a question about shotguns and slugs.

do you need to have a rifled barrel to shoot slugs? or are you ok with smooth..just a loss of accuracy?

I used to shoot slugs out of a smooth barrel. I did pretty well on my groupings. You will just have to practice and find your range.

Like all guns, every gun/ammo combo will be different, but you don't necessarily need a rifled barrel. I shoot a Mossberg 500 Turkey Special. With Winchester 3" slugs (not sabot) I get 3 1/2-4" groups at 100 yards with a red-dot scope and IC choke. Not super accurate, but more than enough for deer. But my buddy also has a 500 that won't keep them inside 10" with the same ammo/choke.

You really need to try a bunch of combinations to see what works best in your gun. If you want the best potential accuracy though, I would get a rifled barrel, 2-7x scope, and saboted slugs, but you still will have to try different slugs to see what works best.

I shoot rifled slugs out of my smoothbore slug barreled O/U, nice light combo. Not nearly as accurate as the rifled barrel/sabot but its plenty to 75 yards. Unfortunatly for your shoulder, practice it important.

Take into consideration your hunting conditions and then consider cost. Where are you going? Open fields? Or southeastern Mass. brushed in swampy green brier woods hell holes?

Smooth bore barrel with rifle sights should be good for anything under say 50 yards maybe 75 with a scope depending on how your gun shoots. Has been plenty accurate for me. Also the option to change out choke tube and use buckshot for tighter conditions.
A nice gun with a rifled barrel and a scope will get you out to 125 yards. May weight more but if you are in a tree stand it may not matter.
Cost: Rifled slugs for smooth bore = $4 per box of 5
Sabot slugs for rifled barrel = +/- $15 per box of 5

I use both.