Rifled shotgun suggestions?
12-08-2011, 12:03 PM
#13
Spike
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 83
Savage 220 is an INCREDIBLE firearm!! As so are most of the other bolt action shotguns in my own experience. I would rate the Marlin 512 and browning around the same coming in a close second and the Mossberg 695 coming in very close third to those. Like I said, " in my own experiences you can't go wrong with them. Also, my Remington 870 ( diffusion choke ), Mossberg 500 ( rifled barrel ), Ithaca 37 ( rifled barrel ) are all very accurate to about 125 yards. I can get 2.5-3 inch groups with the pump guns that have rifled barrels or diffusion chokes. However I can pull clover leaf patterns at 125 yards out of my Marlin 512 using partition golds. The only downfall out of this, is the expense of shooting sabots. I used to shoot them more often when I was paying $7-11 per box of 5. Now I see prices of $13-21 per box. There is no way that I will pay $4 per round for a shotgun slug. So for now, I have opted to shoot foster style slugs out of my Remington 870 or Mossberg 500. I am getting about 4" groups at 60 yards and anything after 80 yards opens up to about 11" or more. For me it sucks, but I just have to keep my shots 75 yds. or less. If I want to hunt longer distance I try to hunt Northern tier NY and use my 30-30 for woods or 30-06 for fields. I have heard of a lot of hunters going out as far as 250 yds with their rifled slug guns. The farthest I went with a slug gun was at the range and was 200 yds. it was getting about 4.5-5.5 inch groups consistently but they where also consistently dropping about 6 inches at 200 yds. I don't know how much the drop would be or how much energy would be left for the partition gold at 250 yds. but I personally opted for 200 yd. max shots with my 512 loaded with the partition golds. 200 yards is a long way for any slug gun. Either way.....if you can afford to shoot with a rifled shotgun and feed it the good sabots....and find the sabot it prefers ( without going broke ) then you have made a great choice for hunting and God bless ya!
12-09-2011, 04:10 AM
#15
Spike
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: NE Iowa
Posts: 1
I hunt whitetail in Iowa - a shotgun only state. My gun is a 12ga Remington 1100 Wingmaster with a bead site. Typically I shoot 2-3/4" rifled slugs (Winchester SuperX.) Basically it's a pheasant gun; not exactly ideal for whitetail. It was handed down from my grandfather and I've hunted with it 28 years. I've been considering and researching a new gun for at least the last 10 years, but I normally hit what I aim at: up to 80 yards consitently and when I miss it probably isn't the gun's fault. Four years ago I dropped a real nice 8-point doe (yes, an antlered doe!) at 120 yards with one shot. This year I hit a buck at 150 yards, but shot 7 times. So I have kept with my old gun figuring if it isn't broke, don't fix it.
It's time for a new gun.
My gun has always hated cold weather, not ejecting the shells correctly. This year was extremely bad. We had freezing rain and sleet the first day. The second day was was around 10 degrees and my gun wouldn't eject a single shell by itself. By the end of the day I had to warm the gun in the truck to get the shells out of the gun at all! It's time for a new gun. So here's what I've learned about shotguns for deer over the last 28 years of hunting and 10 years of reseach.
12 ga vs. 20 ga.
I've always prefered a 12 Gauge. We hunt the South side of a river that runs along the IA/MN border. We group hunt with anywhere from 16 to 22 hunters (legal in Iowa) - meaning we have walkers who make their way through the woods and push deer to standers on the the other side. Both walkers and standers are often shooting at running deer and "knock-down power" becomes important. In some instances, if a wounded deer makes it across the river we have no good way of getting to it and the deer could be safely in Minnesota where we can not hunt. We had 9 kids between 13 and 16 years old who hunted this year, and most of them shoot 20 gauges. 8 of the 9 kids shot at least one deer, however we never got a wounded 10 point buck who made his way across the river. A 13 year-old hunter shot the deer with his 20 ga. The deer dropped and stayed down for almost a minute before getting back up and making it's way across the river. If it had been shot with a 12 ga, it might have stayed down... or at least wounded the deer enough to let us get a second shot.
Scopes
I had a side-mounted scope on my gun for 3 or 4 years, but removed it about 10 years ago. Almost everyone I know (including me) who has a scope on their shotgun has split their nose open at least once. In the excitement of moment they either didn't get their gun shouldered correctly, were shooting at an akward angle, or simply didn't have enough eye relief. Eye relief is something important to consider when looking at a scope for your shotgun!
I will probably get a scope on my new gun. I'm looking at an inexpensive red-dot scope. They are pretty short and have a lot of eye relief. A 2X is about all you need and allows you to pick up a moving target easily. I will probably get a gun with a cantileved mount for the scope - though it raises the line of sight by an inch or more.
Barrels
I certainly want a rifled barrel. From what I've read; the most important thing is to shoot several brands of shells through your gun to find out which bullets perform the best. (one Remington 870 might shoot a tight pattern with a particular brand, and the exact same gun might shoot a different brand of shells better.) This means $$$ ...at $15 to $20 for a 5-pack of sabots, I realize that I will likely spend more than $100 on bullets just to find out which brand shoot the most accurately through my gun!
