After over 35 years of shooting a 12 ga., I'm getting tired of being beat up by the kick of a 12 ga. slug. My guns are old and I need a new shotgun for next year's deer season. I'm leaning toward a 20 ga, auto with a rifled barrel and a 4x scope(something like a Remington 1100). Does anyone have any opinions on the 20 ga. for use on N.Y. deer?

I got a new Ithica with 20" rifled barrel last spring,Weighs like 6.5 ibs.I Love it.I allways used 12 untill this year,thinking they would go down faster.I got two this year,use gold partition slugs,both deer went down on impact,The slugs advertize 1900 sfm. and they really reach out.I guess if I found anything wrong with it,it would be I wasn't impressed with blueing.You can get them for approx.500$.I also put a 1.5 X 4.5 scope on mine.The old eyes don't work as good,as they used to,later in the day.

I personally don't own one, but I've talked to people that do, and they love them. I'm going to get one for my son when it's his turn to start hunting.

I HAVE 2 20 GAUGES. BOTH ARE PUMPS, ONE IS A OLDER ITHACA MODEL 37, I ALSO HAVE THE RIFLED BARREL, WITH RIFLE SIGHTS ON IT, GUN SHOOTS GREAT. MY SECOND 20 GA IS MY MOSSBERG MODEL 500 WITH RIFLED/CANTILEVER TOPPED OFF WITH A BUSHNELL TROPHY 1.5-4 SCOPE, I WILL BE USING THIS TOMMORROW FOR DEER. I USE 2.75" LIGHTFEILD SLUGS, THE WAY THE SLUGS FLY ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD, WITH LITTLE RECOIL. I STILL LOVE MY 12 GAUGES FOR DEER, BUT THE 20 GAUGE IS UNREAL, GREAT DEER GUN.

I've spoke to more, and more southern tier hunters that are switching to 20ga shotguns. The rifled barrels, and sabot slugs now available for 20ga has made them more popular. You get a longer flatter trajectory with a 20ga. They are more then capable of knocking down deer. I hear some even saying if you carry a 12ga your over powered! Both my brothers recently switched to 20ga guns. But I'm still using my trusty 12ga, that's put many deer in my freezer. But if I considered new I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 20ga.

At about 100 yards, will a 20 ga. slug go completely thru a N.Y. whitetail with a broadside shot?

I know a guy who uses an old Browning Auto-5 in 20 gauge, with Foster slugs, for deer. He told me that if he sees a deer within 50 yards, it's dead. Showed me a couple of pics of deer that he said that he had shot with it.

As for penetration, think about this--would you sneeze at using a .45-70 for deer? Do you think that the bullet would penetrate? Because, it's virtually the same bullet that Winchester uses in their 20 gauge sabot slug, going a fair amount slower. I tend to think that the bullet would have no trouble penetrating a whitetail completely in this instance.