I know a lot of people use a 12 gauge for deer. Anyone have a lot of experience using a smooth bore 20 gauge shotgun with slugs for deer? What effective range would this have? I'm guessing it's heavily dependent on the shotgun as well as the ammo but just wanted to know if 20 gauges are used a lot for deer.
50-70 yards depending on slug type and shooter. the model of shotgun doesn't really factor. whether 12 or 20, the range will be the same - one leaves a bigger hole but they are both very effective at that range.
A guy I know smacked a real nice one with an 8" drop tine in southwest Iowa this past season. 241yrds. Not sure what he had for a 20gauge but he was shooting accutip slugs. Scoped shotty aswell.
Buy a Savage Boltt action 20ga. With a good scope and the right slug, you can probably shoot a deer out to 200yds.
I think one of the moderators would be a good resource to tap. He has hunted the Strathcona season and used both the 12 and 20 in the Savage to good effect.
I can't remember which of the magazines I read the article in but it was about how effective the 20g is as a slug gun. As I recall the 45-70 and 20g share many similarities in energy and ballistics(when the 20g uses rifled slugs). Making it more effective than the 12g, when combined with a scope shooting decent groups at ranges past 150-200m. I wish I could find that article again it was really informative, made me want a 20g
20 Gauge shotgun for deer
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