Well, been hunting slug season down south here for a couple of years (previous experience rifle north). I am currently using a Mossberg 500 smooth bore. The rest of the family is using Remington 870 rifled sights and bore. Just looking to hear some ideas on loads to help accuracy with a smooth bore or an idea of how much difference the barrels really make.
I owned a mossberg. Worried for my toes everytime I shot it. Sold to a guy who spent a bunch at gunsmith to get it to shoot east if it was pointed east. YMMV. Oh rifled sabots in an H&R, best bang for buck. 
10-15 years ago much of Wisconsin was shotgun only the first two days of the season. I had an 870 Express Magnum smooth bore that shot like a dream, but my dad ended up getting a (I believe it was a Marlin Slugster 512 which was rifled). I watched him drop a doe at 135 yards (on the digital range finder) with that gun.
He shot lightfield sabots out of it and those particular rounds shot great. My 870 would only shoot the cheap federals. The year after he bought that shotgun, Wisconsin allowed rifles year round. So, now it sits in the gun cabinet unused. It’s a shame, it’s a great slug gun.
I think it depends on the gun. My Berreta smooth barrell is as accurate as a person wants but my brothers Remington smooth barrell is off 6 feet at 50 yards!
I shot that same set up. Do be aware that every gun will shoot differently. I am using Federal Vital Shok 2-3/4″ with the Tru-Ball. At 75 yds I am holding a 3″ group of 5 rounds, iron sights.
Your best bet is to buy a box of several different brands and see how they pattern/ throw at 50yds. Cleaning gun after each box.
For hunts in SE MN and when hunting thick cover, I carry a Remington 870 with a rifled barrel and a red dot scope.
This setup is deadly accurate within 75 yards, but it will only shoot the Remington Sluggers accurately. Everything else isn’t even close.
Like a few said before, buy a few boxes of slugs and see which one your gun prefers.
Loads for a smooth bore won’t matter that much at all. Either way, they are getting lobbed out, not the rotation that happens with rifled barrels (spun around). The rifled barrels, when shot with Sabot slugs, will be way more accurate, and you will also have more reach. I am partial to Winchester Partition Gold, more expensive, but hopefully when you’re sighted in it only takes one shot. They have some knockdown power.
For my 870 Express Mag 20 guage, I shot no less than 8 different kinds of slugs and the cheap federals outperformed the rest. From a rested aim, I can consistently hit a deer target in the vitals at 100 yards (of course compensating for drop, cross hairs on the tip of the targets back). I do shoot a 3 power scope though.
If I put a Remington load in it, I can barely hit the target at 25 yards. Same with Winchester. Now that we’re rifle all season, I now worry more about 100 and 300 yard ranges with the rifle.
Rifled Barrel! Not even a debate. Get setup with a good 1.5 x 4.5 power scope, buy 20 boxes of Remington Copper Solid, sight it in once, and you’re set for the rest of your life. I’ve been using a single shot H&R for 5 or 6 years now and use more ammo verifying the scope is still on that I use hunting. My shotgun is a hole puncher that is accurate to 200 yds, but I would never take a shot over 150. Sighted in at 100 yds, the slug is +/- 4″ throughout the flight path to 150 yds.
Anything beyond 50 yards, go rifled!
Shot my first deer with an 870 smooth barrel, shot at the heart, hit it in the jaw…looked like someone punched that deer in the mouth….lifted up, spun around and dropped in a heap! 
Like they said, if you plan to shoot long range you will want a rifled. Smooth bore with an IC choke is pretty darn accurate though. I’ve seen a couple 60-80 yard kills with them and 3″ win slugs.
I’ve used Hornaday rifled slugs in my 870 smooth bore and was hitting 3″ targets at 100 yards with open sites. Depends on the gun and what you’re comfortable with.
I find rifled barrels work great. I am currently shooting an Ithaca Deerslayer II and the thing is a tack driver with Lightfield sabot slugs. Would highly recommend getting a rifled slug barrel. 
Just a thought but have you ever thought of using a muzzle loader, great accuracy and you can use a scope on it during the fire arms season.
I love using the muzzleloader during the shotgun seasons but we also use rifled slug barrels. I tried the smooth bore 20 gauge Mossberg 500 and my results were so inconsistent it was awful and I never trusted it. I was going to buy a new rifled barrel and it was only $100 more to buy a new combo with the rifled barrel and scope. I have one muzzleloader set up with a nice scope that is my go to gun for SE MN gun season.
I hunted se mn for 27 years. Started shooting a smoothbore Rem w/ rifle sights which was okay to 70 yds until somebody who knows guns better than me noticed it was throwing lead all over at the range. He suspected a lead build up problem that a gunsmith couldn’t resolve so sent it to Rem and they sent it back with a target they’d shot 7 times resulting in an 9″ group at 40 yds with a note “this is within Rem factory specs.” End of Rem guns for me.
A friend offered me a good deal on a Mossberg 20 ga youth model for which I bought a Mossberg rifled barrel w/cantilever scope mount at a gun show for $125 and shot many deer with that set up from 30-140 yds. Very accurate – enough that it nearly became my deer gun after moving up to rifle country – it was that good. I tried 6-7 different sabots and Remington Copper solids were the most accurate in that barrel. Keep in mind these are loads from 8 years ago. I’m sure there are even better loads now.
My recommendation – if you’re going to hunt shotgun, pony up for a rifled barrel with cantilever scope mount. It’s more up front but you’ll be happy you did. Sight it in once and you should be done other than shooting a couple rounds before each season to make sure it’s on. After putting in perspective what’s spent on all the other things for the hunt, the anticipation of deer season, the opportunity at a trophy that’s out of range for a smoothbore – the extra is worth it imo.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
