While at my local Gander Mountain I found three 20-ga. 1300 deer guns. I believe they were rangers. The wood was nice (walnut?), and the finish was good too. The price was $360, that seemed a little high, but maybe I could talk the manager into cutting one loose for less, after all Winchester has been gone for a while now. What do you think of these guns? According to more than one person I've talked to, the Winchester 1300's were some of the hardest kicking guns made. The only reason I want one is for the few times I go slug hunting, I like my rifle way better, but i can't use it everywhere.
So tell me your previous experiences and I'll go from there.

I can't comment of the slug aspect, but my 1300 12 ga. has killed a good many turkey. I really do like the gun and all of its features have never malfunctioned in the 10 years I've owned mine.

I second chuckclear2000's statement. My i300 NWT Comm. has accounted for lots of gobblers without a hitch.

I have a Winchester 1300 deer gun in a 12 ga. rifle barrel and don’t have an issue with recoil with this gun and I’m not to fond on heavy recoil guns. I’ve used this shotgun for 2 years with out any problems...

A 1300 I BORROWED kicks way more than the 870 I just bought. It did bring home the meat tho.

love my 1300......9 turkeys since i got it and no complaints....i do have the slug barrel for it cuz i too had to use it in some places i hunted....accurate out to 125 yards...but man did those bri sabot slugs kill me

I've had a 1300 12ga. slug hunter for several years... about 10 I guess. It's never given me any problems what-so-ever. I don't believe the recoil is an issue... especially when shooting at a deer! You could do alot worse. Good luck.