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Old December 19, 2000, 12:37 PM   #1
scooter71
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I told my wife recently that all I wanted for Christmas was a Mossberg Brand Rifled Slug Barrel to swap out on my 835 Turkey gun..

You see, I frequently hunt deer on a Military Game Preserve, and can only use buckshot or slugs (no rifles allowed).

I'd like to mount my ultradot Red dot scope on the 835 also...

I've shot my friends bolt action mossberg slug gun, and with Sabout slugs, could hit a 5 gallon paint can lid at 125 yards consistently.

I'd like to know if anyone has any experience with the 835, and the accuracy I should expect from it with the rifled slug barrel........??
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Old December 19, 2000, 07:40 PM   #2
Dave R
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And I'd be interested in what kind of accuracy I could expect shooting rifled slugs (Brenneke?) from my smooth barrel, so I'd know whether it was worth $170 or so for the rifled barrel.

Modified choke OK? I don't think they make a more open tube for the 835...
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Old December 19, 2000, 08:29 PM   #3
kerth
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My rifled barrel Mossberg 500 will put 5 slug groups on a paper plate at 75 yards. This is offhand with iron sights and my slug reloads (1 oz Lee drive key, WAA12 wad, AA#5, 1620 fps). I would expect the 835 rifled barrel to be as accurate as well as factory loaded sabot slugs. I have yet to find any smoothbore/slug combination that approaches this level of accuracy, and I've tried a bunch. For me a rifled barrel for your shotgun is well worth it when rifles are forbidden.

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Old December 20, 2000, 08:28 AM   #4
Dave McC
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My smoothbore HD 870 shoots one brand of slug into 2 1/2" @ 50 yards if I do my part, Dave R. My deer 870 shoots the same slug into groups that are just a little tighter, it's tubed and uses a rifled tube to do so.

Whether to get a rifled bbl with its potentially greater accuracy or a smoothbore with its acceptable accuracy and greater versatility depends on terrain, typical shot distance, and your hunting style. Like many Eastern Hunters, my hunting grounds are thick, and shots run less than 50 yards. Average distance on four kills this season runs about 35 yards, for all weapons. The last one was 870'd, and might have been 50 yards,or a bit less.

This may seem to be heresy, but at practical deer hunting range with slugs, my guess is that slug testing will give better results than a rifled bbl will. I could more than double group size simply by switching to another slug. Or possibly, find a slug that will shrink groups further, tho I think I'm approaching the limits.
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Old December 20, 2000, 11:36 AM   #5
Dave R
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Thanks for the real-world experience, Dave McC.
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Old December 20, 2000, 09:42 PM   #6
PWK
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Dave R. check out this site:
http://www.mossberg.com/acatalog/chokes.htm
it has all the chokes for all Mossberg shotguns currently being sold.
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Old December 21, 2000, 03:55 PM   #7
Bobshouse
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slugs

I load my own Lee Drive Key slugs and shoot them out of my 835 rifled barrel w/scope mount. I can hold a 3 inch group at 60 yards and can consistantly hit a pie pan at 100. I also shoot Remington copper solids and get tight groups at 100. Never really tried anything over 100 but I do notice about a 3 inch drop from being sighted in at 60.
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Old December 21, 2000, 03:57 PM   #8
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By the Way....

Tell Santa the best price i found for my barrel was at http://www.cheaperthandirt.com, think it was about 147.00 Merry Christmas!
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Old December 22, 2000, 12:28 AM   #9
Dave R
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Thanks for the web referral, PWK. There are more than I thought...
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Old December 23, 2000, 04:23 PM   #10
Bobshouse
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Slugs

Dave, if your talking about shooting slugs from your 835 barrel, Mossberg does not recommend it since the 835 barrel is overbored.
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Old December 24, 2000, 03:48 AM   #11
Glamdring
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IMHO how well you shoot and how well you know your gun is more important than rifled vs smooth bore.

My SG is a used one that was traded in by police department. Last time I went to gun range right before deer season there were two guys with scoped rifled shotguns shooting from the bench.

After they left I went and pulled their target off the backer and my composite group, with a smoothbore, from the bench and kneeling was tighter than what they had been shooting off the bench. With the shots I took from offhand my composite group was maybe 2" bigger than what they had shot.

But then I don't think they had shot since last deer season, and they might not have shot those guns before. And it had been a whole 2 or 3 months since I had shot my SG from field postions with slugs.

Does a sabot slug really shoot flat enough for shots past 100 yards on game? I would think at that range you would need a 75 or 100 yard zero and know the range to target withing 5 or 10 yards.
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