How accurate are you with rifled slugs and bead sight only?

...I have an 870 with a 14" Dlask barrel and no rear sight and I can hit within a the big orange "X" on a standard sight-in target at 50 yards consistently. I'm figuring that's about a 10" diameter circle.I practice regularly with slugs out to 100 yards and I know that if I had to take a big game animal in a survival situation with my shotgun I am confident I could score a vital hit [within a 14" diameter circle] at that distance almost everytime.

The key is to buy the 15 packs of 2 3/4" slugs at Canadian tire and just go out and practice. You will be amazed at how well you will be able to reference your front sight after you can actually see where the slug is hitting.

...BTW my Dlask barrel has a post type front sight not a bead, but FWIW I used to get similar results with slugs from my 1300 Defender using just the front bead.


Practice and Enjoy,
Mad Mikey:shotgun:
 
...I forgot to mention if you are used to only firing shot you may find you're not squeezing the trigger for slugs but in fact you are striking the trigger. When attempting to fire slugs accurately your rifle shooting fundamentals apply.

Also I assume you have a smoothbore and you are shooting rifled slugs?


Mad Mikey :p
 
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I have had poor results with 12,16 and 20 gauge guns using slugs with bead sight only. but for some reason a Savage 311 SxS in .410 was uncanny in its ability to shoot slugs accurately, I could and did kill gophers regularly at 50-70 yds with it. Kinda think that one was a fluke, I'd certainly suggest sights for any slug gun.
 
Unless the range is very short, say 25 and in, proper rifle sights are the answer. As stated above, when you shoot slugs out of your shotgun, you must apply rifle marksmanship techniques. I think my best ever performance with slugs was from a cut down Winchester M-37 with open rifle sights from a 700 Remington and no choke, and the slugs were 1 oz Winchester 23/4" 12 gauge. The group, shot from prone, was about 4" for 5 rounds. That was 20 years ago, and you'll notice how well I recall the event. 4" at 50 is what I usually expect from my 590 with the ghost ring, and shooting Brennekes. When I need to shoot farther I switch to a rifle.
 
sun & S77,
Not quite MOA but...I was playng with two 870s, one with rifle sights and the other a 14" Dlask barrel like yours on my 870P. I hit 32X48 target at 382 yards enough times to say it was not a fluke. Group was minute 32X48" but it hit. I actaully found that the front blade was not really a hinderance at that distance.

At shorter distances they print very respectable groups.

Cheers

Cheers
 
I just took my 870 with a 18" bbl/bead sight out on Saturday. At 50 yards I was putting Remington Sluggers into a 6" circle. My Fabarm with 14"bbl and GR sights cuts those groups in half. This is not off a rest btw, I was shooting down on one knee and my elbow resting on my other knee. From a rest the Fabarm will shoot 5 slugs into one ragged hole at 50 yards.
 
winchester model 37 and a remington 700 with no choke never heard of such things please explan are these very old guns
 
I took the sights from a Remington M-700 rifle and had them attached to the barrel of the Winchester M-37 (similar to a Cooey 840) which is a hinge action single shot shotgun. I had several made up in various ways in both 12 and 20 gauge.
 
I prefer rifle sights on my slug barrels including the 14" barrel. Shooting slugs with just a bead doesn't provide the same accuracy.
 
Claybuster said:
I prefer rifle sights on my slug barrels including the 14" barrel. Shooting slugs with just a bead doesn't provide the same accuracy.
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I had Remington open sights installed onto my 12.5" Dominion and will be getting them onto my Dlask 14" as well. I also feel that rifle sights allow for more accuracy and faster target aquisition.

Cheers
 
i had a 20'' 870 with rifled sights, and using winchester 2 3/4'' rifled slugs i hit a phonebook a couple of times at 150 yards. Won $20 from a guy telling me the slug wouldnt penetrate.

bones1744 was at the range that day with a friend of his, and his buddy repeated it with a 870 marine magnum with a bead sight. I couldnt do it with the bead.

i took us both a couple of trys to get the trajectory down at that range, and we ended up having to hold about 16'' high, but after that we got fairly good at it. Both shotguns were smooth, not rifled. And we were shooting from a bench.
 
gallen270 said:
i had a 20'' 870 with rifled sights, and using winchester 2 3/4'' rifled slugs i hit a phonebook a couple of times at 150 yards. Won $20 from a guy telling me the slug wouldnt penetrate.

bones1744 was at the range that day with a friend of his, and his buddy repeated it with a 870 marine magnum with a bead sight. I couldnt do it with the bead.

i took us both a couple of trys to get the trajectory down at that range, and we ended up having to hold about 16'' high, but after that we got fairly good at it. Both shotguns were smooth, not rifled. And we were shooting from a bench.
Click to expand...

I plan to install a ghost ring rear sight on my 870 one day when cash allows but I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who can make somewhat repeatable shots out to 100 yards with just a bead. By no means do I consider myself a "good shot" just regularly shoot a high enough volume.

I have witnessed people who don't shoot much make some pretty crazy shots that make you shake your head. :confused: I guess that's natural ability. I just found in my case there is no substitute for practice. Go buy a few boxes of slugs and shoot intelligently and hitting "minute of pie-plate" at 50-80 yards should easily be within your reach.

Mad Mikey:shotgun:
 
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