Cant hit the broadside of a barn with with 12 gauge! Help!
 

For some reason I cannot hit a deer for the life of me with my 12 gauge 870 express. I missed twice this year, twice two years ago, once the year before that, and twice before that! I hunt the second part of the season in a shotgun only county, but the first half in a rifle area and I have knocked down a fair amount of deer with my 30-06 700ADL. But for some reason with my darn shotgun I always seem to choke. I get decent groups at the range with 2.75 inch copper solid sabots, but in all honesty since shooting a rifle is way more fun and not nearly as painful I dont tend to practice with the slug gun much. I really think it's %100 mental since I missed that first deer and it has gotten in my head since then. I have a couple solutions in mind:

1. Practice at least twice a month over the summer with the shotgun, its just a lack of confidence.

2. All the shots have been off-hand, since i sit in a box my father in law built and the sides are to low to use as a rest, so get a monopod to use as a rest.

3. Practice with the reduced recoil loads for practice just to get my confidence up and take one more variable out of the equation.

4. Last resort..and my favorite; BUY A NEW GUN (probably not most logical but any excuse for a new gun) been eyeing up the savage bolt action slug guns.

Any thoughts from veteran slug shooters?

Try to calm yourself down when you are taking those shots, that might help.

Have you had anybody shoot the gun to rule out "hardware" issues? If it's mental......................perfect practice makes perfect. Start shooting a lot more throughout the year.

i had a problem with my mossberg 500 shooting slugs, i think it was me cause of the recoil. i wasn't scared of it i just didn't like it. but i shoot my .270 like a freaking pro. lol

I'd venture to say the reduced recoil slugs will knock bambi over.
Even in a 20 ga.

My son groups well with a mossy 500a ghost ring sites. Fist time using the gun, he grouped 2" at 30 yards.
I'd gladly give him the gun during rifle season.

Sounds like a good excuse to get a Savage 220F to me LOL. My 12ga Browning kicks the crap out of me with slugs but I shoot slugs all year long and have never had a problem killing deer with slug guns.

You may be suffering from trigger creep shotgun triggers are not even comparable to a rifle trigger. If you jerk or slap a trigger on a shotgun it can drastically effect point of impact. Mentally remind yourself to squeeze instead of slap just an idea

your flinching i had the same problem your prolly closing your eyes before the shot 2

How does ML recoil compare to a 12 gauge sabot? I toyed with the idea of geting an ML to use in the shotgun zone, that way I can hunt during ML season to. I would probably stick with a max 250 grain sabot and 100 grains of pyrodex pellets. I am guessing a ML has better balance and trigger than a shotgun.

If your gun prints good groups I'd say just practice more. If your trigger is an issue, take it to a gunsmith and have them do a trigger job on it. I had my Mossberg worked over and it's not like a high quality rifle trigger by any means, but it's a whole heck of a lot smoother and lighter than it was originally. A ML may give you more of the feel of a CF than the shotgun does. If you have the $, go with a new muzzleloader. Any excuse for another gun is a good one.

rw