I will be hunting whitetails this year in areas that are limited to the use of shotgun and slugs. I have a Mossberg 835 and am planning on getting a rifled slug barrel. Question 1: Does anybody other than Mossberg make rifled barrels for the 835? Question 2: Does the length of the slug shell make any difference in accuracy? I know I will try a couple of different brands and lengths to see what the gun likes, but was hoping for some pointers before spending the grocery money to buy a box of ever type. Will a longer shell put the slug closer to the lands, therefore make it more accurate as with a rifle,etc?

Some great questions. Can't comment on your 835 3.5" gun, but my 870 would shoot just fine with 2 and 3/4" slugs in a 3" chamber. 2 and 3/4 was all I wanted from a recoil standpoint, and work fine on deer at typical slug gun ranges.
The new high velocity slugs such as the Winchester Supreme might give you a good bit more range, but if you are hunting in thicker cover, the plain vanilla sabot like the Federal will up end any whitetail. I've gone back to the smoothbore Foster slugs and performance has been stellar. Any 12 gauge slug you put in the boiler room will snuff 'em out quick. I really like getting 15 slugs for $5.25 instead of 5 slugs for $10.00.

Out of my Rem 870, the Winchester Supremes are most accurate. They propel a 385gr Nosler slug at 1900 fps. Wow! That's alot of power from a 2 3/4" shell. I hit a good sized (Ohio corn and bean fed) 4 point in the chest at 45 yards and the slug penetrated completely thru diagonally across his body, exiting just in front of the opposite rear leg. He dropped as if hit by the hammer of Thor! On the downside, they are a little pricey.

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RC

[This message has been edited by rcasto (edited 02-14-2002).]

I load my own with Lee slugs that I cast. However I have to say that the Copper Solids are the most consistent performers out of most rifled barrels that I have seen, plus they kill better than any other slug I have used. A hunting partner used the lightfield (I think) slugs last season and they worked well too, but I'd say that if you choose to just buy a couple of boxes of slugs go with the copper solids. Again the down side is they run close to $2 a pop.

Now regarding your mossberg barrel, let me suggest you look at the mossberg 695 bolt gun. It is a great shooting gun, and 3 freinds of ours have bought them after seeing the ones we have. I think they sell for $230 or so at wal mart, and that isn't much more than what a barrel will cost, or even less, and you get the entire gun and they are great shooters!

Just some food for thought.

I use Brenneke Origonal slugs (3") in my 870 smoth bore 20" with rifle sights (no scope). They are the most devistating thing I have seen at close range for whitetail. Shot a nice buck 3 years ago Quartering away walking up a creek bed. The damn thing turned a backflip, stuck the landing and then fell over dead... Good Shooting...

JD

Before you get a new barrel, buy (or scrounge from your hunting buddies) one box of foster type slugs from Winchester, Federal, Remington and Brenneke and try them. The results might surprise you.
I haven't noticed a difference in accuracy between 2.75" vs 3" slugs in a 3" chambered gun, but that was with trying all brands of ammo. I haven't used a 3.5" with slugs before.
I use Federal 2.75" foster slugs in a Browning bps 28"bbl and Brenneke 2.75" or 3" originals in a Benneli M3 and both shoot very good.

I think the 835 barrels are backbored and are oversize. I have heard that not shooting slugs in them is best.

Rifled slug barrels limit your use of slugs to sabots. Rifled shotgun bores have 1 in 28" twist rates and are designed to fire only sabot slugs. Sabot slugs are copper with a plastic sleeve that falls away when it exits the barrel. Foster type slugs are 100% lead. They will lead the bore and are not designed to be shot in rifled barrels. You must use shotgun shells that will not exceed the length your chamber is cut to handle. The length you must use will be stamped on the barrel. The twist of the bore is the key to accuracy with a shotgun rifled barrel shooting sabot Slugs. It matters not weather your shooting 2 3/4" or 3" shell as long as your rifle is chambered to accept both lengths. Sabot and Foster type slugs are crimped in and that crimp must open up to release the slug. Place a fired shell next to an unfired shell and you will see. Like centerfire rifles a shotgun shooting slugs weather the barrel is rifled or smooth will not shoot all brands the same. Try as many brands as you can to see what your shotgun likes best.
I prefer smooth bore shotguns that shoot foster type slugs. The reason is simple they are mush less costly than sabot slugs. This season I harvested my deer at 103 yards using my 12 gauge bolt action smooth bore shooting Winchester foster type slugs. I had my Bushnell range finder with me and it gave the exact distance to the deer.

I have a Rem 870 express and have found far greater accuracy using 2@3/4 inch slugs.The 3" will vary up tp 10" at 100yds where the 2@3/4 will be less than 5".

A few years ago I had Tar-Hunt Custom Slug Guns of Bloomsburg, PA put my gun together on a Remington 870 receiver. When Randy Fritz, the owner, and I were discussing the project he asked if I wanted a 2 3/4" chamber or a 3" chamber. I asked him what he would recommend and he told me if he had it his way he would have a 2 1/2" chamber, but since there are no 2 1/2" slugs the 2 3/4" would be plenty. I ended up going with the 3" chamber and found the Federal Barnes Expander 3" load to be the most accurate out of my gun. I would suggest just trying several different brands and styles in both length's and see which is most accurate in your particular gun. Check out Tar-Hunt's web site. They have some good info. on there regarding shooting slugs.

www.tar-hunt.com

ill have to agree with JD_1... but word of caution on a mossberg I had... I had a 500 in 12 guage and it was largly a POS... the guide rails were made of alum. and the Brenneke slugs tore the little gun up. Every time I ripped one off my hand twisted the pump and issues with the guide rails developed.

