I recently just purchased a Mossberg 500, the combo deal from big 5 that comes with a vented 28 inch and a 18.5 inch barrel. Which barrel do I shoot slugs through? does it matter if its rifled or not?
you can shoot them from both, gonna get a lot better accuracy out of the 28 depending on what choke you have in it. It does have threaded in chokes right?
the 18 is more of a fixed choke HD barrel mostly. Test fire it with a few shells of buckshot clean it and hope you never have to use it
__________________
Collection just keeps on growing
If your short barrel is a smooth bore, then you will need to purchase a rifled slug. If your barrel is rifled, then you will have to purchase "sabot" slugs.
If you shoot a "sabot" slug through a smooth bore, there will be no spin on the projectile and it will tumble and not be very accurate. If you run a rifled slug through a rifled barrel, you could risk the chance of the slug jamming with the two different rifling binding.
__________________
If it is idiot proof, I can prove you wrong!
If your short barrel is a smooth bore, then you will need to purchase a rifled slug. If your barrel is rifled, then you will have to purchase "sabot" slugs.
If you shoot a "sabot" slug through a smooth bore, there will be no spin on the projectile and it will tumble and not be very accurate. If you run a rifled slug through a rifled barrel, you could risk the chance of the slug jamming with the two different rifling binding.
Came here to say this.
Look down both barrels in good light. If they both look the same on the inside (smooth) then they will both shoot foster (rifled) slugs. If the short barrel has distinct ridges in a long spiral patern, it is made for Sabot (smoothe plastic wrapped) slugs.
As far as I know all 18.5" mossberg barrels are smooth bore home defense barrels. They are good for shooting slugs in thick brush, but without a choke, accuracy past 50 yards or so is meausred in feet.
__________________
Get the largest caliber you can fire accurately, rapidly, in the largest gun useful for the purpose.
Nothing personal to the original Poster or anyone else who has asked about shotguns and slugs. I will however, if allowed to do so, go off an a bit of a tangent / rant on the subject. i think everyone has a pet peeve. Mine is the seemingly apparent phenomenon of folks learning about slug guns like learning about sex on the playground, or these things just landed from outerspace. I propose we collectively gather "sticky" info and seek permission to approve said sticky info to put the legends and myths to bed once and for all, at least on this forum.
Is he 18.5 inch barrel rifled?? According to the manual you are not supposed to shoot foster type slugs through a rifled barrel though people do it. Of which to that it only takes once for things to go very bad. If the shorter barrel is a smooth bore you can shoot slugs through both barrels and it will be personal preference or which ever is the most accurate using foster type slugs, or you could buy a rifled choke tube and shoot sabots through the longer barrel.
The Mfg's don't trust the stupid peon gun buying public to CLEAN thier ****ed gun. We can keep dumbing this crap down untill they tell us we can't touch the trigger or use just a tad bit of CS.
Nothing personal to the original Poster or anyone else who has asked about shotguns and slugs. I will however, if allowed to do so, go off an a bit of a tangent / rant on the subject. i think everyone has a pet peeve. Mine is the seemingly apparent phenomenon of folks learning about slug guns like learning about sex on the playground, or these things just landed from outerspace. I propose we collectively gather "sticky" info and seek permission to approve said sticky info to put the legends and myths to bed once and for all, at least on this forum.
Perhaps it should be a "shotgun basics" Thread with all sorts of info, separated into different posts which could be linked.
One section should be devoted to links to owners manuals of major brands.
I could break the following up into different sections, with suggested addendums, revisions, and edits for grammar and content.
Barry,
The most accurate smooth bore guns I have ever used (and have two of them now) were the short bbl (18.5 to 21 inch) in both Rem and Moss with rifle sights. Both are open choke, and both will shoot 'one hole' with five shots at 25 yds!!!
I have a rifled bbl with a scope I use for the sabots, but it doesn't do any better up close, but the scope really helps at the longer ranges (75+ yds).
I have found that, the same as a rifle, you must try different ammo brands and loads to achieve the max accuracy.
Hope this helped.
I really want rifle sights on my 500 20". I'd love to deer hunt with my home defense gun.
I've shot some lightweight (7/8oz) high velocity (1700fps) slugs out of it, at 50 yards I had a decent spread (better than I expected, but not great for hunting), but that's using a bead, not real sights. Perhaps it's time to mount a scope.
__________________
Get the largest caliber you can fire accurately, rapidly, in the largest gun useful for the purpose.
If your Moss does not have the extended mag tube it is easy to find a RS bbl. Mine has the long tube and it took me a long time to find a RS bbl for it, the wait was worth it, it's a keeper!!!
__________________
An armed society is not always polite, but it is a FREE AND SAFE SOCIETY!
3Likes
