Can you shoot rifled slugs out of an o/u?

[Gamehunter59]

is it accurate?

[hogdogs]

Rifled slugs are for use in any smooth bore gun barrel. Accuracy out of my 18 inch yields groups in a paper plate at 60 yards off hand so from a long barrel I would expect tighter farther...
Brent

[fisherman66]

Yup.

Contrary to intuition, the "rifled" slug does not impart any spin. It reduces the bearing surface to reduce friction.

[lockedcj7]

If legal in your state, having a slug in one barrel and 00 Buck in the other would be a versatile set up.

[Scattergun Bob]

I have to defer to you guys about this one, I have never had much luck with slug accuracy in a s/s, so in my mind a o/u might not do well. All of my life I wanted a Ruger Red Label and now I have one in 20 gauge, I wince at the thought of running slugs thru this baby. Guess it couldn't hurt!

Good Luck & Be Safe

[dan20703]

Accuracy of slugs from smooth bores varies greatly and is very dependent on the ammo. Try several brands of rifled slugs and use an "open cylider" choke tube. Figure out what shoots best for you. At best though you will be limited to shooting 100 yards or less. That's a big chunk of lead you're tossing out there!


Buddy of mine hunted deer in western NY for many years with an O/U and had great success.

[Jeff F]

Contrary to intuition, the "rifled" slug does not impart any spin. It reduces the bearing surface to reduce friction.

I don't know where you got your information, but a rifled slug the rifling does induce spin.

[mikenbarb]

I have never had a slug shoot well enough to hunt with it in any of my over unders and you cant even hunt with them in my state unless you have rifle sights or a scope on the gun shooting them. And a rifled slug DOES induce a spin in flight and helps to stabilize it at longer ranges. A good slug to start with is the Federal Tru-Balls, Their a good accurate slug and shoot well out of most guns.

[zippy13]

Originally Posted by Scattergun Bob

Not in my Red label, you don't!

I concur with the sentiment!
None of my O/U's are Rugers, but I like them just the same. When I first read this topic, Can you shoot rifled slugs out of an o/u? my immediate thought was: You can in my sticks but not in my stacks.
I recall the old anecdote about shooting slugs causing fine O/U's top and side ribs to pop off. I don't know if it's true 'cause I don't know anyone who's even considered slugs in their pricey O/U.

All of my life I wanted a Ruger Red Label

Perhaps Scattergun Bob exaggerates a little, based upon his considerable experience, I presume he predates the introduction of the Red Label.

[Bill DeShivs]

Jeff
"Rifled slugs" do not spin. The forward weight keeps them going straight.
Slugs shot out of a rifled barrel do spin, but "rifled slugs" are not meant to be shot out of a rifled barrel. Got it?

[lon371]

The earliest shotgun slugs were just lead spheres, of just under the bore diameter, allowing them to pass through a choked barrel. Often called pumpkin balls, these slugs showed very poor accuracy, and were only effective at the very close ranges where they could be relied on to hit the target in a vital area. Later types of slugs, the Brenneke and Foster slugs, used a weight-biased design and rifling-like fins to provide stability and the ability to easily compress and pass through a choked barrel. These could be fired through a smoothbore barrel with reasonable accuracy, and significantly extended the effective range of the shotgun slug. The latest improvement is the saboted slug, fired from a rifled shotgun barrel. The saboted slug and rifled barrel combination provides even greater accuracy than the rifled slugs, and the slugs themselves are more aerodynamic, providing more range and a flatter trajectory

[Scattergun Bob]

I have to rant at you - nothing frost my butt more that a information dump directly out of a online dictionary. Of what value is your post? You did not ever use a reliable shooting source!!!! Please at least have 1 sentence of your own in a post!!!!! Some one asked a question, he should get the best we have, not a canned response.

BILL IS RIGHT, in the sense of rotation imparted to a projectile by a rifled barrel, the indentations on a (rifled) slug DO NOT impart stability.

Good Luck & Be Safe

[hogdogs]

If you wat proof that spin is not needed on a VERY nose heavy projectile just watch a badminton game. The shuttle cock actually must invert with each swap and does not spin and yet is still very accurate. This is the same physics in play with rifled slugs. They could have sold them as "grooved" slugs to prevent "excessive swaging" But that just don't sound as cool as rifled slugs when selling to us gunners.
Brent

[Rampant_Colt]

Originally Posted by Gamehunter59

Can you shoot rifled slugs out of an o/u? is it accurate

Yes...
accuracy? Depending on choke construction[or is that constriction?], the only way to find out is to experiment with different loads.

