Shotgun hunting question

[irishfan]

Can you use an 18" or 20" shotgun for hunting and be accurate? The reason I ask is I have a 24" barrel on an 870 and was thinking of going with a 20" so it can double as a HD shotgun as well. Is the accuracy sacrificed to much for being able to hunt a deer if you ever needed or wanted to? Also, the option of keeping the longer barrel is not an option as it will be sold to purchase the new barrel.

Thanks

 

[chubbs]

Mine does fine with a 18" barrel, just use quality rifled slugs. Hit's pumpkins at 75 to a 100 yards with out much problems

 

[Joe Williams]

The picture below shows one target I shot at 50 yards with a Remington 870 with 18 1/2" barrel, open cylinder, and bead sight. Frankly, the biggest obstacle I had with accuracy was that bead. Had I kept the gun I was going to replace it with ghost ring sights.

 

[E'villeGunner]

Can you use an 18" or 20" shotgun for hunting and be accurate? The reason I ask is I have a 24" barrel on an 870 and was thinking of going with a 20" so it can double as a HD shotgun as well. Is the accuracy sacrificed to much for being able to hunt a deer if you ever needed or wanted to? Also, the option of keeping the longer barrel is not an option as it will be sold to purchase the new barrel.

Thanks

As far as I know you can use any length barrel you want as long as it's of legal length. And I'm sure an 18" or 20" bbl would be plenty accurate for deer hunting.

 

[irishfan]

The picture below shows one target I shot at 50 yards with a Remington 870 with 18 1/2" barrel, open cylinder, and bead sight. Frankly, the biggest obstacle I had with accuracy was that bead. Had I kept the gun I was going to replace it with ghost ring sights.

I have ghost rings on my other shotgun and they will definitely go on this one if I switch the barrel. The bead sight is "ok" but ghost rings make a world of difference.

 

[RichardR]

I like beads for quick snap shots on small fast moving targets like fowl, rabbits, squirrels (or clays) but for larger animals &/or HD I prefer ghost ring sights, because on larger animals I am aiming for vital organs, I am not just trying to "hit the animal with some shot" like I am with bead sights.

 

[JTinIN]

Can you use an 18" or 20" shotgun for hunting and be accurate? The reason I ask is I have a 24" barrel on an 870 and was thinking of going with a 20" so it can double as a HD shotgun as well. Is the accuracy sacrificed to much for being able to hunt a deer if you ever needed or wanted to? Also, the option of keeping the longer barrel is not an option as it will be sold to purchase the new barrel.

Thanks

Short answer is a 20 inch sighted smooth bore barrel works fine if you find a slug that work well (each barrel tends to be different). For the brother's shotgun we went through 13 barrel and receiver combinations and kept the best (worked for a gun store that moved a lot of used guns). Since then for just deer hunting with slugs the latest trend (in the last 30 years that is ;-) is a rifled barrel with sabot slugs. The down side to the rifled barreled is that it is nearly useless with bird shot at any reasonable distance and not much use with buck shot either. The brother's smooth bore 20" 870 shoot with the newer rifle barrel guns (have Leupold 1.5 to 5 or 1.75 to 6 mounted to all the deer shotguns) but the sabot still wins for better trajectory and his first gun is a back up only.

Does you existing 24" inch barrel have a choke and/or a vent rib for small game hunting? Most 18" and 20" bead or rifle sighted barrels are either a very open bore or cylinder choked and not the best for the majority bird hunting.

Thus if you are using the 870 to hunt with, in particular small game, would keep the existing 24" barrel (a little long for HD but works in a pinch) and save up for a 20" smooth bore barrel over the next half year. There were a few 20" barrels with choke tubes, of which was a rifled choke tube (not as good as the full rifle barrel but a nice stop gap). If deer hunting is your primary goal and you do not hunt small game, then would go with 20" barrel and start saving for the a rifled barrel down the road.

Best of Luck
John

 

[18Shooter]

I have a Remington SP220 12 gauge Side-by-Side Double barrel shotgun with 20 inch barrels. I was shocked and awed at the versatility of this little baby. My all-time favorite hunting experience was in October of 2010, hunting pheasant with this "coach gun," as they call it. I got two pheasants, one at close range with an IC choke, and one fast crossing shot a little farther out with a Mod. choke. Two shots; two birds. The light weight and quick swing made a day in the field much easier than carrying a heavy gun with only one choke choice. Mine has two triggers, so I can choose which barrel to fire--a terrific feature when you don't know if the birds are going to flush short or long. I have had success with squirrels and clay targets out to 35 yards, too. It kills cleanly, with the only drawback that the sighting plane is not very long, making it hard to center the shot pattern on longer targets.

 

[D2VW14_20]

Most rifled barrels are in the 20"-22" lengths. So if you are going SB with RS, then you should be fine. Then you can your the same barrel (fut yours has chokes) for turkey, and like you said your HD as well.

 

[thegeez]

Keep it as is-no reason to go with a 20" -

 

[lrwatson]

I have an 870 Special with the English stock and 21" barrel. It's great in a tangled shelter-belt when the pheasants aren't out in the corn.

 

[451_Detonics]

Why change it? 24 inches is more than short enough for the gun's role in HD. Run a 26 inch on mine which allows for a 5 round extension on the mag giving me 10+1 total capacity. Also makes it swing very nice on birds...both clay and feathered and wrings all the possible velocity out of slugs.