I am looking to get a slug barrel for either my 12 or 20 gauges 870 remingtons and would like to be knowledgable about it before I get waist deep.

My questions are:

[ul][*]Are slugs or sabot slugs made to come out of rifled barrels or smooth bore? Which do you find are more accurate. I know, different guns pattern differently.[*]Is buckshot made to come through smooth bore or rifled barrels?[*]What is a price range I should be ready to pay for a rifled barrel?[/ul]
Thank-you for your input, grealty appreciated.

Are slugs or sabot slugs made to come out of rifled barrels or smooth bore? Which do you find are more accurate. I know, different guns pattern differently.
Foster style slugs(rifled slugs) are made to be shot form a smoot bore barrel. Sabot slugs are made to be shot from a rifled barrel and are alot more accurate then foster style slugs.

Is buckshot made to come through smooth bore or rifled barrels?
Buckshot is for a smooth bore barrel.

What is a price range I should be ready to pay for a rifled barrel?
If you look around you can get a good sued one for around $100-$125. For a new one i wouldnt go over $200.

By all means get a rifled slug barrel!ALL slugs will be more accurate when fired from a rifled barrel-even foster type "rifled" slugs (based on extensive testing). Buckshot needs to be fired from a smoothbore (choked) barrel UNLESS you're wanting it to spread VERY rapidly as the twist will force it to spread. The ONLY reason to fireANY type of pellet shot is in a defense shotgun meant for "accross room" ranges as it will produce a larger pattern thereby making it easier to hit with. My personal 870 defense shotgun sports a rifled barrel I shortened to 18 1/4" specifically meant for close range house defense.

I bought on this site a used Rem 870 rifled barrel, rifle sights for around 120.00.
I sighted in my scope with 2 3/4 Hornady SST sabot slugs.
Groups were very accurate. Why would you settle for anything less on a deer gun.

I agree with Stalkingbear. Definately a rifled barrel. I would go with the 20 gauge. Plenty for deer.

What they said, except I'd add that if you want a scope, get the rifled barrel with the cantilever scope mounting rail. That is a much better system than trying to mount the scope to the receiver. This barrel will not have iron sights on it.

Bingo!!!
i went with the rifle sighted barrel;onehas to use a saddle mount in order to scope the gun. Every time the barrel comes off the point of impact changes.

The rifled barrel will work with either sabot or the fat old Foster -type slugs. But if you sue full-bore size slugs in a rifled barrel, they can lead up the bore and ruin accuracy. Buckshot is used with a smooth bore. If you fire a shot charge thru a rifled barrel, it is given a spin, which makes the shotspread all over the place! DON"T use buckshot in a rifled barrel. Don't use it if you respect the quarry and want a clean kill!

I have a question about these "cantilever" mount rails-the rear end is "flopping around loose" in the air. Are these rails stiff enough to avoid flexing under hunting conditions? Or do they rely on the scope tube to provide the anti-flexing properties??

My rem 1100 cantilever will flexup and downif pressed on but seems to go back to its 0 doesnt seem to flex sideways(takespretty good effort to flex it too)... I just try to avoid constant pressure being placed on the scope. Like not putting it in a window gunrack if the scope would hit the seat or something. In my safe I stand it out away from the wall enough so that the scope doesnt press against the wall. We all try to avoid sharp impacts with scopes anyway so thats a given too.

I bet if you saw what the scope was doing during recoil we'd all be surprised that it works. I'd imagine it vibrates around pretty good.But it seems to work fine. I don't know about the scope tube question. I've wondered if it wouldn't be a good idea to anchor the end of the rail to the receiver, even with a flexible or compressible spacer that isn't fixed to the receiver. Don't know if it would help or hurt though.