Slugs 12 -vs- 20ga

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BoogieMan

New member
I am looking for a rifled barrel for my S&W 1000 in 12ga. If I find one that will seal the deal for 12 ga. So far no luck so I may end up shopping for a Savage or Browning slug gun. I am new to slug guns and everyone I know who whoots a 12ga slug complains about the recoil. Seeing as I have no problem dropping whitetail with a 30 cal bullet I cant imagine that I would need more than a 20ga. I also hear that 20ga gets a little flatter shooting with greater accuracy and less recoil.
Is any of that true?
Is there good availability of slugs available in 20ga?
 
I was trying to decide between 20 and 12 for my slug gun a couple years ago. Ended up getting 12 ga. Mostly because I couldn't find a decent selection of slugs for 20. All any store had was foster slugs, in a couple brands. Every store I went in had 4 brands or more, and every slug I could imagine in 12 ga.

And for recoil and versatility I went with a TC Encore Prohunter. The stock has a flexible section that they claim reduces felt recoil 40%. I will say it comes really close to meeting the advertising. I get 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards with a couple kinds of sabot slugs. And I have the option of different barrels and calibers.
 
12 gauge for selection alone... Ammo has never been as diverse in anything loaded for the 20...

Brent
 
In Ohio, where rifles aren't used for deer hunting, 12 guage is king for range and knockdown power, and selection, but 20 guage is also very popular for youth, women, and those who have trouble handling the punishing recoil of a 12 guage slug, with a wide range of slug type slection. Hornady makes a super accurrate 20 guage saboted slug for rifled barrels.
 
I like a 20 gauge, especially the 870 youth combo model, because it is so easy to carry with one hand and is capable of taking any deer in the most common places and typical distances. I also have a longer bolt action rifled barrel 20 gauge with superb long range accuracy using a variety of outstanding shells readily available.
However, it does seem to be true that the 12 is more popular and I do find a bit more 12ga ammo in many stores. I still manage to find all the 20ga ammo I need in most places I shop.
For the record, I did sell off my largest and heaviest 12ga shotguns but did replace them with a much shorter rifled barrel 12 ga with iron sights.
So I'm no good help with an opinion other than to say look over what you like and buy whatever you want. I have and use both depending on where I happen to go when hunting.
 
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Anyone wanting a softer-recoiling shotgun of whatever gauge would do well to look at attaining a gas-operated autoloader, ILO of a recoil-operated gun.

20ga's can sometimes exhibit better accuracy than 12ga's because they recoil less (less slug weight); and some slug guns are either rifled or underbored (like the Ithaca Deerslayer).

FWIW, I switched from 12ga's to a 20ga Deerslayer, over 20 years ago, and it's never stopped the deer from being converted into venison.

In my state/area, which has shotgun-only & muzzleloader-only deer seasons (no CF rifles or handguns allowed), I can directly obtain just about the same variety of either Foster-type or sabot slugs in 20ga as in 12ga - with an even wider choice of both from online ammo dealers.


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