Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 12 GA Slugs or a 30./30 for 200 yards or less

Which do yall prefer and why? 200 yards or less--- sometimes heavy brush...rifled slug barrel and 12 ga slugs or a marlin 336 30/30? What kind of shotgun do you like here? 870? 1100? Mossberg?

Marlin 336; easy. Hands down.

Load it with factory JHPs (Win. 150s or Rem. 170s), or handloaded Barnes 130 FN-Xs, and it's a done deal.

For me it really depends on the exact area I'm hunting. If I'm going to play in the marshes or really thick stuff I'm carrying my 12 gauge. For me though the thick stuff means shots no longer than about 60 yards. My 12 gauge of choice is my remington 11-48 with a bead up front.

Beyond 60 yards I'd be using my 30-30 given the choice of 12 gauge or 30-30 in my woods.

Mike.

the reason i would use slugs is the ability to shoot it in a semi-auto for quick follow-up shots

but then 1 shot with a 300 grain slug will knock the snot out of a deer and u shouldnt need a follow-up

I carry a 336 with the scope set on 1.5x and loaded with Federal 170 gr. Partitions when in the nasty stuff or going back to pack out the meat. Never know what I'll bump into on the trip back to the kill.

The comment of 200 yards, to me, means the shotgun is out. The .30-30 is a 200 yard option, barely, but the slugs, no way.

Now, if it's inside of 75 yards, max, then the slugs in a decently accurate pump (2" at 100, and try finding one of those easily), is a whole different ballgame.

Rifle. 60 yard viz in brush ain't that thick....only time I get to look that far is on the road leading to...if you want to slammer-hammer deers with a many shootin' scattergun keep the distance short(<30 yards) and use buck shot. Slugs fare no better than rifle bullets in brush deflection IMO.

Given the choice I can't see any circumstance where I would choose a shotgun over a rifle and I have killed a bunch of deer with slugs. They certainly work and modern rifled barrels and saboted loads have drastically improved performance but I don't have any confidence in them at anything much beyond 125-150 yards. Slugs are effective deer killers but they are not as dramatic as many hunters think. They look at the size of the chunk of lead and add in the recoil and assume they are shooting a howitzer that will lay deer low just by pointing in their general direction. Shot placement is still the key to clean kills.

Jeff

I will take the rifle over the heavy and cumbersom shotgun any day.

30-30 without hesitation. I have put the shotty away forever, so far as hunting anything other than birds or squirrels and rabbits.

30/30, no question and that comes from a guy who hunts in a slug only state. I know what slugs can do and have had a pretty good slug set up. I'd take a rifle anyday over a slug past 75 yards. I also believe "brush busters" are a myth. The best brush buster is a good streamlined bullet with a high ballistic co-efficiency that translates into good gyroscopic stability. Even then, shooting through brush is a bad and dangerous idea. The new Hornady 30/30 rounds are the way I'd go.

Bring the 30-30 2 shells and a drag rope.

Leave the 12ga at home. It hits hard on both ends, the 30-30 hits hard on the working end only.

tzone

Having never owned either. ( I'm sure to be ostracized for that [not sure about spelling ot ost....heck not even sure I'm useing the right $5 word..])

Of the two options above I'd probably choose the Savage 210F slug warrior.
http://www.savagearms.com/210f.htm


other than those two choices...

I would have to choose a bolt action 30/30 with some handloads for a sure fire 200 yard smacker.

The 30/30 bolt gun would be my favorite, or encore the next most likely option.

blammer;

You NEED to get an older Marlin 336 (say, early 80s or older, pre-pressed checkering, pre-barlock safety), and see what you're missing.

After that, I have no doubt that the 336 will get the nod over that ugly-azz Savage.

The 336 30-30 is what Ive taken all my deer with.
Great groups with 170gr rem JHP. Ieven feel a little
guilty leaving it home this year. All under 200 yds,
all in the brushy woods on north MN.