18' slug gun barrell for a 870?
 

I was wondering if anyone uses the 18" slug barrel for the 870? They retail for only 118 at WSS but I'm a little concerned about lack of velocity, recoil, noise, and muzzle flash. Has anyone shot slug gun with that short of a barrel? What did you think/notice?

Velocity doesn't change much after 18" in shotguns but not doubt it would be loud!

I've shot slugs out of my Mossberg 590 with an 18 1/2" barrel. Don't know about loud as I was wearing ear protection, don't know about velocity, but recoil yes, quite noticeable (but is it much more than out of a longer barrel?) and didn't notice much for muzzle flash.

Frans

Ye I have a 18.5" smooth bore barrel on my 870. I carry it for bear defense. i dont notice any muzzle flash nor do I think it is ant louder than my 28". Recoil is likely slightly more because the gun is lighter. It is a palm killer with the pistol grip.:wave:

I've got the 870 combo with the 28" barrel and the 20" (? might be 18" ) smooth bore barrel with the rifle sights and I've never noticed anything for muzzle flash. It' got a bit of a kick to it but it doesn't really bother me much, mind you I'm 230lbs. Noise wise it's a 12 gauge so wear ear plugs when doing continuous shooting like you normaly would, if your in the bush hunting one or two shots without hearing protection seems to be the norm for anyone. Velocity wise it seems to shoot as well and as far as longer barreled shotguns I've fired slugs from but I really couldn't tell what kind of velocity difference there is between the two barrel lenghts. I have noticed though that the 2 3/4" slugs seem more accurate than the 3" slugs. Hope that helps some :wave:

Thanx for the input guys, really helps. I think I might just go with the HR Ultra Slug Hunter for slug hunting. Spend the extra $ and get something a little more taylor made for the job.

If you get a rifled barrel don't forget to consider the cost of shooting it, those sabot slugs for rifled barrels are quite pricey compared to the foster type slugs used in the smooth bores. The rifled barrels are more accurate but I guess it depends what all your going to use it for. When I shoot out past 100 yards I switch to a centre fire rifle :wave: