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View Full Version : Mossberg 500 Slug Barrel - Anybody hunt whitetail with one?



Lefthandshooter
10-14-2012, 03:07 PM
Anybody hunt with a Mossberg 500 with a 24" 1 in 36 twist rate slug barrel?

If so, what slug/sabot do you shoot with, and what accuracy/range do you get?

I just got one and was looking for feedback from others!

Thanks!

Arisaka99
10-14-2012, 09:30 PM
I use an 870 with a Slug barrel. It has iron sights and I use Federal Premium shells with Barnes Expander Sabots. I haven't shot a deer with them yet, but they shoot very well.

DCM
10-14-2012, 10:14 PM
A good friend of mine has a 500 combo that really outshoots my 870 rifled slug barrel by a long shot!

Kinda irritates me he paid $100 less for his gun than I did for mine and his came with a rifled and smoothbore barrels, mine just came rifled! [smilie=b:

MT Gianni
10-14-2012, 10:32 PM
I shot a doe in the early 90's with a Rem factory slug @ 90 yards. It put her down but she required another to the head when I walked up to her as it was dusk. I think the foster slug drifted some. I shot it for group @ 75 yards and IIRC it was around 3 1/2". I killed one a few years later at a range of 9 feet with a winchester saboted 50 cal hourglass shaped slug. They were cheap and it grouped OK. The doe jumped the gate, I shot her from prone position and she hit the ground with a thud and never moved. I have not shot another with it that I remember.

Lefthandshooter
10-15-2012, 02:15 AM
I use an 870 with a Slug barrel. It has iron sights and I use Federal Premium shells with Barnes Expander Sabots. I haven't shot a deer with them yet, but they shoot very well.

Thanks for the info, but I have a Mossberg 500, not an 870.

5shotbfr
10-15-2012, 02:50 AM
i think youll find yourself in good company with about half the state using mossbergs .

i dont deer hunt myself but i know lots of folks that do and i bet pretty near half of them use mossy's .. and nary a complaint i've heard

Junior1942
10-15-2012, 07:35 AM
I have a friend with one. With a 3 x 18 scope on it......

boltons75
10-15-2012, 07:38 AM
My dad uses a Mossberg slug barrel that was made for the Remington 870, and he shoots Remington copper solids, 2 3/4, with great accuracy out to 100 yards.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

boltons75
10-15-2012, 07:40 AM
But remember, just because one 500 likes a certain slug doesn't mean the next identical one will like it. Trial and error, I currently shot lightfield slugs in my shot guns.

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missionary5155
10-15-2012, 10:07 AM
Greetings
My son in MINN used mine for several years shooting whatever slug was the cheapest on sale at the big gun shop (Ahlmans) nearby Morristown. Shot his deer every year with whichever slug in the Mossy rifled tube the last being at 73 paces.
This year a police officer will use it for his first deer hunt. I am not sure if he will use the standard "whatever is on sale" load or actually test some out. May use "police surplus" ??
Mike in ILL

Lefthandshooter
11-04-2012, 08:24 AM
Took it out and shot it with several different slugs/sabots, and it was WAYYYYYYY off! Took it back and the kid that bore sighted it was not even close. The guy I know resighted it and now I have to hope it is close enough for me to finish it on the 12th of Nov, as that is the only day I can take it to the parent's farm 75 miles away (where I hunt) to shoot it.
(No where close and indoor range says no shotguns.)

41 mag fan
11-04-2012, 09:14 AM
If it's true what i heard, the rifled barrels are good for regular slugs while slug chokes are better suited for sabots.
I don't know if this is true, as i use a smooth bore barrel. never had a desire to use a sabot.

tomme boy
11-04-2012, 09:22 AM
Rifled slugs can be shot out of either barrels. Sabots can be shot out of Rifled barrels or a barrel that has a rifled choke tube. The solid copper sabots are not recommended in a rifled choke tube.

Hamish
11-04-2012, 09:25 AM
There are no short cuts, 500's are like any other firearms, each likes what it likes. Sorry about the indoor range, I don't know what their issue is, but, duh? Good luck.

Lefthandshooter
11-04-2012, 10:24 AM
[QUOTE=Hamish;1905624]Sorry about the indoor range, I don't know what their issue is, but, duh? [QUOTE]

The plastic wads clog up the water filtration system on the bullet traps is what I was told.

richhodg66
11-04-2012, 10:34 AM
I've been playing around with slug guns very casually as Fort Riley has lot of areas that are off limits to rifles. Smoothbores shooting off the shelf Foster slugs seem to give me good enough accuracy to handle many of the shots I'm presented when I deer hunt with a rifle or muzzle loader, though I've never killed one with a shotgun yet.

