new to deer hunting

[jefflldo]

Hi all,
new to the forum and have been meaning to get out deer hunting for the last few years but just haven't been able to. I'm in Ohio and as a result am not able to use a rifle. My question is this. Would I be better off using a Remington 870 with a smooth bore IC 30" barrel or my 357 6" barrel and a 158gr jhp? I don't plan on anything more than 50 to 75 yard shots and it doesn't need to be a big buck either. The wife and kids have no desire to see a new hat rack in the house.

Thanks

[jefflldo]

Let me correct myself, I just double checked and the 870 barrel is a modified choke.

[Squirrelhawker]

Depends. I'm not a handgun guy but a rig with a 6" barrel doesn't sound like an optimum set-up right out of the gate. Open sights? Even good size deer start to look small past 50 yards.
 
I would vote for the 870. Get a couple different boxes of slugs designed for smooth barrels and experiment. Use a good rest, sand bags,etc.
 
This is most likely not a scenario good much past 50-60 yards without some real effort and planning. Do yourself a favor and get some scouting done so you have some high percentage, close range sits planned. Use the wind and the cover. Maybe even make some blinds.

[nhdeerchaser]

If it were me, I would get a rifled barrel for that 870, scope it, thus extending your range out to 100 yards.
The downside is that you are gonna have to try a few different shotgun sabots to see what your shotgun likes.
Good luck, I hope this helps!

Mike

[jefflldo]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I'll just end up spending another 20 over the cost of a barrel and get a Mossberg w/slug barrel already on it or another 40 over and get a thompson black powder.

[shaman]

ORIGINAL: jefflldo

Hi all,
new to the forum and have been meaning to get out deer hunting for the last few years but just haven't been able to. I'm in Ohio and as a result am not able to use a rifle. My question is this. Would I be better off using a Remington 870 with a smooth bore IC 30" barrel or my 357 6" barrel and a 158gr jhp? I don't plan on anything more than 50 to 75 yard shots and it doesn't need to be a big buck either. The wife and kids have no desire to see a new hat rack in the house.

Thanks

Go with the 870.  Try Rem 12 GA Sluggers.  You should be able to keep them on a pie plate at 50 yards.  If you need help with sights, you can try something like this for starters:


[url=http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0012804223319a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&No=18&Ntk=Products&QueryText=shotgun+sight&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1]
Truglo® Slug Series Shotgun Sights [/url]

Most deer taken guys on this forum are taken within 60 yards.  Deer hunting is a remarkably short-range sport.  A slug gun at that distance works great. I'm from Ohio and hunted there for may years.

[rem700]

Some state you need a small arms (pistol) stamp. to hunt with a pistol.

[shaman]

You don't in Ohio.  

[jefflldo]

Thanks shaman and rem700,
I tried the federal power shok and the vital shok along with Benneke K.O. slugs and all of them pretty much had a 5 shot group of 3"by5" at 30 paces. Someone else suggested the sluggers also and next chance I get this week I'll get a box of those and try them.

[B3N1706]

jeff, is it a rem. 870 12 or 20 gauge? I have an 870 20 gauge smooth bore I used to use for deer and my brother has an 870 12 gauge smooth bore. IF you have a 20 gauge, I have had nothing but good groups from the cheap remington 20 gauge sluggers. If you have a 12 gauge smooth bore then I'm not much help, the cheap sluggers by remington for it are acceptable out to 50 yds, but flip of the coin past that. Like an earlier person said, get a rifled barrel and it'll really extend your range. I hunt in ohio and my deer gun is a mossberg 500 12 gauge w/ a marine coated rifled barrel by mossberg. It shoots the hornady sst's out to 200 yds with near rifle accuracy. Just somethin to think about.