I live in an area where anything other than rimfire is legal on deer,and I have a nice .444 that I plan to use as my main hunting gun,so I have no need for a slugger barrel for my shotgun-but what if I wanted to use my shotgun at short range on deer with buckshot,-what to use?It's a Rem 870 12 with 18"barrel.
Buckshot on Whitetail?
1 - 20 of 41 Posts
Joined
·
4,479 Posts
Id say go with the longer barrel for as much distance as possible as far as shot, I would use 00 buck but thats just a guess, never hunted for deer with shot. When I lived in texas it was Illegal there. but if all you have is the 18 inch smothe bore and the slugger then the 18 would problubly be better as the rifling in the slugger barrel may make your spread grow massivly. But on the other hand, why not use the slugger barrel and a slug any way? I think atleast with the slug if you HAVE to reach out you can do so much better than with buck shot.
Buckshot will kill a deer. Pattern it and see how far you can effectively go. To do this I would take some paper plates and set at different distances. Shoot them 1 by 1 and I would say that 50% or better of the pellets hitting it would be good. I may be wrong about that though. Don't try to stretch it to far, the pellets lose energy fast. Also, I would use 3 inch shells at least. They kick harder but the extra pellets make up for it.
Joined
·
4,479 Posts
You can get the 3 inch with less pellets, I think that the pellets may hold velocity better if there are fewer pellets since there is less mass to push out the barrel. I could be wrong though.
I kind of had my eye on 2 different loads and think they are pretty good but am not sure what to pattern first.There is the Win supreme 00 12 pellet 1450fps and the Hornady Tap 00 8 pellet 1600fps,those are the most powerful loads I could find,the Win is 3" and the Hornady tap is only 2.75",but it's a little hotter.The energy each pellet makes in the Win is equivelent to a .38spl,and the energy in the hornady per pellet is equivelent to a 9mm.What is better,12 38's at once or 8 9mm's at once?That's how I look at it.
Joined
·
1,712 Posts
Why would you even want to use buckshot on a deer? I think it would be pretty easy to wound a deer and lose it, especially with an 18" barrel. If you seriously want to take a deer with a shotgun get a smooth bore slug barrel and shoot rifled slugs or get a rifled slug barrel and shoot sabot slugs.
Yah, I dont know about the slug barrels with the sabot slugs. If I was gonna do down that route I would just buy a rifle. However if you buy Some 3" Magnum Rifled Slugs there pretty damn accurate. And 00 Buck shot should do the trick but I thing those would definetly be more effective(tighter grouping) out of a Longer barrel. Outta My 12gauge that had a 20 " barrel at about 30 feet the grouping was like 5" I was using 9 pellet 2 3/4" Wolf.
Joined
·
4,479 Posts
Id take em out and shoot em and see which one patterns better. the one that holds the tightest pattern is the one I would use.
I would get some rifle slugs and see what kind of groups you can get out of them with that 18 inch barrel and your slug barrel. A slug has massive nock down power. At close range I dont think a deer is ganna go far if you put a 3 inch slug into em. If it was me, I would go with a slug but thats me.
Joined
·
4,479 Posts
my 24 inch rifled barrel with Federal Hydroshocks will keep sub 2 inch groups at 100 yards....good enuph for ya?
Not bad for a shotgun I think. Thats with my Maverick 88 with a Mossy 500 rifled barrel with the scope mount that is attatched to the barrel and hangs back over the reciever. The barrel is also ported.Not bad at all. Still Not a fan of Rifled Shotguns but Thats pretty impressivemy 24 inch rifled barrel with Federal Hydroshocks will keep sub 2 inch groups at 100 yards....good enuph for ya?
Joined
·
20,562 Posts
I think you need to stick with useing your 444 for deer hunting. Oviously you can kill a deer with a shotgun with an 18" barrel if he's colse enough. I personaly would'nt use the short shotgun and you know people may think the worst of you showing up with the defence shotgun. If you showed up to hunt with me I'd have to tell you I'm sorry but your not useing "that".
Think of this...What if the Buck of your dreams walked out at 50 yards, you would had been better off useing your rifle.
We have an image to uphold as being sportsmen, please don't blemish it for us.
Mike
Think of this...What if the Buck of your dreams walked out at 50 yards, you would had been better off useing your rifle.
We have an image to uphold as being sportsmen, please don't blemish it for us.
Mike
Joined
·
4,479 Posts
Very good point.
Joined
·
1,218 Posts
id get the reciever taped for a mount if thats possible, put a red dot on it and use rifled slugs. buckshot patterns evaporat into nothing very rapidly.
within 20 yards buck is gonna wreak havoc on the deer, im thinking lots of meat damage. outside of that im not sure the pellets will penatrate well, im not saying they wont, just that im not sure. but a slug will penatrate.
and like AH said, what if the buck of your dreams pops up just outside of the range of that buckshot. lastly you can get 10 2&3/4" 12 rifled slugs at walmart for like 9 bucks. i buy em for 2 legged varmints that go bump in the night.
within 20 yards buck is gonna wreak havoc on the deer, im thinking lots of meat damage. outside of that im not sure the pellets will penatrate well, im not saying they wont, just that im not sure. but a slug will penatrate.
and like AH said, what if the buck of your dreams pops up just outside of the range of that buckshot. lastly you can get 10 2&3/4" 12 rifled slugs at walmart for like 9 bucks. i buy em for 2 legged varmints that go bump in the night.
Joined
·
4,479 Posts
For long range I wouldnt choose a Shotgun either, but in close range areas where you may not get a shot off over 50 yards I would use one. For any thing over that I would use my .270win or the .300winmag. I got the slug barrel when i was in Texas because All I had at the time was my shotgun and coudlnt find a rifle at the time in my price range. So I tried to make due with what I had and to be honost I was very impressed with how well it shot. How ever the ammo is spendy roughly around 20 bucks for 5 bullets.
This is the way I had it set up in Texas...
Currently I have the shotgun set up for Home/Bear defence and plan on using the .270 and .300 win mag for moose. I still have to get the .300winmag out and see how its sigted in so tonight when i go out im taking my .270 using Winchester GXP's with the nosler 140 grain bonded bullet.
Joined
·
11,533 Posts
I have known since the 60's that buckshot will kill a deer. But in all that time I have never figured out why anyone would want to.
Worst case scenario: No pellet reaches a vital organ and you have much work to do to claim a wounded animal.
Best case: You have a real mess when you get the deer that drops immediately.
Tom
Worst case scenario: No pellet reaches a vital organ and you have much work to do to claim a wounded animal.
Best case: You have a real mess when you get the deer that drops immediately.
Tom
I killed my first deer with a 16 ga loaded with #1 buckshot. I killed my first (and biggest) black bear with a 12ga 2/4" 00 buck. this was a long time ago before I had a deer rifle. I prefer a rifle. we still use shotguns & buckshot in the thick swamp where you get jump shots but lately I have been carieng my .44 carbine for that. buckshot can be deadly but you really have to know how it shoots out of your gun or you can lose game.
Joined
·
1,712 Posts
Where do you buy your sabots?
mfg: I get Hornady SST's for about $10 for 5 around here..1 - 20 of 41 Posts
Join the discussion
Join now to ask and comment!