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Old October 27, 2008, 02:23 PM   #1
Gamehunter59
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Join Date: September 4, 2008
Location: Illinois
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Deer Gun

What is you favorite shotgun for deer?
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Old October 27, 2008, 07:46 PM   #2
buymore
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The one I'm carrying when I see DEER! LOL

Now on a more serious side....I've had several slug guns and I like them all. Currently I have an Encore with a 12 g rifled bbl., scope with a 3-9x40 scope. That's my stand gun (longer distances) I use Hornady SST sabots in it. VERY HEAVY recoil from this one! It beat the tar out of me trying to sight this one in!

I also have an 1100 12 g smooth bore, rifle sights. I use it for drives or still hunting. I used to have one of the semi-auto Verona SX405's in 12 g and a combo. It originally had a rifled barrel, but I sold off the rifled barrel and bought a smoothbore rifle sighted barrel to shoot the cheaper rifled slugs. That one is now my 14 yr old sons gun. Very good gun for the money! Remember semi autos have reduced recoil compared to ingles and pumps!

I've had Mossberg 500 12 g. pump slug guns, but I was never any good with them if I needed a second shot! I could never get it to cycle right in hunting situations, no matter how much I practiced! They never failed me in slow easy shots, just a few times I did need a second shot, I was way too slow! Again, slightly heavy recoil in pumps! You neve feel it in hunting situations, but sure doesn't help when trying to sight them in!

I am going to see how my 20 gauge Mossberg SA-20 semi auto shoots slugs in the VR field barrel soon also. If it patterns well, I may try it out this year! Good luck!
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Old October 27, 2008, 08:28 PM   #3
bclark1
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I'm set up with a Mossberg 835 and a rifled barrel. It's really my field gun in general, I've only harvested game with one other shotgun, the Mossy was my first shotgun, and the only one I've got both smooth and rifled barrels for. I've never taken a deer with a shotgun before but giving it a go this season. I would prefer to use a semi, but so long as I have a rifled barrel, it seems smarter to go with that and sabots for the sake of accuracy and range. I have a Nikon Buckmaster 2-7x on top now with see-through rings, although the mount makes the irons almost impossible to see. Not going to do what the /06 does, but I feel pretty good under 200, which is farther than I can see myself shooting on public land anyway.
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Old October 27, 2008, 08:58 PM   #4
hogdogs
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Mossberg 500 20 gauge with 18 inch barrel loaded with slugs for heavy cover and range around -100 yards. I also have a 12 gauge but it currently has a 28 inch barrel so it won't see much duty.
Brent
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Old October 27, 2008, 09:11 PM   #5
Dave McC
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I've two slug shooters, both 870s set up with peep sights and mag extensions. I don't need the extra capacity. I usually load 4 slugs. The extension, though, when properly clamped to the barrel acts to stiffen the barrel, makes the vibrations consistent and tightens slug groups nicely.

Both group within 4" at 100 yards with the slug of choice.
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Old October 28, 2008, 07:53 PM   #6
jammin1237
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have a win 12 ga 1300 defender that i recently retired as a HD staple... used it plenty of times for deer hunting... lets face it, firing any thing from a 385 grain Win sabot at 2000 fps to a 600 grain Brenneke Mag at 1500 fps is waaay ooover kiiill for any deer hunting unless you want it field dressed when you hit it...you can do plenty of ammo testing to get accurate shots out to 150yrds but is it worth it?
my next shotgun will be a 20 or 16 ga slug gun somewhere between a rifle and full bore 12... less kick(has been a debate) and more accurate shooting with plenty of power to down deer, and maybe a pigeon or two
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Old October 29, 2008, 07:31 AM   #7
king.460
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Buymore

I just bought the TC Encore slugger topped with a Nikon Slughunter BDC 200 scope which has the trajectory-compensating reticle. Nikon suggests the Hornady 300 gr. SST slug but I am having trouble with the compensation circles correlating at 100 & 150 yds. The Federal 3" ammo seems to outperform the Hornady out of my barrel, showing much better groups to my surprise. Any history with scope/combo?
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Old October 29, 2008, 07:42 AM   #8
45Dave
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870 Remington

I use to use my 870 wingmaster, 26 inch barrel with screw in rifled choke tube. It held a 1 1/2 to 3 inch group at 100 yards and liked active slugs best. (hard to find) The other shotgun that works like a dream is one my bud owns, Mossberg made it, please forgive me I can not remember the model number but it is a bolt action made just for slugs. His was something like 300 dollars new with a scoe and with the remington brass slugs he can drop 1 12 inch goups all day.
In my area we can use muzzle loaders so I switched over to a knight in line where I can shoot 2 inch groups at 200 yards.
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Old October 29, 2008, 07:43 AM   #9
skydiver3346
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Best slug gun for deer?

My .12 GA Rem model 870 (with Tar-Hunt conversion) is just awesome. Especially when I team it up with the Lightfield EXP slugs. Very accurate and dependable. A little tough when zeroing in (recoil) with the slugs but worth it when you go deer hunting. However, I just purchased a lead sled and hopefully this will really help when zeroing in the future as it takes the recoil out of the equation.
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