The Best Deer Drive Setup For 870?

canadian hunter312

canadian hunter312

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I'm looking for input to help determine what setup for my 12 gauge 870 that would best suit my needs. Shots will range from nearly being stampeded by deer to possibly a longer 100-125 yard shot at a relaxed and standing animal. Hunting will take place in thick brush, open hardwoods and fields so I need a versatile setup that'll do it all while not weighing too much. What barrel and sights? Get a 20 gauge for a lighter alternative?

I use my 870 for other game so permanent mods aren't an option. I'll buy another gun if need be.
 
I always hunted deer with a smooth bore 12 gauge and foster slugs. This year I tried a fully rifled barrel on my Winchester 1200 12 gauge pump. With Federal Sabot slugs (the cheapest you can buy) the old 1200 shot out to 150 yards with irons as well as any iron sighted .30-06 Remington pump rifle I ever owned. I was really surprised and happy with the rifled barrel. I only make one suggestion for your 870. Get a fully rifled slug barrel for it with open sights and go at them. Sling swivels are also nice on a 12 gauge deer gun.

Darryl
 
A 20" barrel with rifle sights will fit the up close requirement and a rifled slug barrel with a canteliverd scope mount and optic will fill the 100-150yd requirement. Otherwise buy a proper rifle.
 
I found that trying to have one gun do both jobs (close runners in bush and standing deer at 100) was a crap compromise on both ends. I settled with tricking the 870 out with a rifled cantilever barrel and good scope, proper stock etc and made it shoot well. I use it when I block. When I dog, I carry a Beretta auto with 3.5” buckshot. IMO anything in between is a compromise.
 
Butcherbill said:
A 20" barrel with rifle sights will fit the up close requirement and a rifled slug barrel with a canteliverd scope mount and optic will fill the 100-150yd requirement. Otherwise buy a proper rifle.
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Buy a proper rifle? I wish it was that simple in southern Ontario...
 
Butcherbill said:
A 20" barrel with rifle sights will fit the up close requirement and a rifled slug barrel with a canteliverd scope mount and optic will fill the 100-150yd requirement. Otherwise buy a proper rifle.
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Rifle is not an option in this area, shotgun or muzzleloader only for our controlled hunt.


I have a 20 gauge slug gun for long range shooting, but it's a single shot that's best suited for stand or still hunting as that's how I hunted in the past. This season I joined a group doing drives and took both the single 20 and my 870 (vent rib barrel, bead) and it was such a pain in the arse encountering different terrain, switching trucks, and having shots at multiple running deer when I had my single shot. Two guns for drives is not an option.

How do bolt actions compare to pumps in terms of shooting quickly? I was thinking a Savage 220 with red dot or scout style scope would be good?


I've been looking at the cantilever barrels for the 870, but I am not liking the 23-24" lengths I am seeing. An 18.5-20" rifled cantilever barrel would be great to carry in the thick stuff and I know cutting and crowning a rifle barrel is common, but what about a slug barrel?
 
I am with Dilly, personally I haven't found the one shotgun for shooting running deer up close and for reaching out to 100 to 150 meters.

For up close I prefer a ghost ring sight on my smoothbore ... and which allows me to shoot buckshot and reach out a bit further to 50 - 60 meters with foster slugs.

But for longer shots I have a dedicated 870 slug gun with a Hastings rifled cantilever barrel ... scope ... stock with good cheek weld, and a Timney trigger upgrade. With that setup (and Federal sabots) I can shoot 2 1/2 inch groups at 100 meters.

870_Police_Magpul.jpg


Federal_PowerShok_Sabot_Slug.jpg


970_Police_Hastings_Rifled_Federal_PowerShok_Sabot_100M.JPG



I have also tried a rifled cantilever barrel with a red dot on an 870. It is a compromise ... personally I can't get on target as quickly as with a ghost ring ... and I am not comfortable shooting ethically beyond lets say 80 meters with it ... But for some people that setup seems to work. Hey the record sub 1 inch group at the American Slug Shooting Association was shot with a red dot.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gFR6Mrh0Q0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuZbPPccvas
 
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But a way to make close-in and 100-150 less of a compromise is a quality, appropriate (read: not too big MOA dot) red dot. I'd go with 1 or 2 MOA, no bigger for this application.

