1187 20 Ga. Sportsman

[stomponit]

Hey all,
Recently purchased an 1187 20 Ga. sportsman for deer season. I know what a lot of you are thinking, A 20 GA.? Yep. Plenty enough power to take down a NY whitetail. Besides, its all about shot placement anyway. A 22 will do the job with the right shot placement. Anyway, couple of questions. Any recommendations for slugs? Sabots of coarse. I'm so use to 12 Ga. that I'm not real up to date on 20's. The gun came with a rifled cantilever barrel but I'd really like to find a FRRS barrel in matte finish for it. Not much available. With the lack of hunters these days in NY, I tend to do a lot of stalking {run and gun} after the firest couple days of the season when the deer are a little harder to find. Shot's tend to be up close and personal. Open sights let me aquire the target quicker than optics and provide for a quicker follow up shot if necessary especially with the semi. I guess one other option would be a different type of scope. All I have ever used were cross hair type so I'm not to familiar with any thing else like say red dot. Not sure how much you gain with something like that or if there is another type of optic that might fit my needs. Something for heavy cover, close shots, and running deer which seems to be what NY whitetails do after opening day. Anyway, any comments, helpful hints or even critisisms greatly apreciated. Even the latter. Have a great day.

[Phoneman]

I work at a gun store part time and we're seeing a-lot of people going for a 20 ga. as there slug gun. So don't feel bad. less recoil for that follow up shot.  I've had very good luck with Hornady stp. But most 12 ga. slugs have a 20 ga. brother. Buy a couple different brands and find out what your gun likes. A red dot or green dot might be the way to go if you don't get a barrel with open sights. Good luck.

[NYH1]

My father bought me a Remington 11-87 Sportsman 12 ga. with a fully rifled 21" cantilever scope mount barrel.  In return I gave him my Remington 11-87 Premier 20 ga. with a 26" field barrel. He bought a fully rifled 21" cantilever scope mount barrel for it.  I wanted the 12 ga. because it will be more effective for hunting other things like duck, goose, turkey and coyote.  He is only going to hunt deer and maybe some other small game nothing as large as duck, goose, turkey and coyote. 

I prefer a scope so I went with a Leupold VXII 2-7x33mm Shotgun Scope.  He's going to put a Leupold on his 20 ga. as well.  I still have to get a 28" field barrel.  I'm also going to get a 21" barrel with rifle sights.  I saw one at Gander Mountain with the matte finish to match my gun.  It has a smooth bore with choke tubes which I think is neat.  I can use an improved cylinder choke tube for shooting shot, buckshot and foster style slugs which I do for fun.  I could use a rifled choke tube and use something like the Remington Buck hammer slugs.

If all I was going to do was hunt deer, I would have stayed with a 20 ga. myself.  Matter of fact I'll probably end up using my fathers 20 ga. a lot.  The 20 ga. is nice when on the move.  You did good my friend.  Try Winchester Partition Golds, Remington Ultra Bonded Core-Lokt, Hornady SST and Federal Barnes sabot slugs.  A lot of guys I know use Remington Copper Solid and Winchester Platinum Tip slugs with good luck as well.  So far my gun seems to like the Remingtons Ultra bonded Core-Lokt.