i have a mossberg 500 12 guage and am looking into going deer hunting with it this fall but I am new to deer hunting and am not sure what i need. do i want a fully rifled barrel or a smooth bore? would fiber optic sights be o.k. or do i need a scope? any info would be appreciated. thanks

go with a fully rifled barrel fiber optic sights will work fine.

Fully rifled barrel with Winchester partition gold sabot's. 2 3/4" 1900 feet per/second, 3" 2000 feet per/second. I've shot deer in Iowa with these things and the effects are devistating. 150 yards is not a problem. They're expensive but what isn't when it comes to hunting deer???? I have a scope mounted on my slug gun now but I'm going to switch to an eotech holosight. We use these on our .223 m4's at work and they are great out to 200 yards. No paralax at all, just put the red dot on the target and game over, good luck and welcome to the deer hunt.

I hunt with a Remington 800 Express shoot 2/3 quarter That is what I killed that doe of mine with this year running dogs shot her 45 yrds 2 times....Pretty big doe...


Hunter

I use my 12 gauge when I am walking aroud in the thickets on our lease a rifle barrel is what I use mine is loaded with the following
first shell is a slug, second is buck shot,third is slug,fourth is buckshot

Good Luck

Barrel depends on how faR YOU INTEND TO SHOOT....A SMOOTHBORE WILL WORK JUST FINE OUT TO 50 YD WITH THE NEW SLUGS AVAILABLE.THE FEDERAL WITH THE BALL IN THE TAIL END OF IT. i SHOOT A RIFELED BARREL AND KILLED ONE AT 95 YDS LAST SEASON........WITH LIGHTFIELD'SOops sorry about hitting the caps lock. I have a new H&R ultra on layaway ....and a leupold 3x9 I intend to zero it out to 200 yds....I know that sounds exagerated....However I have read to many stories about clear passthrough's out to 180yd with the new sst hornaday......Its the samy bullet that I use in my encore....And it shoots that far also. But back to the ? fully rifeled barrels will handle bothe application's......But first time out a smoothbore might be what you want to try. Good Luck Drop

I shoot a slug out of a smooth bore 16 guage.
but I did take a doe with #1 buck shot last year.

It is getting harder to find slugs for the old gun.

i would say oooooooooooooooooooooooo rifled barel and a scope would be good

I use a Remington 870 Express (not sure about the bore-probably smooth) and shoot 3" buckshot.

You don't need any kind of sights; that's why you hunt with a shotgun, point and click. Just line the white dot up with whatever your mind wishes to kill.

I've put down several (eight or nine) deer with a twelve gauge, trust me.

Ive killed a lot of deer with my 500 and 00 Buckshot
Most less than 30 yds though