Whats the advantage in using a shotgun with a rifled barrel with sabot slugs over rifled slugs in a smoothbore, if your hunting whitatail deer and your shots would be 50 yards max? I am thinking of purchasing a Remington 11-87 sps with a 21" rifled barrel. I am thinking that the only advantage would be if a longer shot would ever come along .I am thinking on hunting alot in a shotgun county in the future, I took 2 deer with a shotgun one over 20 years ago with an ithaca deer slayer and this year i borrowed a friends rem 870 pump both are smooth bore and both deer were around 35-40 yards. Which would be a better choice for deer the bigger diameter rifled slug or a faster sabot. Thanks Dave

I have hunted deer in a non-rifle area for the last 22 years. I curently use a smooth bore 870 12 gauge. I have been toying with the idea of a rifled barrel for the last few years myself. The biggest advantages of a rifled barrel and sabot slugs are greater accuracy and a little better penetration at longer ranges. With some of the newer sabot slugs, shots past 100 yards are possible. If I were looking to buy my first shotgun for deer hunting, it would be one with a rifled barrel. TTS

Since I live in Massachusetts, which is a shotgun only state, I feel I can respond to your question. I've been using a Remington 1100 since the '70s. A regular slug in a smooth barrel is ok out to about 75 yds, but there are much better choices. I currently use a Remington slug barrel with a scope and a RIFLED CHOKE.The rifled choke seems to be much more acccurate than my smooth barrel. Brenneke or German style slugs(with the wad attached) seem to give outstanding accuracy with this type of choke. After trying all brands of slugs, I settled on Activs. These will cut cloverleafs at 75 yds, and group in 2-3" at 125 yds. The velocity on these was close to 1700 fps which was more than most sabots.Now that they stopped making Activs, I've had to switch. I'm currently using Wolf slugs which seem to have good accuracy. Rifled barrels are designed for accuracy, and they work best with saboted slugs. My combination works well out to about 125 yds, but with a sabot and a rifled bore, you could push it to maybe 200 yds depending on the accuracy of your particular combination. In my hunting guns, I seek the best accuracy I can get. A quick, humane kill is important to me. Most deer shot with slugs will run since there doesn't seem to be the hydrostatic shock involved with rifle calibers. Penetration and large projectile mass are the primary characteristics of 12 ga slugs. This makes it very important to carefully pick your shot. Over the years, I've revised my thinking on where to aim. I now try to hit the high shoulder so that it also takes out the spine, or the neck shot. It's not unusual for a slug shot deer to run a very long way before expiring. It's also not unusual for someone else to try to claim your deer if they get to it before you!!!I prefer to drop them(the deer, that is) on the spot and avoid any confrontations in the hunting woods.That's why accuracy is so important. My opinion is to buy the most accurate rig you can buy (rifled barrel) and then find the most accurate load. Put a good scope on it and go hunting !!! Good luck.

bowhuntr

If you are talking about purchasing a new gun, I would see absolutely no reason to go with a smooth bore.
The rifled barrel guns w/ sabots shoot better at all ranges, period. And, as you mentioned there is a distinct advantage at the longer ranges.

Hey Tanoose, Check the Rules & Regulations in the area where you intend to hunt. Some places require "Smooth Bore" during Shotgun Seasons. Otherwise, I agree with the folks who said the Rifled Tubes have the potential for enhanced accuracy - with Sabots.

The Rifled Choke(Remington Cation) that bowhuntrrl mentioned is an amazing device. I've got a buddy who hunts in a Shotgun Zone and he decided to try one of these things. At 75yds a Fed, a Rem and a Win "Foster Style" 2 3/4" Slug all touched.

His shotgun is an 870 with a Ported Barrel and a Decelerator recoil Pad. If you will be using the shotgun as your primary fireram, I can recommend both of those modifications, before you ever fire the first shot. They make a lot of difference in the ability to shoot accurate groups.

If you think you might want to mount a scope, look for the cantilever barrel mount. Attaching the scope to the receiver on a removeable barrel shotgun will not allow shot to shot consistency.

My buddy put some shim stock between the barrel and receiver, tightened it up, shot it some, and retightened it. Now the barrel is fairly stable. But, there are a couple of other ways to accomplish this which work well too.

Just read an article about the Winchester Combined Tech Sabots and they got high praise. I've not tried them though, so it might or might not be true.

If you are using a smooth barrel does it matter what choke it is?

