Rifled Choke

mosinmaster

mosinmaster

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
62   0   0
Anybody use a rifled choke for slugs? I hear they aren't that great with sabot slugs, but with foster and brenneke-type slugs they can improve accuracy. I recently picked up a Rhino Choke slugmaster in a bulk choke deal. What have people's experience been? Might do some trials comparing to open cylinder and improved cylinder.
 
What kind of sighting system do you have on your shotgun?

Here is my take .... I can shoot a 4" group at 100 meters with Federal TruBall slugs and out of an Improved Cylinder choke ... and with Ghost Ring sights (870 Police).

So, I can get a 4" group at 100 meters with a smoothbore barrel ... and without a rifled choke or rifled barrel.

And if I wanted to tighten this group .... then maybe a rifled choke would help ... but I am also reaching the limits of my sighting system ... so I would also need a scope or red dot mounted ... :-(

Voila .... my experience ... and my 2 cents ....
Since I discovered that the Federal TruBall slugs are amazingly accurate out of a smoothbore barrel .... my rifled barrel is collecting dust ....

(The best I got out of my rifled Hastings cantilever barrel with a scope and Federal Power Shock sabots is a 2.5" group.)
 
Last edited:
Slugs are an anomaly. What should work, sometimes doesn't work. What shouldn't work, sometimes works well. Like they say Your Mileage May Vary.

I don't take my slug shooting that seriously, small(ish) groups with some consistency and I'm good. Sometime I shoot homemade, sometimes I just buy a box. We have a deer/shotgun season in our area, and that's what I use slugs for. BTW, they will harvest deer, adequate power IMHO.

You best bang for the buck is a rifled choke, it does a pretty decent job with most slugs, even rifled slugs. And a rifled slug has rifling in the opposite spin to the choke tube rifling. It will still shoot shot, at about a modified pattern. I can load slugs for deer or load some #2's for skunks, same gun, same choke. It is an OK compromise.

The British had paradox rifled shotguns, not much different that a screw in rifled choke.

I've only ever fooled with Remington 870's, but most rifled chokes are similar.

My choke is 2" long, it tapers from 0.740" to 0.715". The groove diameter at the muzzle is 0.715". Pretty subtle changes in dimension, you'd think that it may not do anything, but it seems to work. There are also longer (extended) screw in chokes, no experience with those.

My fully rifled barrel is a Mossberg made one for the 870. It is 24" long, helps tame the 3" slugs. I don't shoot them often, they are pretty brutal for recoil.

Testing is pretty subjective, a change in the ammo can make a big difference. A smooth bore cyl choke is fairly consistent, and works best for buckshot.

I have a Lyman mold, the one that makes what looks like a large air rifle pellet, and a LEE keyed mold. Both can be made to work, both can give horrible results, it all depends on the load. Finding a load that works can be a challenge. Small wonder, if you take apart factory slugs they can get pretty fancy. The closest DIY slugs are molds of Russian design, they seem to have whipped some technology on the slug mold design.

I've been accused of overthinking some projects, overthinking the shooting slug thing will get you down a rabbit hole pretty quickly. Bottom line, you have to test.

Nitro
 
nitro-express said:
Slugs are an anomaly. What should work, sometimes doesn't work. What shouldn't work, sometimes works well. Like they say Your Mileage May Vary.

I don't take my slug shooting that seriously, small(ish) groups with some consistency and I'm good. Sometime I shoot homemade, sometimes I just buy a box. We have a deer/shotgun season in our area, and that's what I use slugs for. BTW, they will harvest deer, adequate power IMHO.

You best bang for the buck is a rifled choke, it does a pretty decent job with most slugs, even rifled slugs. And a rifled slug has rifling in the opposite spin to the choke tube rifling. It will still shoot shot, at about a modified pattern. I can load slugs for deer or load some #2's for skunks, same gun, same choke. It is an OK compromise.

The British had paradox rifled shotguns, not much different that a screw in rifled choke.

I've only ever fooled with Remington 870's, but most rifled chokes are similar.

My choke is 2" long, it tapers from 0.740" to 0.715". The groove diameter at the muzzle is 0.715". Pretty subtle changes in dimension, you'd think that it may not do anything, but it seems to work. There are also longer (extended) screw in chokes, no experience with those.

My fully rifled barrel is a Mossberg made one for the 870. It is 24" long, helps tame the 3" slugs. I don't shoot them often, they are pretty brutal for recoil.

