20 Guage Mossberg 500 suggestions

[RangerClay]

Howdy,

 

My daughter will be hitting the woods this fall for deer with her 20 gauge Mossberg 500 Bantam.  Right now she has the field barrel with the 3 choke tubes.

 

For those of you shooting Mossberg 500 in 20 gauge, what barrel and slug combinations are working well for you?

[G-Man]

Improved and brenneke slugs

[G-Man]

You don't need a rifled barrel, shot 3 in groups at.70 yards with that combo.

[phade]

Improved and truballs or Improved and lightfields...killed a few deer at 75 yards with the Lightfields before moving to the Truballs to keep costs down and because I moved to an H & R, but I've shot a couple does at 50-55 yards with them and a ton up close with them.

[fasteddie]

Several years ago my sister in law shot a buck at over 130 yards with a 20 ga Mossburg 500 . It has a smooth bore and she was using the cheap Federal rifled Foster slugs . The shotgun has a Qwik Point sight on it . I am guessing that the barrel was a Modified ............

[growalot]

I'm with G-Man on this

[deerpassion]

I've just picked up the 500 in 20 ga with the rifled cantelever scope mount barrel a couple months ago from cabelas ... Hornady SST's are the way to go outa that combo..

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[Mikey M]

I'm shooting good groups with Remington hollow point slugs, and Federal Sabot Slugs out of a Carlson rifled choke tube...mossy 500 12gauge 24" smoothbore barrel.

[fasteddie]

THe OP is asking about a  20 gauge Mossberg 500 Bantam with a smooth bore and asking which choke . Not rifled barrels or 12 ga . A 20 ga .......

[bowslinger]

i c choke and a set of adjustable turkey sites on the rib did it for my wife tru balls is what she uses

[RangerClay]

Thanks guys. Yes, right now all we have is the smooth bore with the 3 choke tubes. But I'm looking at all options. Rifled barrels or rifled choke tubes are being concidered. I want to hear it all. I'm curious about these tru ball slugs that some you are raving about. I've never heard of them.

[deerpassion]

Thanks guys. Yes, right now all we have is the smooth bore with the 3 choke tubes. But I'm looking at all options. Rifled barrels or rifled choke tubes are being concidered. I want to hear it all. I'm curious about these tru ball slugs that some you are raving about. I've never heard of them.

ive used truballs in the past but out of my smooth bore 12 ga.  they were the best option when considering rifled slugs, they burn dirty though, really have to clean the barrel with in a day or two to avoid pitting!  

[fasteddie]

TruBall slugs are manufactured by Federal . They are inexpensive and usually on sale at DICKs around deer season . They work fine . Even the cheap Federal Foster rifled slugs work fine out of a smooth bore barrel .

[G-Man]

Unless your going with top ammo a rifled.barrel is unnessary, most shots are under 50 yards, why pay 3 bucks a bullet when 1 a bullet will do same thing, rifled sights could be nice if she is use to shooting with them ,otherwise a bead at 70 yads is more than suffient. When you goto saboteur rounds in a 20 your down to 44 cal, the knock dow n power drops quickly ,so to compensate the add powder and more recoil.. 2 and 3/4 or 3 in conventional slugs are more than enough for a youth to handel. Just my opinion but why hurt a youth and make them afraid of recoil...

[Fehyd643]

I have a 500C (20ga) and I am really interested in this topic as well.  I had no idea you could use a choke with slugs.  Mine only came with one, and I took it out before shooting it.  I didnt notice any lack of accuracy with it and have taken 6 deer over the last couple years.  I did miss twice at about 35 and 45 yds, but attributed that to my lack rather than the gun.  Now I'm wondering about that!  Definitely going to take it back out to the range and see what happens.  Hopefully I didnt destroy the threads!

[fasteddie]

I still have these ---------

 

http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/21953-set-of-3-mossberg-20-ga-accu-chokes/

[Pygmy]

I have a 500C (20ga) and I am really interested in this topic as well.  I had no idea you could use a choke with slugs.  Mine only came with one, and I took it out before shooting it.  I didnt notice any lack of accuracy with it and have taken 6 deer over the last couple years.  I did miss twice at about 35 and 45 yds, but attributed that to my lack rather than the gun.  Now I'm wondering about that!  Definitely going to take it back out to the range and see what happens.  Hopefully I didnt destroy the threads!

Shooting  a  barrel threaded for choke tubes WITHOUT a choke in it is a definite no-no.

 

Perhaps you got lucky and did not damage the threads.  At the very least I expect you will have to clean the lead out of the threads  to screw in a choke tube.  Good luck..

[wildcat junkie]

Unless your going with top ammo a rifled.barrel is unnessary, most shots are under 50 yards, why pay 3 bucks a bullet when 1 a bullet will do same thing, rifled sights could be nice if she is use to shooting with them ,otherwise a bead at 70 yads is more than suffient. When you goto saboteur rounds in a 20 your down to 44 cal, the knock dow n power drops quickly ,so to compensate the add powder and more recoil.. 2 and 3/4 or 3 in conventional slugs are more than enough for a youth to handel. Just my opinion but why hurt a youth and make them afraid of recoil...

Rifled barrels show little or no improvement with foster slugs or other "weight forward" designs. They don't need spin to stabilize. Thet work just like a shuttlecock.

Sabot prijectiles, on the other hand, need spin so they do poorly out of smooth bire barrels.

[deerpassion]

In not sure if I'm correct in what others are insinuating , but sabots out of a rifled barrel absolutely produce greater accuracy especially in mid to long ranges ... I've been using truballs and sluggers for quite a long time out of smooth bore's both scoped and iron sights and since I've been shooting out of a rifled barrel my confidence confidence in shots from 50 to 150 has gone up considerably !

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[G-Man]

Unless your average shot is over 75 yards saboteur are of no advantage and actually though accurate do not operatefficiently at closer ranges, fact is almost all shots in nys average under 70 yards so no need to upgrade to a more expensive barrel and slugs to kill und er 75 yards, I'm not saying longer ranges aren't possible but why spend more. Sabot are usually in 3 in shells resulting in more recoil for the shooter, the question was geared for a youth,(new hunter) why punish their shoulder when it's unnessary to do so at average expected ranges.

For a more experiance and larger framed shooter go ahead shoot 3 in and spend themoney on the rifled barrel if that is what makes you confident.