In Germany many hunt wild boar using o/u shotguns or 'Drillings' stoked with Brenneke slugs

I shoot low recoil slugs outta my Baikal SxS coach gun all day long--an over-under shotgun is no different.

What kinda shotgun do ya have? What chokes? Generally speaking, most double barrel shotguns have two different chokes

[Scattergun Bob]

Your right, I started shooting scatterguns in 1956, .410 single shot. I don't know when Bill Ruger came out with the Red Label, when I ran into this one at Sportsmans warehouse, engraved and AVAILABE, I said "so sweety where have you been my whole life", and bought it. Should have said I have been lusting after a good O/U my whole life. Still, no slugs please!

[zippy13]

With hotdogs' shuttle cock example, perhaps it may help some out there by describing some basics:
An object in simple flight has its center of mass forward of, and aligned with, the center of drag. The greater this difference the more stable the flight. The shuttle cock obeys this rule, but it may not be apparent. Arrows and spears are good examples of this principal -- a heavy head with a long tail = stable flight.
Look at the hourglass-based shape of smooth bore air rifle ammo and shotgun slugs. They place the center of mass as far forward as possible. Deep skirted, hollow based musket bullets are much the same.
If the center of drag is placed forward of the center of mass, then the flying object will try to correct the situation. Stick your arrow in an orange and then try to throw it feathers first. You already know what's going to happen. Also, the more uniformity along the axis, the more stable the flight. What flies smoother, a straight spear or a bent one?
Spin is necessary only when you try to violate these fundamentals. If your spear is a little bent, giving its flight some rotational inertia can't hurt.

[zippy13]

Originally Posted by Scattergun Bob

I ran into this one at Sportsmans warehouse, engraved and AVAILABE, I said "so sweety where have you been my whole life", and bought it.

There's something mystical and mesmerizing about guns...
I went into a gun shop to take advantage of a serious sale on SSA replicas. They were sold out, but as I was turning to leave, a cute little Rossi lever rig jumped off a top shelf, flew over the sales aisle and display counter and landed in my hands. Of course, after a performance like that, I had to give it a new home.
Another time, I bought an extra back-up skeet gun from a club mate. Being in Calif., the sale had to go thru a dealer and he had to impound the gun for 15-days to keep things legal. After waiting, I went to pick it up expecting to pay: the transfer fee, storage fee and $450 in sales tax. Imagine my pleasure when he charged me just the basic transfer fee. As I was at the register thanking him, I noticed a sweet Smith & Wesson with a winged rib, custom grips and pimped up finish. One of the store's gunsmiths was in a pinch and put his personal wheel gun on consignment. After two weeks with my new shotgun, I got a call from the gun shop reminding me the waiting period for my new revolver was over. Seems I'd purchased the smith's Smith.
Is it just me, or does this kind of thing happen to most shooters?

[buymore]

I would also think the barrels would have to even more properly indexed than for shot pattern? On a cheaper sxs or o/u, they tend to be indexed ok for shot, but you may find them shooting two feet apart with slugs! I've had cheaper doubles index a fine pattern with shot, but honestly never tried the slugs through them to see. I always wanted to try, just never did. I thought boy would that be nice to have two SUPER quick shots like in my single select trigger doubles, but I then thought I may run into some "doubling" issues with the heavy slug recoil though too?

Try it and take some pics of your groups!

[44 AMP]

That slugs fly as straight as they do because of the forward balance of the weight. Like a dart, or as mentioned, a shuttlecock. The ribs on the outside of the slug look like they will impart a spin, and they may even do so to a small degree. but they are there for the same reason as the hollow base, which is to allow the slug to pass through a choke without serious problems.

It has always been recommended to use slugs in cylinder bores, because not having to squeeze through a choke leaves them as accurate as they can be. But the makers know that there will be slugs shot through choked guns, and so make the slugs able to do this without harm to the guns.

This is for the Foster style slugs, which have been the standard for many, many years. Today, the (Brenneke style) sabot slugs and rifled slug barrels have changed the capabilities of slug guns alot, extending the accurate range quite a lot.

If your gun is built correctly, firing slugs out of it will not harm the gun, O/U or SxS. Acceptable accuracy of the slugs on the other hand is a different issue. The only way to know if your shotgun will be accurate enough (with slugs) to do what you want done is to shoot it with slugs, and see.