Rifled slugs in the smooth bore?
08-11-2008, 08:42 AM
#21
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Illinois
Posts: 2,828
RE: Rifled slugs in the smooth bore?
ORIGINAL: bugs11
sjsfir,
Day-amm... 125 and 127 yards!!! That's some shootin'. What did the recovered slugs look like?
Bugs.
sjsfir,
Day-amm... 125 and 127 yards!!! That's some shootin'. What did the recovered slugs look like?
Bugs.
Never found them but I would have liked to. Both thru shots heart and lungs.
08-11-2008, 09:06 AM
#22
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: WC FL
Posts: 26,323
RE: Rifled slugs in the smooth bore?
ORIGINAL: sjsfire
Thats right! I've been doing it for 26 years. My lasttwo shotgundeerwere taken with my 1187 and a cantilever rifled barrel with a Nikon scope. 125 yards and 127 yards with the $1.99 a box Remington Sluggers.
ORIGINAL: Ed McDonald
I have been shooting rifled slugs out of a rifled barrel for about 10 years . My mother gave me something when I was a kid to help eliminate the lead buildup . It was a bucket of Elbow Grease !
I have been shooting rifled slugs out of a rifled barrel for about 10 years . My mother gave me something when I was a kid to help eliminate the lead buildup . It was a bucket of Elbow Grease !
Thats right! I've been doing it for 26 years. My lasttwo shotgundeerwere taken with my 1187 and a cantilever rifled barrel with a Nikon scope. 125 yards and 127 yards with the $1.99 a box Remington Sluggers.
...................I had a 200+ rifle range for 30+ years here at home and I use to bust burnt out flood lamps and place all shots within a 6" pie plate @ 150+ yards with an FNBRN A-5 w/Hastings Rifled Barrel R/S and Win BRI Sabots.
08-11-2008, 09:50 AM
#23
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Central Iowa
Posts: 234
RE: Rifled slugs in the smooth bore?
ORIGINAL: Paul L Mohr
Really!? Your going to have to explain the theory behind that one to me. Any time you spin a projectile it will be more stable at longer distances. And the fins on a rifled slug don't actually impart any spin to the slug, they are there so the slug crushes and will fit through different sized chokes. They remain stable in flight because of the weight forward design, much like a shuttle cock in badmitten. They actually make foster slugs to be shot out of rifled barrels. I used to use Brenneke Gold Magnums.
I have owned both rifled barrels and smooth bores and shot various rifled slugs out of both. There is definitely an accuracy advantage with a rifled barrel over a smooth bore. My smooth bore was lucky to get 3 inch groups at 50 yards. My H&R ultra will clover leaf rifled slugs at 100 yards. Until the barrel fouls out that is, which is about 4 or 5 shots.
Shooting rifled slugs out of a rifled barrel will not hurt it, it just makes one hell of a mess when you clean it. It will take you much longer to clean it as well. The advantage of the newer sabot rounds is they actually perform better on game and will have more range than a rifled slug. Most of the sabot rounds are controlled expansion type bullets designed for game, where as a rifle slug is just a huge chunk of lead pretty much. Also a 1 ounce 50 caliber bullet will be longer than a full bore 1 ounce slug so it should be more stable in flight and have a better BC I believe.
ORIGINAL: Robert L E
A rifled barrel does not improve the accuracy of rifled slugs so the rifling benefit is wasted.
Bob
A rifled barrel does not improve the accuracy of rifled slugs so the rifling benefit is wasted.
Bob
I have owned both rifled barrels and smooth bores and shot various rifled slugs out of both. There is definitely an accuracy advantage with a rifled barrel over a smooth bore. My smooth bore was lucky to get 3 inch groups at 50 yards. My H&R ultra will clover leaf rifled slugs at 100 yards. Until the barrel fouls out that is, which is about 4 or 5 shots.
Shooting rifled slugs out of a rifled barrel will not hurt it, it just makes one hell of a mess when you clean it. It will take you much longer to clean it as well. The advantage of the newer sabot rounds is they actually perform better on game and will have more range than a rifled slug. Most of the sabot rounds are controlled expansion type bullets designed for game, where as a rifle slug is just a huge chunk of lead pretty much. Also a 1 ounce 50 caliber bullet will be longer than a full bore 1 ounce slug so it should be more stable in flight and have a better BC I believe.
