Morning Folks –

I apologize in advance if this was addressed in an earlier thread. I have an 870 express with a 2.5x scope mounted on it. I have a 28” barrel with the interchangeable choke system. To fire rifled slugs through this barrel, do I need a cylinder choke or can I leave in one of the more restrictive chokes? Even if pressure is not a serious issue, do more restrictive chokes negatively effect the ballistics of the slug? I understand that I can buy (and likely will) a 20” deer barrel but I am curious about using choked barrels for rifled slugs. With a cylinder choke, are the extra 8 inches that should give more velocity worth the extra weight?

All comments are welcome.

Thanks,

I think ole' Dixie will step in here on tthis one.
Now......There are various Foster type slugs that are somewhat cheap and can be used in a smoothbore barrel with a full choke tube installed.
Having said that.......some of the factories has as of late increased to diameter of their Foster slugs.
So....I would start off with an Imp. Cyl. choke and check the groups.
You will find these soft lead Foster slugs lead the barrel fast.The best way to get it out is buy a all copper "Chore Boy" copper scouring pad. Take it apsrt and wrap some around a 12 ga brush. A few passes will clean it out and not hurt the barrel at all.
It really depends on your hunting situation as to whether a rifled barrel is better! The Brenneke slugs are veru good in the smoothbore and our full size hard c ast heat treated slug/bullets in rifled barrels are best on large and/or dangerous game (like big boar hogs).
Let me know if I can help more......James@Dixie slugs

Going to jump in with Mr. James here...most likely any choke restriction, even IC, will cause quick leading and rapid deterioration of groups if you get any kind of grouping at all. Have had various slugs leave enough lead in IC & mod chokes with the first one to cause all the rest to be thrown way off course.

I've tried a whole lot of different slugs in smoothbores, not one of them was very impressive on accuracy and I got the best groups with patched roundballs I loaded myself (way more power too). Not to be a prude but in all honesty, if you want to avoid being disappointed and don't want to take the time to load build a PRB, get yourself some Dixie Predator's.

Mark,

I'd be interested in prbs. What diameter? Pathces? If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear about your loads.

SSB

Hello Friend Mark.......Keep it going!.....James

Hey James, gotta get an email to you...look for it soon.

SSB,
.710" cast ball from WW alloy, lightly lubed .013" cotton patch, nitro card OP & fiber filler. I don't have my notes anymore but I think I was using 49gr of Blue Dot but please do check this before loading anything! If memory serves, used a 1/8" nitro then either 5/16" or 3/8" fiber cushion.

Oh, I did trim the crimps off some, about half way, maybe a little more or less, don't recall exactly. Patch needs to be big enough in diameter to wrap around the ball as you load it in the case with enough left over so the edges come up even with the top of the ball. When the ball is seated, the top should be even with the top of the hull, not the top of the crimp. Reason for trimming the crimp is so that when you apply the star to it, the crimp does not cover the top of the ball. This allows the folds to go down alongside the ball so the crimp does not finish out to a convex shape but lays flat or even slightly concave.

These may only be fired through cylinder bores!!! They will cause serious damages to choked guns because there is no compression factor of these solid balls and if they hit a choke constriction, it's the same as an obstructed bore and things will come apart.

I shot these from an H&R single a gun shot with the end of the barrel plugged with mud and peeled it open. Sawed it down to a good part and put some rifle sights on it, ended up around 26.5". I could average 4" groups at a 100yds from the bench. Took some deer with these and they put 'em down hard, no tracking or chasing...anchored on the spot.

Mark and All......In this day of the Whiz-Bang BS that is put out by the rag writers......I think the most under-rated projectile is the large round ball and very large bullets! I am not talking about pea size balls/bullets, but rather .535" up!
Looking back through my old books, I am amazed at what the Brits did in Africa/India with those Big smoothbores and hard round bore fitting balls!.......elephants no less!
On another thread, we just got into the Kinetic Energy thing again.......an exercise in futility! The simple fact is that big balls and big bullets, even at a modest velocity, have been knocking over very large animals for a very long time. I think this KE thing has been dragged out to try to convince the shooter/hunter about something that does not exist!....James

Round ball loads - I've been playing with them for years. Besides buckshot, I load .690", .575" and .527". I chose .527" over .535" because 3 of them = 1 1/2 ounce, I can't measure pressure so I use a 1 1/2 ounce load data for them. ;)

The Punkin Ball load took deer and other large animals for many years, just as effective now as it was way back when. A .690" round ball (1 1/8 ounces) can be launched pretty quick.

Besides being effective loads, they're (for me) just plain fun. :D

DC

James, I couldn't agree with you more. I've always been a big bore fan and haven't changed any. I don't buy into the "magic bullets" at all but will endorse quality bullets that are designed properly for the intended use and not just for the sales hype. I am a firm believer that you can give any fool a 8 dollar bullet and a rifleman a 10 cent bullet and I'll be eating at the rifleman's house that evening.

Kinda off topic a little but since you started it...I watched a native African fall three goats with one shot from an issue WWII Carcano using one round of vintage Italian FMJ round nose, that ammo which was swiped with the rife oh so many years ago. Hardly a magnum round and a far cry from a magic bullet yet they worked in the hands of a rifleman to feed many generations of people with very little ammo usage. On the same trip, I took note that the men sent out to quell the village wrecking elephants were toting 10ga smoothbores slinging bore size hard cast roundballs. I questioned their choice of weapon and one stated plainly, "when you put two of these out, everyone has elephant to eat, two from a rifle and the elephan may still eat you." A little more indepth discussion lead to the explanation that when they go after these elephants, the battle is close and fast. Light weight doubles and a few singles, come into play a whole lot quicker than a rifle and make a bigger hole.

I know from my experience, you can take a big roundball and drive it through a shoulder on a deer and loose very little meat...try that with a 180gr from the '06 and you'll throw the whole shoulder away. I've whacked deer on a perfect broadside boiler room hit at 50yds with a 150gr from the .300 savage and it ran a good 100yds or more before falling. Same shot, same range with a 175gr out of the 7mm Rem mag and that buck went every bit of 150yds before dropping. Yet similar shots at similar ranges, time after time with the .710" PRB and they all dropped within 10 feet if not right where they were standing when I hit them. Friend of mine used these loads in his Mossberg 500 with the 18.5" cylinder bore slud bbl and reported the same results time after time with shots out to 100yds.

Big bullets make big holes and the bigger the hole, the quicker the kill.