# Mossberg 500 Youth Model Questions



## tcba1987 (Jun 22, 2004)

My daughter has one of the newer model Mossberg 500 20 ga with the screw in choke tubes............she is going deer hunting for the first time this year during the youth season and a few days during gun season.............the question i have is this.............it has the ventilated rib barrel how should i tell her to look down the sights to aim ??? it has the middle bead (gold) and the white bead on the barrel end and it seems to shoot all over the target when i shoot it. We tried shooting the regular slugs through it with the Improved choke tube and it wasnt very accurate at all.............would the Modified or Full choke shoot better with the slugs ??? 

HELP ?? 


Does anyone have a slug barrel for that gun for sale by chance ???


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

improved cylinder is the best of the three.unless you want to mount a scope,only thing i can say about sighting is practice.use the beads and adjust till you get the point of aim right.she might have to hold high,low or left/right.


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## Toxic (May 13, 2006)

Are you shooting foster style slugs, or sabots? In a smooth bore barrel sabots will not fly as true, where a rifled style foster slugs will spin and retain better accuracy. But for only short distances. 

You'll get your critics and they'll say I killed lots of deer with a smooth bore barrel. But, as you already stated, you not getting the accuracy. And the reason you are all over the paper is because you should be shooting the slugs from a slug barrel. You will be able to adjust your elevation and windage. On a regular barrel you will not be able to adjust you sights. Regular barrels have a tighter barrel and they have a tendency to throw slugs in every direction. You could try shooting through a slug choke. It may help then again it may not. 

Keep us updated on what you try out. Good luck and I hope your Daughter get a huge buck this year!


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

i have to disagree,toxic.improved cylinder is a better choice than a tighter choke.though a true cylinder bore(slug barrel)would be the best choice,i think he's not wanting to buy another barrel.the tighter the choke,the more restriction,causing compression of the slug,which impairs accuracy.while,as you said,many people claim their full chokes shoot slugs great,i have yet to see one.
the next best thing to a new barrel would be buy a true cylinder bore choke tube.personally i would opt for a rifled barrel and sabots,but again,i think brian is trying to avoid the cost for now.
also,fosters don't actually spin in flight.they are more of a way to help seal the gases as the slug travels down the barrel.i know people believe the spin theory,and i used to,but after researching over the years,i've found it's a fallacy.the design of the foster is actually what stabilizes it and makes it an improvement over the brenneke style slug.


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## Toxic (May 13, 2006)

Rick, I never suggested a tighter choke, just a rifled choke tube. A foster slug is a rifled slug and it spins, so it stabilizes in flight. He suggested that the gun is not keeping a pattern. So his barrel may be at fault. Or he is not getting a good bench rest. He can also try different slug manufactures. But that will be expensive. Lets figure this out for him


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

i think i worded that wrong
i just meant that the less choke,the better.and if his barrel is bent,that could be a real problem that we can't solve,except to reccomend a new rifled barrel

now back to the spin.here's just one source that backs my statements.i might add that i mentioned sealing the gases,but the rifling as you'll see below,also serves another purpose.but i still don't reccomend anything more than I.C.





> These rifling grooves were mostly cosmetic, as they did not really impart any spin to the slug at all as it went through the barrel. The only real purpose, other than making the customer "feel like" his slugs would spin, was to allow the slugs to be swedged through any size choke. The manufacturers of the slugs could not know for sure what choke would be used by the customer, so they put these grooves on the slugs to allow them to swedge through any normal choke.
> 
> We then must ask, "If the rifling does not spin the slug, then what causes the rifled slug to fly true?" The answer is that the slugs usually had a hollow base and they were heavier in the front than in the back, and flew straight for the same reason a dart flies true.


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