I'm just a shotgun guy

[Robhuntandfish]

Went to range with the 12.  Shooting off sandbags at 100.  Just can't help it.  I'm a shotgun guy. My deer rifle is a shotgun, my pistol is a shotgun.....

I got a nice browning rifle last year that I always wanted and will use, but most of the time I carry the shotgun. 

410 ammo in my pistol pack, hornady critical defense , Winchester defense, small 7.5 shot, 000 buck and slugs.  Got it all covered. 

But I always go shotgun it seems. 

[ny hunter]

Awesome group right there...is that a Remington?

[Robhuntandfish]

11 minutes ago, ny hunter said:

Awesome group right there...is that a Remington?

Yup 1187 with rifled barrel. 

[bugsNbows]

The "Judge" looks ready to go also! 

[Pygmy]

I love shotguns too...But I like them mostly for what they were designed for...Shooting  patterns with multiple pellets at flying or running targets..

A shotgun with  a single projectile  used for deer sized game is simply a less accurate, short to moderate range  rifle..

And I have probably killed 70-80 deer with shotguns and slugs,  including smoothbores  with fosters and brennekes and rifled shotguns with sabots..

Once rifles were made legal in my area, I put the shotguns away ( for deer hunting) and never looked back.

I will admit that with shot loads they are awesome home defense weapons, tho  !!

[Robhuntandfish]

Never shot a deer farther than 130 yards. And that was with a 220 savage 20 gauge.  The places I gun hunt are so thick that the shotgun works great.  And rifle or not I just don't like taking long shots.  I try to keep them inside 150 yards.  It's my comfort for sure.  

I do have a 30-06 for spots with a longer shot or for bear hunting or if I ever draw a moose permit.  

But for hunting generally 100 yards or less I like the big hole the 12 leaves.

[Nomad]

I’m a shotgun guy too, kinda . Like Pygmy, I killed a stack of deer with shotguns all smooth bore too, many on the run some at100 yards . I’ve shot 12ga since I was 12, that’s almost 47 years .

 I sold many of them once rifle became legal here , and I don’t miss them at all ! Kept my BPS, minus scope for drives , and kept my short barrel Benelli, for emergencies as after 47 years I’m just familiar with running one . 5 , 00 in it and a card on stock with 3 more plus 2 slugs .

My average shot on deer is I’d guess under 50 yards, last year was about ten. I just love the smaller easy to carry,lighter weight and much lighter recoil of my rifles .

I believe in practicing and would shoot 100 to 150 slugs each year, getting ready for deer season , and that sucked recoil wise. Love me some 7mm08 .

Edited February 20, 2018 by Stay at home Nomad

[Robhuntandfish]

3 hours ago, bugsNbows said:

The "Judge" looks ready to go also! 

I have the poly.  Way lighter than the regular judge.  Nice to carry.  And since i suck with a pistol I like the option of having a spray of shells.  Lol

[turkeyfeathers]

13 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

I have the poly.  Way lighter than the regular judge.  Nice to carry.  And since i suck with a pistol I like the option of having a spray of shells.  Lol

Pretty sure they make some great carry shotgun loads in .410 for that

[Robhuntandfish]

14 minutes ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Pretty sure they make some great carry shotgun loads in .410 for that

I have the Winchester PDX which is 3 disks and 12 shot combined and also have hornady critical defense which is a slug and two buckshot.   My favorite is just 000 buck though.   And it's pretty accurate with slugs.  Some bad ass stuff though.  

[Nomad]

That Judge looks like a big chunky handgun to carry , how do you carry it ?

Strong side osw ?

[Robhuntandfish]

https://youtu.be/a95qMxnx2ns

Gotta try this for turkey sometime.  Lol

Am gonna try it on a rabbit if I get close enough.

[Robhuntandfish]

13 minutes ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

That Judge looks like a big chunky handgun to carry , how do you carry it ?

Strong side osw ?

Yup that's how I carry it, usually under a jacket.  I carried it last summer under a t shirt while hiking and the GF never knew I had it til we got back.  

It's a lot smaller than the regular judge though and like 10 ounces lighter.  It's a 5 shot too so it's thinner.  

