What’s your deer slug gun of choice? (Ma only)

DJBrad

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Got a ‘90’s Browning Gold Deer Hunter last week and checked the sights yesterday. Yup, it’s on for deer season. First shot is 100 yards on a 10” plate and the second shot is on a 4” plate just above the 10” one.
 
I shoot a old Browning B2000 with smooth bore slug barrel I like it and I seem more accurate at 50yds then the rifled barrel on my 870
 
This Gold Hunter has a rifled barrel but I would like to get a smooth for it. Sabots are just a little pricier than rifled slugs but it should be only one and done.
 
Browning a5 with a buck special barrel. The barrel is iron sights smooth bore. The sights on the buck special barrels are quite good......small brass bead front sits perfectly in a u shaped notch at the base of the rear sight. The only negative is that the front site post is thin.......makes for a great sight picture but as thin as it is.......it is prone to bending. Seen plenty of used buck special barrels out there with bent front sights.

I'm not a particular fan of rifled barrels and sabots. Where I hunt 35 yards of the norm so the added expense of sabots is not justified for my use.
 
It’s been an 870 20guage cantilevered, rifled, slug barrel. 4X scope. Shooting Hornady Slugs. For some reason i decided I needed to go back to open sites so I bought another 20G 870 that seems to be a laser beam out to 60 yards. I opted for the ( you can laugh) youth model as it is a bit lighter and has a shorter length of pull. My wife will also use this gun from time to time. Gun is like a feather compared to my old Ithaca smooth. Long walks in the woods with this gun will be that much easier.
 
Browning BPS with a smooth bore slug barrel. Iron sights. This gun has never jammed in 20+ years owning it. Ejects downward with is great for lefties and anyone on your right.
 
Remington 11-87 12 gauge
Leupold 3x10 x50
Hastings paradox cantilever barrel
Hornady sst's
It works.....lot of notches in that gun.
 
Still using the first gun I bought when I was 18 .... a mossberg 500 .... the hours we have together in the woods.
 
Anyone use a bolt-action shotgun anymore??? You never see them. I remember Costa's in Raynham had one or two for years in the used "please just buy me" rack.
 
Anyone use a bolt-action shotgun anymore??? You never see them. I remember Costa's in Raynham had one or two for years in the used "please just buy me" rack.
A buddy of mine swears by his old Mossberg 20 gauge bolt action slug gun for deer.
 
Still using the first gun I bought when I was 18 .... a mossberg 500 .... the hours we have together in the woods.
A mossy 500 was my first long gun purchase. Taken lots of game with that thing over the years. I used it for deer until about 2 years ago when I picked up a buck special barrel for my Browning a5. The 500s are a good bread and butter shotgun.
 
for years i used a youth model remington 870 20 ga with slug barrel and whatever factory sights were on that barrel as it came. i bought it used before the ice age, complete with a 26" barrel w/mod choke for the princely sum of $99.99. i only took one deer with it but as a loaner to friends (it was a popular gun in my circle of friends) many, many deer were taken over the years with it.
 
I know 2 people that purchased the Savage 220 bolt action 20 ga last year and had success.

I'm still using a 20 ga Mossberg 500 with the rifled barrel. 2-7x scope for a muzzleloader. Hornady SST. very accurate. Slugs run hot and are not accurate in that gun.
 
I'm not a particular fan of rifled barrels and sabots. Where I hunt 35 yards of the norm so the added expense of sabots is not justified for my use.
Are rifled slugs ok to use in my rifled barrel? I’m new to this so any and all experience is appreciated.

Also I found it odd that on an open bolt the first round was immediately loaded. Should the bolt be closed on auto loaders before loading? It unnerved me a bit on that first round in the video.
 
Are rifled slugs ok to use in my rifled barrel? I’m new to this so any and all experience is appreciated.

Also I found it odd that on an open bolt the first round was immediately loaded. Should the bolt be closed on auto loaders before loading? It unnerved me a bit on that first round in the video.
Rifled slugs through a rifled barrel a "ok" on that they are not dangerous. In fact I've used rifled slugs in rifled barrels that were actually quite accurate. The problem with rifled slugs in a rifled barrel is leading of the bore. If you shoot a bunch of them through a hot barrel......as when zeroing the gun and not waiting a bit between shots for the barrel to cool......you will build up a shit ton of lead in the bore which will make accuracy suffer ......and be a bitch to clean out. If you go with rifled slugs in a rifled barrel......take your time zeroing it to let the bore cool.......and check for leading after a few shots

First round loading on an open bolt......yes......my browning a5 does this and I actually quite like the feature. It is designed that way.
 