You can't beat it for speed close up and once dialled in the further out shots are much easier. A good red dot closes the gap for one 870 to do both jobs.

Doesn't work for everyone but it works for many with practice.

dilly said:
I found that trying to have one gun do both jobs (close runners in bush and standing deer at 100) was a crap compromise on both ends. I settled with tricking the 870 out with a rifled cantilever barrel and good scope, proper stock etc and made it shoot well. I use it when I block. When I dog, I carry a Beretta auto with 3.5” buckshot. IMO anything in between is a compromise.
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canadian hunter312 said:
...

I've been looking at the cantilever barrels for the 870, but I am not liking the 23-24" lengths I am seeing. An 18.5-20" rifled cantilever barrel would be great to carry in the thick stuff and I know cutting and crowning a rifle barrel is common, but what about a slug barrel?
Click to expand...

By the way, Remington and Hastings make 20 inch - 12ga rifled barrels. My Hastings is a 20" barrel but they are hard to come by here in Canada. TradeEx is out of stock:

https://www.tradeexcanada.com/content/hastings-barrel-remington-870-12ga-3-20-scope-mount-slug--

For Remington cantilever barrels ... you can order them from Gravel Agency ... However, it might take 3 month for the barrel to arrive as it happened to me with one barrel.

Here is one that is 20 inches:
https://store.onlinecamp.com/en/replacement-parts-oem/remington/shotguns/model-870/3-barrel-assembly/f242441-bbl-12-20-fr-cant-n-s-sp-deer-matte-fully-rifled-bbl.html

And one more thing ... rifled slug barrels are very very ammo sensitive ... and each barrel is different. Be prepared to spend quite a bit of money on different sabots from different manufacturers ... and the time to test those ... and in order to find a combination that you can shoot accurately out to 150 meters.

Hope this helps ....
Faustus
 
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burns k31 said:
Buy a proper rifle? I wish it was that simple in southern Ontario...
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Gotcha, the OP failed to mention he was in a shotgun or muzzle loader only area. A proper rifle isn't an option then.

canadian hunter312 said:
Rifle is not an option in this area, shotgun or muzzleloader only for our controlled hunt.


I've been looking at the cantilever barrels for the 870, but I am not liking the 23-24" lengths I am seeing. An 18.5-20" rifled cantilever barrel would be great to carry in the thick stuff and I know cutting and crowning a rifle barrel is common, but what about a slug barrel?
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That's unfortunate, having one barrel to do both would be ideal. If you only shoot slugs a rifled barrel would likely be the best compromise, I might be wrong but doesn't Remington sell a 20" rifled slug barrel with rifle sights. Might not be as good as a rifled barrel wit the cantelever mount for further out shots but it would be decent out to 80-100yrds with practice and the right sabot. With practice I have routinely hit 8" targets with a rifled slug out of a 20" smooth bore barrel with a front bead, a rifled barrel and sabot slug should be easier to hit he mark once you sight it in.

Looking at my 23" rifled 12g barrel, I'm guessing getting it shortened wouldn't be a problem. It's a rifled barrel like a rifle, just bigger ID and thinner barrel wall. I just picked it up and have yet to shoot or sight it in but I understand shooting buck shot through a rifled barrel won't give you stellar patterns, so you might be stuck using two barrels.

SuperCub said:
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If you got something to say, just say it. I'm not easily offended lol.
 
For dogging I would use a fully rifled barrel with iron sights, shooting sabot slugs. This will cover everything from deer right on top of you to those typical woods shots (30-60 yards). It will also allow you to reach out a bit to take those deer that walk out into a field.

IMO, if you choose to only shoot buckshot through a full or mod smooth-bore, you will kick yourself when that big buck stops to stare at you at 60 yards.

I would NOT mix buckshot and slugs in a smooth-bore iron-sighted slug barrel. The lack of choke will significantly limit buckshot range due to poor patterns.
 
canadian hunter312 said:
How do bolt actions compare to pumps in terms of shooting quickly? I was thinking a Savage 220 with red dot or scout style scope would be good?
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Same situation as you a few years ago and ended up ditching the 870 altogether and going with the Savage 220. I dropped a Leupold 1-4 on it and haven't looked back. It gives the traditional bolt gun feel and with the 1-4 still gives you good close range/dogging capabilities and works well out to the 150-200 range.