Edited February 20, 2018 by Robhuntandfish

[Pygmy]

10 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

https://youtu.be/a95qMxnx2ns

Gotta try this for turkey sometime.  Lol

Am gonna try it on a rabbit if I get close enough.

I shot a rabbit today with my 20 gauge s/s  that would have been a good one for the judge...The beagles ran him for almost 3 hours and the little bastard just wouldn't come out of the  super thick stuff, so I finally had to bust and crawl my way in there and shoot him at point blank range..Got lucky and hit  him in the head so I did not shoot him up...I didn't care , though, I just wanted to kill him so we could get the dogs out of there !!

I led the beagles out, coaxing them with the rabbit....When I got to the road, I was bloodier than the rabbit from the multiflora rose..Hehehe...

[Larry]

Hey Rob there’s nothing wrong with using shotgun. I still use one when I hunt in Monroe County and when I hunt in thick brush where shots are up close. Also you can still shoot a 100yds; I think they are better on drives they swing better than a rifle on a running deer. There nothing that puts a deer down faster than hitting a deer with a big ass hunk of lead.

[grampy]

Same as you guys, I've killed a pile of deer over decades with a shotgun. My Deerslayer 2, is a very accurate, and to me, beautiful gun. Shoots well, out to 100 yards and beyond. But most of my shots on deer have been 50 yards or less. And recoil, was really not a big deal to me, for most of that time. Until..... shoulder issues came into my life.

  So when we were allowed rifles here in 4-H a few years ago, I jumped to a 7mm-08 and haven't looked back. I love the accuracy, light recoil, and lights out performance. Got a 270 now too.Though I've yet to shoot a deer with a rifle beyond 50 yards!

[Buckmaster7600]

Shotguns are great for shooting a spread of small shot. I've killed a bunch of deer with shotguns had a couple of custom slug guns that shot very well. When my camp in the Catskills went to rifle I was ecstatic now that Ohio is straight walled cartridge as well I will likely never use a shotgun on a deer again and I certainly won't miss it. Still have a 20ga 870 with the barrel pinned and an awesome trigger but the A Bolt went down the road. Between expensive ammo, excessive recoil and heavy guns a shotgun does absolutely nothing for me in the deer woods and I'm someone that very very rarely shoots over 50yds and is often shooting at running deer.


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[Buckmaster7600]

I shot a rabbit today with my 20 gauge s/s  that would have been a good one for the judge...The beagles ran him for almost 3 hours and the little bastard just wouldn't come out of the  super thick stuff, so I finally had to bust and crawl my way in there and shoot him at point blank range..Got lucky and hit  him in the head so I did not shoot him up...I didn't care , though, I just wanted to kill him so we could get the dogs out of there !!
I led the beagles out, coaxing them with the rabbit....When I got to the road, I was bloodier than the rabbit from the multiflora rose..Hehehe...

Having shot my judge a bunch I have concluded that it is one of the most useless weapons made. With bird shot they loose too much juice from the short barrels to be effective at much more than spitting ranges.

Even the defense ammo leave a lot to be desired as far as energy goes. At Least they shoot 45colt.


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[Robhuntandfish]

19 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 

Having shot my judge a bunch I have concluded that it is one of the most useless weapons made. With bird shot they loose too much juice from the short barrels to be effective at much more than spitting ranges.

Even the defense ammo leave a lot to be desired as far as energy goes. At Least they shoot 45colt.


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They are perfect for me cause I think of a pistol as a way to get to a real gun. So up close and personal is about all I would ever use it for.  Plus i suck with a pistol and need more than one thing coming out of that barrel. 

[Buckmaster7600]

They are perfect for me cause I think of a pistol as a way to get to a real gun. So up close and personal is about all I would ever use it for.  Plus i suck with a pistol and need more than one thing coming out of that barrel. 

Use what you want but the problem with your theory is that at the ranges they are effective they are basically still only 1 projectile.

By effective I mean carrying enough energy to penetrate into vitals and spinal structure.




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[Robhuntandfish]

8 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

Use what you want but the problem with your theory is that at the ranges they are effective they are basically still only 1 projectile.

By effective I mean carrying enough energy to penetrate into vitals and spinal structure.




