Rifled barrel slug choice

[zachp]

I have a hastings slug barrel and have been shooting remington sluggers(cheapos) out of it for the past few seasons with pretty good success. My question is, are the sluggers made for smooth bore rifles, or can they be shot out of rifled barrels too? I have shot sabots through the gun as well and they worked good but most of my shots are inside of 50 yards and from that range the gun shoots the sluggers with great accuracy and at a third of the cost.

[Dave S]

I've seen people shoot rifled slugs through rifled barrells, but I personally wouldn't recommend it. Some barrells might have a different rate of twist in the rifling as compared to the slugs and in turn, will counteract each other. Others might argue this and others might prove me wrong. If I am, I hope that someone else chimes in.

I also have looked at the rifling on some slugs in the past and it was in the opposite direction as the rifling in my barrell. I don't recall if it was the Remington, Federals or Winchesters. I had some of each and it was nothing more than an inspection based on curiosity on my part.

Brenneke now makes the K.O. in a sabot round as well as their Brenneke Gold which is designed for rifled barrels. The K.O.'s were surprisingly affordable compared to some of the other rounds that command $15+ per box of 5.

If you do look into the K.O. Brenneke's, make sure they are the Sabot round. The boxes look identical between the Sabot and rifled slugs.

I hope this helps. But I view this scenario as simply as, Rifled barrells are intended for Sabot rounds only and rifled slugs are intended for use in smooth bores only.

[analyzer]

why does my KO box say for smooth bore, OR rifled barrels?

[JDM]

You can shoot the dual purpose slugs out of either, but I have heard they are rough on the rifling in the rifled barrel. As far as shooting a rifled slug down a rifled barrel, you should not do it. You may have already caused enough damage that the barrel would have trouble with sabots. At 50 yards, the demand for accuracy is not nearly what it is at 100 yards. It makes a huge difference.

Every gun is different. You need to experiment to find out which brands / types work the best.

[Tom7227]

Don't know about rifled slugs in rifled barrels but I don know that you need to try a number of different makes to see what works in your gun. The differences are huge. When you think you're OK at 50 yards sure as h--- a huge buck will show up at 85. Spend some time with about 4 or 5 different brands on a bench at a 50 yard range and see what happens. When you get a 2 inch patter you know you're ok.

[fishin58]

I picked up some K.O's for my 11-87 rifled barrell last night at fleet for 1.99, It said right on the box for smooth or rifled. I also compared the drop rates and the velocity of all the brennekes and the K.O's were almost the best based on there stats, so Why shoot 2 bucks a pop?? Also I liked the Brennekes because the put there stats right on the box, rem does also, but federal and winchester leave a guy in peril. Hopefully I can shoot up a couple boxes tonight to get the scope on with these.