Does shooting shot through a rifled barrel damage the rifling?

[ChamberedRound]

Simple question; never owned a shotgun so I'm a scattergun NooB. Thoughts?

[Chazman321]

I would think not but may be mistaken. I know they make .410/.45LC revolvers and the barrels are rifled. When they did a spotlight on the gun on the Outdoor Channel, the guy said that the rifling catches either the shot or the wad; causing it to spin and spread out even faster...

[aubie515]

CR, I'd buy a smoothbore shotgun with chokes, so you can shoot slugs through it...the rifled barreled shotguns cost more. Why take the chance at shooting buckshot through a rifled barrel. It shouldn't hurt it, but I would caution you to consider the choke system.

[DR. GLOCK]

Originally Posted by ChamberedRound

Simple question; never owned a shotgun so I'm a scattergun NooB. Thoughts?

I believe you have to use lead shot. Steel would damage the rifling. But their is no point anyway. You won't hit a damn thing. I tried using shot out of my rifled barrel. At 10 feet away the shot was hitting about 20 inches to the left. It puts too much spin to do any good. The rifling has oposite effects on slugs and shot. Makes slugs more accurate and shot very inacurate.

I only use slugs and the rifled barrel with my 870 because I'm an accuracy freak. I'm also worried if I change barrels the point of aim of the red dot sight would change.

[MiniDevil]

Did you get the shotgun yet? If not, im not sure what brand you prefer. I've seen guys swear by Mossberg or by Remington. I like the Remington 870s, but never really did anything with a Mossberg so I couldn't tell you.

I know Mossberg sells a 500 combo kit with two barrels. Maybe Remington does too.

[djturnz]

When I was at Dick's buying my rifle there was guy buying the Moss combo for $300. Pretty good deal I think.

You can get a mossy field gun at walmart for $199, so if you can get the same slug barrel for under $100, maybe that's they way to go.

[junyo]

Never shoot shot from a rifled barrel. It probably won't damage the rifling, however it will destroy the shot pattern. It throws the shot to the outer edges of the pattern and rather than an even mass of whatever spread you get a donut shaped pattern, wider than it should be, that's pretty much useless.

If you need to shoot shot and slugs regularly use a smoothbore barrel and Foster or Brenneke type slugs and/or get a rifled choke. You lose a little accuracy on the slugs but retain good shot patterning.

[Kolya1981]

As far as damaging the rifling, I wouldn't take the chance even with lead shot. I am assuming you want a riffled barrel to hunt with, why risk making your deer gun inaccurate?

If money is a concern, go with the Mossberg Combo. I have the 500A with a rifled barrel I use sabot slugs with and it is great for deer hunting. I throw on the smooth bore barrel and it is great for turkey or clays. Takes less then a minute to switch barrels. If money is no object, get 2 different shotguns and have a deer only gun.