When it comes to shotguns what is the differance in the barrel need for slugs vs. bird shot?
slug barrels are rifled and the others are smooth. barrels for birding and small game also can be choked for different patterns, or they may not take chokes at all. i think slug barrels may be a bit shorter on average too.
slug barrels are shorter. longer barrels and chokes on bird hunting barrels help to keep the pattern of shot tighter for longer shots.
I rebuilt a Rem. 870 express,put a camo synthetic stock on it and got a nice slug barrel for it. It's pretty sharp but I didn't realize your not supposed to shoot slugs thru it only sabots. Some say it's ok as long as you keep it clean. I also need to get a nice bird or turkey barrel for it.
it is getting confusing on shotgun barrels. back in the day everything was smoothbore-- shoot slugs, knowing it is bouncing around in the barrel, tear your barrel up after awhile. the different chokes, my 835 turkey gun, you can not shoot slugs out of that barrel even after changing chokes. the bore of the barrel is a 10 guage then necked back down to 12. slugs will bounce to much. but, on that note, a nice rifled slug barrel with some of the sabot slugs that are out there, you easily could pull off 200 yd shots all day.
