Remington 870 smooth bore slug gun

[Sellers77]

Hey guys,

Looking to hunt a new spot for deer that has a requirement of smooth bore only for shotgun. I have a Remington 870. Was wondering what ammo would be recommended/ what is realistic for distances to be accurate at. The gun can hold up to 3” shells and not exactly sure on the barrel length. I can update that tonight when I get home.

Any help would be great. Hoping to be able to shoot out to about 80 yard but, I’m not sure what is realistic as never hunted with a slug gun.

 

[St.CroixArcher]

After 50 the slug starts to drop real fast. If you’re using a scope I would zero at 50 and figure out what your drop is out to 80. As far as ammo I would grab 3 different boxes of rifled slugs and see what groups the best. I’ve been shooting an 870 smooth bore for 30 years and run the Remington sluggers. It likes them and they’re cheap.

 

[taskswap]

80 yards is definitely doable. I assume you're talking slugs, so your best bet is going to be rifled slugs (I like Federal's Power-shock but not that I did any ballistic-gel testing with it or anything...). Make sure you take your choke out.

Here is a randomly-Google'd ballistics chart on a random slug I know very little about:


I don't know that round, but the Web site I stole found it on said it was a 1-1/8oz so it's probably in the ballpark +/- 10% for most rounds you might buy. That shows a 3" drop at 80yds or 4" at 100 if you want to zero for that.

If you're allowed to use it, a red dot can make a big difference on a slug gun, IMO.

I shot slugs out of a Remington 1100 for years before moving to centerfire-rifle territory. You might want to consider upgrading your butt pad. The 1100 shoots "soft" because of its gas mechanism but shoot 20 slugs through an 870 on range day and you're gonna feel it later...

 

[Bugger]

Is it tapped for a rail on the receiver? A red dot would help a ton.
That distance is definitely doable. Just know with the slug BC approaching that of a sideways ice cream truck, your bullet is gonna drift a whole foot at 100y in a 10mph crosswind. That’s hard to remember in the moment if you’re used to center fire rifles.

 

[Sellers77]

Awesome news! I’ll go pick some rifled slugs up nice thing is the little pocket I’m hunting in never gets any wind really. Had deer sub 80 3 times with a bow. Just couldn’t get a shot off without getting caught. So decided to break out a gun to get some meat.

Great idea on the red dot! I’ll see if I can pick one up to sight in with. This gun is my bird gun haha have to see if I can mount one or not but I’ll double check. Thanks for the info guys!!

once I shoot it and see how it does. I’ll put my findings in here.

 

[Ridgerunner338]

We've hunted Upstate New York way before it went to rifles, I've shot smoothbore slug guns with Remington, Winchester, Federal, and Brenneke Slugs. Just have to find what your gun likes. My Dad shot a buck last year with the Federal Truball in his Browning 2000 at 75 yards. They seem to shoot well and put that buck right down.

 

[taskswap]

Great idea on the red dot! I’ll see if I can pick one up to sight in with. This gun is my bird gun haha have to see if I can mount one or not but I’ll double check. Thanks for the info guys!!

Trust me, you can. My 1100 was not tapped for a sight. Take a look at this:

Amazon.com

Burris makes a red dot mount that doesn't require a tapped barrel (which a lot of shotguns don't have). It installs via a thin plate. You remove your butt stock, slide this on, and reattach your butt stock. It adds barely anything (I think it's 18ga? I don't have mine handy to measure) to your length of pull and a a Burris Speed Bead screws right onto it with no extra rail or mount. They make one specifically for the 870 (plus lots of other models).

I wouldn't call this a hard requirement, but it does add a lot. If you shoot a lot of fowl, you're probably used to a swing-point-slap type of motion. You don't want to do that with slugs. Just IMO, a red dot helps you think of/feel it as more of a rifle so you can take your time and actually aim.

 

[Sellers77]

Trust me, you can. My 1100 was not tapped for a sight. Take a look at this:

Amazon.com

Burris makes a red dot mount that doesn't require a tapped barrel (which a lot of shotguns don't have). It installs via a thin plate. You remove your butt stock, slide this on, and reattach your butt stock. It adds barely anything (I think it's 18ga? I don't have mine handy to measure) to your length of pull and a a Burris Speed Bead screws right onto it with no extra rail or mount. They make one specifically for the 870 (plus lots of other models).