It is my understanding that most rifling in 12ga shotgun barrels is designed for the 50cal sabots and not an optimum rate for foster type slugs which are, of course, a full 12ga. I shoot open sights so, in any case, my equipment is more accurate than I am. I personally don't see an improvement, nor a degradation, of accuracy while using fosters. Almost all articles that I have read also say that a rifled barrel is mostly wasted on fosters. My smooth bore is designed for fosters, a "deer barrel", and at 50 yards any brand of foster slug will do.
You are right about everything else you wrote so you are probably right about this too.
ORIGINAL:Frank in the Laurels
I did some serious testing from the bench last summer on this topic, bought about 10 different kinds of 5 paks... cleaned the gun after each 5 paks..let it cool down etc..the clear winner was the FEDERAL TRU_BALL by leaps and bounds in my smooth bore with a mod. choke installed... even with a 1-4 power scope they easily grouped out to 100 yards better than all the others.. If you can find them, which is not easy to do sometimes, give em a try.. BY the way, on game performance, no deer took a step once hit with one.. awesome..
I did some serious testing from the bench last summer on this topic, bought about 10 different kinds of 5 paks... cleaned the gun after each 5 paks..let it cool down etc..the clear winner was the FEDERAL TRU_BALL by leaps and bounds in my smooth bore with a mod. choke installed... even with a 1-4 power scope they easily grouped out to 100 yards better than all the others.. If you can find them, which is not easy to do sometimes, give em a try.. BY the way, on game performance, no deer took a step once hit with one.. awesome..
Bob
08-11-2008, 02:47 PM
#24
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Blissfield MI USA
Posts: 5,293
RE: Rifled slugs in the smooth bore?
The twist rate is actually for a heavier full bore slug, that is why they tend to not shoot the light fast slugs very well. Normally most slug guns with a 1 in 35 inch twist rate tend to shoot 1 ounce slugs around 1500-1800 fps pretty well.
Some of the newer guns are coming out with faster twist rates, I think H&R may have even changed theirs. I know browning uses a faster twist rate.
I believe the rifled barrels and choke tubes were originally designed to extend the distance of existing Foster and full bore lead slugs. Then Sabots started to get popular.
I actually got better groups with some 3 dollar a box fosters than I did with some of the 15 dollar high tech sabot rounds. I just feel the modern the XTP controlled expansion bullets work a bit better on game then lead slugs do. Both will kill deer though.
Paul
Some of the newer guns are coming out with faster twist rates, I think H&R may have even changed theirs. I know browning uses a faster twist rate.
I believe the rifled barrels and choke tubes were originally designed to extend the distance of existing Foster and full bore lead slugs. Then Sabots started to get popular.
I actually got better groups with some 3 dollar a box fosters than I did with some of the 15 dollar high tech sabot rounds. I just feel the modern the XTP controlled expansion bullets work a bit better on game then lead slugs do. Both will kill deer though.
Paul
08-12-2008, 10:54 AM
#25
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 575
RE: Rifled slugs in the smooth bore?
Count me among those who haveshot Foster style slugs from a fully rifled barrel for years with no ill effect. While I've heard many people say it will "ruin" a barrel, no one has ever been able to explain to mehow a soft lead slug at low pressure and only about 1600 FPS was going to damage a modern chrome-moly barrel. When i ask, the answer is invariably "that's just what i have always heard". As far as the accuracy goes, foster style slugs shoot much better out of my 870 Wingmaster with a fully rifled factory barrel than they do out of my 870 slug combo with a smooth barrel. I do most of my deer hunting on the ground, so shots tend to be within 40-50 yards, as a result i never felt the need to buy the much more expensive sabot slugs. In my experience the relatively huge frontal area of a 12ga. Foster slug (about .730 inches) combined with their relatively heavy weight makes them devastating at the short ranges i use them at. They absolutely kill like the hammer of Thor! For the few times i might encountercircumstances where i might need more range, i just break out my CVA Optima Pro. Withas much success as i have had with them, I'll continue to use Foster style slugsin my slug gun. 
