Yes indeed! It means I can shoot both slugs and buck/birdshot through the same barrel.
"Slug guns" for hunting deer or the classic 3 barrel combos will include a rifled barrel for a different type of slug called sabot slugs. These slugs are encased in a plastic sleeve (sabot) which engages the rifling and imparts spin on the projectile, similar to a rifle or pistol projectile. Except in this case it's not the bullet itself in contact with the barrel but the sabot. These yield much more consistent accuracy and as such are preferred by hunters trying to max effective range and land a first round hit in the vitals.
Most confusingly the slugs I shoot through my smoothbore are known as rifled slugs, I believe due to the spiral grooves cut in the outside of the slug itself. These do not receive proper spin stabilization because they are simply guided down the smooth barrel walls by a wad. These are utilized in tactical and target shooting shotguns which will be normally be loaded primarily with buckshot or birdshot respectively. The advantage to a smoothbore barrel is you can rapidly swap from shot to a rifled slug whereby eliminating spread and tripling the effective range by using a single projectile.
TLDR: smoothbore is better for a tactical shotty or comp gun because you can shoot both shot and slugs without needing a barrel swap. Shooting buck or birdshot through a rifled barrel causes it to spread very rapidly and unpredictably.
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u/Thatwokebloke Aug 01 '23
Are there pros to it being smooth bore?