As Miltonyz says, they’re required for hunting in certain areas. Slugs are lower velocity and poorer aerodynamically than rifle bullets and have a shorter lethal range. OTOH, slugs (especially “magnum” loads) kick like a mule.
You can also buy a rifled barrel for most pump action shotguns much cheaper than you can buy a rifle. So if you already own such, and a rifled shotgun would suit your deer hunting needs and local laws, then it is an economical choice.
ETA: You can also buy a 50Cal muzzle loader barrel for some shotguns.
What is the highest muzzle velocity you can get with a 12 gauge shotgun? If you loaded 223 bullet as a sabot, could you get close to 3000 fps?
I’m not sure what the highest muzzle velocity with a 12 gauge is but you’ll often see 1100fps to 1500fps.
As for the 223 Remington out of a 12 gauge going at 3000fps, likely. A typical 00 buckshot 12 gauge load is 1 and 1/8 ounces which is about 492 grains. A 223 Remington bullet will typical go anywhere from 55 to 77 grains. I’m not sure how much the sabot would weigh but likely less than the bullet. Even accounting for the fact that the amount of energy required to increase to a given velocity goes up at the square of the velocity and that a faster projectile isn’t as efficiently accelerated as a slower one, it seems like you could get a 223 Remington bullet to 3000 fps out of a 12 gauge.
I’m not really sure why you’d want to, though. It’d be like nailing stuff together with a screwdriver.
possibly, but the rate of twist of a rifled 12-gauge barrel is likely wrong for a .223 bullet and wouldn’t stabilize it properly. IIRC .223 wants between a 1:9 and 1:12 twist rate, while slug barrels are in the neighborhood of 1:28 to 1:35.
It shows that requiring shotguns for hunting in more populated areas makes no sense. If a home-made sabot slug can achieve the same muzzle velocity as a rifle bullet, they are both equally dangerous. While the rifle bullet may be more accurate, they should have the same maximum range.
Neither I nor apparently the law are concerned with contrived hypotheticals. Off the shelf sabot slugs are not nearly the velocity of most centerfire rifle rounds, and nobody worth considering is making their own tiny sabot slugs.
the 3" Remington slugs I have say 1750 fps on the box, but I don’t remember what barrel length. Given the huge muzzle flash I get with a 20" barrel, they’re probably closer to your stated velocity than what is indicated on the box.
That’s weird, I would have thought that shotgun shells would tend to use quick burning powder which would produce a small muzzle flash out of a 20" barrel. I guess the designers chose to use the extra .25" to pack in more powder.
Centerfire firearms (shotguns, rifles, and pistols) are proofed (pressure rated to specific, maximum PSI) based on the cartridge they are expect to fire. Shotguns are at the low end of pressure ratings. All firearms are expected to survive a “10% over the maximum” Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute, Inc. (SAAMI) established rating for an extremely short period of time measured in milliseconds. If the bullet or shot doesn’t clear the muzzle quickly enough, for whatever reason, the pressure will continue to climb inside the barrel until some part of the firearm reaches catastrophic failure.
SAAMI Shotgun Pressure Specifications
(Maximum Average Pressure in PSI)
All Piezo measurements unless specified)
Cartridge Maximum Average pressure
10 gauge psi 11,000 (all)
12 gauge 11,500 psi (all but 3 1/2" mag)
12 gauge 3 1/2" mag 14,000 psi
16 gauge 11,500 psi (all)
20 Gauge 12,000 psi (all)
28 gauge 12,500 psi (all)
.410 Bore 2 1/2" psi 12,500
.410 Bore 3" psi 13,500
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/saami_pressures.htm
A firearm intended to fire a .223 Remington (similar to a 5.56 Nato would be expected to survive 55,000 (+ 10%) psi.
Based on this, I don’t believe it would be possible for a .223 diameter, sabot encased bullet to reach 3000fps when fired from a standard 12ga shotgun using normal firearm propellents. The shotgun would fail before that muzzle velocity could be reached.
Bumped to ask a related question, what stabilising do missiles employ. Not all have fins and I think the US Army Lance also employed spin.
Incidentally, what does thickness of a projectile have to do with choice of stabilising method? A long thick projectile?.
Some missiles have gimbaled nozzles. Some have attitude thrusters. Some may have steering vanes directing the exhaust flow.