth bore
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