I have an old Ithica 37 modified choke. It shoots slugs great. My son has just gotten into shooting. He is 20. He loves shooting the gun at the range with a friend of his that has an 870 Remington. They plan to shoot these about every weekend for a while.
Question..Do you think this would be bad for the shotgun barrel to shoot 10 slugs through it about every weekend.? I'm concerned about it. Last week the barrel touched his arm and left a huge burn on his arm. The barrel is getting very hot.
By the way with the mod. choke it has 3" groups at 50 yds.Not to shabby.
Chuck

Chuck, I would'nt be using any choke with rifled slugs!

Q:
What choke should I use for slugs?

A:
A Cylinder choke is recommended for shooting rifled slugs in a smooth bore barrel. Sabot slugs should be shot through our fully-rifled slug barrels.

If you shoot it enaugh times in a row it will get hot no matter what choke it has in it.
Because of the burned powder in the barrel.
Rifled slugs are made of soft lead so I don't think it will hurt the gun.
But if you are worried you can check with a gunsmith.

Modified choke is not much tighter than a impoved clynder.

You could try an improved cylnder it might improve the pattern.

This is JMHO so check with a gunsmith.

But I think it should be OK

Chuck,


A slug barrel is a barrel for a shotgun that is designed primarily to shoot slugs.


Until widespread use of the sabot slug starting in about 1985, most slug barrels were unrifled, having a smooth bore. They differed from standard shotgun barrels by the absence of a choke. When slugs are fired in a standard, choked barrel, the slug is deformed by the choke as it exits. The degree of deformation is most acute with fuller chokes, which were among the most widely used in stock shotguns up until about 1990.


Sabot slugs offer an accuracy benefit only when fired from a rifled barrel, because the slug will tumble end for end without the spin imparted by the rifling.

I would recommend going to the improved cylinder. The modified might do too much distortion of the slug. As long as he is shooting rifled slugs(Foster), it will be fine. People have been shooting these for years with great results. And tell him to let the barrel cool down a bit when shooting. It is just getting over heated. When I used to shoot trap leagues, by the end of the round, my gun was so hot you could only touch wood, and you could see the heat waves coming off of the gun. I shot 4 rounds of trap, three nights a week, with no adverse affects to my gun.

Thanks, Yes they are rifled slugs. I know you only use a smooth slug in a rifled barrel and a rifled slug in a smooth bore. Thanks for the replys.
I personally use a rifle for deer. I just didn't want him tearing my shot gun up.
Chuck

Chuck7,
I talked this over with the shooting instructer with the sheriffs office.

He said he had talked this same question over with several gunsmiths.

And he said it doesn't matter wich choke you use it will NOT hurt the shotgun.
If you take the slug out of the shell and drop it down the barrel with a full choke.
It will just fall all the way through.
Since the bottom of the slug expands to fit the barrel and is soft lead.
It is ok to use any choke you want to.

So tell your son to try different chokes to see wich one has the best pattern.

I hope this helps

Thank you sir for your trouble,
Chuck
I will let him know.

If the gun is going to be used exclusively for deer hunting with slugs why not get a fully rifled barrel and take advantage of all of the sabot slugs out there? Just seems to make sense to me, and you can usually pick up a barrel for less than $200 if you shop around and you can have something that will last a lifetime if you take care of it.