Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 30-30 vs rifled 20 gauge?

"Of no account" would probably more approptiate!

ya!

GWB

Interesting. I assumed that no rifle meant no rifled slug, unless they said so, such as in MD.

Unless the shotgun is mandated by law I would get a .30-30. It would seem the better choice for deer and far better for targets at least cost wise.

The best shotgun I have purely for deer is a Savage 220 with a 3-9x40 scope on it. It does 1 1/2" 3 shot groups at 100 yards with 20 gauge three inch Accutips. Those are 265 gr at 1900 FPS. Sighted 3.5" high at 100 yards it is near POA at 175 in
my shotgun. This ammo is spendy and I don't use it for targets except to check sight in.
I do shot it a little with Super-X 1 ounce Foster slugs which is affordable. They are very accurate as well but run out of useful range around 125 yards.

These 220's are specialized setups. My pardner and I use them to doe hunt some alfalfa we get access to. Ranges are longer than in other areas. We use the 3-9 scopes as needed to verify the animals aren't smaller bucks that made it through the buck season. Other rifled shotguns haven't given us the consistent accuracy these do.

In other areas we use smoothbore slug guns as we like the flexibility to take grouse, pheasant and rabbits as well as deer. They are only good to 125 yards max.

Do you have issues with either lead or sabot plastic building up and affecting accuracy? Some ML shooters are very careful about not letting their barrels get hot while testing because they think the heat softens the sabots. I don’t think I can load and fire that fast!

My cousin has a Browning A-Bolt 12 that he likes a bunch. Killed one big Ohio buck at 150 with it. They’re pretty spendy, though. I started with smoothbores and they were always fine in the woods. Sights were the main problem, and my uncle, my brother, and I were the first in our group to scope our guns, beginning in the 60s when my uncle had his Deerslayer drilled for a Weaver Pivot mount and put a K4 with a dot on it. That wicked little pump killed a lot of deer, and sliced a bunch of eyebrows.

East of where I live is shotgun or ML only for gun deer hunting. If I had a place to hunt in the swamp or on Crowley's ridge. I would use a Muzzleloader. There are huge deer with huge racks would be the attraction to hunting there. Otherwise I would opt for a rifle and do.
I use to put in for a permit hunt in one of the management areas. I bought some iron sights that clamped on the rib of my shotgun thinking I would use that if I got drawn. It didn't take many shots to realize that I would take my ML if I got a tag. My ML will shoot 1 1/2 groups at 100 yards.

Ha! "Can't count all those rifles," maybe?

The two I shot with the 220 were about 40 and 60 yards respectively.

The comparison is made because the deer went "bang flop". They never quivered. You can't get more efficient than that.

The comment about my son's 30-30s is not an anecdote. The 220 is a 1.5" weapon. The 30-30s are 2.5" weapons'.

Not all .30-30's are 2.5" guns. I have three of them right now and they all do better than that. My Marlin averages right around 3/4" for 3 shots at 100 yards consistently. I've had 6 Marlin .30-30's over the years and all would do under 2" with their favored loads.

Not all 220s are 1.5" guns either. My 20ga 220 cloverleafs at 100 with Rem Accutip 2.75" sabot slugs and a 2-7x scope. Took a cow elk with that gun and the 3" Accutips this past fall.

You're right about "an anecdote," I should have stated it differently. I should have said "anecdotal" because an example of one is the definition of anecdotal evidence. Meaning, an example of one doesn't prove anything.

Back to your first post, where you said you didn't know how a 30-30 could be more effective. What if the shots were around 200 yards rather than 40 or 60?

Admirable accuracy for a slug gun. It still don't shoot as flat as a .30-30, particularly with the Hornady LeverEvolution ammo or equivalent handloads with the Hornady flex tip bullets.

Shooting big game with a shotgun when you can use a rifle seems to me to be the proverbial dog walking on its hind legs.

No one who is not hunting in the same area you are can say for sure and certain which is going to be "better" you YOU!
Only you can decide. If one shot kills are normal for you with a 20 ga how can a rifle actually be "better?" Maybe the words "user friendly" would describe the issue more accurately then the word "better".

Speaking for myself, I would never take a shot gun if I could have a rifle, but that's because I am VERY familiar with hunting with rifles. In fact, I have never once shot anything larger than a bad dog with a shotgun. But dead is dead and so I can't say the rifle is "better" for depending on where and how you hunt, it may be.

If you see situations that a rifle will have an advantage, like shooting through holes in the brush, shooting at longer ranges, or just liking the lighter recoil of some rifle then you you should get a rifle too.
But if I were a hunter with successful shotgun kills in my past and I wanted to buy a rifle to add to the rack, I think I would be more inclined to buy something with a scope that was accurate to shoot through those "holes in the brush" and do all the shotgun would do in addition to may things the shotgun can't do (like 300 yard Wood Chucks)

A 30-30 is a classic American deer round and does a wonderful job, but if you buy a rifle to supplement your arms, maybe you should also consider a flatter shooting gun. I killed one of my deer last season with a 30-30 with a peep sight at over 200 yards so be assured the old 30-30 has better capability than many think, but I am the first to acknowledge if you were wanting to have few guns and simply learn your weapons and become very skilled with them a flatter shooter may be a better 2nd gun.
Just my random thoughts---------------------------------------

https://www.browning.com/content/br...htweight-stainless-with-pistol-grip.html

https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/the-long-ranger/

I need to have a gimme-cap embroidered with capital letters, JAFO, like Roy Scheider in Blue Thunder.

Anywho, from just another friggin' observer,

with respect,

A guy I used to know had a sticker on the back window of his El Camino, it read........because I can.



14 friends having my back at +/- 8'

PS: he was all 4 legs in the air at the time of impact!


ya!

GWB

here in PA if i was reaching into the safe for a deer gun, i'd reach past the 20 and grab the 30/30 every time. but the 20 could be fun. but no comparison to the rifle.

They definitely don’t make it easy to understand. I’d be tickled with the straight wall cartridges myself.

It’s not real nice for the youth hunters either. A younger hunter doesn’t need to be subjected to a shotgun slugs recoil.

Great pic GWB. I grew up hunting deer in a shotgun-only area, right near haverluk so I know what they're capable of. Not many used slugs back then of course, and they weren't nearly as good as they are today.

Were I to have had the option of using a rifle, I would have taken one.
In my case, the slug gun filled the freezer.

[/quote] Back to your first post, where you said you didn't know how a 30-30 could be more effective. What if the shots were around 200 yards rather than 40 or 60?
[/quote]

To answer your question dead is dead. A 30-30 would not have left the critters any deader than that 20 gage.

Regarding the yardage. This is used in SE PA and there are not too many places where you'll get a 200 yard shot. BUT do some research on the 220. Two hundred yards is not out of the question for the 220 with a slug like the AccuTip.

Not if you hunt in the Special Regulations Area. Shotguns only for now.