20 Gauge Slug Gun Opinions Please. Updated.

[h20hunter]

So, I'm getting closer to NOT hunting deer in WA. I have family in Illinois where deer are plentiful and property access is available. They offer a 3 day gun (shot or muzz) which fits well with traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday. A combo buck and either sex antlerless tag cost $300. Not a bad deal. Starting to think about shopping for a rifled barrell slug gun in 20. Any suggestions? Also, what about a slug in 28? All shots are under a hundred yards so why go 12 and get the s**t kicked out of me?

[jackelope]

do you already own an 870 by any chance?

[h20hunter]

I've got an 870 pistol grip tactical. I suppose I could get a rifled barrell with scope but was planning on keeping that as a home defense gun. It is a 12 and I'm thinking 20 for slugs.

[jackelope]

Yeah...by the time you got all the stuff to make it a slug gun again, you'd have spent more money than it would take to buy another 870.

[lokidog]

Mossberg 500 makes a real nice and relatively inexpensive slug/shot combo.  My wife has one, I used it for my two deer last year.

Rifled slugs from a 12 work decently out to 80 or so yards depending on your sights.

[jackelope]

with a decent slug gun setup, I can shoot comfortably to 150 yards...
 

[Ratdog68]

Another thought... (a little history) many moons ago, I bought a Winchester 1200 Police 12ga.  It's got an 18" smooth bore barrel and flop down rifle sight (riot gun).  With that, I loaded up back to back saboted solid slugs and (off hand/standing) put both slugs into a yellow pages phone book at 100yds.  Ain't nuttin' wrong with that accuracy in my book.  Later, I put pistol grips fore/aft on it since I was using it as my building entry gun while I was in law enforcement.  A couple of weeks ago... decided I wanted to go back to a full stock and ordered up a Knoxx SpecOps stock for it... it's got built in recoil reduction workings... and their claim is a significant reduction in recoil.  I haven't shot it since installation... but, I was more interested in the adjustability of the length of pull (AR15 carbine) styled feature.  My point?  "Off the rack" 12ga, even without a rifled barrel will get the job done inside of 100yds (with a basic "front/rear" sighting system). 

[satchel3006]

remington has this one in a 20 gauge
http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/model-870/model-870-express-slug.aspx
you can also get a combo the combo comes with a 26" vent rib barrel and a 20" rifled barrel with sights
http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/model-870/model-870-express-combos.aspx

[BigGoonTuna]

you can pick up an H&R ultra slug gun for pretty cheap.

[Bob33]

All shots are under a hundred yards so why go 12 and get the s**t kicked out of me?

You may want to get a 12 gauge because you cannot hunt elk in Washington with a 20 gauge.  More and more areas are going "firearm restricted" which means you cannot hunt with a centerfire.  When one of your elk hunting areas goes "firearm restricted", you may regret not buying a 12.

That is exactly what happened to me.  I hunt deer in the San Juan Islands.  They banned centerfires in about 2007.  I bought a 20 gauge slug gun.  The next year the area I hunt elk in banned centerfires, so I had to go buy a second slug gun.

You can always put mild loads in the 12.

[bobcat]

That's a law that needs to be changed. There's no way a 20 gauge slug gun isn't adequate for elk.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it legal to hunt elk with a 38 Special handgun, as long as the barrel is at least 4 inches long?

[satchel3006]

as i read it you can hunt elk with a 25 auto as long as the barrels at least 4" alot of washington game law are stupid

[bobcat]

OK, right, so why is that ok but a 20 gauge slug is not  

[carpsniperg2]

satchel3006 is right

[satchel3006]

because this is washington and the WDFW hates making sense