Jusy an FYI, if you think you will ever run the shorties, Federal Shorty/Aguila Mini, in it you may want to look at a Winchester 1300 on the used market. You can then build it the way you want. My 1300 doesn't miss a beat with those little guys and you get like 100 of them in the magazine. Well maybe not 100...
SLUG shotgun project, share pics?
- Thread starter hillbillydruggist
- Start date
Gary in MD
Gold $$ Contributor
Savage 220 and Accu Tips in action.
I have lived and hunted in slug gun country most of my life. I put together quite a few slug guns for folks. Personally, I'd a whole lot rather use a recurve. As far as slugs go I gotta heavily agree with the choice of a Savage 220. It is the shortest distance between slugs and good groups with least effort as possible.
All that said, my favorite combo is pictured. It's an 870 with a Hastings 26" heavy barrel. This one has a cantilever mount, but I actually prefer the DeMoss mount that Brownell's sells. It goes on the receiver and the scope sits closer to the bore. This Hastings cant. is not too bad as it's not terribly high, but many are.
I am also partial to the MagPul stock setup. The one in the photo has a Remington X-Cell pad, which is nice. Slugs kick and I have tried those Blackhawk stocks that move with recoil, but had no luck.
Remington, in their infinite wisdom dropped the BuckHammer slug, but "Slugs-R-Us" sells the mold and sabots so you can load your own. They touch each other at 100 yards off a good benchrest with this gun. They are also easy to load.
The three best pieces of very hard learned and expensive advice I can offer are these:
1. Don't waste money on cerakote or fancy paint jobs and finishes until you got one shooting the way you want it to. Slug guns are temperamental.
2. When you finally get one that does shoot the way you want DO NOT SELL IT!!!!!!
3. Learn how to shoot a stick bow, it's more fun and most of the time kills them quicker {sharp broad head, good hit, etc.}
All that said, my favorite combo is pictured. It's an 870 with a Hastings 26" heavy barrel. This one has a cantilever mount, but I actually prefer the DeMoss mount that Brownell's sells. It goes on the receiver and the scope sits closer to the bore. This Hastings cant. is not too bad as it's not terribly high, but many are.
I am also partial to the MagPul stock setup. The one in the photo has a Remington X-Cell pad, which is nice. Slugs kick and I have tried those Blackhawk stocks that move with recoil, but had no luck.
Remington, in their infinite wisdom dropped the BuckHammer slug, but "Slugs-R-Us" sells the mold and sabots so you can load your own. They touch each other at 100 yards off a good benchrest with this gun. They are also easy to load.
The three best pieces of very hard learned and expensive advice I can offer are these:
1. Don't waste money on cerakote or fancy paint jobs and finishes until you got one shooting the way you want it to. Slug guns are temperamental.
2. When you finally get one that does shoot the way you want DO NOT SELL IT!!!!!!
3. Learn how to shoot a stick bow, it's more fun and most of the time kills them quicker {sharp broad head, good hit, etc.}
Here is the scope base that Brownell's sells...you have to drill and tap the receiver to install. The screws are set on the side where the receiver is thicker. It is best if, when using this mount, to also drill and tap the receiver and barrel and lock them together as well. Three set screws in the forend ring helps to secure the barrel to the mag tube. You are just trying to lock everything together so it don't move.
I intend to play with an extended forcing cone in a slug barrel this summer when I get time. I talked once to the guy at Tarhunt and he said he had good results initially but hadn't tested it good at that time.
Of course a trigger job is a must if you want to shoot good groups too.
I have said this before...I remember when I went to Alaska asking the locals what their preferred gun was for bear protection and they all said, "a 12 gauge loaded with slugs".....based on tracking 100 pound whitetails too many times I think they are betting on the wrong gun for big bears!!!
Edit: in the photo above you can see there are no scope rings...I had to rob them for another gun.
I intend to play with an extended forcing cone in a slug barrel this summer when I get time. I talked once to the guy at Tarhunt and he said he had good results initially but hadn't tested it good at that time.
Of course a trigger job is a must if you want to shoot good groups too.
I have said this before...I remember when I went to Alaska asking the locals what their preferred gun was for bear protection and they all said, "a 12 gauge loaded with slugs".....based on tracking 100 pound whitetails too many times I think they are betting on the wrong gun for big bears!!!
Edit: in the photo above you can see there are no scope rings...I had to rob them for another gun.
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Ithaca M87 slug gun. Barrel is screwed into receiver and free floated from magazine tube.
Mike
Mike
This is key, all quality designated slug guns have fixed barrels. On a pump the barrel fit is the weak link and needs to be fixed in place for best consistent results.
https://www.tarhunt.com
Though I haven't tried one and it's not a pump action, a TC Encore with a rifled slug barrel would be an option. Anyone here tried or have one?
One of the guys in my deer group has one, I don't recall what he's using for ammo. It is as accurate as his brother's Savage but we do organized drives & after missing a booner, he went back to his Benelli for faster follow up shots. I'm sure it would be fine for stand hunting.
Deerslayer II or Deerslayer III, they aint cheap (the new ones from Ohio) but they are good to 200y. You can probably get a deal on a used one (DS II).
Mike
Deerslayer II
Deerslayer III
Mike
Deerslayer II
Deerslayer III
danny
Silver $$ Contributor
You need to mount a surplus grenade launcher sight on it so that you can first drop some rounds in on target and soften the area up.
