shotgun advice

[RsR_foto]

after being told by a local gunsmith that my single shot shotgun was basically useless I had to act quick and ended up with a mossberg 500c with an 18.5" barrel that looks so be smooth bore. 

I would like to know before shotgun opens if this will be a viable barrel or if I need to get a longer/rifled barrel. Also, it is a 20 gauge. not sure if that matters.

Thank you in advance for the input. And my apologies for the ignorant question, I'm more a rifle person and this is relatively new territory for me.  

[johnplav]

Get some Remington sluggers and hit the range.  You’ll learn what distance you’re comfortable out to.  It’s no rifle, but smoothbore shotguns have killed piles of deer. 

[RsR_foto]

4 minutes ago, johnplav said:

Get some Remington sluggers and hit the range.  You’ll learn what distance you’re comfortable out to.  It’s no rifle, but smoothbore shotguns have killed piles of deer. 

excellent, ill pick some up. I was just weary on the short barrel to be honest. i understand the basics of how shotguns function with certain loads but yea. thank you for the input! I appreciate it 

[Hock3y24]

You wont know until you try a few brands of slugs at your max intended. The barrel length is fine. 

[ATbuckhunter]

Why did the gunsmith say the single shot was useless? 

I say pick up a rifled barrel if you can. Bette accuracy with a rifled barrel and sabot. If its not in the budget, then get some rifled slugs. You'll kill deer with it just fine

[SportsmanNH]

If the barrel is a smoothbore dont waste your time trying out any saboted slugs. You would notice the slugs will hit the paper sideways. 

One brand you should try is Brenneke Rifled slugs.  They were extremely accurate using them in my smoothbore barrels.

Good luck with it

Edited September 23, 2020 by SportsmanNH

[suburbanfarmer]

Here is hickock doing the 100yd gong with a really short barrel

 

[RsR_foto]

5 minutes ago, ATbuckhunter said:

Why did the gunsmith say the single shot was useless? 

I say pick up a rifled barrel if you can. Bette accuracy with a rifled barrel and sabot. If its not in the budget, then get some rifled slugs. You'll kill deer with it just fine

well because it is a cheap walmart shotgun with a 19.75" sawed barrel that has no real way to mount sights on it. i only bought that one as a camping gun/go bag gun due to the availability of cartridge adapters. my guess is they simply don't care for cheap arms. 

[ATbuckhunter]

Just now, RsR_foto said:

well because it is a cheap walmart shotgun with a 19.75" sawed barrel that has no real way to mount sights on it. i only bought that one as a camping gun/go bag gun due to the availability of cartridge adapters. my guess is they simply don't care for cheap arms. 

Yeah that sounds rough. You could kill deer with it, but youre better off with the shotgun you bought

[Daveboone]

I think we are all assuming that this IS for deer? I hate to sound contradictory to anyone, but I would pick up a box of several brands to try. And even though slug guns rock the shoulder from a rest, I would sight it rested for best consistency. Winchester slugs measure slightly larger than REmingtonss (I forget exactly how much) and in my guns shoot the most accurately. Try a few.

[Jeremy K]

Your range will be more limited but it will teach you to be a better hunter . To me it's way more exciting to get up close to an animal as opposed to sending it 300 yards across a field.

[RsR_foto]

I think we are all assuming that this IS for deer? I hate to sound contradictory to anyone, but I would pick up a box of several brands to try. And even though slug guns rock the shoulder from a rest, I would sight it rested for best consistency. Winchester slugs measure slightly larger than REmingtonss (I forget exactly how much) and in my guns shoot the most accurately. Try a few.

Yes sir, it is for deer

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[RsR_foto]

Your range will be more limited but it will teach you to be a better hunter . To me it's way more exciting to get up close to an animal as opposed to sending it 300 yards across a field.

I dont expect to be taking any game past 50 yards to be honest. I've never been in a scenario in which I've had to fake any past 100 yards. And that was a woodchuck that was destroying our property with holes.

