Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Range day with Savage 20 gauge deer gun

I recently bought a Savage 220 to upgrade from an H&R 20 gauge slug gun. I scoped it with a Bushnell Elite 3-9X40 with the 3-2-1 heavy reticle.

Available ammo consisted of Remington accutips, Federal Trophy Copper and Winchester Part. Golds. All were 2 3/4 in. shells. Range was 100 yards. I'm good to go with any of them, but the Remington and Federal loads were the best and as far as I'm concerned, interchangeable.

Looks good. Do you hunt in a shotgun only area?

As far as field performance, the Federals will be the best of the 3. They make a 3" version, but it uses the same slug, 200 fps faster.

Yes, in western Mass. No other reason I'd have a slug gun. Why will the Federals be better?

Sabot slugs work great but they are so expensive. I had to buy a 450 Bushmaster to save money on ammo. My buddy has a BPS 20ga deer model that shoots accutips really well. He's killed quite a few deer with that combination. The $4 every time you shoot is a little hurtful.

Ammo is the cheapest part of any hunting!

When I was using my Savage 220, the Hornady slugs were the most accurate but I didn't like their performance on deer. Dead deer yes, but the Remington Accu-Tips worked much better terminally, and were almost as accurate as the Hornady's. Didn't have any Federal's to try. I no longer hunt slug areas and the 220 has moved on to a different pasture...

Dean,

I had a box of Hornady SSTs at the range and tried them just for the heck of it. They were horrible in this gun. The group was over four inches.

They were a leftover box from when I was using them in an H&R 20 gauge slug gun. In that gun, they were the second most accurate.

Those Winchester Partitions that were simply ok in the Savage, were very accurate in an Encore I had. All this proof that slug guns are particular, testing is the only way to know what works in each individual gun. Stock up when you find your load.

I had a LH 220 and shot the 3" Federal Trophy Copper. Accuracy and field performace was awesome. I'd put the Accutips in second place for that.

I noticed that sabot slugs that matched the chamber length seemed to shoot better. My theory is that the sabot starts to release a little in the extra length of chamber (2 3/4" in a 3" chamber).

It is indeed a wonderful day when 4" groups from a slug gun can be called horrible.

I hunt an area that is shotgun/muzzle loader only. Been using a 20 ga H&R Ultra Slug for years. The discontinued Winchester Platinum tips were the best, but are long gone. The Remington Acutips have performed the best out of most of the current offerings. Always get a complete pass through with them. The 2-3/4 shoot better then the 3” in the H&R, while the 3” shoot better in a rifled Rem 870.

I have used a Savage 220 off and on here in Michigan and Ohio for years. Remington Accutips have always shot great from it. It’s a shame they are ridiculously expensive.

You’ve had it for years and didn’t buy a bulk before crunch time ?
Man , that’s on you
I bought a two hundred rd box years ago and still have most of them , maybe used twenty rds out of it
Maybe things will get better for you , but with current politics , I doubt it
Same thing happened to people who bought as needed blackhorn
Kenneth

Looks really nice. That's a shotgun with the accuracy of a rifle.

This!

/John