Deer choke?

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Tkay

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OK, hoping someone can point me in the proper direction.
My son has a Remington 20 gauge 870 express, smooth barrel with a modified choke.
To hunt deer, I think I need a regular cylinder choke to shoot rifled slugs. What other choke could I use with rifled shot?
Please advise.
 
I have yet to take a deer with a shotgun, so take whatever I say with a shaker full o' salt...:)

That said, I have a 12g that I put a 20"bbl on - smooth bore, rifle sights, Remchokes. When I still hunt, I load up a slug 1st, the rest 00 buck, and use an Improved Cyl choke.

But (always one of those) one time at range camp, I was testing out a few brands of "rifled" slugs at the range on a deer-outline target out to 100yds. I was lobbing them into a 5" -6"circle at 100yds, and I am not the best marksman! When I broke down to clean later, I found I'd had the Full choke in. My thoughts were 1) oops; hope I didn't stress the barrel! and 2) hard to argue the results.

That was years ago, and I still use that barrel, with no issues, bulges or threading problems with different chokes. Over time, I convinced myself that the pure/soft lead of a slug was malleable enough to pass the constriction w/o issues. (But I havent fired 3,000 slugs through a Full choke, either!)

I have since read that rifling on a slug is more decoration than effect. It's apparently the shape of the slug, weight-forward, that gives it stability in flight rather than gyroscopic forces - badminton birdie rather than football is how I got my head around it. I also learned from shooting .38 special shot through a snubbie revolver that rifling and shot create a Cone of Protection for up close varmints! Spinning a coud of pellets turns out to be not the brilliantest solutiofyin' to a bold squirrel problem. So I'd avoid the rifled choke if using buckshot.

YMMV
 
On my 12ga 870 I have a rifle choke for slugs. Honestly to see what the best is, he needs to shoot the slugs he will be using and test fire for groups. I've only taking one whitetail with a 12 ga slug and that was at Ft Campbell Ky decades ago. Browning A5 with a 20" cylinder bore, range about 15 yds. Through and through and a blind man could follow the 20 yd blood trail.

CD
 
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Well I expected something different when I read that header:D
 
Rifled slugs are relatively soft lead and will swage down to safely exit any choke. That being said I certainly wouldn't fire them through a turkey choke lol.

So it is safe to shoot them through the Mod.

Now on to the accuracy question.

That can only be answered at the range. His 870 may do just fine with a mod choke or it may do better with an IC. Typically I find IC to be the sweet spot with slugs and good buckshot (TAP/Flite Control).

I have an 870 youth model 20 with the 18.5" remchoke barrel for my kids. It does just fine with slugs in the mod choke. My oldest son only ever killed deer with it with buckshot though. He has graduated to the 12 ga now though since he's 6'2 and 210lbs. :).
 
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One thing to consider on remchoke 20 gauge guns is that they are a bit overbored but the chokes are not. If you’re not familiar with the term the barrel is bored larger than the 20 gauge standard but the chokes are still standard and therefore are actually tighter than marked usually. The IC tubes in the ones I’ve used tend to pattern more like a modified with buckshot.

Never worked the 20’s much with slugs but years ago set up a 12 with a modified choke and clamp on fiber optic sights to shoot decent groups with slugs at 50 yards and still held a nice pattern with 3” #1 buck.
 
A Modified choke is fine. I've shot lots and lots of slugs and buckshot thru my 12 ga 21" 870. I shot my first deer with it. I had a vent rib scope rail that came over the receiver and a small 4x scope. It shot the cheap Winchester slugs that best, keeping 3 shots in a best of 4"and a worst 6" at 100 yards. At 50 yards it was 2"-3" groups. The Imp Cyl choke would do the same with slugs but Remington 00 buckshot shot tighter at 40 yards.
 
There is a magical 12 inch, 12 ga, 870 with rifle sights that lives here. It is truly a 72 caliber carbine. The other side....buckshot....won't put ONE pellet on a 4x8 piece of plywood at 100 yards. Not One!
One ounce slugs print 3 shot groups you can cover with the palm of my little girly hand.
 
I've never shot rifled slugs out of a smooth bore shotgun. I change barrels to a rifled one.

That said, right after I bought that frickin barrel I discovered the Brenneke finned slugs for smooth bore. Man are those things good. Really close to the same accuracy as a rifled slug in a rifled barrel in my experience. And I shot them out of a full choke.
 
Chdamn said:
I've never shot rifled slugs out of a smooth bore shotgun. I change barrels to a rifled one.

That said, right after I bought that frickin barrel I discovered the Brenneke finned slugs for smooth bore. Man are those things good. Really close to the same accuracy as a rifled slug in a rifled barrel in my experience. And I shot them out of a full choke.
Click to expand...

Brenneke slugs are the bees knees when it comes to killing things. They just work. A bit harder lead than the typical Foster slug produced by the big US ammo companies. Otto Brenneke designed it to hunt European boar.
 
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