Testing is pretty subjective, a change in the ammo can make a big difference. A smooth bore cyl choke is fairly consistent, and works best for buckshot.

I have a Lyman mold, the one that makes what looks like a large air rifle pellet, and a LEE keyed mold. Both can be made to work, both can give horrible results, it all depends on the load. Finding a load that works can be a challenge. Small wonder, if you take apart factory slugs they can get pretty fancy. The closest DIY slugs are molds of Russian design, they seem to have whipped some technology on the slug mold design.

I've been accused of overthinking some projects, overthinking the shooting slug thing will get you down a rabbit hole pretty quickly. Bottom line, you have to test.

Nitro
Click to expand...

So what kind of groups are you getting at 100 meters??
 
I haven’t tried a rifled choke with slugs but I have tested chokes from cyl to full with my two preferred hard cast slugs for accuracy out to 50y. Basically mod to full always give me great poi/poa, mod & lM give me the best overall accuracy and shot patterns.
 
0faustus0 said:
Butcherbill, with what ammo was that .... ?
Click to expand...

Challengers and recently I’ve started using Sterling Cross, the seem about as hard cast as the challengers. They both shoot the same poa/poi and specs on both are almost the same, B.C. made slugs.

o6uRUbl.jpg

ynOrczT.jpg

8NoK9ym.jpg

RfKtOIX.jpg
 
$24 for a box of 25, here’s my 50y & 20y initial test. 12.5” barrel with a bead sight, mod choke. Stout load but a bit less felt recoil, they shot a bit tighter with my 20” rifle sighted barrel and mod choke. I quite like them, Sterling Cross sells direct to the consumer and I’ll be buying a case next time I head down to the lower mainland. The rep at SC I was chatting with said bc CO’s are using them but take that as you will, I haven’t talked with any CO’s since I started shooting them.

Z85t68d.jpg

NgxsVUZ.jpg
 
0faustus0 said:
Butcherbill, nice shooting!!!!

Those Sterling Cross .... what does the slug and wad look like? Have you taken a shotshell apart??
I am wondering if it is a Foster slug ... from the picture it seems like it ..... ??
Click to expand...

Thanks, they are nice shooting slugs if I do my part. I haven’t taken one apart yet, it seems to be a foster style though. I’ll have to cut one open and post a pic. They are definitely a hard cast slug, almost as hard as the Challengers.
 
mosinmaster said:
Anybody use a rifled choke for slugs? I hear they aren't that great with sabot slugs, but with foster and brenneke-type slugs they can improve accuracy. I recently picked up a Rhino Choke slugmaster in a bulk choke deal. What have people's experience been? Might do some trials comparing to open cylinder and improved cylinder.
Click to expand...

Your information about Sabots and rifled chokes is accurate.

I have been deer hunting with a shotgun for the last 15-16 years when the Southern Ontario laws changed. Before I committed to a dedicated deer shotgun I was killing deer with a Remington 870 21 inch smooth bore, rifled sight IC choke barrel. Easily getting 4-5 inch groups at 100 yards. I think I could have improved that because the sights were sloppy in my opinion. I shot the same groupings with a smooth bore 30 inch barrel, fixed mod choke in a Winchester 1200 pump. What did i did find was my O/U (each barrel group and poi was different for each barrel) and Benelli Vinci shot 2-3 inch groups at 100 yards, and I believe because the barrel was fixed. These were all with 2 3/4 inch Remington sluggers.
 
First time I set up for the shotgun whitetail hunt I bought a bunch of types of slugs and shot them through a rifled, cyl, skt, and IC choke in my smooth bore 12ga. My shoulder was sore after :p The cyl choke was the worst and the skt and rifled chokes were tied for the best. I couldn't tell the difference between them despite several attempts to differentiate a 'best' one.

So I use the rifled choke when I slug hunt but don't think it actually gives me any increased accuracy over what the skt would in my gun with that ammo. I use it because I own it but if I ever lost it I wouldn't feel the need to replace it as based on that experience it didn't increase performance over what could be achieved with a normal skt choke.
 
The Taofledermaus guys (https://www.youtube.com/user/taofledermaus/videos) seem to like them a lot and have good results with them, and they've shot the widest variety of ammo through rifled chokes out of anyone in the world by far, with every shot outcome recorded in super slow motion. They often compare rifled barrels and rifled chokes in shot accuracy. Been watching their videos for many years.

I personnally haven't shot sabot slugs nor do I own rifled chokes, but I'd trust their judgement on this one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom