Shot gun for deer and birds?

[CForar]

So my roommate wants to get into hunting but we are broke college kids. I convinced him to take his gun safety training a few weeks ago thinking he would get it done some time this winter... Well that wasn't the case, he stayed up all night long and completed it only in like 14 hours.

Anyways, since we are in our last year of college, money is kind of an issue. He's been watching duck and deer hunting videos on YouTube for the past couple weeks and is begging me to take him out.

He wants to buy a 12 gauge shotgun that he can take bird and deer hunting. He said he was willing to spend around $200ish to obtain a gun capable of being used for deer/birds.

My questions are..

Does anyone have any recommendations on what type of gun to look for? I told him he most likely wants a smooth bore so he can shoot slugs out of it as well but I am no expert (hence why I'm asking here).

Has anyone seen any shotguns around this price range near the St. Cloud to MPLS area?

Any advice is appreciated. He's not concerned with the age of the gun as long as it's in safe working order. He also prefers to have a pump, which is nice because they are cheaper than semi autos.

Thanks guys, feel free to PM me if you want!

[eyeguy 54]

try to find a used remington 870 express with both barrels is what I would do. might need to have more than 200 tho.

[forcedtowork]

Go to Gander Mountain and Shceels and check out their used gun rack, they might have something for you in the price range, otherwise look on the Clist, or grab the SC Times and look in the classified section. The 870 Express is a great gun, but will most likely be out of the budget.

[yakfisher]

Check out the local pawn shops and gun shops too. The Mossberg 500 is also an excellent choice, my first one was less that $200 new. Of course, that was over 20 years ago. I picked up a slug barrel for it last year for $100 bucks. It is on par with the Remmington 870. Winchester also makes the 1300 another good pump. Good luck!

[Mr Special]

Check out the local pawn shops and gun shops too. The Mossberg 500 is also an excellent choice, my first one was less that $200 new. Of course, that was over 20 years ago. I picked up a slug barrel for it last year for $100 bucks. It is on par with the Remmington 870. Winchester also makes the 1300 another good pump. Good luck!

+1

ive owned a few different 870s, 500s and have heard great things about the Win1300.

theyre all good guns and have been around a while and can be found used pretty easily. dont forget to check "C L" also.

whichever ur bud chooses, id recommend gettin one with a removable choke. most rifle slugs will usually wrk best with IC "Improved cylinder" or C "cylinder" chokes

great thing about any of those guns, later when finances are a little better he can add upgrades to them. such as a slug barrel either smooth "rifle slugs" or rifled "sabots", different stocks, sight...

[fishuhalik]

If $200 is the absolute max, there's a variety of single shots that'll fit the bill. If possible I'd recommend an inexpensive pump, but I remember what it's like being broke as a bat

[Tom7227]

You can hunt deer with a regular shotgun barrel as long as the choke is modified or improved cylinder. Not ideal but a lot of deer have been taken this way. You are going to have to go with a used gun so visit some gun shops and check the want ads. If you do it get 3 or 4 boxes of slugs and go to a range and practice. Some slugs work better in a gun but you probably don't have either the time or the money to do much experimenting. Limit the shots to probably 50 yards max and you may get it done. But you're going to have to pop for some blaze orange clothing. Try getting a light weight parka and big enough so you can wear a lot of warm clothing underneath.

[Gordie]

You can hunt deer with a regular shotgun barrel as long as the choke is modified or improved cylinder. Not ideal but a lot of deer have been taken this way. You are going to have to go with a used gun so visit some gun shops and check the want ads. If you do it get 3 or 4 boxes of slugs and go to a range and practice. Some slugs work better in a gun but you probably don't have either the time or the money to do much experimenting. Limit the shots to probably 50 yards max and you may get it done. But you're going to have to pop for some blaze orange clothing. Try getting a light weight parka and big enough so you can wear a lot of warm clothing underneath.

As Tom stated you can use a regular barrel and a lot of people still do and a lot of deer fall to it, the trick is knowing your weapon and finding the right slug combo,You can also buy a rifled slug tube for most barrels now. Another combo set would be the Weatherby PA-08 news these guns are around 350.00 or a few dollars less.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Just ask some older guys to borrow something. I loan out firearms all the time, once you have plenty of them you are glad to see them get used

[Ufatz]

To really save some money look for a good solid single shot .12 or .16 gauge shotgun with a modified choke. If all you can find is a full choke you can live with it. A single shot is going to give you a pretty good bump when you shoot it so be aware. Buy several boxes of ammo and try them all. Get some dayglo paint and paint the front bead orange or yellow or even white. Do not shoot at anything over 50 yards away and take your pal to the closest woods and walk around with him showing him just how far that is.....get him used to seeing and knowing distances in the woods. Put some markers out at various ranges and then walk the woods again and again from different directions.

A good solid single shot shotgun can serve a man for a long while. And the single shot is a reminder to take your time and shoot straight the FIRST time.

Have fun.

[mechanictim]

If your friends budget is $200 max you may find it hard to find an 870 Rem. or 500 Moss. You could look in the yellow pages for used gun dealers and start looking for a used pump action 12 gauge that has a 3" chamber and a modified choke for under $200. You can get a good deal on a lot of the store brand shotguns that were popular through the mid 80's. It may be a Sears or Coast to Coast or other store branded gun that was made by Savage or Marlin or a few other reputable makers. They are good shotguns that will usually not have the removable choke tubes unless they were added later. The majority of them will have full chokes but there is enough with modified chokes that a few calls to local gun sellers should find you one.

