870 Rifled Barrel and Slugs, what do you use?

Fox

Fox

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I am curious what people are using in their 870 rifled barrels, the SSTs I have work well but are now not the same as my old batch and also $30/5. Anyone shooting the Hornady American Whitetail?

I know that every gun is different but I figured the twist rate of a factory 870 barrel would limit the options I have to look in to.

Thanks
 
You didn't mention the guage, but 2 3/4 inch accutips in 870 20 work great.

That being said 2 3/4 inch accutips are my absolute go to in every slug gun I own. 20 ga M2, 12 guage SBE2 and 12 guage sx3.
 
todigy said:
You didn't mention the guage, but 2 3/4 inch accutips in 870 20 work great.

That being said 2 3/4 inch accutips are my absolute go to in every slug gun I own. 20 ga M2, 12 guage SBE2 and 12 guage sx3.
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You are right, I did not, 12ga 2 3/4in now as I put the barrel on a standard wingmaster receiver.

There are very few options for slugs around, my friend uses 20ga Accubond and it shoots lights out but I he cannot find any, he is hoping he has a 4-5 year supply still.

I am hoping the Hornady Interlock would work well as I know a place that has a pile, but hoping someone else with an 870 barrel who has shot them can chime in too :)
 
The hornady sst sabots shot the best in my cantilever 870 barrel, that said they weren’t good enough that I would want to hunt with them. I tried two types of Winchester, some hornady, federal and one other and performance was lacklustre. Never did find accutips to try out, I hear lots of good things about them.
 
Butcherbill said:
The hornady sst sabots shot the best in my cantilever 870 barrel, that said they weren’t good enough that I would want to hunt with them. I tried two types of Winchester, some hornady, federal and one other and performance was lacklustre. Never did find accutips to try out, I hear lots of good things about them.
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So you just gave up? What groups were you getting?
 
Fox said:
So you just gave up? What groups were you getting?
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I’m not in any shotgun only zones so it wasn’t a real priority, I originally thought hunting spring bear with 12g sabots would be fun. At $5 a shot at that time it wasn’t something I was interested in perusing after less than stellar results from all the ammo brands I was able to get semi locally, I ended up with a rifled barrel in a 870 3 barrel combo and figured I’d try and find a use for it but hunting with a rifle is cheaper and more accurate shooting so I mothballed the idea.

I was getting 2-3” five shot groups at 50y, the 100y groups were 6-7” or more depending on ammo. My sks shoots better groups than that, I’d like to reload cast sabot’s at some point and will likely do some more playing around with it. I did find 12g accutips and tried to order some but they don’t ship ammo, if I can get my hands on them I’d like to see how they perform.
 
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Hornady SST shot the best in two different Remington 870 rifled barrels for me. 2 1/2" to 3" 3 shot groups at 100yds consistently. Next best for me was Browning BXS. Remington Accutips were disappointing as were Barnes. I haven't shot a deer yet with them to see how they perform but accuracy is great.
 
Bought these at auction last year.
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DF
 
todigy said:
You didn't mention the guage, but 2 3/4 inch accutips in 870 20 work great.

That being said 2 3/4 inch accutips are my absolute go to in every slug gun I own. 20 ga M2, 12 guage SBE2 and 12 guage sx3.
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I'm in the same boat.
 
there are a few hunters in my area shooting rifled slugs in their rifled barrel guns. they are getting their deer and claim they are accurate. i realize rifled slugs are meant for smooth bore guns. i have tried sabots in a smooth bore and results were bad. off topic but i bought a 870 barrel marked rifled from a fellow leaving the country and it turned out to be a smooth bore. he told me it was smooth bore but i thought it just needed a good cleaning but he was right. i have a unicorn barrel and am happy with the barrel just for the conversation factor.
 
farmer47 said:
there are a few hunters in my area shooting rifled slugs in their rifled barrel guns. they are getting their deer and claim they are accurate. i realize rifled slugs are meant for smooth bore guns. i have tried sabots in a smooth bore and results were bad. off topic but i bought a 870 barrel marked rifled from a fellow leaving the country and it turned out to be a smooth bore. he told me it was smooth bore but i thought it just needed a good cleaning but he was right. i have a unicorn barrel and am happy with the barrel just for the conversation factor.
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There are deer barrels that are smooth bore, I have one for my wife's 20ga win 1300, I wish I could find a rifled one for that gun but we may not be going to shotgun only zones much down the road so we shall see. My smooth bore turkey barrel has Williams clamp on sights for the rib, rigid and hold zero, work well with attached wad slugs but not nearly as accurate as the rifled barrel.

I should try the challangers in that rifled barrel and see if they lead up, if not and if they are accurate that may be the way to go.
 
farmer47 said:
there are a few hunters in my area shooting rifled slugs in their rifled barrel guns. they are getting their deer and claim they are accurate. i realize rifled slugs are meant for smooth bore guns. i have tried sabots in a smooth bore and results were bad. off topic but i bought a 870 barrel marked rifled from a fellow leaving the country and it turned out to be a smooth bore. he told me it was smooth bore but i thought it just needed a good cleaning but he was right. i have a unicorn barrel and am happy with the barrel just for the conversation factor.
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way back in the day my whole camp was using rifled slugs with rifled barrels before we knew any better. Accuracy was great, however cleaning lead fowling out of rifling can be a chore!
 
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