Danny
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I have not used it to deer hunt with because I can use rifles where I hunt. I was just fooling around but I discovered that I can take my scoped turkey gun, Rem. 870 Super Mag 3 1/2" chambered, and put a Rem. rifled extended choke tube in it that I picked up at a gun show for almost nothing. I then got a Lee 1 oz turn key slug mold free in a wheeling dealing trade. I cast some pure lead slugs and after a little load work up found that using Longshot powder with a Winchester AA case and AA wad with the slug inside as a sabot at 50 yards it shoots ragged hole groups and at 100 yards I can hit a pop can every time. No doubt it would handle anything that walks the woods in east TN. I have shot these slugs in a H&R 1871 (Rem. 870 knock off) cylinder bore at 50 yards and it is inside a deer shoulder accurate. I load this shotgun up with one of these slugs in the bore followed by 00 buck, slug, buck, cocktail mix for bear protection while working or camping on my mountain hunting lease property.
MikeT49
Gold $$ Contributor
About 5 years ago decided to go 20 ga. both for Whitetails and Turkeys. Had been using a 12 ga Benelli Nova 3.5". Got tired of rattling my teeth and with the advent of TSS shot, the 20 became more than adequate for Turkeys. Adding to that is 20 ga slugs, arguably, have batter ballistics and accuracy. For best accuracy the bolt action or single shot is hard to beat, I do believe you can swap barrels on the Savage 220? However, if you need a second shot quickly, the pump is superior.
I picked up a used 870 20 ga youth for $150. It already had a nice short 21" barrel for Turkeys. Got a rifled slug barrel from flea bay. Put on a Limbsaver slip-on recoil pad to increase the LOP. Installed an adjustable neoprene sleeve cheek riser thingy for scope alignment. Used a B-Square saddle mount to provide a rail. Budget Nikon Slughunter scope. Swapped the factory mag cap to one with a sling stud. Added sling stud to the butt stock. Drilled and tapped receiver for grub screws to pin the barrel(s) after installing. I can't get pics to attach, not a computer nerd, never will be.
I picked up a used 870 20 ga youth for $150. It already had a nice short 21" barrel for Turkeys. Got a rifled slug barrel from flea bay. Put on a Limbsaver slip-on recoil pad to increase the LOP. Installed an adjustable neoprene sleeve cheek riser thingy for scope alignment. Used a B-Square saddle mount to provide a rail. Budget Nikon Slughunter scope. Swapped the factory mag cap to one with a sling stud. Added sling stud to the butt stock. Drilled and tapped receiver for grub screws to pin the barrel(s) after installing. I can't get pics to attach, not a computer nerd, never will be.
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I’ve been hunting deer in Illinois since the mid 70,s. My slug guns have progressed from smoothbores with rifle type sights to scoped guns with fully rifled barrels.
The JC Higgins has a Williams receiver sight and shot the Brenneke slugs very well out to about 75 yards. It worked very well for me until I got my first fully rifled barrel from Hastings.
That was early to mid-80’s. My first Hastings barrel was for the pictured Rem 870. It came with a cantilever scope mount. It shot the Lightfields the best and I took several deer with it at ranges out to 125-130 yards.
In 1987-88, I bought the first Rem 11-87 that I saw and quickly got a Hastings Paradox barrel for it. They didn’t have a cantilever model available then, so I got the one with intermediate eye-relief mounting capability.
Remington came out with a “scaled down” 1100 in 20 gauge and I got one when they first came out. At that time, Remington did not have a slug barrel for it that had a rifled bore.
So, I got a Paradox barrel for it with a cantilever mount. At about the same time, Hornady started offering Sabot slugs and my Lt.-20 preferred that ammo.
When Savage came out with the Model 220, I got one and can regularly hit my 200 yd. gong with it and the Hornady or Rem Accu-tip ammo. My longest shot from my deer blind was made with my Mossberg 500 12-Gauge firing Hornady sabot ammo.
Since these photos were taken, I have acquired a Savage model 212 in full came finish. It shoots very well out to 200 yards with a good rest.
As you can see, I don’t “get rid of” my old guns to get new ones, I just add to the herd!
The JC Higgins has a Williams receiver sight and shot the Brenneke slugs very well out to about 75 yards. It worked very well for me until I got my first fully rifled barrel from Hastings.
That was early to mid-80’s. My first Hastings barrel was for the pictured Rem 870. It came with a cantilever scope mount. It shot the Lightfields the best and I took several deer with it at ranges out to 125-130 yards.
In 1987-88, I bought the first Rem 11-87 that I saw and quickly got a Hastings Paradox barrel for it. They didn’t have a cantilever model available then, so I got the one with intermediate eye-relief mounting capability.
Remington came out with a “scaled down” 1100 in 20 gauge and I got one when they first came out. At that time, Remington did not have a slug barrel for it that had a rifled bore.
So, I got a Paradox barrel for it with a cantilever mount. At about the same time, Hornady started offering Sabot slugs and my Lt.-20 preferred that ammo.
When Savage came out with the Model 220, I got one and can regularly hit my 200 yd. gong with it and the Hornady or Rem Accu-tip ammo. My longest shot from my deer blind was made with my Mossberg 500 12-Gauge firing Hornady sabot ammo.
Since these photos were taken, I have acquired a Savage model 212 in full came finish. It shoots very well out to 200 yards with a good rest.
As you can see, I don’t “get rid of” my old guns to get new ones, I just add to the herd!
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Wow dude. Those all look great! If you don’t mind I will probably contact you in the future for some specific info
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