Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Anybody kill a deer with a single shot smoothbore shotgun

My dad has killed a bunch with a western field single shot 16, which he gave to me when I started hunting. Since he passed away last year, I want to try take a deer with the old gun.

A friend of mine killed his one and only deer with a single shot NEF 12 gauge

Many, MANY, times. Maybe 75 or more times in the last 50 years.

AND, they still work today--all you really need inside of +/-75yds.

Yeah, Ole Blue, a 12 ga mod 37 Winchester took many years ago in front of the hounds in Polk Co. Texas.

Thanks guys, Wheelen that is one of the funniest tag lines ever

I killed a few with 1 shot from a smoothbore pump, so a single shot should work.

Yes - I had an H&R 20 ga, cylinder bore with adjustable sights. It was okay for pumpkins to about 50 yds. I shot one deer with it - HUGE doe in Iowa, running broadside at about 70 yds. I swung ahead, just like leading a pheasant, pulled the trigger and she rolled hard and slammed into a fence. I put the slug in one eye and out the opposite ear. Damn thing never shot where I told it to - sold it and haven't regretted it since. Now I circumvent "shotgun zones" with a TC Encore pistol with an appropriate barrel for the regs of the state I'm in. In Iowa, that was either a .454 Casull or .357 Max, killed running deer offhand with both barrels, and in Minnesota I use a 17" MGM .260 Rem barrel - have killed plenty of deer with it, including a couple of running deer with it. I'm better off with a single shot pistol that a single shot smoothbore shotgun any day. But I understand the nostalgia - good luck!

First deer I ever killed was with a .410 slug out of a H&R single shot.

Quite a few will be killed in Indiana on Saturday using the asked about set up. I agree with Whelen Nut. That said, it can be less than fun going through a few types of slugs to find the one that shoots the best.

When I was about young I bought a H&R topper buck gun 12ga 20" rifle sights. I hunted the NY southern zone for maybe 10 years with that gun probably shot 20+ deer with it. It was a dream to carry and never remember it recoiling when I capped a deer, but it did kick a bit if you were shooting for fun. Our standard of accuracy was to shoot at a 10" paper plate at 100yds and if we could keep 5 out of 5 slugs on the plate we were all set for the season. Its been years since I have shot it but we just shot Winchester standard foster slugs.

I still have it upstairs in the safe.

It isn't a single shot, but my son killed this deer with buckshot from the Saiga 410. You do have to get close to do it...

A couple of them, using a Savage 220 in 16 gauge. Both were well in within archery range though. Makes it a bit easier....

I used to hunt with a smoothbore Ithaca Deerslayer. Shot great to 50 yards, then started getting wide groups pretty fast. Killed a number of deer with it over the years as a youth before buying my Savage MLII.

My first deer gun was a single shot 20 gauge that broke down by sliding back the trigger guard.

Killed deer for years with it until I saved up enough money for an 870.

First deer I ever killed was with a smooth bore mossberg 20ga behind the house, by myself, at 10 years old.

Yup lots of them
not a single shot but 1st deer ever Rem 870 wingmaster

Killed several as a kid with buckshot. Works well at close range.

I've killed several with a smoothbore, all with a single shot, but it wasn't a single shot shotgun. I've used Remington 870s and Ithaca 37s. all 12 ga. I've used both slugs and buck, both have been effective. This includes my biggest buck, a 4.5 year old 9 point on Fort Custer. If you have to use a smoothbore, and want to use slugs, I recommend the Federal tru-ball loads, they've been very accurate for me. And reasonably priced.

Yeah, I also use the Federal slugs in mine. I have not used the true ball yet, I still have old slugs to go through. I have an H&R from the 30's. I cut the barrel down and silver soldered a scope base right on the tube. The old singles have thick tubes and you can do this. It is truly an ugly gun. The stampings are almost illegible from wear. One winter night I grabbed a piece of oak firewood and whittled a stock to replace the cracked/taped one on it. At fifty yards I get one ragged hole with 3-4 shots. After 50 yards I don't know, but I have shot deer at 75-80 yards and it hit where I aimed.

Never killed a deer with a single shot smoothbore but have taken many with one shot from a smoothbore pump, like my old High Standard Flite-King 12 ga. pump I bought new at age 18. Got an 870 Special Purpose Deer 12 ga. smoothbore in 1987. It now has had a fully rifled barrel since about 2001. I wanted to try taking a deer with the old 16 ga. Iver Johnson Champion single shot thats been in my family since about 1940 but I changed my mind after trying slugs in it. It groups real well with slugs but the group is about 2 ft. low at 25 yards. Don't know why because it patterns shot real well. If I could ever get it to handle slugs well I'd love to use it in a certain thick woods in a shotgun area where you can't get a shot much past 50 yds. Before and after WWII my dad took a lot of pheasants with it and just once I'd like to see it take a deer. Last year just for grins I ran some of those Federal Tru-Ball slugs through my old High Standard and an old Stevens 820B 12 ga. pump and I was highly impressed. I usually hunt a rifle area but next time I'm in a shotgun area I'd like to take a deer with a smoothbore again just for nostalgia.