Check you regs, if allowed , the ultimate slug gun is an inline muzzleloader.lol

50yards? not a lot of measurable difference with a tunes smoothbore.OObuck if it is leagal with a tight choke would be preferable(limited to 50yards).Past fifty yards the rifled shooting sabots starts to take over,add a scope(make sure you have enough eye relief) & you are looking at serios 150yard deer round.3"mags can be a real treat so treat youself to a good recoil pad.I'd rather pull the triger on my 50BMG than the Win 1300 with 3" mags.
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TerryR,cylinder has workt the best for me & Extra full or full a poor choice.
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TERRY8mm,The new muzzle loaders are great but still only shoot one round & you still gota give them a bath afterwards.I like the idea of haveing 4 or 5 more for backup=CJ

Bowhuntrrl, what do you consider a long way for a well hit deer to run? I ask this because I hunt with a rifle and so far the drop at the shot deer has eluded me after many well placed shots to the heart, lung area. I found that most of the deer I have hit whith a rifle of various calibers ranging from 270win. to 300winmag run an average of roughly 50 yards with one going almost 100 yards with a comepletely destroyed heart. If there is such an abundance of hunters in your area that the deer are claimed by someone else after going only a short distance before expiring I would suspect that the deer would be easily alert or spooked enough to be ready for an all out sprint upon the shot.

Please do not take this question as a flame, just thinking that the "drop at the shot" with a rifle may not happen as much when hunting pressure is abundant as someone in a shotgun only state may be lead to believe.

A rifle barrel seems a lot more interesting! If I did it more I might consider one. So far I have got by with a Ithaka Deerslayer. It's quite accurate out to 100 yards but I have never shot anything that far away with it. The factory Foster slugs don't produce anywhere near the published velocity over a chronograph. With the 20" barrel that I have I think it did 1400 fps and not 1600!

I used that Deerslayer for a few years in VT as my poor man's drilling. I did quite well on grouse with it and carried slugs in my pocket in case I saw a bear as they are in season starting in Sept and during the bird season. I did see a bear while carrying it and by the time I got a slug in it the bear ran out of sight.

I will give you ONE reason......ACCURACY~!!!

Inside 50-60 yards I don't think it matters. Conventional wisdom says open chokes are better for slugs/buckshot but that has not always been my experience. Have an Ithaca 37 that does quite well with a mod. choke and a Win. Mod 50 that shoots incredibly well with a full choke. Either will dump a deer or hog in its tracks inside of 70 yards or so. Yes the rifled barrels are more accurate and the sabot slugs have higher velocity and longer range. The only down side I see is that the rifled barrel is a special(one) purpose tool and some of the sabot projectiles don't always expand. Don't get your shorts in a knot guys, I know they make a big hole anyway. I like the smaller size buckshot BTW, usually finding better patterns with #1 - #3 size shot. Inside of 30 yards it is immensely lethal.

Tanoose

I think that if you want a REAL slug gun you should just buy a Mossberg 695. This is buy far the best I've ever shot. I can shoot 2inch groups at 100 yards and I'm not a rifle shooter . I use a fiber optic sight with a detachable scope. This is a very good slug gun.
Here is some of the guns vitals.
detachable magazine 3-shot capacity
12 gauge 2 �" and 3"
Rifled barrel twist: 1 in 36"
Length: w/ 22" barrel approx. 42 �" / 7 � lbs.
Let us know how you make out. With the gun that is
Turtle

I have hunted in a shotgun only state for over 25 yrs.[Indiana]. For the last 12-14 yrs. I have been using a Rem. 870 SP 12 ga. with the cantilevered scope mount, and a screw in rifled choke tube. I have taken over 25 deer using this rig with the cheap win. foster slugs[because they are the most accurate in this gun]. I made my longest kill to date this past season, I took out an 11 pt., 200+ lb. buck at 140 yds. All that being said, I would get a fully rifled slug gun, and try all the newest saboted loads on the market, and go with the most accurate in your particular gun. If you don't want to break the bank, I would look at a H&R Ultra sluggun, they are VERY accurate, and one set up witha scope, mount and sling, won't cost any more than some replacement barrels currently on the market.

Mad Dog

Has anyone used a 410 as a slug gun?

TerryR -
I use one all the time. I have an Rem 870 sheet gun. It is like shooting a bad 41cal rifle. That being said I do like to shoot it and have tried loading 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells with good results.
My problem is I need a new barrel to get what I want out of it.
Turtle

Thanks for all the info guys , I don't think i can get back my Ithaca deer slayer i traded last year , so i will go with a new Remington 11-87sps it has a 21" rifled barrel synth stock and rifle sights. (unless they make one in walnut) Thanks again Tanoose