For Ducks you want the three inch chamber and modified choke. The full choke usually does not pattern steel shot very well. The 3" inch chamber gives you a lot better choice of loads for shooting ducks. you can get satisfactory results from the shorter shells if your shooting decoying ducks but this late in the season the shots do get a little longer and the extra payload of the longer shells can make a difference.

For deer you can shoot rifled slugs through a typical full choke with no problems they just don't seem to be as accurate as the more open chokes. Most people don't find any advantage in 3" shells over 2 3/4' to justify the extra cost of the longer shells.

I would like to hear back from you as to what your friend ends up with.

[96trigger]

You can find used shotguns for $200. New England Firearms makes a pump that is around $200. I also 2nd the buying a used pump like a coast to coast or a Stevens. Lots of these guns still around, many of them are $150 on the used gun rack and are still very good guns if they have been taken care of. I picked up a stevens pump a couple of years ago for $80 at an auction. It is made better than any of today's 870 express shotguns, there is no plastic anywhere on it. Biggest thing is that most of these guns do not have removeable chokes, so read the barrel and try to stay away from a full choke. Shoot a couple different kinds of slugs, I prefer brenneke out of a smoothbore. There is an online gun classified, do a search putting arms and list together and you should find it. Lots of people still shoot deer in the Southeast shotgun zone with smoothbore, but 50 yards is about your max.

[mechanictim]

I probably should have asked this first but, has your friend ever shot a shotgun before? Starting out with slugs or magnum duck loads is not a great way to start learning to shoot. The recoil of slugs in particular is pretty harsh even for an experienced shooter. You might want to try shooting some clays with light loads just to let him get a feel for what shooting a shot gun is like. Then take him grouse or pheasant hunting with some game loads before trying the harder recoiling loads.

You might also let your friend know that what he sees on those shows is what most people would consider a dream hunt. They make those shows to sell products so they set them up so the cast is seeing the big bucks and shooting lots of ducks every time they go out. There is a lot of other people doing the scouting for those shows and a lot of money being paid to outfitters and land owners so the stars of those videos can show off the products they advertise in the best light possible.

You would be doing your friend a big favor by easing him to hunting and not letting him think its going to be a huge buck walking trails constantly or flocks of ducks dropping into the decoys every thirty seconds. Do him a favor and give him a little reality check before going out.

Hope I am not out of line with the above but your post got me thinking he may have an unrealistic view about what the average hunter sees.

[CForar]

Thanks for all the responses. I appreciate the help! I really enjoy this site, lots of knowledgable people on here. As of now he's looking at a stoeger 12 gauge that is $200 at gander. I read some mixed reviews about those guns wanting to feed 2 shells into the chamber and getting stuck. But I've also read other reviews saying its a good starter gun.

I took him duck hunting a few weeks ago and made him carry the decoys and we saw only 2 mallards. I have let him shoot my turkey gun before with 3 inch loads so he knows all about the wallop that comes with the gun. As for only shooting 50 yards I want to set him up in some thick woods/swamp where he can't shoot further than 50ish yards anyway. He bought all his Orange already so all he needs is to complete the sale on the stoeger and buy some slugs and possibly a new rifled choke.

As for opener I want to take him out but I had surgery to remove a large kidney stone and the doctor told me I shouldn't go this weekend but I feel good enough right now that I may or may not ignore her advice. I'm young and heal fast is what I told her. Either way I'll be taking him out on Veterans Day for sure seeing how there's no school.

Thanks again for all the help!

[jigginjim]

I have a Mossberg 550 only been shot3 times. New a couple years ago, appraised at $375.00 but will sell it for 300.00

[FISHINGURU]

Winchester also makes the 1300 another good pump. Good luck!

Great gun, I bought mine dang near 20 yrs ago with 2 barrels. Still looks and works like new, minus the scratches on the slug barrel. I borrowed it to my female cousin one season and she didn't have it on her shoulder when she shot because the deer were running by so it came kicking back right in her face and she dropped it out of the stand with a huge black eye lol.

[mechanictim]

"He bought all his Orange already so all he needs is to complete the sale on the stoeger and buy some slugs and possibly a new rifled choke"

The rifled choke will help with accuracy, but you will need to use the more expensive sabot slugs to prevent the leading that would come from the less expensive all lead rifled slugs. I know you guys are on a tight budget so don't be worried about a little extra accuracy if it is going to cost an extra $40 bucks for the tube and shells. If you can hit a 8' inch target with 3 shots from 50 to 75 yards with a modified choke, a bead for a sight, and cheap rifled slugs you should have no problem taking a deer. And shooting anything past 75 yards you really need to upgrade the sights of a shotgun to get the most from more accuracy. And that means more money.

I live in farm country and probably half the guys out there are using just an old full choked gun with rifled slugs and doing just fine when killing deer.

Good luck with your hunt and remember to just enjoy the day afield with you buddy.

[jentz]

I have a 1990s winchester model 1200 with a 28 inch full choke and a rifled slug barrel.$300.00 takes all, for 325 I'll through in 2 boxes of steel shot No slugs sold them, and quit waterfowling years back and now only archery deer

[ZachD]

mossy 500 Ive been using it for a slug gun for about 4 years now and has never let me down and can group slugs pretty dam tight at 100 yards... I have killed many grouse with it as well