After another season of slinging slugs with a smooth bore shotgun with a bead sight, I have decided the bead is not the best cho

[drewbeman]

After another season of slinging slugs with a smooth bore shotgun with a bead sight, I have decided the bead is not the best choice for my shooting abalities, and I am going to work on building a slug gun before next december. I has a remington 887 pump. Love the gun but I cant dial slugs into where I want them to go. They get close but not quite. In the closet sits a Winchester 1300 all purpose field pump gun with a 26" barrel. Drilled and tapped for a scope. I think I can get a slug barrel from Winchester or a Rifled choke tube. Remington wants almost $300 for a slug barrel for the 887. I was wanting to put a red dot on the 1300 but I dont know what kind of scope base and rings to get. It has two holes drilled into the top of the receiver and a little grove endendted in the top of it like the mount would sit down inside it. Anybody know what kind of mount I need to get this project rolling?

[DakotaMan]

There are a variety of saddle mounts made for the 1300. Just google "winchester 1300 saddle mount" and you will see options.

I'm a little concerned that the scope may not be your issue. You may be doing what thousands of shotgun hunters do... flinching or jerking the trigger because of the high recoil. I would suggest you try to zero your shotgun at 50 yards over a solid rest ("i.e. sandbags) just like you would with a target rifle. Make sure you get your cheek down on the stock, as you would shooting offhand, so you get a good consistent sight picture.

Have someone load your gun for you so you don't see whether they actually put a round in the chamber or not. Then you shoot it, aiming and squeezing the trigger as smoothly as you can. On the empty chamber it will "click" and not fire. When it doesn't fire, you should be able to see the front bead stay right on the target where you are aiming with NO movement as you pull the trigger. The trigger pull should be a nice smooth action that does not move the gun.

This will help you see whether you are flinching or jerking the trigger as you shoot. Both of these behaviors will cause a miss on deer whether you use a scope, a different shotgun or a smooth bore. Most smooth bores shoot well enough to hit deer within 50 yards. After a few shots where you are sure you are not flinching or jerking the trigger, shoot your best three shot group as a buddy continues to load (or not) for you. Note where the center of the group hits. Then adjust your aim accordingly. If the group hits five inches to the left of center, then aim five inches to the right of center. You can correct for the gun's point of impact with your aim.

The first shotgun I used shot three feet to the left because the barrel was bent. I just aimed three feet to the right and got three deer with it before straightening the barrel. I'd be willing to bet that one of your shotguns shoots well enough to take deer consistently with rifled slugs in a smooth barrel. Best of luck to you.

[jhjimbo]

Ditto what Dakota said. What slugs do you shoot?
Make sure you shoot rifled slugs and not sabot slugs in the smooth bore. What choke? You might want to try and shoot a different brand of slugs.
My first smooth bore was an Ithaca 37 12ga, modified choke. Got several deer with 'punkin balls', bang, flop.
My current deer shotgun is a Browning BPS 12gaa with the extended rifled choke. I am lleft handed and really like the bottom eject. Take a look at my target from this gun in my profile - the black and white target with 5 holes in it. I use Winchester Supreme 3" sabot slugs. Don't want to shoot more than 5 from the bench - ouch.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[labrador12]

Great comments guys. I've wacked deer with smoothbores too. My Ithaca 37 is a great slug tosser and my wife's Ithaca 20, with a mod choke and a scope was great too! Those are light guns that are tough to shoot at targets. It doesn't kick at all when I'm on a deer though.