The Flex-Hone® for Smoothbore Shotguns

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 Flex-Hone® 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.  

Flex-Hone® Tools 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.