I will be picking up a 20 gauge rifled barrel for my Encore.What ammunition would you recommend?Thanks.

Glenn

Slugs.

Check out the Hornady's.

I have had my best luck with the Federal 3" Barnes Expanders. I usually use the non-tipped Barnes Expanders but have had just a good accuracy with the tipped Barnes Expanders. The Light Field 3" 20 gauge Mag slugs have also shown good accuracy. Best of luck with the gun.

Deer hate the Barne's Tipped slugs. They have shot very accurately for me and performed well on game.

For me. I love the Winchester Supreme Partition gold. 4" at 200 all day. He!! on the deer to.

I'm a 12 ga.slug guy (until Browning makes the A-Bolt in 20 ga.) but all the guys in Jersey who shoot 20's use the 3" Federal/Barnes.

I use remington accutips in my 220F and they perform very well.

Thanks guys.

Glenn

lightfields and remington buck hammers

When I still shot slugs these were the best I shot in the 20 gauge. And in the case of the remingtons, some of the less expensive and best performing.

I have had two hornady's fail to fire leaving a dent in the primer and cost me two really good bucks in the process, they were pretty accurate though. Just can't depend on them so they went down the road.

Good and accurated but they won't allow you to stretch things out

+1

Just my .02...

You need to try them all. Just like a rifle, your gun is going to shoot some good and others not so good.

By shooting all of them, you will know which ones will shoot best in your gun.

Wish we had all these good slugs available when I was a kid. Killed my first two deer - the same weekend - with a 20 gauge single shot and buckshot, one shot apiece. The second deer was a big doe, only got hit with 5 pellets. As I remember, one went though the chest, one broke a front leg, two went through the neck with one hitting the spine, and one went right between her eyes.

try the hastings lasar accurate slugs if you can find them around your area


powerful and accurate as heck..............

make sure your scope is set back with good releif and watch your thumb on your stock on your nose
a good sims pad helps





shooting those 3 inch ones in a 20 gauge h&r ush
surprised the crap outta me


i have shot some heavy recoiling weapons

but that combo above
was one of hardest recoiling things i ever shot
and that ush had a pound and a half steel recoil bar in the stock



but the slug is 410 grains
350ish on the slug and 60ish on its sabot
at 1600 fps

it punches thru deer reliably

i wish i never sold the gun to tell the truth
really regret it at times....................



but try different slugs

all barrels can shoot different
find one type it likes.

Glen,

I am shooting reloaded 20 gauge slug ammo in my 20 pro hunter barrel with 3 holes touching at 50 yards and under 1 1/2 inches at 100 yards using the Hornady 250 gr. FTX bullet.

For factory ammo the Remington 20 gauge "Aero" tip is where I would start.

Doc

I do most of my deer hunting with a 20 gauge H&R break open single shot with the bull barrel. I have tried Lightfields, Hornady SST's, Remington Copper solids, and Remington Buckhammers and the Buckhammers shoot the best, followed closly by the Copper solids. I have heard rumor that Remington is going to stop making, or has stopped making, the Buckhammers. That will be a shame because they work very well for my set up.

I heard that Remington has already sopped making the BuckHammer but 2 years ago I bought at least 5 years worth off the net for $5.97 a 5 pack. I agree that this slug works nicely but so did the Brenneke slugs I used at first which are still available. They were the type with the little point on the nose. A plus with this slug is that it seems to clean your barrel when you shoot it.

I also bought a life time supply of 20 gauge Buckhammers when they were discontinued. Great 100 yard slug.

I heard the Winchester Rack Masters are similar to the hammers but have no personal experience.

We have an area here in Wisconsin where we are required to use shotguns or pistols. We have used 20 ga. Trackers by H&R. Our have rifled barrels and shoot well with 3" Federal Barnes Expanders or 3" Winchester Supreme Partition Gold.
Here is buck that pretty much expired on the spot.

I'm thinking about getting a tracker but my USH shoots so good for me. I have two 20 gauge slug guns, one being a Remington 870 smoothbore which shoots pretty good also. I guess I could just get a rifled barrel for it. Heck I could get a rifled tracker barrel for the USH.

I suspect you'll need to try several kinds, which will involve considerable expense and recoil. A friend and I have identical 20 gauge T/C Encores. His prefers the Remington Copper Solid, so that's what I started with. In my gun it was mediocre at best, with about 5-6" groups at 100 yards.

I had to try several other brands and configurations before I ran across the best load for my barrel: the 2 3/4" Remington Accu-Tip. It will plunk them inside of 2" all day, and I've taken a couple deer out past 150 yards with ease.

For my money, the 20 gauge Encore is the best slug "rifle" available.

Rod

Where legal, the 260-grain Partition Gold load from Winchester usually shoots very well and works great on deer.

I once helped another hunter track down a wounded buck in Iowa, and managed to hit the buck again (unfortunately not fatally) at around 225 yards. But the shot did put the buck on the ground within 100 yards, and when he tried to rise another shot from about 40 yards went through both shoulders and ended it right there.

From the rifled barrel of my T/C Contender carbine it groups about 2" at 100.

I finally got out with the TC today.I am using the factory open sights.
I ran 4 different slugs through it all were 2 3/4.The Rackmasters were the most accurate at 50 yd.putting 2 shots in the bull.Hornady SST and Remington Copper Solids grouped well but high.
The 4th were Challenger Magnums that are made here in Quebec.They are definitely magnum, noticeably more recoil than the others .They grouped 6 " high and left of the bull.They also grouped the tightest with 3 shots touching.They were also the cheapest.

I noticed that I was having trouble centering the front sight which would account for hitting to the left.The gun definitely prefers the Challengers followed by the Rack Masters.These are also the hardest to find and I have to pick one or the other because they have such different trajectory.
But it's all fun.

Glenn

I've used the 12ga 3" Federal Barnes Expanders for years without complaint. Accurate and very deadly. However, this year I'll be using the Remington Accu-tips 'cause they shoot even better!

As for on-game performance, I'll letcha know later.

WN