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Old September 26, 2012, 07:59 PM   #1
napg19
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Cut down barrel to shoot slugs?

I have a 20ga. Remington Sparta ( Russian made) single shot shotgun laying around and thought of cutting barrel to 18 1/2" so I could shoot slugs through it without a choke figuring this would be easier on barrel. Gun gets taken out and shot for fun once in awhile and a last resort home defense gun. All opinions appreciated. Thanks.
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Old September 26, 2012, 09:44 PM   #2
kozak6
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What is the current barrel length and choke?

If the barrel is already on the shorter side with a more open choke, you might not even need to bother.
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Old September 27, 2012, 05:47 AM   #3
Pistolgripshotty
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Just remember once ya cut it, ya can't put it back. Personally I would just leave it the way it is a save up for a new shotgun with a 18.5 inch cylinder barrel. Its just better that way. Good Luck tho!
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Old September 27, 2012, 10:08 AM   #4
napg19
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26" barrrel and I believe it's modified choke. It does not say on barrel nor manual as to what choke it is. Has been tempting to get a Mossberg pump with short barrel. Handled one at my lgs and handled nicely and smooth. Thanks for the help.
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Old September 27, 2012, 11:05 AM   #5
Edward429451
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I bought a police trade in barrel for my WM 870 to shoot slugs. It is of course, Cylinder Bore (i.e. no choke). The Foster type slugs (hollow base) work the best in it, it being smooth bore. With Remington Sluggers I am able to keep them all on a 9" paper plate out to about 50 or 60 yards, offhand. With my home cast Foster slugs in my reloads, I can extend that range to 100 yds in keeping them all on a 12" X 24" target.

I agree with others that getting a dedicated slug/HD SG is a good idea. But if you were to choose to go ahead and cut your single shot SG down as you propose, I think it would work very well for you with Foster Slugs. You can prolly have a bead installed on your short barrel for about 15 bucks.
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Old September 27, 2012, 12:39 PM   #6
roberto mervicini
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Hello napg19,
If you decided cutting your barrel at 18.5" it it will look like this, I added to mine (.12 ga.) rifle sights, at 50 yrds a group of 3 " challenger " slugs measure around 2.5".

http://
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Old September 27, 2012, 05:20 PM   #7
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As Roberto has shown, your plan will work just fine - be sure to add a set of rifle sights to the barrel, though, so you can take full advantage of the rifled slug's accuracy.

I've even successfully epoxied sights onto shotgun barrels (degrease/roughen both surfaces first) - whaddya got to lose ?


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Old September 27, 2012, 05:41 PM   #8
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If you doing mind cuttin the barrel, I'd say go for it. I had a old western field 16 ga laying around and I turned it into a HD shotgun. It was fun to build.

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Old September 27, 2012, 06:26 PM   #9
Old Grump
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Quote:
26" barrrel and I believe it's modified choke. It does not say on barrel nor manual as to what choke it is. Has been tempting to get a Mossberg pump with short barrel. Handled one at my lgs and handled nicely and smooth. Thanks for the help.
26" might be a bit long for some purposes but modified choke is just fine and will shoot slugs more accurately with it then you will without it. I have one Mossberg semi-auto cut down to 18 1/2" with rifle sights mounted and I purposely threaded it and installed a full choke. Now instead of a fair shooting 60 yard gun it's a good shooting 100 yard gun.
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Old September 27, 2012, 08:37 PM   #10
napg19
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Thanks guys. Lot of good info here. This will be a good project gun. Thanks again.
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Old September 28, 2012, 04:52 PM   #11
g.willikers
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You might try it with slugs, as it is, before doing anything.
To about 50 yards, my pump does as well with a modified barrel and standard slugs, as it does with the rifled barrel and sabots.
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