Remington Rifled Barrel - Inaccurate ?

[ABL1111]

Old 12 gauge, Wingmaster in near new condition.. I bought an almost new looking, 2nd hand, 20” Remington rifled barrel a few years ago. Initially, to sight in, I had to shift the front sight way over to the left ( part of dovetail hanging over side of base ).

I am not being conceited or puffing my ego when I say I’m an excellent shot ( with a rifle and my Ithaca Deerslayer smooth bore ). I understand what is necessary to consistently shoot accurately…. There are plenty of other things I’m not good at !

However, I have not put shots where I want with this shotgun setup. At the range recently, at 25 yards, it shoots where I want…. At 50yds, it gets squirrely. I recently installed new fiber sights - same thing - front sight over to left, 25 yards shooting tight groups. I ran out of ammo ( and sabot is hard to find and $$$. I used several brands and found it shot Federal best ) before I could shoot at 50 - but I know it’s off as I just shot a deer at about 50 yds and it did not hit where I aimed. It was way left! I killed the deer, but it was not a clean kill and I ‘ain’t happy’…

Questions

- The barrel ’ looks’ straight. How can I confirm ? There are no good gunsmiths anywhere where I live - Long Island, NY. Is it worth fixing ?
- Can it be anything else besides the barrel ?
- Where can I locate a new, 20” rifled barrel ( non mossberg )

Thanks !

[Scorpion8]

Questions

- The barrel ’ looks’ straight. How can I confirm ? There are no good gunsmiths anywhere where I live - Long Island, NY. Is it worth fixing ?
- Can it be anything else besides the barrel ?
- Where can I locate a new, 20” rifled barrel ( non mossberg )

My favorite source for barrels is here (https://www.midwestgunworks.com/remingt ... rrels.html) or GunBroker, even eBay at times. The barrel may be straight, but may not be "mounted" straight. A 20" barrel isn't long enough for most "flashlight on the end" straightness tricks, but you can use a length of known-straight pipe or wood dowel to check approximately. Since the sights are all "on" the barrel, it would make sense that as long as the barrel is straight, and you have it securely mounted to the action, that the slug will go where the sights say it should go. A non-straight barrel should be fairly obvious.

[ABL1111]

Bought a shotgun shell laser tool to see how laser lines up with sights. When barrel off and shell pushed firmly ‘home’ the laser and sights align each time.

However, when barrel installed on receiver, depending on each racking of laser shell into loaded position, the laser is either dead on to sights, or off to the side ?! This seems like an issue.

Please pardon my lack of knowledge here, but is the shell supposed to be held in place by the bolt so it seats into the barrel the same way each time ? i.e. like a lapped intake/ exhaust valve against a cylinder head ? Or is there supposed to be room ?

I’ll save my next questions based on responses.

Thx…

[Scorpion8]

Please pardon my lack of knowledge here, but is the shell supposed to be held in place by the bolt so it seats into the barrel the same way each time ? i.e. like a lapped intake/ exhaust valve against a cylinder head ? Or is there supposed to be room ?

The shell should be held securely, but remember that this is not a sub-M.O.A. target rifle, it's an "area" device. While deer-hunting accuracy is usually obtained at 50-125 yards with slugs, usually minute-of-deer is also possible. Still, I think something is off in the way your barrel fits up into the receiver since it does not appear to have "repeatable" accuracy qualities. Have you cleaned the barrel seat, receiver seat, looked for burrs or gouges?

[scubaump]

What type of slug?

[Mikasa99]

In order to confirm if the barrel of your shotgun is straight, you can use a method called the "bore-sighting" technique.

[Deast1985]

You can check the tank alignment by placing a pin or cleaning rod through the barrel and looking down. If the barrel is straight, the rod should be centered in the bore. If the barrel is bent, the bar will be off-center. If you don't feel comfortable doing this inspection yourself, you can take the pistol to a gunsmith to have it checked.

[hennysmath]

Inaccuracy can be caused by several factors, not just the barrel. These might include the ammunition you're using, the sights, the consistency of your shooting technique, or even the scope or sights being improperly mounted.