Home Defense and White Tail Deer

T

TimNelson

New member
Looking for a shotgun to play double duty. I own rifles and pistols but have very limited experience with shotguns and want to know what gage I should look at. After I figure that out I will come back for more suggestions on what make and model.
 
Well, I will be the first and probably not the last to come out and recommend a 12 gauge. It has the best selection of ammo for just about every use, and definitely is great for deer and HD.

BTW, this may not apply to you, but in CT I'm not allowed to hunt deer with anything smaller than a 20 gauge.
 
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Don't get me wrong, I like my 20 gauge, but if I only had one shotgun it would be the 12 gauge. Even if you don't like the 12 gauge recoil with some loads there are always lighter recoil loads available for it. With the 20 gauge, the choices are very limited, usually you have to take what you can find.(see my shotgun slug thread question down below)
You should definitely drop Hogdogs and Zippy13 a PM before you decide, I think they've shot every type of shotgun and shell in the world.
 
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12 gauge is by far the most popular with a variety of loads; 20 isn't too far behind. For a do-everything shotgun, I'd look at a Remington 870- put a shorter barrel on it for home defense, swap it out with a longer rifled barrel for deer.
 
A Remington 870 with a 20" barrel with rifle sights will do both well.
Click to expand...

This ^

A 20" rifle sight Remchoke barrel is nigh perfect for a do all gun.

IC with Brenneke or Tru-Ball slugs to 75-100 yds. Modified or Light Modified for buckshot to 30-40 yds on running deer. Same thing for HD.
 
A gun in a 21 " length barrel with interchangeable chokes would be the ticket
as you could change chokes at will and have a decent barrel length for foster slugs which are death on deer in any shape or form with a well placed shot out to 75 yards (YMMV).:)
 
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