slugs through 395kb

[menthol99]

i recently picked up a mossberg 395kb bolt action shotgun. want to know if you can fire a slug round through it with the c-lect a choke setup it has and on what setting should it be on!

[RoadKingLarry]

If the owners manual doesn't say I'd contact Mossberg and ask them.

[AZRedhawk44]

Wouldn't mind hearing a modest diatribe about the rationale of chokes in the first place, or how slugs might be affected by, or affect upon, a particular choke design.

Shotgun woobie here without a single "shotty" in the safe.  Wouldn't mind a little enlightenment on the topic, if anyone's feeling talkative.

My philistine and uninformed perspective on it, is it ain't a marksman's weapon anyways... and chokes are just trying to squeeze an extra x% of tightness-per-distance out of a dispersal group.  The notion of any choke on a slug just strikes me as unnecessary, bordering on neglectful or damaging.  I'd love to be properly elucidated on the topic, though.

[vaskidmark]

What AZRedhawk44 said, but I'm going to add my iggerant comment that I've always been told that slugs should only be shot out of unrestricted bores.

Maybe a shotgunner will come along and edumacate us all.

stay safe.

[AJ Dual]

If it's a soft lead Foster-type slug, or Brenneke, even better if it's riding in a plastic wad, they generally can go through the weakest/slightest sort of choke known as "Improved Cylinder" or simply "Improved" safely. The hollow skirt of the Foster, and the raised ridges of the Brenneke are purposely made to swage down on firing to conform to the forcing cone of the bore, and of the choke.

The stress to the choke really isn't that different than squeezing down a shot column moving at 1200-odd FPS. And the stress of a soft pure lead slug passing through an IC choke is generally within the bounds of the variations of different loads of ammo, such as 3" magnums, steel shot (if the shotgun is so rated), and the differences in different maker's wads, shot sizes and their muzzle velocity.


Tighter chokes, like "Modified" or "full" are unsafe with slugs in my over-cautious approach. However, in the interest of full disclosure, there is lots of "standard" advice out there in fully modern shotguns to use whichever choke provides the best groups for you, up to and including a full choke.

Also, most multi-chokes have a wide open cylinder/slug setting.

So a slug is probably safe on the C-lect a choke's widest setting, putting my money where my mouth is, were it up to me, I'd be willing to shoot a Foster slug through your setup it were it my shotgun and probably one or two clicks tighter if I saw an improvement in it's groupings I deemed worth it.

However I would still want to find some factory documentation for that choke if at all possible, but depending on how old it is, it may not actually apply to the tech of modern ammo that's often got a lot of "lawyer proofing" built into it these days.

[wmenorr67]

Make sure you have someone running a video camera as you try this to post your results from your test.

Also make sure you have someone else hold your beer before trying this also.

[JonnyB]

Before I bought a slug barrel for my Remmie 870 Wingmaster, I regularly fired rifled slugs through a 30-inch, full-choke barrel. This is a pre-steel-shot full choke, too, made in the mid-70s.

Would I do it? Sure. The way our overly-lawyered society is today, I doubt manufacturers would let something lke this go untested and without dire "YOU WILL DIE!!!" warnings everywhere.

This, however, is but one man's uneducated opinion. Your mileage, eyesight and facial scars may differ. 

jb

[roo_ster]

TFL's shotgun board is pretty good to get schoolin' on shotguns.  I think the two best are likely McCracken & Lapin.  And sm.

Shotguns can be decently precise as slug-throwers.  Just gotta find the right slug for your individual shotgun.  Mossberg also produces, IIRC, a rifled bolt action shotgun which has been used by military snipers in urban areas for 12ga slug's penetrative power.

[Regolith]

Wouldn't mind hearing a modest diatribe about the rationale of chokes in the first place, or how slugs might be affected by, or affect upon, a particular choke design.

Shotgun woobie here without a single "shotty" in the safe.  Wouldn't mind a little enlightenment on the topic, if anyone's feeling talkative.

My philistine and uninformed perspective on it, is it ain't a marksman's weapon anyways... and chokes are just trying to squeeze an extra x% of tightness-per-distance out of a dispersal group. 

Pretty much.  A tighter choke keeps a shot column together for a longer distance, which can be critical when hunting birds or other game with shot at longer distances as individual pellets don't really weigh that much, and the more you get on target the better.  It's generally less important for HD, since it's unlikely that you will need to engage a target beyond the effective distance of buckshot out of a cylinder bore (no choke) or improved cylinder choke, and if you need the distance a slug gives you, those are the chokes you want anyway.

As for accuracy, sometimes slugs are more accurate with improved cylinder, sometimes they like no choke. It depends on the gun and the ammo, so it's generally a good idea to experiment and find out what combination works best. This is for non-sabot slugs.  Sabot slugs need a rifled barrel for accuracy; they need the spin to stabilize.

[never_retreat]

Wow I thought I was the only person with one of these guns.
Ironic because I got about 15 shotguns for free that had been a flood. Most were crappy guns to start with, but I got most of them up a running. They all look like crap except this one. They all spent a week underwater in foam cases. This gun still has all the finish. The only thing I did not do was refinish the stock.