Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Any shotgun slug hunters.....need some input.

So my wife has enough preference points here in Oregon to draw a coveted Mule Deer hunt on a reguge that only allows shotgun or muzzleloaders. I am thinking she would do best with a shotgun, scoped and loaded with slugs. Shots may be out to 150 yards or so. What is the effective range of a slug out of a rifled barrel and what are some good set-ups to look into?

Savage 220 20ga and it will do fine at the range you stated

No need to look further.
The 220f is the "bees knees."

The 220 would be the way to go.

Handles like a bolt action rifle so if she is comfortable shooting rifles the Savage 220 would "feel right"

If you don't want to put a lot of money in one, for a 1 shot deal, you might look at a H&R Ultra Slug Hunter, in 20 ga., and some of the newer 3" mag sabot slugs, ie: Winchester nosler partitions a t 2,000 fps.

maddog

With ease.

I have confidence with my 11-87 20ga. past that range. History has shown that at just over 150 yds. the wound channel is spectacular .

George

I live in shotgun only southern Michigan and have set up a lot of slug guns over the years. The Savage 220 I just put together for my nephew is the best ever. EGW makes a Picatinny rail type base that allows for various length scope tubes. Savage tests it with 3" Remington AccuTip slugs. Sub 2" 100yd groups are easy.

405wcf

Savage or H&R as mentioned ... just depends on your preferences and $$

I shoot a remington 870 12 gauge with a fully rifled barrel and a nikon pro staff 2-7x32 on her. I shoot the Lightfield Hybred slugs 2 3/4". I am happy with that.

however, after talking with a buddy who on occasion uses his wifes H&R 20 gauge, I would almost want one of them.

I would go with a MLer. I get better accuracy and trajectory from my inlines than the slug guns I've shot. When we hunt Iowa, I use my mler on stands and my slug gun on deer drives.

Our group uses 1187s, 2 12ga and one 20. They all give minute of deer out to around 150yds, but each is very picky on which slug it prefers. Two like the Rem Accutip(1 12 and the 20) and one 12 prefers the copper solid or the Win PGs.

Good Luck

loder

I continue to hear great things about the Savage 220, though I've not tried one.

I have an 11-87 and have used it for some time. For slug-only areas with shot opportunities that can sometimes exceed 150 yards, I'm using a front stuffer from now on.

Any opinion on a Benelli Supernova 12 gauge with rifled barell?

A pard has one - he's the only person I know that runs one - he's pretty happy with the performance though he's not crazy about the chunky nature of the gun and the way the forend "rattles".

Here is my Savage 220 @ 100 yards 3 shots with the Remington Accutips.

Shot some different ammo through the 220 today, The gun is zeroed dead on @ 100 yards w/ the Remington 3" Acutips. Here are some other results (I'll try to post pics later).

3"Barnes Expander was 4" group / 3" High 3" left of center.
3"Barnes Expander Tipped was 2" group / 3" High 3" left of center
3" Lightfield was 4" group /6" Low & 3" Left.

Funny how they all flew left compared to the Acutips.

I guess the accutips are just "right". ;-)

I fired a 220F for the first time recently and am still a bit in awe at how utterly simple it was to site in that brand new slug gun / base / scope package.

Shoots Lightfields great.

Just got some accutips, copper solids, and buckhammers for it.

Crockettnj, proves how every gun is different if your 220 is shooting the lightfields great.

Thats some serious damage to that deer!

Ran out of time to try out the feds/accutips etc so we'll go with lightfields and limit range to 100yds.

Monday's the big day!

So what's the maximum range you'd use the 20 gauge slugs at?

I got one of the Savage 220�s in Nov. and didn�t have a lot of time to play different loads but got a 3.5 inch group from the Federal tipped Barnes load. I had a misfire which was a cause for concern (light primer strike) with the Hornady SST loads. I tried multiple times but could not get the primer to light � I figured it was just a fluke. BTW, these loads shot horrible in my rifle. I posted over at Savage shooters forum and got little responses�.basically I think they were bored with the subject (red flags). I post this hunt report as a follow-up to my initial inquiry.


I took the gun out this week for Ohio�s deer gun season. Although not tickled with the accuracy, 3.5 inches would be good enough out to 100 yds. I bumped a few deer in the dark walking in on Yesterday am. I decided just to sit down rather than push further into the woods. After about 30 minutes I caught movement. A line of does was slowly working along a fence line about 100 yds away. I pulled out my binos looking for antlers. Sure enough, a mature buck was bringing up the rear. Problem was the does were making a right turn right towards me and would on top of me before the buck would clear the the brush he was walking through. I decided to move forward and try to get an angle on him. At this point a does head was popping up about 50 yds from me. She was getting nervous and getting ready to bolt. This put the buck on alert, and he started to run back from where he came. I mouth grunted and he stopped with enough opening to give me a shot at about 110 yds. I slipped off the safety, put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and squeezed � Click! Yup, �click� no boom.

I can�t believe it. I have bow hunted hard all year and not had a good buck in range. This was my chance to tag one and misfire! I raked the bolt and somehow the buck gave me enough time to aim and squeeze as the does were coming unglued and running. Boom, this time and the buck ran about 50 yds before stopping, staggering, and then falling over. I thanked the Lord and couldn�t believe my luck.

The deer was a nice 11 point but my confidence is sincerely shaken in the rifle. (I cannot post pictures currently but am happy to email them to someone if you all care for verification/posting). The firing pin protrusion is .051, yet I had failures to fire with both Federal and Hornady ammo. I called Savage today and spoke with Eric. He seemed like a nice and sincere guy and is arranging for UPS to pick up the gun to be worked on. He confirmed that .051 is perfect for pin protrusion. I can only assume the gun may be at or beyond maximum headspace. I hope I can report a happy resolution in the near future.

This is my first/only Savage, and I remain optimistic that things will work out. I do think Savage has kinks that need to work out. I primarily bow/muzzy hunt but wanted to give this bolt slug gun a try. I�m not a fan of the Savage aesthetics but it was the closest thing to a bolt rifle that is legal here. FYI