how far can u kill a deer.

B

bamafan4life

New member
hi. how far do you think the pattern of a 12 gauge open chocked pump action shotgun with a 20'' barrel, can keep all 9 pellets of 2 3/4 00 buckshot on a target the size of your average deer? what about hog? you see since rifle ammo is so hard to find, im going to have to resort to my trusty 12 gauge for pretty much everything. id use slugs but my shotgun dont have rifle sights or a scope (maybe i could find a mount for it and use it for my purpose and double it as a HD shotgun? id need a quick detachble red dot scope though and a scope in quick detachable rings though. any imput would be helpful and yes buckshot is legal in my state for deer.
 
With a cylinder bore barrel you really want to use one of the new federal or hornady loads with flite control wad if at all possible.

Given that, you still need to pattern the gun to see what your gun and barrel will do, but a good rule of thumb is 25-30yds given the ammo noted above.
 
I shot a hog about a month/6 weeks ago with 12 ga. 2 3/4" 00 Win. Supreme buckshot out of a 20" bbl. 870 at +/- 20 yards over a baited barrel. First one taken like that...just wanted to see how well buck worked. It worked. Shot it in the side of the head and rolled it. Kicked like a sonofagun for 15-20 seconds but it was stone dead when I got to it. I haven't tried it again, but I have zero qualms about it.
 
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Take yourself a whole section of newspaper, two long stakes, some masking tape and make a target. Back up about 30 paces and shoot. That is really the only way you will know for sure.
 
Make sure that you are allowed to use buckshot for hunting deer. PA is a slugs only state for shotgun. When I hunted in shotgun only areas, I was able to hit consistently out to about 50 yards or so with a IC choked 20 inch barrel with a bead sight using Brennekes.
 
I've taken 2 deer with 2 3/4 00 Buck mags at about 40 yards each. Both took 3 balls to the breadbox with the other balls missing. Each got 1 hole through heart and 2 to the lungs. 1 deer ran 20 yards and 1 ran 75 yards. I found the 2nd deer the following morning.

This doesn't answer the question of how far can you range out and still keep all the pellets on the target, rather it domonstrates that you don't need all the pellets on the target. Also, you might not want all lthe pellets on target with all the accompanying damage.
 
Well, if you've decided to go the slug route, some shooters have hit deer out to just at or over a hundred yards before. Me, personally, my best is about 75-80 yards for deer. Supposedly, the guy at the local gun store told me the FN SLP with the rifled choke can hit deer pretty hard with slug out to 130 yards within 3 inches POA. I'm not sure if that's true, but we'll see. I'm thinking hard about buying it.
 
Cheap rifled slug from a cheap 18 inch cylindrical bore mossberg barrel... 50-60 yards is an easy off hand shot for me with an 80 yard shot being my preferred limit. Will it kill at 100? Likely would but at 100 I may have hip shot the poor bugger.
Brent
 
Buckshot is useless past 30 yards. A scoped smooth bore shotgun using slugs is good for 100 yards, easy. They can be remarkably accurate. A rifled barrel is more accurate though.
And 'U' is not a word.
 
How far can you kill a deer?

Hi Bamafan4life,
With .12 GA 00 buckshot, the longest distance i have taken a deer was almost 50 yards. I would ususally like to have them a lot closer than that when hunting with a shotgun. But I was using a full choke Rem 11-87, (not a improved cylinder or open choke you are asking about).

If I were you I would probably go at least to a modified, (but preferably full choke) for buckshot and deer hunting. That is of course, if you have a shotgun barrel that uses screw in chokes. If you have a permanent cylinder bore barrel on your shotgun, then you need to be a lot closer to the deer to consistenly take the animal. Plus, it is a lot more fair to the deer to make the best shot you can. Tighter buckshot patterns will most always give you a better chance for success when deer hunting.

(GatorFan4life)
 
Definitely a question that should be answered at the range using the shotgun you plan to hunt with and the specific loading that you intend to use.

That's true whether you go with slugs or shot.
 
Hog

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Txgun:
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I shot a hog about a month/6 weeks ago with 12 ga. 2 3/4" 00 Win.

How many pellets did you find in the animal? Just curious.
Pete
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You know, I didn't specifically look. It was getting dark, I was working by flashlight to get backstap and hams for a neighbor. But knowing how my gun patterns at that range...approx. 20 yards, maybe a little less...I think I probably got about 5, maybe 6, of 9 into him. I shot a tad high, I think.
 
dude I`m using slugs
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JohnKSa answered your question. The better you know your gun and load the more accurate you`ll be. Example: I`ve got an Rem 1100 12ga. smoothbore that I`ve had for some 30 yrs. Been more than a few deer taken @ 100yds. with this gun. Why? I`m confident with it. Know the hold-off to use with the round I`ve forever shot out of it. Several other shotguns in safe but I`m not as confident with them . Again, as John said, much range time in order. Though it happens, nothing worse than a wounded animal getting away.
 
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