Rifled and Smooth Bore Ammo--What to use?

[JD31]

I thought that I had all this figured out, then my brother-in-law stopped by and offered his wisdom. Now, I am uncertain about what to use in each type of barrel. I have both a smooth and rifled barrel. Any help clarifying this for me would be greatly appreciated.

This is my first shotgun, and i freely admit my ignorance. So, any comments on the advantages of one type over another would also be helpful.

Thanks!!!

 

[one more]

What do you want to do with your new shotgun? What are you going to hunt?
For deer hunting the rifled barrel with a good sabot slug. Something like the Hornady SST slugs are one like it will give you the best preformance.
Use the smooth bore for shot loads. Is your smooth bore set up with the choke tubes?
If you can please give us a bit more information.

one more

 

[triton54]

What do you want to do with your new shotgun? What are you going to hunt?
For deer hunting the rifled barrel with a good sabot slug. Something like the Hornady SST slugs are one like it will give you the best preformance.
Use the smooth bore for shot loads. Is your smooth bore set up with the choke tubes?
If you can please give us a bit more information.

one more

I agree, would love to help but need more info

 

[JD31]

I have a Mossberg 500 12GA, with both, a smooth bore with assorted chokes and a rifled barrel.

I don't really have a particular use in mind, but I have it for home defense, possibly some deer hunting next year, etc.

Useful info. for me would be----What type slug to use in the rifled barrel and what type in the smooth.

Do you use the Sabot in the rifled barrel and the rifled slug in the smooth? That was what I thought, until the brother-in-law gave me a box of rifled slugs he said he couldn't use in his smooth bore.

Again, I am new to this, just don't want the thing to blow up in my face. To date, we have only used birdshot in the smoothbore for target practice.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Do you use the Sabot in the rifled barrel and the rifled slug in the smooth? That was what I thought, until the brother-in-law gave me a box of rifled slugs he said he couldn't use in his smooth bore.

This, just don't tell him until he gives you all his ammo.

None of it is going to blow up in your face.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Yep...

Smooth barrel = rifled slugs

rifled barrel = sabot slugs

Your distance and accuracy will be 30-40% greater (or more!) with the rifled barrel + sabot slugs.

The rifled slugs out of the smooth barrel don't "spin", they kind of act like badminton birdies as they fly out.

-J-

 

[IndyGunworks]

easy way to remember is that the word rifled has to be in ONE place in the equasion...

smooth bore = RIFLED slug ie there is no rifling in the barrel therefore you need it on the bullet

RIFLED bore = saboted slug ie the barrel is rifled so it will engage the smoot sides of the sabot.

there is a bit more to it than that, but for simplicity i wont try and confuse you

 

[U.S. Patriot]

For home defense stick with the smooth bore barrel. I prefer a chokeless barrel for this. That way you can run anything from rifled slugs, to buck shot. Of course minus the sabot slugs. The rifled barrel, would be best used for deer hunting!

 

[hntrdav]

Rifled barrels are designed for sabot slugs, but you can shoot rifled slugs out of them and it will spin and stablize them. They are much cheaper but I don't think you get as much range from them.

 

[pudly]

The posts above covered slugs quite well. For bird- and buckshot use the smooth bore barrel only. Various types of chokes can be used to concentrate the shot or allow a wider spread, though they don't make much of a difference at home defense distances.

Some Box-o-Truth entries to help illustrate:
Buckshot & Rifled Barrels
Buckshot & Chokes #1
Buckshot & Chokes #2

 

[JD31]

Thanks to all!!! This information helped a lot. I just wanted to make certain that I had it right before moving forward.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Rifled barrels are designed for sabot slugs, but you can shoot rifled slugs out of them and it will spin and stablize them. They are much cheaper but I don't think you get as much range from them.

not neccessarily good advice.... rifled slugs through a rifled bore can cause grose inaccuracy, incredible amounts of leading, and possible pressure issues... you really should stick with the ammunition designed for use in the type of barrel you have.