What type of slugs to use in a fully rifled mossberg barrel?

[waxworm09]

I am looking at picking up a Mossberg 500 or 535. The combo for each gun is only about 60 dollars more that the gun with bird barrel only. I have always used my bird barrel for slug hunting but for 60 bucks more I might get the combo. My question is, do you have to use sabot slugs in a fully rifled slug barrel? That is what I have been told, and if thats the case im not real excited about spending 14 bucks or so on a box of 5 slugs. Also anyone use either of those 2 guns, are they good guns? A 535 combo is only 6.75 lbs, $339 and it shoots 3.5 inch shells, a 500 model is 7.5 lbs, $269 and $325 for the combo. Trying to figure out which is better, and what I can use for slugs if I go with this gun, thanks!

[Gordie]

This out of the mossberg manual

Fully rifled barrels deliver best accuracy with sabot style slugs. “Rifled” slugs and shotshells are

not recommended for use in rifled barrels.

Hope this helps you out

[TooTallTom]

From what I've heard, rifled slugs in a rifled barrel is not a good idea. Never tried it, though, so I can't say from my own experience.

I guess the sabot slugs are more expensive, but you get additional range and accuracy which might be worth the additional cost. Would that extra money break the bank?

[Finlander]

I bought the Mossberg 500 combo in 20 guage and I use Hornady SST sabots and the 4 deer I shot with them fell in there tracks! No blood trail to follow!

The smoothbore works great for grouse and is fun to shoot clays!

Never had any problems with jams and the action is as smooth as any 870!

Shot one at 125 yards thru the scope! Very accurate gun with sabots.

Good bang for the buck (no pun intended)!

[96trigger]

You can buy some of the lower end sabots for $6 a box. Look at the Winchester's or the Brenneke's. They don't give you quite the accuracy at ranges past 100 yards, but they are still more accurate than many smoothbores. Hornady SST's were at FF for $9.99 a box, that is pretty cheap considering what you get. I have found that since shooting sabots, I use a lot less bullets. I still buy three boxes a year and generally have 2 boxes left over and a couple of deer in the freezer. I remember when I was young, I'd have 5 boxes of foster style slugs with me, now I carry the four in my gun and 5 on the stock, thats all I take, ever. You will not be disappointed with the rifled barrel, or the sabots. It might take some time to find out what your gun likes. I will never go back to a smoothbore, worth every penny in my opinion, even though, I am sure someone will probably be able to tell you how great a shot they are with their smoothbore.

[harvey lee]

If you are looking for the best downrange shot, I would go with sabots.

Which brand to use to find the best accuracy will only be found by testing the brands in the gun.

I have tested many different rifled slug barrels and each one seems to like a different brand or load.

Yes, it costs a bit to find this info out but once you have done your testing with numerous brands, you should be very accurate and consistent with each shot.

I own numerous slug guns and they all get a different brand sabot.

Using one brand slug in one gun and then expecting the same model in another barteel to do the same night be stretching it.

My Rem 700BDL and my sons 700 BDL use differnt bullets yet the same brand gun.

Thats if you are looking for a gun that shoots tight groups. If not, then any slug will do but who knows if you will hit what you are shooting at.

I may be wrong but I believe that each rifled barrel has it's own pattern or groove. They may be machimed on the same machine but that off course does not mean they will shoot the same.

[klee]

I have a mossberg 20ga pump super bantam 500 that is rifled barrel and shoots sabots slugs. last year was the first year i used it to hunt deer. think goodness i did not hit a deer. the day before the hunt, we had sight in to make sure it was accurate. results were bad. sabot slugs are not cheap. i spent 60 dollars on sabot slugs and none of them would hit the target. it was either too far to the left or right or too high. i know it says to only use sabot slugs in a fully rifled barrel, but we tried the rifled slugs that cost $3 a box for 6 shells. it hit the target paper close to the bulls eye. than it started hitting only the outside of the target, or bottem of the paper. took it to the range to get an early sight in before deer season. still had the same problem. so i bought a leupold scope for $249 (same value as the gun, can you believe it). took it to the range the next day, and it still wouldn't hit the target right. after 1 hr of messing with it, it kept going off, this time not hitting the target at all. took it back to the place i bought the scope from, the sales guy spent 1 hr on it and finally figured out what the problem was with the scope. the gun is not level, making it hard to adjust the scope up and down. he said he could fix it, but he would have to put shims under the scope, too much work.ended up returning the scope. this gun is a good bird gun, but the deer barrel stinks. i don't know if i have a bad barrel or what. but i've lost a lot of money on the sabot slugs. i've tried every brand, so i'm guessing i have a bad barrel.

[klee]

i was thinking about buying a cantilever with the scope mount, so i can just take everything out at once. maybe get a new barrel. put a scope on it and make it a dedicated deer gun. i love to make it a dedicated deer gun, but it seems that i will be putting more money into this gun than i should and just buy a new deer gun.

[96trigger]

That would be your call on the cantilever mount. One nice thing about cantilever mounts is that you take the barrel and scope off as one unit. I do this with one of my deer guns. I will put the barrel back on the gun this fall, shoot two sabots through it and it should be right on like in the past. I can still use that gun for bird hunting etc... and not have to worry about resighting it in every year, which gets expensive. I just have to make sure that its still on and it always has been.

Couple things with your gun. The more you shoot, the dirtier it gets, the worse your pattern is going to be. If you shot on a hot day, the more the barrel will expand and the worse your groups will get. You should let the barrel properly cool before you send shells through it. Not sure if you did this or not, but its something to think about. you should be able to find one type of shell that your gun likes. Too bad you spent all the money.

[TooTallTom]

If you put a cantilever on it, it doesn't have to be a dedicated deer gun. Since the scope and barrel are "mated" you won't have to worry as much about re-sighting the gun when you swap barrels. A cantilever might also solve your alignment problem, and have the scope axis parallel to the barrel axis. The scope not being aligned with the barrel might be a reason you had so many problems sighting in your gun. Maybe.

Two birds with one stone, maybe saving yourself some money, yadda yadda yadda.