Short range weapon ideas

[Desk Jockey]

I turned an 870 into a slug gun. Cantilever barrel and trigger plus some furniture. It was an interesting project and shoots fine but is not crazy accurate even for a slug gun. I am told I need to pin the barrel to the receiver if I want to improve that. If I were doing it over again I would have bought a savage 20 gauge slug gun and been done with it for about the same $ as the mods I put on the 870.

one note of caution I would offer is ammo - 12 gauge slugs and others - is hard to come by. I can’t find the slugs I zeroed my gun for any where. Just make sure that if you buy something, you can get the ammo to feed it.

 

[Iron ghost]

Shotgun is where it’s at, imo. I’m a big fan of deer hunting with a shotgun in heavy brush & close ranges inside 100 yards.
Both 12 gauge & 20 gauge work great. Randy Wakeman actually made the case that a 20 is better than a 12-

Slug Guns: Twenty Gauge Vs. Twelve Gauge: What Is Better?

I’ve only ever used 12ga but one day will get around to trying a 20.

For smooth bore barrels I like Brenneke Green Lightning slugs. Devastating results.
For a rifled barrel, there’s plenty of great options including some cool specialized/custom slugs.

 

[22lr]

I've put down plenty of deer with a 12ga sabot. Under 150yards you simply can't beat em. Doing it again id use a 20ga, for less recoil, but that's just me.

 

[Jim1187]

I know it probably is because I am a Canuck from the east coast but I think you may be selling the effectiveness of a bead sight and a rifled slug short. I'd grab some rifled slugs and your bird gun and see what kind of accuracy I could get with it. I have found it surprisingly easy to keep my 870 accurate enough at bow ranges(60 yards or less) my regulations treat slugs the same as a centerfire rifle so I don't use them much but for a while all I had was a shotgun. They work but I'd rather a rifle. A dedicated rifled slug gun or even a rifled slug barrel with your preferred sighting style certainly improves the range and performance.
My experiences with pistol cartridges on game is from pistol caliber carbines, think Ruger PC or 1894 Marlin and similar. 9mm resulted a real rodeo and while perhaps the loads available to Americans would improve performance I won't risk it. .357 and 10mm seemed to perform similarly and are about where I think a sensible deer pistol choice start, but bullet choice seems important. Again fall under the same regulations as a centerfire rifle here so I didn't invest a lot of time/ effort into them.

 

[silverbullet555]

The lower half of Michigan is like this all gun season as "straight cartridge" or shotguns only. Look into Hornady SST slugs for a rifled barrel 12 or 20 gauge. I have used these with a scoped remington 870 and its been great.

The recent trend everyone is switching to savage or ruger american rifles in .450 bushmaster or .350 legend to get a bit more range. Or else an upper in these calibers and you would also need a short magazine to be legal most likely.

If our rule said straight wall I'd be all over the 450 upper. It would make way more sense and my .46 suppressor would be fantastic for it.

But, our rule says it has to be a cartridge originally designed for a pistol.

 

[silverbullet555]

I know it probably is because I am a Canuck from the east coast but I think you may be selling the effectiveness of a bead sight and a rifled slug short. I'd grab some rifled slugs and your bird gun and see what kind of accuracy I could get with it. I have found it surprisingly easy to keep my 870 accurate enough at bow ranges(60 yards or less) my regulations treat slugs the same as a centerfire rifle so I don't use them much but for a while all I had was a shotgun. They work but I'd rather a rifle. A dedicated rifled slug gun or even a rifled slug barrel with your preferred sighting style certainly improves the range and performance.
My experiences with pistol cartridges on game is from pistol caliber carbines, think Ruger PC or 1894 Marlin and similar. 9mm resulted a real rodeo and while perhaps the loads available to Americans would improve performance I won't risk it. .357 and 10mm seemed to perform similarly and are about where I think a sensible deer pistol choice start, but bullet choice seems important. Again fall under the same regulations as a centerfire rifle here so I didn't invest a lot of time/ effort into them.

Thanks for the feedback on the pistol cartridges. 10MM uppers are easy to come by. .357 not so much due to case design.

Also, running slugs through my bird gun may be my only other option considering that everything is frickin out of stock related to hunting.

 

[Iron ghost]

Thanks for the feedback on the pistol cartridges. 10MM uppers are easy to come by. .357 not so much due to case design.

Also, running slugs through my bird gun may be my only other option considering that everything is frickin out of stock related to hunting.

I ran those Brenneke Green Lightning slugs out of a 26” smooth bore improved cylinder barrel with a bead sight for years. The bead sight limits your range but that’ll make you a better hunter. But after testing them on targets at various ranges and seeing how accurate they were & how predictable they shot in my gun, I had a lot more confidence and knew my limits.

That said- another option is to check out barrel exchange and see if they have a slug barrel that’ll fit your gun. Plus I think it‘s pretty cool having one shotgun with 3-4 different barrels that can cover everything.

 

[silverbullet555]

I ran those Brenneke Green Lightning slugs out of a 26” smooth bore improved cylinder barrel with a bead sight for years. The bead sight limits your range but that’ll make you a better hunter. But after testing them on targets at various ranges and seeing how accurate they were & how predictable they shot in my gun, I had a lot more confidence and knew my limits.

That said- another option is to check out barrel exchange and see if they have a slug barrel that’ll fit your gun. Plus I think it‘s pretty cool having one shotgun with 3-4 different barrels that can cover everything.

I'm sure I could find one. I have a mossberg 500, Benelli m1, benelli ultralight and a beretta a300.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Mimachinist]

I come from Michigan and for years we were only allowed shotguns or muzzleloaders in the lower part of the state. I had a rifled 12ga that I used and I didn’t care for it recoil and accuracy wise. If your looking for a good slug gun stick with 20ga either the savage 220 or H&R single shots. You did mention owning a big bore suppressor, if that’s the case I’d get a single shot CVA 44mag and thread it. My neighbor has one for his kids and they’re good guns.

 

[Mackay Sagebrush]

What part of Idaho are you in?

Personally I would run a handgun.

A .44 mag would be my top choice.

 

[Treerat-sniper]

I've taken 30+ whitetails (and a variety of other critters) with .44 magnums in revolvers, Contenders, lever & bolt guns. My current & favorite rig is a 77/44 with an old 1.5-4x Leupold shotgun/muzzleloader scope. I'm in a straight-wall state & when I started deer hunting in 1985 we only allowed to use slug-guns. In 97' I switched to handguns. 20 years later In 2017 the DNR finally allowed us to use straight-wall cartridge rifles (which was fortunate for me since that's about when my eyes really started to diminish). I've also used the .357 Max, .454 Casull, 45/70 & a .444 Marlin in an Encore frame. All did the job, but I'm pretty sold on the .44 maggie.