I just bought a H&R Ultra Slug hunter deluxe 12 guage with the laminated stock and heavy barrel. They were like $260-280 at my local gunstore. I think they were pretty close to that at Cabela's. They had a regular ultra slug hunter in 20 guage for 219. I don't know if the 12 guages are more or not. And They have a tracker II with open sites for well under $200.

I paid $219 for my Deluxe, but it was used. Looked brand new though and I don't mind used guns as they were taken care of.

If you don't mind not getting any service Walmart has really good prices. I think the Deluxe sells for $229 or something. They would most likely have to order it for you though.

I won't comment on accuracy because I have not shot mine enough to know. I have only shot 10 lightfields out of it that the gunstore suggested I try. They were pretty good at 50 yards but fell apart in my opinion at 100. About 4 or 5 inch groups. However I have read on this site and others and both my gunstore and the guy at cabela's confirmed that with the right ammo these will shoot 1-2 inch groups at 100 yards.

As far as the differences between the two, well I've owned both. As a matter of fact I traded my Mossberg 500 in on this gun. I feel the mossberg is a decent little gun for the price, especially for the youth model I had. The only thing I noticed is that if you didn't rack it back hard it had a problem feeding shells. As long as you didn't baby it, it worked fine. The differences between it and an 870 field grade are pretty minor. They both have a few things the other doesn't.

What do you want to do with it, like what kind of hunting are you going to do. If you are doing drives or something where you will be carrying the gun or might need a quick follow up shot then the pump might be better for you. The HR is a single shot and pretty darn heavy. I would not want to lug it around all day for sure. I hunt out of a blind so it doesn't bother me. It's not much heavier than my ML it is replacing.

My mossberg youth model a few years ago was like $255 after tax from the same gunstore. They can be had cheaper if you look around. The rifled cantilever barrels are around 150 bucks. Or I think you can get a combo for well under 400. If you intend on using a scope I highly suggest getting the cantilever since the scope would attach directly to the barrel instead of the reciever. However the recievers are drilled and tapped for a scope mount. This way you could easily swap barrels with no need to re-sight in every time. And they are just more accurate from what I have seen.

Will one shoot better than the other? I don't know for sure. I would bet the H&R has the advantage though. I think the faster twist rate would work better with the new faster lighter slugs. I have a few friends that shoot remingtons autos with the rifled slug barrels and get really good accuracy out to 100 yards with the hornady saboted slugs. Like 1-2 inch groups off from a bench. I never tried a rifled barrel on my mossberg so I can't say if it would do it or not. I have read of some that can though. It mostly depend how hard you looked for the right ammo I think.

It think both would kill plenty fine. The mossberg would cost a bit more in the long run but would be more versatile if you wanted to do more with it. The H&R might have an edge on accuracy though and would intitially be a bit cheaper. Plus it is a much simpler design with very little to go wrong or mess up in the field. And I believe you can get different barrels for them as well. I'm just not sure what barrels are avialable for the Ultra style guns. I would like to get an extra turkey barrel for mine if it's possible.

I'm sure others will chime in with more experience, or you can do a search. Plenty of responses will pop up. I just did it this weak. There are several discussions on this very subject, some with multiple pages.

Good luck,
Paul