Slug barrel
Greetings:
I just bought a 24" 12 ga smooth bore slug barrel for my Mossberg 500. I was wondering how far out I can depend on a slug being accurate? IOW, should I sight it in at 25 yards? 50 yards? 100? I'll not be putting on a scope, just the standard irons. I will use it mostly for blowing up watermelons and the like, and I do anticipate taking the occasional pig hunt and maybe even a deer run with it. Any advice on what I can expect from it, inasmuch as ballistics and knockdown power out beyond the 50 yard mark or so, etc.?
Thanks for answering this (shotgun noob's) question.[:o)]
I just bought a 24" 12 ga smooth bore slug barrel for my Mossberg 500. I was wondering how far out I can depend on a slug being accurate? IOW, should I sight it in at 25 yards? 50 yards? 100? I'll not be putting on a scope, just the standard irons. I will use it mostly for blowing up watermelons and the like, and I do anticipate taking the occasional pig hunt and maybe even a deer run with it. Any advice on what I can expect from it, inasmuch as ballistics and knockdown power out beyond the 50 yard mark or so, etc.?
Thanks for answering this (shotgun noob's) question.[:o)]
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Lack of rifling will likely keep you under 100 yards at best. As far as knockdown power, at the mentioned 100 yards a one and a quarter ounce slug will still put a serious hurtin' on anything it connects with. You are looking at about 8 inches of drop if sighted for 50 yds...and anything past that you more or less have a mortar trajectory. Most guides I hear from up north are still using a 12 ga most of the time for short range anti bear stuff, so I don't think there is a hog alive that will get back up after eating a 12 ga slug. What really counts here is finding that standard slug that works best/most accurately from your particular firearm. Your eyesight will determine if it is usable at 100 yards or not, but without a rifled barrel, sabots and good optics, anything beyond is highly doubtful. 0 -
I was able to keep all shots on a paper plate at 50 yards with my Remington 870 smooth bore barrel 12 gauge with open sights. At 100 yards I was not able to determine where the shots were hitting - never hit a regular target anywhere. I have taken two deer using Brenneke slugs. Both went down with one shot, about 30 to 40 yards, and never got up. 0 -
Most 12 gauge rifled Foster type slugs are 1 ounce in weight. You can get them a little heavier, but there is no need for it. After you find which brand and load it likes the best, sight it in at 50 yards to be 2 inches high, and it will be dead on at 75 yards, and about 4-6 inches low at 100. Out to 100 yards it will have plenty of power for anything in North America. With the right load, your shotgun should easily keep them in 3-4 inch groups at 100 yards, when using a decent scope.
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50 yds I suspect will be you limit.
try it yourself with a pie plate
you need to be able to hit it 5 for 5 to hunt from that range.
rifled bbl, you could do 100, but i doubt your smoothbore 500 can go past 50 with accuracy0
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