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[Larry]

by a slug barrel 24''

[RsR_foto]

Now this may be a stupid question to ask here and please, admin, if not allowed delete this comment.
This particular gun needs a new stock and I am quite broke now. Does anyone have a factory stock laying around they are willing to part with? I've checked online and the cheapest one I found was a 6 position m4 style stock which is fine on my ar platforms but I'd rather not have one on my shotgun. This one came with a pistol grip only.
If there are any folks out around 8g that can help me out, please let me know. I'll be trying to learn how it fires regardless so maybe I'll feel comfortable with it the way it is but just wanted to out that out there and ask.

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[airedale]

5 minutes ago, RsR_foto said:

Does anyone have a factory stock laying around they are willing to part with?

Check out Ebay, there will be many choices available.

Al

Edited September 23, 2020 by airedale

[Five Seasons]

Here's the thing about a smooth bore 20, it will kill deer. It's a nice gun for turkey (with the right load), squirrel, upland and waterfowl. But it's not really the best gun for deer. I have never hunted whitetails with a smooth 20, so maybe someone else can chime in on affective range.

I have a mossberg 835 and if the 500 is anything like the 800 and I believe they're pretty close, they make it real easy to buy and swap barrels. I'm going to assume that price may be an issue, but ideally you'd buy the rifled cantilever barrel which is nice as you can mount a scope and switch barrels without having to mount and unmount the scope. The rifled barrel will allow you to add some distance to your range and shoot a nice sabot slug like the hornady sst.

I didn't price hunt, but this is the first link that popped up and actually comes with a scope, which might be an affordable start that you can upgrade later when you can afford to.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/mossberg-92010-500-barrel-20-gauge-24-rifled-cantilever-scope-mount-blued.html

 

PS you'll now have a bird and deer gun at the swap of a barrel. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Belo

[DirtTime]

Your Mossbergh with a smooth barrel will be just fine. I would check the choke tube, a cylinder is the best choke for a rifled slug. There's barely any restriction on that choke. A modified choke will work as well, but I would go full cylinder. You can also get a rifled choke to use sabots, not as good as a full rifled barrel, but a lot easier on the wallet. You should be good out to 80 yards with that set up, but I would not push it farther then that. Do your part and check your POI at ranges from 25, 50, and 75 yards.

 

Plenty of deer have fallen bang flop to the 20GA. So don't stress over that! It's fine for deer hunting.

 

If you can find them buy a few boxes of different rifled slugs and see what works best. Federal Vital Shoc's are a solid performer and most shotguns will shoot them accurately if you do your part.

 

 

As for the stock, they can sometimes cost as much as the firearm. I would call around to a few gun shops and see what they have laying around from people who have swapped out factory stocks for tack stocks. If you go the fleabay route, make sure you are getting what's advertised.

[phantom]

my cousin took 2 doe on the run with that setup except was 12ga  his first time hunting  at that range you are talking about should be know problem . ask around different shotguns like different brand  slugs    

[Don_C]

47 minutes ago, RsR_foto said:

Now this may be a stupid question to ask here and please, admin, if not allowed delete this comment.
This particular gun needs a new stock and I am quite broke now. Does anyone have a factory stock laying around they are willing to part with? I've checked online and the cheapest one I found was a 6 position m4 style stock which is fine on my ar platforms but I'd rather not have one on my shotgun. This one came with a pistol grip only.
If there are any folks out around 8g that can help me out, please let me know. I'll be trying to learn how it fires regardless so maybe I'll feel comfortable with it the way it is but just wanted to out that out there and ask.

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Mossberg 500 20 gauge?

[Don_C]

I'm looking at one right now. 

 

[RsR_foto]

I'm looking at one right now. 
 

Yea that would be ideal. Haha. It looks nice to boot.

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[RsR_foto]

Yall are great here, just gunna put that out there too. Some of the folks in the facebook page "nys hunters only" seem to be much less helpful. And my post got taken down from there after only a few minutes.

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[Culvercreek hunt club]

6 minutes ago, RsR_foto said:

Yall are great here, just gunna put that out there too. Some of the folks in the facebook page "nys hunters only" seem to be much less helpful. And my post got taken down from there after only a few minutes.

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what is the sighting system that is on the current barrel?

[RsR_foto]

what is the sighting system that is on the current barrel?

It's just a bead sight which I'm fairly comfortable with but I will most likely be taking it to the gunsmith to be drilled and tapped for a red dot or what ever.

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