Sight Gauge

Can I shoot a slug out of a full choke barrel?

I have a single shot, single action, 12 Gauge mag (3 1/2") chamber, full choke (fixed), smooth bore, and has a 24" barrel with a single bead sight. What can I shoot out of this barrel? Can i shoot any shot including slugs, bird shot and 9 pellet buck shot? I am new to guns and any help would be awesome. Also what animals are best to hunt with this gun since its full choke? Thanks

Public Comments

1. No. Slugs will get best accuracy out of a improved cylinder, but the full choke will increase the pressure quite a bit. At best, it will damage the metal enough that after a few times, you are looking at a possible KB.
2. Yes you can with the old Foster types. I regularly shot them out of my 3' 1100 mag and 870 mag with 30 inch full chokes fixed. Back then rifled barrels were zippo in production and only smooth bore's were available. They grouped quite nicely at 50 yds 3-4 inch groups with 3' magnum slugs.
3. As I told someone before:Make your self a note. You can fire any shell through any shotgun barrel, but the results may not suit you. Most manufacturers recommend cylinder bore or improved cylinder for slugs, but my 870 has a modified choke barrel and it works just fine. Try some slugs, if the accuracy is good, it won't hurt to shoot them.
4. NEVER shoot a slug from a full choke S/G! It may blow the barrel up causing it to peel back like steel banana and send shrapnel through your face or other body parts. So when it comes to slug+full choke the answer is simply NEVER! Use any other shot, buckshot etc...
5. slugs can safely be fired through your full choke. Slug manufacturers size their slugs to fit through any full choke put out by any mainstream manufacturer. Now, i'd give different advice if you were describing an old side-by-side double barrel by some minor maker, because who knows how true those are as far as choke size even if it is stamped full. Of course most shooters find that slugs give their best accuracy with modified choke, but I am sure with a bit of testing of different slugs you'll find ones that group well and hit right at point-of-aim for your gun. Also, you can safely fire sabot slugs BUT you will have poor accuracy. Sabot slugs are designed to be used with rifled barrels. Using them in standard shotguns is wasteful because sabot slugs are generally a lot more expensive
6. yes you can, they are made to be able too, it won't be as accurate as an improved cilinder, but if you look on a box of remington rifled sluggers, it will say right on the box that you can shoot them out of any type of choke and yes you can shoot buckshot and bird shot, full choke is made mostly for things like turkey, geese, maby duck, and stuff like that
7. SIMPLE ANSWER HERE! Yes, buy rifled slugs. They have grooves in them, which allow them to be fired through ALL choke sizes, with absolutely no damage in any way to your gun. Otherwise, you can shoot any size buckshot or birdshot you choose safely also.