Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Which Choke Tube

In that we have no specific shotgun section I'll ask here.
I have a 20ga TC Encore barrel shortened to 20" and tubed for Turkey hunting. (Carlson's) Works great!

I want to shoot slugs, not at turkeys, with the same gun, same barrel. What tube would you suggest?

Thanks
Jim

If you are going to shoot foster style rifled slug then an improve cylinder choke is fine.

If you want to shoot a sabot slug, rifling is necesaary with most sabot slugs, witha few exceptions. BRI style slugs, the hourglass shaped slugs, were originally designed to be shot from smooth bores and work relatively well. They work better with rifling. A rifled choke tube may help.
I had a Remington 870 SPS with a smoothbore slug barrel and a rifled tube and shot fine out of that. From what I've heard, BRI style slugs are very hard to come by.

For sabot slugs holding handgun bullets, a fully rifled bore is best. If you want to try a rifled choke tube, you may get decent short range accuracy. From what I've read, rifled choke tubes and modern sabot slugs aren't the best combination.

I would not shy away from foster style slugs, though. They are devestating out to 100 yard. These slugs right here are very accurate out of a smooth bore.

FYI, there is a shotgun section just below the turkey section on this site. I don't know about slugs as I have not hunted with them in over 40 years.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/forums/15/1/shotguns

Rifled slugs through the most least restrictive choke tube you have. Cylinder if you have one.

I never had any luck with rifled choke tubes. And by the amount of lead, and plastic, in them, the slugs were just stripping through them.

I used to even cast all my own slugs for my Browning A-Bolt slug gun. The slug was mushroom shaped like a pellet gun pellet, but was 650gr. Loading was right out of the Lyman manual using a Lyman mold, Win "AA" hull, WAA12R wad and Blue-Dot powder. Manual said to keep the 8 point crimp, so I did. Those things would literally take a deer right off their feet! The recoil was brutal, but they sure did work and were extremely accurate out of the A-Bolt.

I am not sure what the TC Encore barrel is. Is that a "backbored" barrel? If so, you'll likely get better accuracy using a IC choke versus a cylinder choke. If its not back bored, either and IC or cylinder choke. I get better accuracy using a IC or Mod choke in a backbored barrel. IC or Cylinder in non backbored. A rifled slug fits into a Brownining Invector Plus barrel with a tad bit of room to spare. That a rifled slug "exands" to fit the bore like a civil war minie ball is mostly myth. The slug doesn't really get constricted until it hits the choke. A rifled slug in a backbored barrel will get little, if any, constriction using a cylinder choke.

I have a split IC choke tube that says otherwise! Lol! But my experience with that really is limited. Gun made a different sound and I looked and looked. Finally removed the choke tube and it was split.

Bad choke tube. They shouldn't split. I don't even have a cylinder tube for my Ithaca and I have a couple hundred foster slugs down the tube. Fired them through modified, too. Every tube maker worth anything says their smooth tubes are fine with lead rifled slugs.

Flush Rem-Choke IC 20ga.

I have shot a lot of soft lead Foster slugs through modified chokes with zero issues. In fact, in my experience I usually get better accuracy from a little constriction than with a cylinder bore as is so often recommended.

Rifled slugs are so soft you can dig into them with your thumb nail. They shouldn't split a tube, even a full choke tube.

I know Federal loads foster slugs with a plastic ball in the back of the slug, but even that shouldn't split a choke tube.

It wasn't a Tru-Ball, just a plain jane 20ga rifled slug. The Remington green and yellow box stuff. Thought I might still have the choke tube and I might! But exactly where at the moment, who knows!

Before most guns had removable choke tubes, Remington sold a short 870 barrel with rifle sights and IC choke. So, that was their opinion. Good for deer, quail, and serious social occasions.

Some good info from knowledgeable guys.

Classic !!!!!!!

Didn't take much to fool you...