ok i need a straight answer. is it ok to shoot
rifled slugs through a fixed full choke? i just
bought a saiga 20 gauge and i want to take it to
the local range. all they allow are slugs. my
pipe cutter & i eagerly await your response.
[shotgun]

I don't think it would be wise.

I don't know about "rifled" slugs,but I've got a 24" FC model 12 thats real accurate with slugs.

i got a saiga12, and i have fired more than a few slugs through it before i knew better.
the diameter of the slug is larger than the diamter of the full choke.

what i suspect happens when firing 1oz slugs through the full choke is that the slug is hollow and when it gets constricted through the choke it crushs in on itself and get spit out the gun.
the accuracy was still decent, but i wouldnt do it unless i had to, i didnt notice damage to the gun or muzzle, BUT YOU CAN SEE THE MARKS INSIDE THE MUZZLE WHERE THE SLUGS GETS CONSTRICTED DOWN.

i would say to shoot a box of slugs (5rnds) and then look inside the muzzle with a Flashlight, and you will see what im talking about, you will see the marks left by the slug.

then dont shoot anymore for safety sake, you could split the muzzle, also DONT CUT OFF THE MUZZLE its chrome lined and you might mess up the lining, just shoot 000buck and tell your range to F**K off, how are they gonna know?

you could measure the choke diameter (internally) and get some smaller gauge slugs (28ga?)and make your own, or find some slugs that are the same or Less diamater of the choke.

Foster type slugs are manufactured undersize and pretty soft. They are safe to fire through full chokes. I would not shoot sabot or Breneke slugs in a full choke though.

It will not hurt anything, you might have to clean out the choke area from leading, but it is safe to do.

That has changed.  Around here, I see a lot of farmers shooting slugs out of full choke guns.  But they either hammer away at everything that moves, or when they do get a nice broadside shot at 60 yards, can't figure out why the slug hits the dirt.

Remington used to be known as the most inaccurate slug out there, because they deliberately made them undersize for all the full choke shooters....they didn't want to be sued for a burst barrel or other damage.  Hell, Remmy was all Farm and Fleet carried.  That is why I always shot Federal in the past.  However, over time, technology education and rifled bolt action slug guns came to pass.  After they got sick of the "most inaccurate" designation, two years ago, Remington redesigned the slug back to a larger diameter.  I tried them through a rifled rem choke 1100 and they went 5 shots into a fist sized group at 75 yards over open sights.

Yes you can shoot through a full choke.  And yes, it will suck.  Slugs are designed with a diameter that provides the optimum fit through a....(gotta go look at the box)......Improved Cylinder or Rifled choke.  Full is too tight, and the result will be less than optimal accuracy, more leading, and the small possibility of a barrel rupture.

I don't think it would be a good idea to shoot slugs through a full choke for several reasons.  First is running the risk of bulging the end of your gun.  Shotguns 12 ga in particular can only handle about 12-13,000PSI, much more and your looking at tearing something up, slugs can't shift like lead shot, you get either get the sausage stuffer effect where the slug splurts out the end of the gun or a bulge at the end of your barrel, with a full choke, something has to give.  

Secondly, as a slug shooter ( about 150 slugs per year for 5-6 years), having a dedicated barrel for slugs is more appropriate.  If you look down a barrel that has had quite a few slugs through it you will see marks in the barrel from the slugs, maybe not the sabots, but the rest leave light gouges/ marks that can't be removed even with a piece of steel wool on drill( NOT a recomended gun cleaning technique).  Slugs also leave a huge amount of lead in the barrel, and I do mean lots especially over bored barrels.  I have spent hours trying to tease that stuff out with Hoppes 9, only in desperation take a copper brush and bore scrubber to finnally get the barrel to shine once again.  What does all this mean?  If you want to do any birdshot/ buckshot shooting, your shot pattern with shot will not be as good after a slug shooting venture as it was before.  That has been my experience.  


Most fire arms companies make cylander wall slug barrels some with rifling and some without, an extra barrel may be an option.  Also if a dedicated slug gun is what you want, you could have the choke reamed to cylander or improved or something along that line.  The latter being cheaper.

The only barrel that might bulge is a Damascus steel barrel, and I don't think that is at issue here. It will not in anyway affect the barrel, it may affect the accuracy, however those Remington slugs are the pits, I was never able to do any good shooting with them out of many shotguns and this includes a Rem 11-87 rifled bbl, with cataliver mount and Leopold scope, they always seems to throw a flyer and this may even be worse with a full choke smooth bore. At 100 yards one of those Rem. slugs would always fly out of a tight group, and when I talked around with some friends, I found they had the same problems, we left Remington, and went with Winchester Sabots they are more accurate in rifled and unrifled bbls. This is just my friends and my expierence with Rem. slugs, and we burned a few to learn this.

Have a Saiga 12 and I've shot slugs throught it's full barrel.  Granted, it was only 5 rounds....  acuracy was great at 25 yards.  All was on the X, 10 or 9 ring (rapid fire). Haven't shot any through it since (just buck and bird shot).

Now that I think of it.... if the slug has "rifling", it means it has high/low spots.  So.... it means that the low spots are probably the same diamter as a full if not smaller.  And the raised areas "smash down" when it goes through the choke... not damaging the barrel..... or am I completely wrong on my thinking....