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by effective - you mean deadly I assume.    Dunno what you were shooting but at a qualifying distance of 7 yards it seems pretty effective.  3 shots of buckshot or a slug does a lot of damage and like I said if i miss the one shot it does me no good anyhow. I understand what you mean though it isnt a 357 by any means.   I had a .327 ruger and this judge is actually lighter to carry .  Just like the gun. 

[bugsNbows]

12 hours ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

That Judge looks like a big chunky handgun to carry , how do you carry it ?

Strong side osw ?

I don't carry my Judge... too cumbersome and hard to conceal.  Mine is a bedside weapon with 000 buck or a truck gun. 

[Buckmaster7600]

by effective - you mean deadly I assume.    Dunno what you were shooting but at a qualifying distance of 7 yards it seems pretty effective.  3 shots of buckshot or a slug does a lot of damage and like I said if i miss the one shot it does me no good anyhow. I understand what you mean though it isnt a 357 by any means.   I had a .327 ruger and this judge is actually lighter to carry .  Just like the gun. 

By effective I mean stopping an immediate threat. If I have to shoot someone with one of my pistols I don't care if they die or not I just want them to be incapacitated as soon as possible.

In my testing with my judge I don't think it will do this reliably 00 or 000 buck doesn't have the energy to penetrate far enough to consistently reach vitals. The different slugs/disk and bb loads also failed to penetrate adequately for me to consider them for carry ammo.


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[wolc123]

Other than the occasional hunt for pure nostalgia, I would probably not hunt deer with a shotgun if rifle were legalized in my home WMU.   I can still handle the weight and recoil ok, but not so much the cost of the ammo.   When and if I do spend that kind of cash on ammo these days, it is always on those 2-3/4" 12 ga Hornady SST's like you used for your group.   They group as well as any from my primary shotgun (Marlin 512), and have always put the deer down in their tracks.   Some of the other sabots I have experimented with thru the years have tested my tracking skills considerably more.

I used my ML for a few years at home throughout the regular season but discontinued that practice after loosing a single-lunged buck 14 years ago due partially to lack of energy at long range (175 yards), along with my poor tracking.   The bolt-action 12 gauge, firing those SST's, gives me nearly equal accuracy at that range.  My farthest kill with the 12 gauge sabots was a big doe at 163 yards.  My favorite thing about that shotgun is having those two extra shots, each packing nearly 3X the downrange energy.   That has allowed me to quickly end the suffering on a couple, and also kept a few deer families together in "deer-heaven" (our family's food supply).  

My only problem with the Hornady SST's slugs is that for some reason "shooter" antlered bucks have not showed up when I am carrying them.  Maybe they give off an offensive odor or something.   My last antlered buck at home during gun season was about 6 years ago, on one of those "nostalgia" hunts, using my grandpa's old Ithaca 16 gauge model 37 and a foster slug.  Even last season, the only antlers I saw at home during gun season was on the one hunt when I carried that old Ithaca and cheap foster slugs.  Some years I am thankful for having that gun-season buck-tag available later up in the Adirondacks, where I can punch it with a "real deer gun", Like my Ruger M77 30/06, or my new Remlin 336 30/30 (I still need to christen that one).               

[fasteddie]

When I 1st started deer hunting , I bought a Winchester 12 ga smooth bore with the Winchester Recoil Reduction System for $108 at Beikirchs when they were on Winton Road . Killed a lot of deer with that shotgun and my wife bought a Qwik Point sight for it . It has springs in the stock and instead of the recoil kicking the barrel up , it would recoil backwards . I had to learn to shoot it with my thumb rolled over so I wouldn't get hit in the nose with my thumb when I shot it . Several years later I bought a rifled barrel for it for $135 at Creekside Gun Shop in Holcomb . Anyone remember that place ? I shot Winchester Foster slugs and killed a lot of deer with those . I was told that I shouldn't do that as they would lead up the barrel . Never had a problem with that . After I got my ML , I would carry the 12 ga opening day of deer season and then use the ML the rest of the season . About 3 years ago , I bought the savage F220 20 ga bolt action and put a scope on it . I use it when I hunt in Monroe County . I use the Remington Accu Tips but they are pricey . Luckily the Savage is accurate enough that I don't need the second shot ( so far , that is ) . Now that rifles are legal in the other areas that I hunt , why use a shotgun !