I also like a shorter barrel. Again, because I am often shooting at moving deer, a shorter barrel is easier to swing into place if you are in thick cover or even just standing behind a tree. It's also easier to carry if you are the one walking through the woods .
Bullets
I haven't decided whether or not to stay with 2-3/4" rounds or move up to a 3" magnum. One thing I've read is that higher velocity shells require a tighter twist in your barrel rifling: slugs in the 1200 to 1500 fps range work best from a slower twist rate such as 1 in 34 inches. Faster 1900 to 2000 fps slugs perform better through a 1-in-30 barrel. My plan is to test ammunition with a velocity that matches whatever barrel I end up with, so that will probably determine whether I shoot 2-3/4" shells or something longer. As for the brand - I'll just have to do some testing.
Conclusion
Right now I'm looking at a used Remmington 870 (12 ga) with a new 20" hastings rifled barrel with a cantelievered mount for a red-dot scope.
It's time for a new gun.
My gun has always hated cold weather, not ejecting the shells correctly. This year was extremely bad. We had freezing rain and sleet the first day. The second day was was around 10 degrees and my gun wouldn't eject a single shell by itself. By the end of the day I had to warm the gun in the truck to get the shells out of the gun at all! It's time for a new gun. So here's what I've learned about shotguns for deer over the last 28 years of hunting and 10 years of reseach.
12 ga vs. 20 ga.
I've always prefered a 12 Gauge. We hunt the South side of a river that runs along the IA/MN border. We group hunt with anywhere from 16 to 22 hunters (legal in Iowa) - meaning we have walkers who make their way through the woods and push deer to standers on the the other side. Both walkers and standers are often shooting at running deer and "knock-down power" becomes important. In some instances, if a wounded deer makes it across the river we have no good way of getting to it and the deer could be safely in Minnesota where we can not hunt. We had 9 kids between 13 and 16 years old who hunted this year, and most of them shoot 20 gauges. 8 of the 9 kids shot at least one deer, however we never got a wounded 10 point buck who made his way across the river. A 13 year-old hunter shot the deer with his 20 ga. The deer dropped and stayed down for almost a minute before getting back up and making it's way across the river. If it had been shot with a 12 ga, it might have stayed down... or at least wounded the deer enough to let us get a second shot.
Scopes
I had a side-mounted scope on my gun for 3 or 4 years, but removed it about 10 years ago. Almost everyone I know (including me) who has a scope on their shotgun has split their nose open at least once. In the excitement of moment they either didn't get their gun shouldered correctly, were shooting at an akward angle, or simply didn't have enough eye relief. Eye relief is something important to consider when looking at a scope for your shotgun!
I will probably get a scope on my new gun. I'm looking at an inexpensive red-dot scope. They are pretty short and have a lot of eye relief. A 2X is about all you need and allows you to pick up a moving target easily. I will probably get a gun with a cantileved mount for the scope - though it raises the line of sight by an inch or more.
Barrels
I certainly want a rifled barrel. From what I've read; the most important thing is to shoot several brands of shells through your gun to find out which bullets perform the best. (one Remington 870 might shoot a tight pattern with a particular brand, and the exact same gun might shoot a different brand of shells better.) This means $$$ ...at $15 to $20 for a 5-pack of sabots, I realize that I will likely spend more than $100 on bullets just to find out which brand shoot the most accurately through my gun!
I also like a shorter barrel. Again, because I am often shooting at moving deer, a shorter barrel is easier to swing into place if you are in thick cover or even just standing behind a tree. It's also easier to carry if you are the one walking through the woods .
Bullets
I haven't decided whether or not to stay with 2-3/4" rounds or move up to a 3" magnum. One thing I've read is that higher velocity shells require a tighter twist in your barrel rifling: slugs in the 1200 to 1500 fps range work best from a slower twist rate such as 1 in 34 inches. Faster 1900 to 2000 fps slugs perform better through a 1-in-30 barrel. My plan is to test ammunition with a velocity that matches whatever barrel I end up with, so that will probably determine whether I shoot 2-3/4" shells or something longer. As for the brand - I'll just have to do some testing.
Conclusion
Right now I'm looking at a used Remmington 870 (12 ga) with a new 20" hastings rifled barrel with a cantelievered mount for a red-dot scope.
Last edited by Iowa_Whitetail; 12-09-2011 at 04:18 AM.
12-09-2011, 06:12 AM
#16
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 35
I shoot a Remington 870 express mag with a Simmons pro diamond 4 power scope. Shooting lightfield sabots I can shoot a 4" group at 100 yards max range is about 150. Good gun and has killed alot of deer. Plus throw a differed barrel on it and it also a turkey gun, bird gun and waterfowl gun. My dad shoots a h&r slug hunter with the bull barrel shooting lightfields with a nikon 3x9x40 scope. He shoots them touching at 100, 4" at 150 and about 6" at 200. Thing weighs as much as a small cannon (because it is) but man is it a tack driver! Great gun and affordable. Single shot action turns some people off but I like it. Only takes one to put a deer down.
