20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

I might have the oppurtunity to do some special permit deer depredation hunting locally and shotguns only is the game. I used to do some slug hunting years ago but have been out of it for at least 10 years. Priced a barrel for my Beretta Urika but that was stupid priced. I can get the whole gun if I go with an 870 slug special with cantilever barrel for less money. I handled a 20 guage version today and man was that ever sweet. I just looked up some ballistics on a few websites and these new slugs pump 1200 ft/lbs of energy all the way to 200 yds! They are actually harder hitting and as flat shooting as a .30-30. My question is, does anybody use a .20 on deer? How does it perform? And lastly how far ( YDS ) do you feel its effective for harvesting deer? I can go back to a .12 but that .20 is so sweet I might even use it in rifle zones!

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

ive shot 20 and 12 ga. slug guns. i shoot a nef/h-r single shot 12 ga. rifled barrel. w/scope...that gun is a cannon but is very accurate when shooting hornady sst sabots. the 20 will be less of a kick...there alot of good sabot slugs out..(thats what i would use) hornady sst, lightfields, brenneke, and remingtons copper solids.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

Can't get my fingers on the stats but the 12 is only marginal on fps over the 20. I would not shoot more than 120 yards and that is a stretch. You have to practice m[paractice and know your limitations.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

20ga. is more then enough for deer, and yes with todays advance slugs the 20ga has moved up to be right there with the 12ga. I only use 20ga these days

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

I use a 12ga primarily because I got the combo and wanted the 12 for pheasants. My son's combo is an 870 in 20ga, and all his deer have been one shot drops. (He's pretty good on the pheasants also.) If I were to get a dedicated deer gun, I would not hesitate to get the 870 cantilever slug gun in 20ga that you mentioned. With the new sabots, the energy difference is surprisingly small, especially past about 75 yds. Actuall, for a dedicated slug gun, I would probably go with the H&R/NEF Ultra Slug Hunter. Love that gun in the laminated thumbhole (about $325), less for the other stocks.

http://www.hr1871.com/Firearms/Shotguns/ultraSlug.asp

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

The 20ga actuallly outperforms the 12ga accuracy wise. With the 20ga you should be able to get it to shoot to 125 yards easily, and out to 200 if you do some modifications. If you get the Ultra Slug Hunter the gun should be able to shoot to 200 yards if you can do it.
If for nothing else than recoil purposes I would stick with a rifle in the rifle zones.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

A couple of my hunting buddies use 20 gauge slugs for deer- I use a muzzleloader, but based on what I've seen, I would go with the 20 over the 12. With the 12 you have a LOT more recoil and muzzle blast without much extra killing power or range than the 20. They've both taken deer out to 110 - 120 yards with their 20's. Their guns shoot very accurate, and if the slug is placed properly, deer never go more than a few yards. I would suggest a good sabot slug like Lightfields or SST's if you have a rifled barrel.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

I'm curious where did you come up with this one? I'm not knocking a 20 or a 12ga, being from Indiana (shotgun only state until a couple of years ago when they allowed pistol cartridge rifles)
I have a lot of experience with both and accuracy is matching the right gun barrel with the right ammo and letting the shooter do their best! That's it plain and simple. There is no one gun, gauge, twist ofrifleing and or ammo that makes the most accurate by it's self it takes a combination of all of the above with a shooter that is consitant( which means practice, practice and more practice. I've had smooth bore shotguns shoot as good and sometimes better than the rifled barrels with the wrong or right ammo. There are no givens or guaranties with any of them, however there is usually a combination with all the variables to make them shoot have way accurate? Just my 2 cents on the discussion.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

My friend killed a black bear here in Georgia last year with a 20 gauge slug with one shot to the vitals. He was using a rifled slug barrel off a 870 with a copper sabot. It did a great job and the bear did almost instantly.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

Assuming you can group your shots within reason (say 6" absolute maximum), while practicing out to any distance in the world??? This is for you to figure out?
I don't think I'd want to go much more than 125-150 yards with any slug gun, just due to the drop, etc...
That's a heavy bullet to push a looooonnnnngggg distance.
I would much rather shoot, maybe 75-100 yards and feel safe and ethical???

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

They are both just as accurate. Grow a pair and shoot a 12 gauge unless you're bird hunting and you're good, like me. I shoot a .410.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

I've always shot a 20 gauge hunting deer in my state land shotgun state of CT.
I started out shooting 2.75 inchRotweil Brenneke Magnum rifled slugsout ofa smoothbore, andthey do make larger wound channels and exit wounds than the saboted slugs do that I shoot out ofa rifled barrel now.
Since I stockedup on thesesabotslugs, I haven't switched to any "premium" ammo. So Ijust shoot standard 2.75 inch WinchesterBRIsaboted lead slugsthathavethe original BRIhour glass shape. They start out at .40 caliber and the only one thatI ever recovered from a deerexpanded to about .64 caliber. It had traveleddiagonally throughmost of the length of alargedeerfrom a frontal quartering shot, and I recovered it fromunder the far hide. The deer ran between 100 - 150 yardsafter being shot from pretty close range basicallybecause there wasn't an exit wound and it was the largest deer that I've shot withthe BRI sabot. So it ran twice as far as normal.But there was still enough of a blood trail to lead me towhere it was foundalreadydead.
I've neverlost a deer, but they do run a little ways if they aren't hit in theheart orbackbone.But I have the utmost confidence in using a 20 gauge.IMO the 20 ga. sabots arenotthe sameas using a 12 gauge, but thena 12 gauge is not as comfortable for meto shoot becauseit has noticiably more recoil and muzzle blast. The 20gaugeworks fineformostevery deer hunting situation, and I'msatisfiedwith theperformance of the standard Winchester BRI sabots.The last deer that Ishotwent rightdown on the spotdue tohitting the heart. So being able to hit where you're aiming is what's most important.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

