Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Whats best 12 ga or 20 ga Slug gun?

I did a little poking around and it looks like the 210 is not in production anymore on Savage website, just the 220 20 gauge.
There are a few 210 on Gunbroker anyway. couple questions to those that own the 210. Does the magazine drop out or is it fixed? Do shells feed well? What is the twist rate of the 210? the 220 is 1:24", I assume the 210 is the same. any quirks to be aware of? What kind of honest accuracy to you get at 100 yards and with what slugs?

BTW both the spike (which was about 120 pounds gutted) & the doe were both DRT.

Also.... I have both of these shots on video which I will try to post.

The Savage fell off the 4 wheeler , took a pretty good hit on the ground, and had about 2" of mud/snow in the barrel. Gave it a good cleaning and went to check the scope to make sure it was still zeroed. Here are the results of three shots at 100 yards using the Remington Accutip 3" 20 Gauge.

i live in ohio where it's only a shotgun/muzzleloader state. that being said i have shot more than my fair-share of deer with either of these so i think i can speak to the subject. for me, the best combo has been a remington 870 turkey gun with a 24" (i think) barrel and a rifled choke tube. i have a 2x scope on it and shoot remington buckhammers. i have taken deer out to 125 yds. with this combo, but truthfully 95% of my shooting is inside 25 yds or so! deer don't respond well to the buckhammers. it seems to give them lead poisioning!-keith

Always good to hear from a man with some real world experience.......Thanks for the excellent post's men...........................547.

Sweet Sally Savage scores again !!!!! Approx 100 pound doe shot at 150 yards. Excellent entrance/exit hole, ran 30 yards w/ awesome blood trail This is my new favorite gun . I'm out for another one - later.

My buddies and I have done some hunting in Ohio and parts of Minnesota where it is shotguns/muzzleloaders only. The three guys I hunted with all used Mossbergs with fully rifled barrels and have had good success. Personally, I'd be looking at one of the Savage 20 gauge slug guns. They are apparently very accurate and with today's powder/bullet technology the 20 gauge is no slouch.

Scorpion, thats what Im using. Savage 20 gauge.

Here is the doe


Entrance hole




Exit

Recovered bullet (remington Accutip 20 gauge)

[img]http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/ruger270man/IMG_0617.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/ruger270man/IMG_0619.jpg[/img]

The "best" shotgun for deer? My wife's cousin in IA has shot more deer out to 100yds than you can haul in a stock trailer. He has used the same 20ga Stevens pump for 50yrs. No scope! That shotgun would not bring $67.50 at auction. Maybe it's the best?

The last one I shot with a shotgun was with a Savage 220 in 16 ga. I would lean towards a 20 ga in whatever gun you can shoot the best. More choice in ammo in 12 maybe, but the older I get, the lighter the gun I like to carry. Make it a single shot as well. My .01 worth.

Ivan, New Jersey's the same way...shotgun only. And, being New Jersey...logic probably had nothing to do with it.

Actually, it's a matter of population density. They figure that rifle rounds have the range and trajectory to cause damage at long distances. They limit to buckshot and slugs to cut down the effective range.

There are some counties in PA that are shotgun-only...and Allegheny County is shotgun-only, no buckshot (don't know the logic behind that).

So, my Bucks County hunting gun is a 12ga Remington 11-87 (one of the few counties where a semi-auto is permitted for deer) with a smoothbore barrel, RemChoke and cantelever scope mount. Scope is a 3x-9x x 32 Simmons. I can't argue with it...it loves plain ol' Remington Slugger (Foster-type) slugs.

Aqualung

Damn Ruger, that accutip is a bad boy, I like it!!!!..............547.

I've been using the H&R slug gun with light fields in 12 gauge for about 10 years. Every year when it comes out of the safe it holds 0ne inch groups at 100 yards. It's not the gun its the shooter practice practice practice practice

Damifinowfish

BS...it's both, the best shot in the world can't make a gun shoot 1" groups if it's only capable of 5" groups

Sweet Sally Savage Scores AGAIN!!!!!!!!

Oh Sweet Sally Savage!!! You never let me down. Thank you for being so damn accurate & putting that 130 Pound gutted doe on the ground.

I've used 20 gauge slugs on deer for 40 years without any problems --- never seen a solid hit that didn't leave a nice exit hole. AND I can't remember ANY that needed a second round. I also remember my son coming home one year for deer hunting with a 12 ga bolt action; the next year it was gone and he used my ithaca 37 deerslayer for some years thereafter. Some years ago there was an issue with finding good slugs, but the selection today is quite wide. Try the lightfields!

PS - you can't beat the H&R ultra slug or the new Savage 220.