That being said, the performance you can much more easily and inexpensively get with an inline muzzle loader is much better than I think you're ever gonna get with a slug gun. Here, a muzzle loader is legal equipment in the shotgun only areas, I don't know if that's the case where you are, but that would be the route I'd go if it is. You only get one shot, but I have only once ever had to shoot twice to kill a deer that I can remember.

Lefthandshooter
11-04-2012, 02:12 PM
I already bought the shotgun, so a muzzleloader is out of the question.

Lefthandshooter
11-24-2012, 04:19 PM
Ended up shooting better groups with the Federal $5.00 a box rifled slugs than the Hornady SST's and Remington Copper Solids.

Might be the cheapo scopoe it came with, but no time to change it this year.

Maybe next year....

Roundnoser
11-24-2012, 04:34 PM
I have a Mossberg 835 with a rifled slug barrel. I load my own slugs (Lee 1 oz), and get 1-1/2" groups at 50 yards. I'm not complaining, but I'd like to improve on that a bit.

Lefthandshooter
11-24-2012, 08:03 PM
I have a Mossberg 835 with a rifled slug barrel. I load my own slugs (Lee 1 oz), and get 1-1/2" groups at 50 yards. I'm not complaining, but I'd like to improve on that a bit.

Do you need any spent slug casings? Different brands though, maybe like 20-25 total shell cases.

fatnhappy
11-24-2012, 09:59 PM
My dad uses a Mossberg slug barrel that was made for the Remington 870, and he shoots Remington copper solids, 2 3/4, with great accuracy out to 100 yards.

But remember, just because one 500 likes a certain slug doesn't mean the next identical one will like it. Trial and error, I currently shot lightfield slugs in my shot guns.


I have some fixed opinions on lightfields and copper solids based on failures.

Lightfields are great. I love them and use them occasionally in my Ithaca (usually use winchester forster slugs). Unfortunately the rim brass is very soft. The extractor on Remington autoloaders will peen the rim during the course of chambering and unchambering lightfields. The administrative functions of loading and unloading in the field for safety sake will eventually bind up your action. Not only will you not learn this on the range since all rounds chambered are typically fired, you will experience this during hunting at the most inopportune moment, guaranteed.
It has happened twice to my hunting partners with 11-87s. I have ceased using lightfields in my 11-87 for this exact reason. They're fine in my Ithaca and I continue to use them with great success. I suspect you won't have any issue in a mossberg either, however I recommend you inspect the rims on rounds until you're satisfied they're not disfigured or distorted.

Copper Solids:
When I bought my 11-87 I tried half a dozen different types of ammo, 2.75" copper solids shot best, so I purchased a case. I rue that decision. Twice I shot deer at extremely close range only to have the slug super expand and fail to penetrate. The first was a 150 lb doe. I hit her on the point of the shoulder quartering toward me, 10 yards away. It only one lunged her. The second a 200 lb doe I chest shot from above. I chalked the first up to abnormality. After the second I began to have misgivings. That same season my hunting partner put 3 copper solids into a broadside buck on the move. Not 1 of them exited a 150 lb buck. Not 1.
I would not recommend copper solids to anyone.

YMMV.

Oh BTW, to the OP, one of my hunting buddies uses a 500 with a rifled barrel. He uses plain old winchester forster cup slugs to great effect. As always, try a few brands and see what your gun prefers.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h152/lhsjfk3t/hunting/101_0581.jpg

Lefthandshooter
11-30-2012, 07:22 AM
Well, went out. Monday missed an off-hand shot at a doe. She was on the side of a steep hill and slipped right as I shot. Hit a tree about 2 inches above her.

Wednesday I hit a doe and tracked her and shot again to finish the job. Thursday I got a button buck. One shot and he dropped like a rock on the spot.

I kept the doe for my family, but let my brother have the button buck. With him being on disability and not working and taking care of Mom and Dad, the meat might help out his already strained marriage.

kenyerian
11-30-2012, 07:42 AM
Congratulations!!!!! There has been a lot of deer killed with Mossberg slug guns.

farmall666
11-30-2012, 08:37 AM
I use a mossberg 500 with rifled slug barrel in 20 ga. It is very accurate with hornaday sst slugs

Charlie Two Tracks
11-30-2012, 03:54 PM
I've gotten many a deer with my Mossberg 500 with the rifled barrel. When I first got it, that sucker would kick hard. I have a slug barrel and a choked barrel. When deer season comes around, I take the butt plate off and fill the stock screw hole full of bird shot. It holds quite a bit. The extra weight really helps with the recoil. I use Remington slugger 3" magnum's with a 1 oz. lead slug. I have a scope for it but really like the stock sights better. I shoot correct (left) handed by the way. Try putting some shot in that butt stock. I bet you like it.