I am interested in learning about hunting deer with a shotgun. I would like to know at what range I could expect to kill a deer, what shotguns I should be looking at, and scopes. I did read about the Benelli and although pricy, sounds like a good choice. I presently have a Benelli 20 gauge I use for dove and love it. Recoil is a consideration, the less the better. I would like to stay with 12 gauge, only because I would think the range would be better. Am I wrong?
I dont know if your wrong but dont overlook the 20g slug guns. I've been shooting an H&R 20g Ultra Slughunter untill this season. Got a Savage 220F for the this season. 20g bolt action, bad-ass slug gun. Took my first Deer with it tonite, big Doe. More like a rifle than a slug gun. The 20g shoots flatter than the 12 and still has plenty of knock down power without the recoil the 12 has. Not saying the 220F doesn't have some kick, it does, just not like a 12g. Tack driver with the Remington 3" Accutips. Hope this helps. Good luck with what ever you chose.
Curious,how does the savage compare to the H&R for groups? I know the H&R's have been known to be very good for slugs, is the savage touching it?
Silver,
You have a lot of options here. If you want a pump a remington 870 or a mossberg 500 is good. You can buy barrels for them with cantilever scope mounts. This way you can swap your slug and field barrels whenever. These are decently accurate.
If you want a dedicated slug gun an H&R Ultra Slug hunter is a great choice, although just single shot. The savage 212 and 220 are becoming very popular. And I've heard all good things. This is a bolt action, once again this would be a slug gun only.
I have a Mossberg 695. Its a bolt action 12 gauge slug gun. I haven't gotten a chance to work with it much though. But I'm sure it'll shoot well once I find a load it likes and get a decent glass on it.
Your range will be in the 100-150 yard range, with a few exceptions. There used to be a guy around this forum that was shooting out to 200, but I don't know if he is still posting. SHooting farther can be done, but that'll be up to you.
As for glass, get the best you can afford, you won't regret it.
Hope that helped
-Jake
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Todays 20ga shotguns with todays high performance 20ga sabot slugs can out shoot a 12ga. and it will take down deer size game just as quickly as the 12ga. I have alot of slug guns in both 20ga & 12ga, I best one is the Savage 220f 20ga., get yourself a quality 20ga., (doesn't matter on the action) that you really like with a rifled/cantilever barrel with quality sabots and you can kill deer size game out to 200yards once you get good with it
Don't know how much you plan to spend, but there are some good used guns out there that can be had for less. I have a Marlin Model 512 Slugmaster that I've killed quite a few deer with. It's a 12 ga and it shoots really well with sabot slugs below 1700 fps. Tried some faster ones, but they did not group at all. A similar gun is the Mossberg Model 695.
info on shotguns with rifle barrels for sabot