I believe we probably hunt in very similar areas;)
 
Previous years I ran a 20 ga with iron sights on a 20" rifled barrel. Shot Remington accu tip sabots and mostly kept shots within 40-50 yds. This year I decided I wanted to extend that a bit, so I picked up a bushnell 1-4x shotgun scope at 50% off for Black Friday and a saddle mount. I've popped the saddle off when I swapped barrels for birds, put it back on with the rifled barrel, still zero'd in. The only complaint I have with the saddle is the edge profiling. It will dig into my hand with recoil and no gloves. This winter I may take the grinder to it.
 
Over 15 years hunting in Southeastern Ontario with 70% of my hunting buddies using 870s, sabot slugs with either a cantilever fully rifled barrel or a plain hastings with a saddle mount are the setups of choice, with a 1-5 with a wide field of view. Dogging, watching or in the stand, works for everything for us where buckshot is just plain useless in our neck of the woods.
 
Many thanks for the input so far. I've been hunting in the controlled hunt for many years now and just haven't found THE gun that'll cover everything I encounter.

0faustus0 said:
By the way, Remington and Hastings make 20 inch - 12ga rifled barrels. My Hastings is a 20" barrel but they are hard to come by here in Canada. TradeEx is out of stock:

https://www.tradeexcanada.com/content/hastings-barrel-remington-870-12ga-3-20-scope-mount-slug--

For Remington cantilever barrels ... you can order them from Gravel Agency ... However, it might take 3 month for the barrel to arrive as it happened to me with one barrel.

Here is one that is 20 inches:
https://store.onlinecamp.com/en/replacement-parts-oem/remington/shotguns/model-870/3-barrel-assembly/f242441-bbl-12-20-fr-cant-n-s-sp-deer-matte-fully-rifled-bbl.html

And one more thing ... rifled slug barrels are very very ammo sensitive ... and each barrel is different. Be prepared to spend quite a bit of money on different sabots from different manufacturers ... and the time to test those ... and in order to find a combination that you can shoot accurately out to 150 meters.

Hope this helps ....
Faustus
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I've been searching and hadn't come across these 20" barrels. I think you may have just solved which barrel I will be getting. I've shot many sabots and know all too well how expensive it is finding the ammo your gun likes. With my 20 gauge I get 2-3" groups at 100 yards, but if I switch to something else the groups have grown up to 10".


ninepointer said:
For dogging I would use a fully rifled barrel with iron sights, shooting sabot slugs. This will cover everything from deer right on top of you to those typical woods shots (30-60 yards). It will also allow you to reach out a bit to take those deer that walk out into a field.

IMO, if you choose to only shoot buckshot through a full or mod smooth-bore, you will kick yourself when that big buck stops to stare at you at 60 yards.

I would NOT mix buckshot and slugs in a smooth-bore iron-sighted slug barrel. The lack of choke will significantly limit buckshot range due to poor patterns.
Click to expand...

I'll be using sabots, no rifled slugs or buckshot. I'm comfortable shooting out to 100 yards with iron sights and have no problem shooting "minute of deer", but in low light and thick brush it's much easier getting on target with a red dot. I wasn't a fan of using rifled sights in the past so I need a red dot or other optic for longer shots.

freddyfour said:
Same situation as you a few years ago and ended up ditching the 870 altogether and going with the Savage 220. I dropped a Leupold 1-4 on it and haven't looked back. It gives the traditional bolt gun feel and with the 1-4 still gives you good close range/dogging capabilities and works well out to the 150-200 range.

I believe we probably hunt in very similar areas;)
Click to expand...

My original idea was a 220 with red dot, but as mentioned I haven't used a bolt for fast shooting before and anyone who has been on a deer drive knows you need to unload as quickly as possible sometimes. I suppose I could just play with one of my bolt guns to see how comfortable I am shooting quickly.

If you're in Brant County you likely know exactly what type of hunting I am talking about and why I am having trouble finding the best gun to cover everything. You likely know at least one guy in my new group as they and their families have been around here for years. Roughly what area of the county do you live/hunt? Maybe we're neighbors....
 
Originally I hunted in 87E on the east end out past Cainsville off Mcbay rd, that's where our family farm is. Now I hunt out in 90B around Burford but sometimes end up south in the agreement bushes.
 
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