Smoothbore shotguns are firearms that have "smooth" barrels
without rifling, a pattern of spiral lands and grooves for stabilizing the spin
of the slug. Although rifled shotguns are available, smoothbores
are popular among sportsmen and hunters because they are cost-effective and
good for deer hunting. The sabot slugs used in rifled shotguns can cost twice
as much as the rifled slugs used in smoothbores, and their difference in
accuracy is comparable up to 75 yards. With good sights or a scope, an
experienced hunter can use a smoothbore shotgun to hit targets at even greater
distances.
Smoothbores and Deer
Hunting
For one sportsman in North Carolina, deciding to use a
smoothbore for deer hunting became a matter of slug comparisons - and an
unexpected lesson in gun maintenance. At the on-line forum AR15.com,
a deer hunter named semperfatal announced that he wanted to "take advantage of
the full season," and asked if the smoothbore shotgun he owned was up to the
task. First, semperfatal learned about slug brands such as Foster, Brenneke, Federal,
and Remington. A user named Papi shared a picture of Dixie slugs, and other members
debated the best types of rifled slugs for big game and bird hunting.
Polishing Smoothbore
Shotguns
As the discussion continued, Papi offered the community a
valuable "FYI" about shotgun maintenance. To illustrate his point, he uploaded a
picture (above) that shows the metal stems of flexible honing tools for barrel
polishing and a container of Flex-Hone oil for lubrication.
Made in the U.S.A. by Brush Research Manufacturing (BRM), the Flex-Hone for
Firearms produces the optimum plateau surface finish in any type or size of
smoothbore barrel. Like all of BRM's gun and rifle brushes, these shotgun tools
use a low-temperature, low-pressure abrading process to produce a long-wearing
surface.
Flexible Honing for Shotgun
Maintenance
Flex-Hone tools for shotguns can have long or short stems. Longer-stemmed Flex-Hone tools can be
used to polish the entire length of a shotgun barrel so that fired cases eject
more easily, reducing the strain on the gun's extractors and ejectors.
Shorter-stemmed Flex-Hone tools are used to polish both the chamber and the
forcing cone, where the shot and wadding are subjected to forces that create
build-up. Forcing cones can also be polished with BRM industrial brushes that
have tapered profiles.
Shotgun Barrel Hones,
Forcing Cones and Chamber Hones
When Papi used BRM's Flex-Hone for Shotguns, he
polished several 12-gauge barrels that had rough spots and tool marks. "It's a
very simple process," he explained, noting that he used not just BRM's shotgun
barrel hones, but also our forcing cones and chamber hones. "I even used several lead slugs to check
smoothness after polishing," he added. Hunters at AR15.com may still debate which
rifled slugs are best, but they've learned that Flex-Hone tools are the right
choice for shotgun
polishing.
Author's Note: This CR4 blog entry originally appeared in BRM's Flex-Hone Blog.
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