Rifled 20 Magnum pump action; opinion needed

[Onty]

Rifled 20 Magnum pump action; opinion/suggestion needed!

First, background and conditions.

About 25 years ago I was on a range, shooting revolvers, when gentleman came with 20 Magnum pump gun, rifled barrel, adjusting scope. Range was 100 meters (110 yds), and after some adjustment, his final group, 4 rounds, was about 2". I was blown away! That's a very nice group even for a good hunting rifle.

I never been shotgun guy, last time I used one was more than 30 years. Hunting wild boars, I was using rifle only. However, the bush in hunting area in my native region became very dense, making shooting distance 100 meters maximum. So, when discussing with my hunting buddies, we started thinking about using shotguns. Most use 12 gauge, but when I show them ballistics of 20 Magnum gauge slug (21 gram at 560 m/s, or 324 grains at 1837 fps https://en.calameo.com/read/003950893adfd959dd73d , page 62, "CARTRIDGES WITH SINGLE SLUGS FOR SHOTGUNS - PLAST), some became quite intrigued. Note: on wild boars, just single slugs are permitted, no multi slugs or buck shot.

For bit longer ranges, we would like to go with single barrel shotguns (pump or semi-auto) that could be scoped with low power scope or some sort of red dot (most of us are retirees, or close to be retired), and in that respect, we would prefer rifled shotgun. However, we have some limits; semi-auto shotguns are limited to just 2 rounds in magazine. So, I am suggesting to consider pump action guns, in that case magazine could have up to 5 rounds.

Anyhow, since none of us have any experience with pump action rifled shotguns, we would appreciate if some of you, with knowledge and first hand experience with those firearms, could suggest some guns:

- Pump action shotgun, rifled barrel
- 12 Magnum and 20 Magnum
- Would prefer guns with solid, dependable attachment of barrel to receiver
- What about barrel length, would be 24" OK?
- since we are talking about driven hunt, what would be preferred optical sight; low power scope, red dot, etc
- Any other suggestion

Thanks, Onty

 

[cdb1]

I’m not trying to be difficult but drop the term magnum. It’s 20 gauge and 12 gauge. Any 20 or 12 gauge pump will handle 3” shells unless it’s pretty old or possibly a dedicated trap or skeet shotgun. There are any number of companies making shotguns that are drilled and tapped or have cantilever barrels to mount an optic on. For a slug gun I’d prefer a 20 gauge. 22” or 24” barrel would be good.

For optics a low powered variable or red dot is what most people use. I don’t believe a variable scope has to be a true 1x at the low end, 1.5 or 2x would work fine.

All of the above is just my opinion.

Two more thoughts. First, I haven’t researched it by I bet 12 gauge rifled barrels are quite a bit more available than 20 gauge. Second, I believe as a whole a Savage bolt action shotgun will the majority of the time be more accurate than a pump or break action.
https://www.savagearms.com/content?p=firearms&a=product_summary&s=57377

 

[earlthegoat2]

I have been a shotgun hunter since I was ever a hunter.

A 20 ga slug is a more than capable hunting round for medium game like deer and boars. A sabot slug, from a rifled barrel is usually better in terms of both accuracy and penetration in game.

The best single barrel repeating rifled shotgun for sabot slug shooting in my opinion is the Ithaca Deerslayer II. It has a fixed barrel to the receiver. It is light and VERY accurate. And expensive and may not be available where you are from which I presume is Europe.

However, good semi auto and pump shotguns can be had from many manufacturers. My personal 20 ga pump shotgun is a Browning BPS with cantilever scope mount barrel. Cantilever scope mounts allow the sighting optic to be hard mounted to the barrel which is more resistant to the barrel moving in relation to the receiver if the optic is mounted to the receiver. This is not a problem with the Ithaca Deerslayer II mentioned earlier as the barrel is permanently affixed to the receiver on that one.

Remington 1100s, 11-87s, and 870s as well as Mossberg 500s are all capable slug shooting platforms if equipped correctly and sighted in with a variety of ammo to get best groups. Many sabot slugs will only hold 2-5” groups at 100. 2” is uncommon but can happen with careful ammo experimentation.

Shotgun slugs are expensive though so finding the right ammo can cost a lot.

I have to ask, why shotguns? I like them a whole lot but concede they are somewhat mediocre compared to some other options. For instance, I have a 450 Bushmaster I use as my primary rifle cartridge. I have an AR15 and Ruger bolt action chambered with it. Hornady 250 gr SST 20 ga slugs use the exact same bullet as the 450 bushmaster 250 gr FTX but it is going several hundred FPS faster out of the 450 BM and is usually 1” at 100 yds groups.

 

[Onty]

Thank you for very informative answers, especially about Ithaca Deerslayer. Yeah, another way is to get 45-70. Hard to believe, but ammo is available in Europe. However, rifles are costly, 1500-1900 euros. Will check few websites in case more affordable used one comes up.