Old shotguns

My husband says that if I shoot deer slugs from my dads old 29" sawed off 12 gauge it could blow the barrel off and I could get hurt.
My dad died last Feb. so he's not around to ask.

Well, too many other tags for mine to show up.
<sigh>

My husband says that if I shoot deer slugs from my dads old 29" sawed off 12 gauge it could blow the barrel off and I could get hurt.
My dad died last Feb. so he's not around to ask.

Several considerations in that one....

The idea of chokes in a shotgun is the same as would be more or less restrictive nozzles on a garden hose. The tighter chokes produce a tighter shot pattern for further out targets, the least tight (skeet or IC) chokes produce a more open and wider pattern for close in shooting including skeets.

It might be safe IF whoever sawed the barrel off did a superior/clean job of it and deburred what was left of the barrel afterwards since sawing the barrel off would eliminate the choke area of the gun and thus eliminate all restriction.

Normally if I came into possession of any sawed off shotgun I'd simply put it into the nearest large river since governments view all sawed off shotguns as gangster weapons but if there's still 29" of barrel left, it's probably at least legal. Nonetheless I'd keep that gun as an heirloom and buy a modern shotgun for hunting.

Most shotguns made prior to the last 30 years or so came with fixed chokes and any HUNTING shotgun came with tighter chokes than you'd want for slugs so that in my view it would be bad practice to use any gun with a fixed choke with slugs.

There have been significant improvements in smokeless powder over the years as well as improvements in metallurgy. The only thing I'd use some sort of a shotgun from 1940 or on back for would be skeet shooting with target ammo.

Normally if I were to go out after Bambi with shotgun slugs, I'd want a gun made for slugs and they make such guns specifically and they're not expensive. Or if I was just going to use one of my ordinary 12ga guns with screw-in chokes, I'd use a skeet or IC choke (least restrictive)

There are generally better options for Bambi than shotgun slugs. Federal makes buckshot shells with that same kind of wad which they use for the BlackCloud duck shells. That would give you a 70-yard range, greater than any shot you'd ever see in anywooded area, and (assuming you were any good with a shotgun) it wouldn't matter if Bambi was standing still or moving at full speed.