I purchased a slightly used 20 gauge 870 express cantilever synthetic last winter and on the advice of the gun shop owner I bought some remington Buckhammer slugs.They group reasonablywell,Consistently less than 3 '' at 100 yds.Tried a number of other brands of sabots without success.I am quite confident in this combination out to 150 yards
Willy

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

With a rifled barrel, and shooting the new sabot-type slugs, what you have is actually a large-bore rifle which is every bit the equivalent of some of the .45/70 loadings. These loads make a 12-ga. unnecessary. Usingsuch ammo, I would opt for the 20 every time.

However, if your rules prohibit such ammo, and you are stuck using the old, sorry, Foster-type slugs, I'd be forced to use a 12.

Generally the use of slugs is required on the (mistaken) theory that because such ammo has shorter range, it is thus safer to use. This idea is not only nonsense, but it is untrue when you look at the performance of some of the new "slugs" which perform like rifle ammo. To be "safe", they'd have to restrict you to Foster slugs and prohibit the new ones as well.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

I would pick the 20 if you were going to be using it only for deer hunting, if you were looking to use the same shotgun to hunt lots of different types of game i would go with the 12. I used to hunt with an 870 12 gauge before the area of NY i hunt switched to rifle. Used to shoot Remington 3 inch copper solids and they were butt kickers on both ends. 20 gauge will be a lot easier on your shoulder and the deer will never know the difference.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

Thanks all, I'm going to go with the 20 guage cantilevered 870. This will be a deer gun only as I have a couple of other guns I use for birds and rabbit hunting. I already have a Leupold 1.5x5 sitting in a drawer to top it off with and this should serve me well.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

I've got an 870 12 ga that I use for a brush gunand for longer shots I use a CVA Wolf. 20 gauge will do just fine and 870 is a good gun and so are the NEF Slug guns

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

i have no problem shooting my H & Rultra slug 12 ga. out to 200 yds with 2 3/4 in. lightfields.i dont see the recoil beingthat bad.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

I just looked at the Ballistics on the Hornady slugs. They seem to be pretty awesome. However an earlier poster said the 20 outperformed the 12 gauge?? Acoording to Hornady nuimbers the 20 gauge is a distant second. It showed the 12 gauge shooting a 300 grain bullet at 2000 fps, and a 20 gauge shooting a 250 grain bullet at 1800 fps. People who shoot a lot of big bore know how much difference 200 fps makes in slower moving projectiles, especially when the faster moving projectile is 50 grains heavier!!

I am not saying the heavier and faster 12 gauge slug load is necessary. But it is definitely more potent than the 20 gauge load. If you could get that 300 grain slug to shoot accurately then longer distance shooting should be no real problem.

Has anyone had any experience with the Encore slug barrel?? Tom.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

head; I said that the 20ga outperforms the 12ga accuracy wise. You will have no argument from me stating that the 12ga packs more punch.
What specifically would you like to know about the Encore slug barrel? From my experience it performs well in both the 20ga and 12ga, but just like any other barrel it can be a little picky on what you feed it.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

A 20 may or may not outperform a 12 accuracy-wise, or in any other way. This is a very individual thing, andvaries from gun to gun.

However, a good20 with these new type slugs is plenty accurate enough, and has more than adequate energy to be fine for deer hunting. After all, a 20-ga. is.60-caliber, and firing a 385-grain.600" slug at velocities in the vicinity of 2000 fps is not too far behind the .600 NitroExpress, except as regards bullet weight! The 600 Nitro fires a900-grain bullet at 1900 FPS; the 20-ga sabot slugs are about 1/3 this weight, and at a comparable muzzle velocity. An elephant weighs more than 3 X the weight of a whitetail deer, however! Deer also have much thinner skins!

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

Personally, I only have experience with 12 ga slugs. I've never even considered trying a 20 ga. until recently. I like the 12 but it does kick a lot-that's for sure.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

Yep we do muzzleloader here because of the "shorter didsance" of the blackpowder rifles. Hopefully Ohio never figures out that I can hit a silouette from 300 yards all day long. It took me a long time to be able to do that with my M-16 back in basic.

RE: 20 guage or .12 guage slug gun?
 

Well the deal is done. I picked up the 870 synthetic/cantilevered 20 guage. Put a Leupold 1.5x5 VARIXIII on it already. Now I need to tinker and find the best load for it, that's gonna be darn expensive at these prices for the premium stuff though !!!!!!!!