Good deal for hunting shotgun?

[Bruenor]

Hello everyone.

I'm wanting to get a shotgun to go deer hunting with my brother this year. A friend of mine recently saw a Mossberg 12 gauge bolt-action rifled shotgun (two round detachable magazine) with a scope for around $250 at his local gun shop. Now, I really don't know anything about shotguns and less about hunting, but I'm thinking about getting this as my deer gun. Any thoughts? Would this be a good deer gun, and as long as it is in decent condition, is this a good price? I'd like some thoughts before I spend half a tank of gas to go look at it.

Since I'm sure people will ask, I live in Indiana, so shotguns are typically what's used around here for hunting. I could use my .44 magnum lever action, but I really don't want to scope that.

Thanks in advance for the comments and advice.

[Rupestris]

What type of land will you be hunting? Open fields? Heavy woods?

Here in Michigan, on public land, you are hard pressed to find a shooting lane more than 75yds. Smooth bore will work fine. If you're hunting a farm, a rifled bbl might offer you some added distance.

That Mossberg would be limited in use. I'd look for one of the Remington or Mossberg Combos that come with a smooth bore and a rifled barrel. That way you have a gun for other sports like clays, waterfowl, turkey and others that you might take interest in later.

Chris

[Bruenor]

Rupestris,

I'm not sure what type of land I'll be hunting on. Could be fields, could be forest. I do have a Winchester 12 gauge smooth bore that I bought first for home defense, and I could use that for deer, and also later for turkey and other hunting. But, when I may get one chance for a deer, I'd like to make the most of it, hence why I thought that a rifled barrel with scope would be my best bet.

[Bruenor]

I normally don't bump threads, but I'd like to make my decision before tomorrow on this, and would like more opinions.

Thanks.

[ArmedBear]

Hard to beat $250 for a scoped rifle - that's what this is, really, a rifle that chambers 12 Gauge slugs.

It'd cost you that much to put a deer barrel on the Winchester, and more for a scope. How's the scope, anyway?

[Bruenor]

I'm not sure about the scope since I haven't seen it myself yet, but I trust my friend enough to believe that it's in good working condition. Not sure on the magnification though.

[JShirley]

I shot my largest deer with a scoped shotgun for which I paid many times what you're going to pay.

I'd go for it, unless you anticipate regularly taking shots over 125 meters away.

See if you can get them to either drop the price $25, or throw in three or four boxes of sabot slugs.

John

[Moonclip]

What model Mossberg? What brand of scope?

[Virginian]

Ah, bolt action Mossberg. Brings back distant (and I do mean distant - like 48 years) memories. I can tell you they do work. Not worth a hoot for wingshooting, but they will flat kill a squirrel, or a rabbit.

[Floppy_D]

Sounds like a very inexpensive solution. Some slug barrels go for that much. If you don't like it, you can easily sell it for what you paid.

[ArmedBear]

I wouldn't worry about the magnification. I was just asking if the scope seemed to work and hold zero.

Does sound like a good choice for your kind of deer hunting.

(Here, deer are sparse, and so is vegetation, so it's very different.)

[Bruenor]

Thanks everyone. It sounds like this may be worth $10 in gas to check out. I'll head out there later this week and see if it's worth buying.

[B.D. Turner]

Just use the .44 magnum and be happy. The .44 is a good deer rifle and will give you far more accuracy and range than a shotgun.