I own a Remington 11-87 which i use exclusively for upland bird hunting and sporting clays. The gun shoots great and never has had a problem. I highly recommend it to anyone.

I'm interested in trying my luck with my 11-87 on a friend's lease. It's a very dense area and you can usually get a buck to come to within 30 yards of where I sit. I know that slugs are accurate as a rifle, or so i'm told, to about 100 yards. My question is this, should I use a different barrel? I don't want to damage my barrel for bird hunting. Also any recommendations for chokes?

I"ve heard mixed reviews on if a slug will damage a barrel, I've also had people tell me to use a Modified choke, Improved choke, or even an "open choke - no choke".

Any suggestions?

Eric

I was just told by several different gun shops to use either the FULL or IMPROVED chokes in a smoothbore barrel. They did not ask what kind of shotgun I was using, so I would think it is universal.

As for the 100 yrd accuracy, well I think they are refering more to the sabot slugs that are shot through rifled barrels. I have always heard that about 75yrds is tops for rifled slugs (standard smooth bore slugs), although I am sure some people have taken deer at longer distances then that.

Winchester and Remington both have new sabot slugs out that have lower grain weight and higher velocity (1900fps) that are reaching the 150 mark with under 3" groups. I just bought a new shotgun with rifled barrel so I could get the increased accuracy / distance.

You want to use Improved or Open choke and make sure it is a rifled slug.

Also make sure you take the time to sight the gun in with a few different brands of slugs. I had problems with my 870 getting any kind of accuracy until I switched to remington ammo.

I don't know about 100yds with a bird barrel and rifled slug though. I can tell you that I am getting 3" groups at 50yds with mine.

MassBowhunter
"Climb Higher, Look Lower, Fall Asleep Less"

I have an 870 pump gun with a rifled barrel..I use Challenger slugs & 3 shots group within 3" at 100 yards...this was at Bosstoms's place the dy before the shotgun hunt for deer....Brampton Mike

I have the same gun and have harvested many, many deer with it. If you can afford it, buy a Hastings slug barrel for it and use sabot slugs (Lightfield works best in most) and you'll be good out to 150 yds with this combination. It is well worth the money for the accuracy you get over a smooth bore. Mine is topped with a Bushnell Trophy 1.5X -4X variable scope and I love it.

Good luck!

If you stick with the smoothbore barrel I would not take a shot over 75 yards, improved choke will work fine and considering the number of slugs you will run through the barrel I doubt you will see any extra wear on the barrel, I have never heard of a smoothbore being hurt shooting rifled slugs, but that may not be true for all of them.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

I just got a big doe with my mossberg 500 smoothbore. I use my shotgun for a backup deer gun and upland hunting. The more open the choke, the better groups you will get with your gun. Improved will work fine, but if you can find a cylinder bore choke that would be better. The tighter the choke constriction the more it deforms the slug and can effect accuracy. Out to 75 yards you may see no difference but I would still use an improved choke (it's what I use). The more open the choke, the less strain it puts on your barrel too. Make sure you try different slugs, I use federal 2 3/4" rifled slugs. Always use rifled slugs in a smoothbore. Just for gooness sake, shoot the gun at different ranges to see where it hits. Slugs all shoot vastly different from brand to brand. I would start with the Winchester slugs, and then try the federals, shoot whichever one shoots best. You should have no problems with your barrel unless it is an old one made with damaskus (sp?) steel. If you can change chokes, it's not that old.

"Hey ya'll, watch this"

most smoothbore slug guns are 50 yard guns....atleast for 'responsible' shots. If anyone tells you different ask them to prove it in front of you and watch how fast they backtrack on ya

If you can I would recommend you get a fully rifled barrel for your gun...then you KNOW slugs wont harm it and you will get good accuracy out to 100 yards. If you want a scope then get one with the cantilever scope mount so when you want to go back to your bird barrel the scope stays attatched to the slug barrel when you remove it.

** I almost got him but I refuse to take a marginal shot **

Knobby hit it right on the head. The cantilever scope mount keeps the scope aligned with the bore even if you take the barrel off the gun. My setup has been off and on the gun once each year for the past 8 years and this is the first year that my scope needed adjustment.

If you know your gun, 75 yards is long, but it's very possible. Out past that, the front bead on the gun covers the whole vitals of the deer making real aiming impossible. If you want a little more accuracy, but don't want to pay for a new barrel that costs almost what a new gun does, try the hastings rifled choke tubes. Then you can shoot sabot slugs at a flatter trajectory. I also like rifle sights, when I had a remington I put rifle sights on it and still shot it for rabbits and birds.

There is nothing wrong with a smoothbore shotgun with an imp choke tube, rifled slugs, and a good shooter that knows what his gun can do. But don't judge your gun on just one slug, try the major brands and hunt with the one that performs the best.

"Hey ya'll, watch this"