Shotgun question for the scattergun gurus

[303carbine]

I patterned my Winchester 1200 pump before I got it cut and it shot Winchester 1 oz. slugs 6 inches low and 4 inches right at 35 yards. The barrel was cut by a local smith and the original bead put back on.
After the barrel was cut to 19 inches from 26 inches,it shoots the same slug to point of aim at 50 yards.
The original choke was Improved Cylinder which measured .729 and the shorter barrel has a choke that measures .733. I also patterned some old Imperial SSG buckshot with 12 pellets, about 8 out of 12 hit a computer sized piece of paper at 25 yards.
Why does this scattergun perform better with a wider choke and a shorter barrel than it did with the long barrel with the Improved Cylinder choke??
Thanks.........confoozed..........

 

[SCDL]

Wait... You're shooting slugs in a shotgun with a choke? Isn't that really bad for the gun?

 

[303carbine]

Wait... You're shooting slugs in a shotgun with a choke? Isn't that really bad for the gun?

Next..........

 

[870P]

A choke that mild is just fine with slugs and shouldn't effect slug accuracy to any practical degree, unless it had some kind of manufacturing defect. As far as the appearant difference in accuracy goes, who knows? Every shotgun barrel configuration seems to come with its own set of rules.

 

[mudgunner49]

Every shotgun is an individual and they have personalities just like people (weird I know...). Everything and anything that you do that changes configuration will usually have an effect on patterning and especially on slugs/buckshot.

You shortened the barrel which made the barrel stiffer with less vibration and that is most likely what changed the POI for the slugs. I have found over the years that buckshot usually requires less choke as you go up in size. As an example, with one of my 870's (Turkey Express 21" w/VR Rem-Choke barrel, circa 1989 or so) #4 buck shoots best with a Modified choke, however 00 Buck shoots best with an Improved Cylinder or Cylinder choke in place. I have also found that buffered buck almost invariably patterns better than unbuffered (there's probably a scientific reason but I don't know it - probably has to do with roundness of shot flying truer and the buffer keeping the pellets from banging off of each other and flying erratically or something like that... just trust your hillbilly on this...

Each one has to be tried with whatever you are going to shoot in it, the results being the only true data you are going to get.

As to shooting slugs thru a choke... It won't help your accuracy as it beats the slug up a bit, but it won't harm the gun...


blake

 

[oneskilledshooter]

Sorry for bringing this even further off topic 303 but I know that you are on the right track using a choke with slugs. Most shotgun manuals will tell you to use an IC choke with slugs for best results. I am not sure why.

 

[303carbine]

Sorry for bringing this even further off topic 303 but I know that you are on the right track using a choke with slugs. Most shotgun manuals will tell you to use an IC choke with slugs for best results. I am not sure why.

The shotgun I had cut was IC that measured .729 at the muzzle,the cut down version measures .733 which is even more open effectively making it a cylinder bore.
Even buckshot patterns better than it did with the IC choke??
The new Remington 870 Super Mag I have shoots slugs 2 inches center to center at 100 yards with the factory Modified RemChoke and single bead sight. So I am beginning to think scatterguns have their own personality as mentioned.

 

[easy]

Absolutely. No two barrels will shoot the same, even if they both came consecutively off the line.

The only way to know how a barrel shoots is to run a crapload of different brands and sizes through it and find out. From there it's trial and error if you change the barrels configuration, ie. extended forcing cone. In your case shortened barrel.
I'm sure you'll get a bazillion scientific answers on the internet, but only God knows why it shoots to a different POI now. All I can say is it's because you cut your barrel.