OP, did you really walk in front of a loaded gun?
Yeah I just caught that as well.

Op......on a cold range (which it should have been as you were in front of the firing line) guns should be cleared, action open on the table......or like at my club cleared with action open and in the gun rack. If that's a backyard range and not a club.......same rules should apply.......shouldn't be up walking around and in front of loaded guns on the deck.
 
Two that I alternate. Browning BPS Deer's layer II with fixed rifled barrel that gunsmith did trigger job on. Remington 1100 with Hastings rifled barrel with scope mount out on barrel with 2x pistol scope on it. 1100 trigger assembly went to Timney for over haul. Both have killed a lot of deer. Both are 12 gauge and it I did it again would use a 20 gauge
 
Two that I alternate. Browning BPS Deer's layer II with fixed rifled barrel that gunsmith did trigger job on. Remington 1100 with Hastings rifled barrel with scope mount out on barrel with 2x pistol scope on it. 1100 trigger assembly went to Timney for over haul. Both have killed a lot of deer. Both are 12 gauge and it I did it again would use a 20 gauge
20 gauge will definitely put the smack on a deer.....with less shoulder pain lol
 
Agree on both points. We had eight guys in camp for twenty years. About half used 20’s. With foster slugs the 20’s would punch thru both sides just like 12’s. We took 12-16 deer per season in camp so a lot of data points.
12-16 deer I assume camp wasn’t in Northern NY
Like your screen name
 
I have a few but my go to is a 12 ga Ithaca 37 with 20" smooth barrel.
Thing shoots like a rifle and is easy to carry....My eyes are not as good on the open sights as they used to be so I may add a scope.
Killed a lot deer with that gun...The 37 DS is a great gun.
 
I have a few but my go to is a 12 ga Ithaca 37 with 20" smooth barrel.
Thing shoots like a rifle and is easy to carry....My eyes are not as good on the open sights as they used to be so I may add a scope.
Killed a lot deer with that gun...The 37 DS is a great gun.

Always wanted one if those.
 
Most accurate with sabot is my tc encore 20 gauge stainless with a Nikon 2-7x with a 26 in rifle bore and hornady SST
I could shoot 150 yd with it and feel good about it.

I have a Remington cantilever 1187 20 gauge. Same Nikon scope it shoots hornady SST’s good. Not great. Limit myself to 100 yards at most

I have a Browning sweet sixteen with a buck barrel that was my first deer gun and ive killed a bunch with it. The sights are too hard to see for my eyes now. And I refuse to scope it. My son will get it.

I just picked up a rare 16 gauge 1957 Ithaca deerslayer in mint condition that I will use this year. I can see and shoot well out to 60 yards with Remington fosters, and my eyeglasses on. I will not scope that either
someone left it in mint unfxcked condition and I will respect that by not tapping the reciever. The day comes I cant see with it. My son will get it.
 
Congrats on the Ithaca.
I grew up about 10 miles north of the plant and have nice little collection of Ithaca's.
One November long ago, (1992?) on the Saturday before opening day of deer season, I won three frozen turkeys at the Trumansburg Fish & Game Club Turkey Shoot by hitting 3 out of 5 clay pigeons tacked to a tree at 100 yards with above-mentioned gun......It cost $1 a shot to play, I went 3 for 5 on a $5.00 bill. All the old guys came over to see my gun...Not much to see, open sights shooting Federal slugs.
[smile] That was a fun day, cant recall if I killed a buck on Monday.....
Last year, in NY, 3rd anchor shot did wang a tree but the old Ithaca did not let me down...
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Thanks....ending up with a pretty good collection myself.

My pheasant hunting buddy is a classic. He hunts only with his Ithaca 37, never cleans it, rain, snow, or shine it gets put behind the seat of his truck after its used, where it pretty much stays all year. (Doesn't care about laws) Then he pulls it out the next year rinse and repeat. In ten years of hunting with him, its never failed, ever. It always runs. He turned me on to them, and I buy nice ones when I see them. Although, I always wanted a deerslayer. 16 gauge was a treat cause most of my shotgun deer have been with my sweet 16 like the guy to the far left in the pic.

Nice NY buck!
 

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