I chronographed the Rem and Win Foster type slugs and they did only about 1450 and not 1600 which was the posted data at the time out of a 20" Deerslayer.

But the Brenneke was even worse with a very low velocity. They hit low on the target also so I never bothered with them. But the Foster type slug is a weak item structuraly and if the game was heavy boned I would look back to the Brenneke or other more solid slugs or sabots.

I've only taken one large black bear with a Remington 2 3/4" Copper Solid slug and it was devastating, tremendous penetration. It was a twenty five yard shot and, if I'd had my choice at the time, I would have used my .338, but circumstances dictated otherwise. I feel, that on a whitetail, at reasonable distances and out of a gun that shoots them well, they will be fine. My gun shoots these very well.

If you decide to stay with the pump, my advice would be to get a rifled, cantilever barrel. The cantilever allows the scope to be mounted to the barrel and you won't loose zero when switching barrels. I love the Copper Solids, deer have never went more than a few steps. However, the new Winchester Supremes (nosler partition) and Remington Core-lokts would be good also. As in all guns, try some out and see what your's shoots best.

I have a Mossberg 9200 with a cantilever barrel and have gotten 3" groups at 100yds. From my experiences sabots are much more accurate than rifled slugs in a smoothbore.

I have hunted with both smooth and fully rifled 12 gauge barrels for years. I found that the rifles barrels are more accurate than the smooth bores and general cut groups in half at 100 yards (maximum range for a 12 gauge).

I tried the sabot slugs in both a Winchester M1300 with rifled barrel and my current Benelli M1, which has a rifled barrel. For $10 a box the accuracy was no better in either shotgun as compared to plain old lead slugs! I now shoot either Remington, Brenneke, or Seller & Bellot 2 3/4 or 3 shells loaded with 1 ounce slugs. My Benelli M1 will shoot 4 inch groups with any of them at 100 yards.

So I would save my money and not waste it on those sabots. Try some Remington rifled lead slugs and see how they shoot. If your smooth bore shoots them poorly then get a rifled barrel and try them again. Additionally, in my experience the lead slugs have much better "knock down power" than those "pistol" bullet sabots do!

Todd E

I have a Mossberg bolt 695 with the smoothbore barrel. I bought a rifled choke tube from Winchester that matched the screw pattern, put a 2.5x Leupold scope on it and tried several types of slugs. I got horrible accuracy from most of the newer sabots. I found the 2 3/4" Bernneke (original style) to be amazingly accurate. The slugs have ridges around the top and they flew so perfectly, you could count the ridge lines cut in the paper target when fired at 100 yards. I got 2 to 3 inch groups at that range. The mid-range trajectory was as advertised, so I assume the velocity was also as claimed. Mossberg doesn't make the un-rifled model 695 any more, alas, but you may wish to get a rifled choke for your gun and put some open sights on it. Cabelas and others sell sights that lock to the vent rib on your gun and are the "glo" type. It would save some bucks. Just a thought. My choke cost $30 and you can get the sight set for about the same. If you're hunting in heavy cover, you won't need a scope anyway. Mossberg has a website and sells barrels over the net. You might want to check that out. www.mossberg.com You may also wish to look at www.cation.com for rifled chokes.

[This message has been edited by judgeg (edited 03-29-2002).]

REM700FAN

Here in the southern tier of New York most hunters use slugs. If your going to put a scope in your gun and expect shots 100 to 125 yds. then go with a rifled barrel and sabots. If most of your shots will be close than 100 yds. try foster style. (remington, winchester, federal) I have seen some "bird" barrels" shoot some very tight groups at 75 yds. 12 ga. or 20 ga. does'nt make too much difference, your still putting a big hole in the whitetail. Good luck.

Slug Accuracy

I have two slug guns. one a 12 ga Ithica with a 1 in 24" twist. The second Is a rifled barrel for my Encore in 20 ga. I have tried numerous sabot and lead slugs. I have excellent accuracy with both barrels using the remmington copper solid. With this sabot slug , from both guns,I have harvested whitetail deer effectivly multiple times. This year the 20 ga had a quartering away pass through shot at 100 yds. Entrance at the last rib on the right and out in front of the left shoulder. The 4pt went 30 yds. Don't wast money, try these first!

Good Hunting,

Same trigger , same feel , same results

I have 5 slug gun a 12ga Ithica smoothbore and 2 12ga with rifled barrel and 2 20ga with rifled barrel. The smoothbore will shot the old BRI slug 3" at 100yds. The 12ga rifled barrel shot the Federal Barnes Expander 3" load good. I can not get the Winchester Supremes load to shot under 4" at 100yds out of these gun. The 20ga shot the new Winchester Supremes great 1.5" at 100yds and the winchester BRI slug 2.5 at 100yds. This year I shot 2 deer the same day at 125yds and 130yds with the 20ga and new Winchester Supremes 260gr slug the deer only went about 30yds before droping dead. the exits holes was about 2" If you can get these new Winchester Supremes slug to shot out of your gun I would pay the higher price for the better slug.

Don't waste your money on the rifled slugs and a smoothbore barrel. Get a rifled barrel and shoot the Winchester supreme sabots. My Remington 870 will print 1 inch groups with these at 100 yards.

Kent