Shotgun for deer?

[Ridgerunner]

Has anyone on here used a shotgun for deer? 

[CP]

Yes.  They work fine as long as you respect range limitations.  

[cornfeed]

 yes they do work well. i have taken 3 nice bucks like that.

[hunterbuilder]

I've shot 3 deer with a shotgun, from 10yds to 70yds using a slug out of an 870 Remington. All one shot instant kills.

[PolarBear]

I use to love to hunt deer with my old Stevens double barrel 12 gauge!  It is kinda like bowhunting as far as getting close but louder.   

[Armadillo]

do you have to use a rifled barrel

[CP]

Plain ole Foster slugs fired from a standard bird gun, mod choke or looser, bead site, accurate enough to take deer at 75 yards or less.  Punches a big hole in them, massive internal damage, little meat damage when compared to high velocity rifle damage.

[Ridgerunner]

Can someone give me a quick tutorial on using slugs out of an 870?  That is what I am thinking about doing.  Is there anything special you need to do, I'm clueless but am thinking about hunting some firearm restriction areas and this seems like a good way to go potentially.

[JNB]

Make sure you are familiar with how your gun patterns, if you are using buckshot.  I used to use buckshot once; most of the shot ended up where it should have, but one stray piece of shot ended up in the gut and made life really unpleasant.

Slugs seem to make sense though.  I would be interested to hear what somebody who knows more about it thinks about rifled vs non-rifled barrels.

[bobcat]

I'm planning on using a shotgun this year for elk in a firearm restriction area. I'm using a Browning "Gold" turkey shotgun with a 24 inch barrel and fiber optic sights. I took it out and shot it the other day at 90 yards. After getting the sight adjusted, I put four shots into about a 4 inch group. So I think for elk I should be good out to 100 yards. Boy those slugs sure make big holes in the paper!   

[CP]

Can someone give me a quick tutorial on using slugs out of an 870?  That is what I am thinking about doing.  Is there anything special you need to do, I'm clueless but am thinking about hunting some firearm restriction areas and this seems like a good way to go potentially.

I’d put an IC choke in it, buy a box each of Winchester, Remington & Federal slugs, regular foster type, no sabots.  Go to a 50 yard range and see which one shoots best in your gun.  That’s all there is to it.  Just keep in mind that the big, relatively slow hunk of lead drops quickly after about 75 yards.  Limit your shots to a range that you are comfortable with.

If you want to get into rifled barrels, sabots, scopes etc you can extend that range considerably. 

[Bob33]

I used a scoped 20 gauge 870 with a rifled barrel.  It is plenty accurate and powerful enough to take deer at 100 yards, and probably beyond.

[hoyt5199]

oh yeah, I am from Michigan and that is all we use during firearm season. I used a scoped 870 and with the new slugs they have out now you can reach out to 100yds.

[pods8]

If you're trying to use a regular smooth bore shotgun make sure your choke is open enough usually IC is fine and just see which of the cheap "rifled" slugs work for you.  Note these aren't really rifled they have ridges on them that collapse when passing through the choke restriction so you're gun doesn't explode.  Practice with shooting them and know your limitations!  50-70yds is probably max before the pattern starts opening up too much to be reliable.

Rifled can push it out there.  I've got a 12ga H&R ultra slug that I play around with (heavy 24" barrel single shot gun) with a 3x7 scope that patterns certain saboted slugs at 3-4" @ 100yds.  The cheap "rifled" slug hold 4-6" @ 100yds but the lead fouling is a PITA to deal with. [Edit I should note those were conservative sized groups based on limited factory ammo that I've actually fired.  I know folks with the same gun finding ammo that matched it well dialing the groups in even tighter.  I've done most of my shooting with handloads though.]  I've also been playing around with full bore hard cast lead slugs but I'm still dialing in a good loading that groups consistently, so nothing to report there yet.  I have not hunted with this gun yet, just another part of the arsenal to play around with and have ready if I do hit a shotgun zone.

[Dmanmastertracker]

 Are 2 3/4" slugs worth a try for deer?