Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Slug Gun Recommendations

Well it looks like I am moving back to Northern Virginia. This means it is time to pick up another slug gun for the counties that have rifle restrictions.

When I was stationed there before I used a fairly accurate Mossberg 500 in 20 gauge with a cantilever barrel and it did me well for many years. I have since sold that shotgun and would like to upgrade.

Looking to start with something a little more higher end this time. A Tar-Hunt 20 gauge Mountaineer looks like a winner but at $3500; he can keep it. I have full custom rifles that cost that much or more but that is top dollar for a shotgun... I think I would like to have a bolt or semi-auto this time around and maximize my effective range.

Thoughts on the Savage bolt, A-Bort, Benelli auto (rifled barrel) in 12 or 20 gauge? Any others I should consider?

At this time I am leaning towards the Benelli due to my fondness of their smooth bores.

Get a Savage 220, you’ll not be disappointed.

Another vote for the savage 220. Find the slugs the particular gun likes and more than likely it will be shooting a ragged hole for groups.

Not sure you will find anything as accurate as the Savage out of the box. You sure won't find one at a better value.

Savage 220, Browning Abolt or Benelli Black Eagle

Go with the 220. If I had the money, that's what I'd be running.

The Savage would likely be the most accurate but many have had issues getting the second round to feed from the magazine. I've owned two in 20 ga and one in 12 with one 20 and the 12 not feeding rounds easily. The first 20 had no problems which is why I didn't mind selling it. I should have kept it. All of them showed the best accuracy with Remington Accu-Tips which would be the case as those slugs were the most expensive around. Federal with the Barnes Expander was a not too distant second but they've been discontinued from what I can tell.

The A-Bolt is another accurate gun but relatively expensive. Mine was in 12 ga but I don't recall seeing one in 20. I could not find a slug that met my wants for accuracy but it would have been a deerslayer for the vast majority of users.

The H&R/ New England Arms single shot is also very accurate based on the two I have owned. Both were in 20 ga and were accurate. The first was built with a 20 ga barrel that kicked a bit. I added some lead to the butt and under the forearm which helped. I sold it and later replaced it with another 20 ga which used a 12 ga barrel blank. That added plenty of weight and it really settles down for off hand shooting. Both shot Accu-Tips very well but also shot several others nearly as well. It is my "long range" slug gun at the moment.

I've been impressed with a 12 ga Mossberg 930 slug gun the last couple years. Out to 100 yards it has shot nearly as accurately as the single shot with the Barnes loads. I haven't tried others in it as much but the white box Lightfields were promising. These slugs are my choice in a Beretta 391 and the 390 I had earlier. Both of these were in 12 ga.

I have a 20 ga Hastings slug barrel I've tried on two pre- '77 870s with mostly unsatisfactory results. Groups open up to patterns much past 50 yards with virtually every slug I've tried. Even Accu-Tips have produced dismal results. I have to play with it a bit more before I send the barrel down the road.

I had a 12 ga Remington 11-87 slug gun but I don't remember it standing out in any way. That would mean it was "hunting accurate" out to 100 yards but neither a tack driver nor a bullet sprayer.

I tend to lean towards 12 ga slug guns though I can't complain much about the 20. 12 ga slugs tend to be heavier and often of greater diameter which seems to hit harder to me. I can't prove it but it appears that way to me. I can't recall needing a quick follow up when using a 20 ga but the areas I've used one were more open and easier to travel. I can recall a couple of deer I shot at least twice with a 12 ga to stop them from reaching a swamp which would have made recovery messy. All were initially heart/lung shots and were spined which stopped them in their tracks.

Benelli sbe with rifled barrel and scope

The 220 I had would shoot three shots under an inch at 100 yards. I would have never believed a slug gun could be so accurate. Mine loved the 2 3/4 260 gr Rem Accutips.

220

If you can find a h&r ultra slug would be my 1st choice
Savage 220 if you can’t find a h&r

I had a mossberg bolt action, clover leaf at 100 yds, great gun but I didn't like the safety and I only used it once and killed one deer.

The one I have does the exact same thing with 2 3/4" Accutips. Some like the 3" better.

Ithaca deerslayer II in 20 gauge. 1 inch groups. Great trigger and fast follow up. Reliable operation. Relatively light. What else could you want

I had a couple of rifled 12 ga 870's.
High comb stocks, trigger jobs, receivers D&T.
They did under 1.5" at 100 w WW HI Supremes.

Like a pump gun, esp on movers.
Had a couple with mult heart/lung hits

1 or 1.5X made movers up close a piece of cake.

Slug guns are cool.........so after I sold the rifled ones, got a bit nostalgic and slapped together a smoothbore.
Didn't shoot well, was a 75 yard max rig.
Blasted this small 8 at 25 yards LOL

I still think of setting one up again, just for kicks.
All my M500, 870 and 1100 deer rigs have been 12 ga.
20 ga feels more like a rifle.

savage. 220

As the majority have said, the Savage 220.

Good friend has one, and shoots rings around my 11-87, with less recoil, deer are just as dead...

He hunts the Stafford area, and has been up in Maryland with it.

If you bowhunt, there are much greater opportunities for deer in the NoVA area.

My cousin picked up an A-Bolt last season for use in Ohio, where he has access to some land owned by some industry insiders. He killed a real smoker with it at about 150 yards, IIRC, sitting over a cornfield. For that kind of shooting, it was a good choice.

For hunting in typical Eastern cover, almost any slug gun would work, even a lot of smoothbores with loads accurate in the gun of choice. A rifled gun is obviously a better all-around choice. I'd suggest adding the Ithaca Deerslayer models to the list alongside the Browning, Savage, and Benellis. If you're going to be poking around in the woods, not just stand-hunting, weight is a factor. Some of the dedicated slug guns are pretty beefy.

Good luck filling that wad-o-tags you get with a Virginia license. You might want to add a muzzleloader to your lineup as well, since they get first crack. CDNN has T/C Strikes for $270. I got mine Saturday and have a red dot mounted and bore-sighted.

An option I forgot to mention is a scoped inline muzzleloader. Many states allow these along with a slug gun and one can get at least as good of accuracy and range as with the best slug gun combo. They are much cheaper to shoot, especially when comparing to many of the top end sabots. The only drawbacks are slow follow up shots and taking a bit more effort to clean.