I am looking for my first slug gun, I have always used rifles in west virginia where i grew up but i recently moved to illinois and I need to find a good setup for there shotgun only seasons.

I am looking for my first slug gun, I have always used rifles in west virginia where i grew up but i recently moved to illinois and I need to find a good setup for there shotgun only seasons.

I performed a lot of research before buying mine. It came down to two models - one was the one I chose (H&R Ultra Slug Hunter - Deluxe model), and the other was a very hard decision to drop to 2nd place - the Savage Bolt Action 210F. The deciding factor had to do with the fact that I wanted a 20 gauge, and the 210F was only offered in a 12. A good friend of mine is getting ready to buy his first slug gun also, and he is going to go with my recommenation of the 210F, as he liked the way it felt when he shouldered it.

All the best,
Glenn

Welcome to the forum podonker29. Rules are simple, be nice and join in.

If you have a pump shotgun now with an interchangeable barrel you might consider adding a rifled slug barrel to it. I've got several friends whom hunt the short range weapons season out here in Idaho with slug barrels with scopes on them that do quite well.

You cannot go wrong with a scoped Remington 870. If you get a smooth bore you've got about a 100 yard range, with rifled barrel you stretch your range out to about 150 yards. I have buddies that claim 200 yards but none has proved it yet to me on the range.

Myself, I use a smooth bore 870 and my longest shot on a deer with it in 40 years of hunting has been maybe 65 yards here in NY.

You cannot go wrong with a scoped Remington 870.

And if your eyes are on the good side of 50, even the iron sight versions are OK.

I have 2 870's, one with a Rem Choke tube, and one fully rifled. I'd swap the fully rifled tube any day for another Rem Choke barrel.

Remington Sluggers and Lightfield slugs shoot great through the Rem Choke. And work just fine for deer, and with a Pattern Master choke tube, are really great for turkey hunting.

Thanks for all the help guys. I went ahead and got the H&R Ultra Slug hunter and topped it off with a nikon prostaff 2-7. I will let you guys know how it works out for me

I too am looking to buy a slug barrel for my Rem 870 3 in 12 ga. Trying to decide between the 20 inch smooth or rifled sighted barrels. If I go smooth, I can use it for buckshot also. I know the rifled barrel will give me more range with the slugs but is it worth the extra money for a little more range?

I took a shotgun class at Gunsite a few years back and used one of the 870's that they were selling at the time. 18-inch barrel that had the Vang Comp treatment & ghost-ring sights.

We shot bird shot, 00 Buck & slugs all week long. At one point we were shooting 8-inch paper plates at 200 yards in the prone position, very consistently.

Good Luck,