I am new to small game and rabbit hunting, I currently only hunt deer. I have a Remington 870 12ga with a 20" smoothbore barrel with rifled sights. Can I put a #5 or 6 field shot in this gun and shoot rabbit or is this just a bad idea? a new 26 or 28" vent rib barrel with rem chokes is goona run me about 200 bucks and I just dont have the cash for that right now but want to rabbit hunt! So my question is, can I use my 20" barrel??

Thanks for any advice!!!

I have 4 beagles that I run with and have used the same setup every time. I use either the 12 or 20 gauge #6 or #7 1/2 shot with my browning smooth bores I go for the smaller shot because you have a better chance of hitting them and less spoiled meat if you hit them in the head every time. And i use full chokes for far shots but the close ones, either i hit them or miss them. I mainly run dogs to help me cover ground and chase the rabbits around everytime i make a poor shot and would the rabbit, they like to run in holes but with dogs, they never get away

I have 8 beagles, I run 3 to 7 at a time. I use a .410 single barrel if I'm in the thick, but use a 20ga semi-auto every where else. Six or Seven and a halfs for shot size. My thought small shot for small critters, fills in the shot pattern.

20ga and #6 shot is big enough,but I don't know about shooting over my dog's
unless you have expirience hunting with dogs.

Why are there 2 of this topic? [8D]

That was my bad, sorry. When I posted the original question my browser window froze and I hit OK twice..so it must have registerd and posted it twice...thanks for the responses though! Looks like I should be ok with my 870 for rabbit!! Very excited..

#6's are fine but the rifle sight is going to be hard to get on the quick moving bunny. I don't see any harm in it, might make you a better shot.

I agree with recurver.......