Shotgun for deer hunting

[Rainsford]

I’ve got a plain jane Mossberg 500 with the tiny bead sights. 28” barrel. I was thinking about upgrading, I’m wondering if maybe I could modify my Mossberg instead. New sights? New slug barrel? Thoughts?

[DC551]

Mossberg makes a slug barrel for the 500 for about 200 bucks. It has a cantilever scope mount on it so you can mount optics to the barrel - probably the easiest way to upgrade yours.  You'll probably have to experiment with a few different loads to see what it l likes the best. 

Shotguns wouldn't be my first choice for deer hunting but they certainly have their uses. Killed several deer on Ft Campbell with an 870 / Hastings barrel rig back in the day but you're pretty much limited to 100 yds or less IMO. Some areas require shotguns for that reason so it's always good to have an extra tool in the inventory. Good luck with it. 

[10-Ring]

A couple of things to consider on slugs. Do you want to run a rifled barrel, or do you want to use rifled slugs? Rifled slugs seem to be much more easily obtainable and cheaper. A saboted slug through a rifled barrel will give you capabilities out to 200 yards.

A saboted slug in a smoothbore won't get any twist and will be horribly inaccurate. A rifled slug in a rifled barrel will work for a short while but will quickly lead up the rifling and result in inaccuracy. 

Most slug barrels are rifled, but I absolutely see merit in a shirt smooth barrel with iron sights and/or optics mount.  Within distance limitations a slug is very effective on deer. 

[Rainsford]

3 hours ago, 10-Ring said:

A couple of things to consider on slugs. Do you want to run a rifled barrel, or do you want to use rifled slugs? Rifled slugs seem to be much more easily obtainable and cheaper. A saboted slug through a rifled barrel will give you capabilities out to 200 yards.

A saboted slug in a smoothbore won't get any twist and will be horribly inaccurate. A rifled slug in a rifled barrel will work for a short while but will quickly lead up the rifling and result in inaccuracy. 

Most slug barrels are rifled, but I absolutely see merit in a shirt smooth barrel with iron sights and/or optics mount.  Within distance limitations a slug is very effective on deer. 

I feel like I was leaning towards a smooth barrel with rifled slugs as a low maintenance option.

[juliangunney]

A few years ago I bought a Savage 220 shotgun. It's the closest thing to a bolt action rifle. I use the Remington AccuTip slugs. Great accuracy to 200 yards. Why did I get it? I live right by Percy Priest WMA and centerfires are not allowed. Wish they would allow centerfire, even if they did the straight wall cartridge thing like they do in the MidWest. 

[jkholt72]

Growing up in Illinois meant shotgun only deer hunting. My tack driver is a Mossberg 835 with rifled barrel, 3" Remington Accutips. You have to try a LOT more slugs to find what your gun is the most accurate with. 

[10-Ring]

On 8/18/2024 at 2:56 PM, juliangunney said:

A few years ago I bought a Savage 220 shotgun. It's the closest thing to a bolt action rifle. I use the Remington AccuTip slugs. Great accuracy to 200 yards. Why did I get it? I live right by Percy Priest WMA and centerfires are not allowed. Wish they would allow centerfire, even if they did the straight wall cartridge thing like they do in the MidWest. 

Did I understand that as of this year Percy Priest is only archery/black powder?

[juliangunney]

That is only unit 1 which is a small section in the Lavergne area. The rest is shotgun during gun season