I wouldn't call this a hard requirement, but it does add a lot. If you shoot a lot of fowl, you're probably used to a swing-point-slap type of motion. You don't want to do that with slugs. Just IMO, a red dot helps you think of/feel it as more of a rifle so you can take your time and actually aim.

Not a bad idea!! I was looking at this

Amazon.com

Figure quick and easy install from the looks of it and a good buddy of mine has a good red dot he’s going to let me borrow for the season. Hoping to get it all set up this week and do some testing this weekend at the range. Need to check zero and get some rounds on my rifles so great excuse to get out and shoot everything. I’ll let you know how it goes when all is said and done. Also the shotgun has a 27” barrel with a modified choke on it. Should I pick up a different choke or is that good?

Sorry for the dumb questions this shotgun crap with slugs is all new territory for me haha

 

[taskswap]

I have one of those. I hate it. YMMV lol. On my 1100 it interfered with the bolt handle. Not sure how well it would work on a stroker, but hey it's cheap...

 

[Desk Jockey]

I like the idea of a bead. If you gun isn’t tapped you can also add a traditional scope rail pretty easy and cheap with one of the ones that go over the receiver and bolt through the trigger pin. It gives you a pic rail that you can put a scope on easily and remove easily.

Something to keep in mind, the barrel fitment to the receiver isn’t great on most 870s, even the good ones. Fine for scatter gun work but less so for precise slug use. Back in the day, people used cantilevered slug barrels or had the barrels pinned to the receiver for stability. These days 20 gauge bolt guns seem to be the preferred setup in shotgun deer hunting.

 

[Boarmaster]

When I shot a smoothbore sluggun (1100) I had very good success with Rottweille Brenekke rifled slugs.
I dont even know if they still make them. I killed many deer with this brand slug and they produce a serious hole in a deer. This was in the early to mid 90s. I used them on wild hogs in Florida for years as well. In Florida you didn't know if you might shoot a quail , dove, deer, turkey or a hog so we carried shotguns most days. We loaded in whatever kind of ammo we needed at the moment. I killed a lot of hogs with Brenekke slugs while bird and turkey hunting. Killed them dead as Elivs.

 

[SirChooCH]

My 870 likes Remington accutips but they are pricey.

I like the idea of a bead. If you gun isn’t tapped you can also add a traditional scope rail pretty easy and cheap with one of the ones that go over the receiver and bolt through the trigger pin. It gives you a pic rail that you can put a scope on easily and remove easily.

Something to keep in mind, the barrel fitment to the receiver isn’t great on most 870s, even the good ones. Fine for scatter gun work but less so for precise slug use. Back in the day, people used cantilevered slug barrels or had the barrels pinned to the receiver for stability. These days 20 gauge bolt guns seem to be the preferred setup in shotgun deer hunting.

https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting-gear-gun-supplies/ammunition-ammo-for-hunting-shooting-sports/shotgun-ammo-hunting-shooting-sports/remington-accutip-12-gauge-3in-385gr-sabot-slug-shotshells-5-rounds/p/1568713

Those are sabots for a rifled barrel. I also prefer sabots too in my 870 but it's the rifled cantilever barrel for this purpose. For smooth bore he should shoot a rifled slug.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Those are sabots for a rifled barrel. I also prefer sabots too in my 870 but it's the rifled cantilever barrel for this purpose. For smooth bore he should shoot a rifled slug.

Ah yes. You are correct. I had actually forgotten that my cantilever barrel was rifled. Post edited.

 

[BigK421]

I moved to Ohio last summer and spent some time at the range with my mossberg 500. They are a straight wall cartridge state now but I didn't have anything that was legal so I used my shotgun. It's a standard mossberg 500 pump, used the 28" field barrel which was way too long and added a carlsons rifled choke tube. It grouped extremely well with the 2 3/4" winchester deer season xp rifled slugs 1600fps. Hard on shoulder so I added one of the limbsaver recoil pads. 75-80 yards is very reasonable but I wouldn't push them much further. They have the ballistic coefficient of a barn door. If you put a scope on it, I would suggest good heavy duty rings like the warne maxima vertical split steel rings. They're designed for heavy recoil. They make steel scope bases as well. I'll probably run the same setup this year, I have another barrel that is at a gunsmith being shortened to 22" and threaded for a choke.

 

[Rich M]

a 12 ga with smooth bore should give you 100 yards easily. Zero it at 100 and know there is a 4-inch rise at say 50 yds. You don't have to worry about the rise as the deer's lungs are a bit bigger than 4 inches.