i know this has been done to death think i asked last year but i can not remeber and can not find the post.
I have a mossberg 500 smoothbore 28inch barrel. iron sights
How far out do you or would you shoot a whitetail with that gun.
I went to the range today first shot was dead center. Second two were off the paper, but the target is like 6or 7inchs by 7 inchs.I was shooting somewhere between 75 and 80 yards.
I only shot three slugs because it hurt like heck. Not sure it i was holding it high or what but it hurt more then it should have.When i was shooting my front sight would cover the center black area up which is about 2 inchs across. If i was to buy a scope would that change my max distance

also what shotgun scope would you recommend for a 500 smoothbore

A lot depends on the gun's bore, and the ammo you use. I once had a 20" barreled Ithaca Deerslayer smoothbore which would hold one lot of Remington Foster-type slugs in a 3" group at 100 yards. BUT that gun never shot any other ammo nearly as well. In those days, the Deerslayer bore was reamed to about .69" in diameter because the slugs then (except for Brennekes) were made way undersize compared to a standard 12-ga. bore. So Ithaca made undersize bores to fit the undersize slugs, and the result was good accuracy.

I recommend a 2.5X fixed-power scope with long eye relief so you can mount it forward enough that it won't take your eye out due to recoil. Then buy some slugs of various makes, and test fire them in your gun at 50 yards! Buy more of whatever slug shoots best in your gun, and give away the others! If you can get a 3" group @ 50 yards, and zero your gun to hit three inches above the point of aim at that distance, you should be able to hit a deer as far out as 100 yards, with four out of fiveshots, with a dead-on hold. But I think 100 yards is about maximum in terms of hitting it in the right spot, and in terms of having enough ooompf left to kill the thing. (Those big, fat slugs lose velocityand energy very close to the muzzle....) DON'T LET that recoil start you to flinching!!

I have a Mossberg 500 and I invested in the 24 inch slug barrel combo with the Bushnell scope. I sight in at 150 yards, and feel good shooting out to 200 yards with Hornady SST 12 ga slugs. You just could not ask for a better combo in my humble opinion. I think the slug barrel and scope combo was 100 bucks, and well worth it!