novice question about 870 barrels

lock-33 · May 19, 2010, 12:35 PM

i have a Remington 870 that i bought used. That being said it came with a 20" rifled & a 26" smooth bore with vented rib running length of barrel. I want to turn it into a combat shotgun and I already made some changes. But the problem is that I want it to have barrel no longer than 20". So my question is, can I use my 20" rifled barrel to to fire other rounds than slugs or do I need to buy a new 20" smooth bore barrel?

zippy13 · May 19, 2010, 12:57 PM

What kind of performance do your expect from your "combat" shotgun?
You can shoot shot in a rifled barrel, but the pattern is questionable at any significant distance.

JNewell · May 19, 2010, 02:42 PM

You probably need a smooth bore if you want to shoot buckshot effectively for your stated purpose. The rifling will tend to spin the shot and it will fly outward when it leaves the barrel. You might think this is a good thing, but it is not, because you really need to deliver all of those pellets to the target under those circumstances in order to get any kind of reliable performance. You want a tight pattern, and you're not likely to get that from a fully rifled tube.

Just to complicate matters, I will tell you that I have done testing with one of my shotguns that has an 18" barrel and choke tubes. At 15 yards there is no difference between the Federal LE212 9x00 load from the cylinder tube, the IC tube and a screw-in rifled tube. However, that is just my shotgun, and that's just that load, and most importantly that's only about 2" of rifling, not the whole tube.

You could do much worse than buy a few different good PD/SD buck loads and give them a try on a patterning board and see what happens. It might work well, or it might be a disaster. Hard to say how any specific gun and load will perform without patterning.

baltz526 · May 19, 2010, 07:15 PM

I'll say buy the barrel you want. Having a birdshot 870 barrel to sell, to pay for the new HD barrel is a plus. If it is a 3" remchoke barrel it will sell pretty fast at the right price, Or if it is a IMP CYL/MOD choke barrel it will sell. Full choke 870 barrels are hard to sell for a reasonable price. 3" barrels work on 3" guns, 2 3/4" barrels fit on 2 3/4" guns with the 870.

Lee Lapin · May 19, 2010, 08:03 PM

You'll want to get an 18- 20" smoothbore barrel for defensive use. Rifled barrels spread patterns fast and wide, as a rule, and usually leave a hole right in the middle as well. A smoothbore will usually handle rifled slugs well enough to get you by out to a hundred yards or so, thus the rifled barrel is no advantage there.

fwiw,

lpl

May 19, 2010, 12:35 PM	#1
lock-33 Junior Member Join Date: March 8, 2010 Posts: 6	novice question about 870 barrels i have a Remington 870 that i bought used. That being said it came with a 20" rifled & a 26" smooth bore with vented rib running length of barrel. I want to turn it into a combat shotgun and I already made some changes. But the problem is that I want it to have barrel no longer than 20". So my question is, can I use my 20" rifled barrel to to fire other rounds than slugs or do I need to buy a new 20" smooth bore barrel?

May 19, 2010, 07:15 PM	#4
baltz526 Member Join Date: April 10, 2010 Location: lapine oregon Posts: 66	I'll say buy the barrel you want. Having a birdshot 870 barrel to sell, to pay for the new HD barrel is a plus. If it is a 3" remchoke barrel it will sell pretty fast at the right price, Or if it is a IMP CYL/MOD choke barrel it will sell. Full choke 870 barrels are hard to sell for a reasonable price. 3" barrels work on 3" guns, 2 3/4" barrels fit on 2 3/4" guns with the 870. __________________ 10ga shooters anonymous member in good standing. reloader of steelshot goose loads for modern shotguns

May 19, 2010, 08:03 PM	#5
Lee Lapin Senior Member Join Date: September 7, 2004 Location: SE NC Posts: 1,239	You'll want to get an 18- 20" smoothbore barrel for defensive use. Rifled barrels spread patterns fast and wide, as a rule, and usually leave a hole right in the middle as well. A smoothbore will usually handle rifled slugs well enough to get you by out to a hundred yards or so, thus the rifled barrel is no advantage there. fwiw, lpl __________________ Mindset - Skillset - Toolset. In that order! Attitude and skill will get you through times of no gear, better than gear will get you through times of no attitude and no skill.

May 19, 2010, 12:57 PM	#2
zippy13 Senior Member Join Date: August 23, 2008 Location: SoCal Posts: 6,442	What kind of performance do your expect from your "combat" shotgun? You can shoot shot in a rifled barrel, but the pattern is questionable at any significant distance.

May 19, 2010, 02:42 PM	#3
JNewell Senior Member Join Date: March 12, 2000 Posts: 1,092	You probably need a smooth bore if you want to shoot buckshot effectively for your stated purpose. The rifling will tend to spin the shot and it will fly outward when it leaves the barrel. You might think this is a good thing, but it is not, because you really need to deliver all of those pellets to the target under those circumstances in order to get any kind of reliable performance. You want a tight pattern, and you're not likely to get that from a fully rifled tube. Just to complicate matters, I will tell you that I have done testing with one of my shotguns that has an 18" barrel and choke tubes. At 15 yards there is no difference between the Federal LE212 9x00 load from the cylinder tube, the IC tube and a screw-in rifled tube. However, that is just my shotgun, and that's just that load, and most importantly that's only about 2" of rifling, not the whole tube. You could do much worse than buy a few different good PD/SD buck loads and give them a try on a patterning board and see what happens. It might work well, or it might be a disaster. Hard to say how any specific gun and load will perform without patterning.