RiverBottomBowHunter

I am going to buy an H&R shotgun for deer hunting this year. This gun is not for me, its for my girlfriend. does anyone else shoot these guns.

My question-

which shoots better, the 20 or the 12.
I would like to get a 20, so she can handle the recoil better. Is there any downside to the 20?


thanks for the rplies.

slugman

do your girlfriend a favor , buy the 20 ga youth model. I have the 12ga slug gun and it weighs almost 11lbs. Plus , if she is small the kick will knock her over in the 12ga.

BOWHUNTERCOP

The 20ga. will do the job on deer just as well as a 12ga. that little 20ga. is great, buy it you will both love it

RiverBottomBowHunter

I've heard that these guns with the bull barrel will shoot very accuratly. What do you think the effective range of the 20 is. I'm not looking for long ranges but would like to be really accurate out to maybe 80 yrds.

DearSlayer357

If she won't like the recoil of a 12ga go with the 20ga I have killed deer with a 20 ga

270 win.

i have a h and r in the 20 and it is a great little gun it is very light so watch putting a 3 inch mag in it. try 2 3/4

uncle matt

Got both the 12 Deluxe and a standard 20 here.

Two things you don't have to even wonder about with the 20 are the accuracy and the 3-inchers kick.

I believe the first year (or two) of the H&R it was only available in 20 and that the 20 established the accuracy reputation as a "tack driver".

100 yards is really nothing for these guns in 20. It's all 1-2-3. Just do your practice time, know your sight-in, drop etc. and you'll (she'll) be fine. Remember, most importantly, to establish your "baseline" with the same ammo you'll hunt with. One of the biggest mistakes guys make that cost them the meat is to switch ammo and believe "ammo is ammo".

Although the 20 is certainly capable of easily taking down even the biggest bruiser with a well placed shot I shoot the 12. I believe that the bigger slug gives me two advantages over my son's 20. First is that the 12 has much more powerful ammo and ammo selection than the 20 and increases my effective range. Second, the larger, harder hitting slug gives me a little more room for error. Haven't needed any room for error yet, but it's nice to know it's there. Like when I'm driving, I don't use much of the available horsepower, but it IS there if I need it.

If you pick up the 20, you might want to try the 3" Remington Copper Solids. I picked up ALOT of these on clearance at our local K-Mart store's who were not going to sell firearms any longer. Paid like $3 or $4 a box and hit every K-Mart around here for like 50 miles. I cannot tell you how happy I was with their accuracy on our first shooting session! And we have enough around here to practice a bit prior to season and hunt with for many years to come.

My 12 gets a steady diet of Brenneke slugs. 3" Golds for hunting fields/field edges and
2 3/4" for closer encounters.

I believe that if you purchase one for her it will be one firearm purchase you will make that you will immediately feel great about your choice. Then the next question will be...............how long til you get one?!?!?!

Uncle Matt (in IL)

RiverBottomBowHunter

Thanks uncle matt!

Does the 12 deluxe kick much harder than the 20? If not much difference, than that is the one I would like to get. What scope did you put on it?

In all truththis gun is for my girlfriend to shoot. But I'm sure I'll play with it(the gun) once in a while. I've taken her bowhunting 3 times last year, and every time we saw a good buck, if not 2 or 3. So naturally she thinks hunting is easy. She really liked it, so I decided to let her gun hunt one year, just to see what she thinks about it. During gun season I'm just going to be the cameraman. I'm sure she will probably shoot my big buck this year, she is lucky like that. Her grandpa, and 3 uncles have all killed bucks that gross 190 in the last 4 years. So its on her blood.

uncle matt

I personally don't feel the 12 kicks much. The recoil pad on the H&R's is the most absorbing I've ever seen-absolutely awesome.

Both our 12 & 20 have Simmons 4X scopes. My 12 has the Pro-Diamond recticle which is really cool because the diamond in the middle represents 14 inches at 100 yards, so it's like a range finder if you estimate the deers body size, even closely. The 20 has the regular recticle. Never had a problem with either of these scopes. If you look around you can find the Pro-Diamond scopes for like $50 new.

Back to the kick of the 12. When I first bought it the scope was supposed to be bore sighted and I bought alot of the old style Remington Copper Solids in 3 inch Mag and finished out the shop's stock. Paid 13.95 a box for them. I went to the range to dial it in and they had to have BS'd me about the bore sighting. I shot more than 15 boxes of ammo before I could even get close to a "group". I was po'd badly and went back to complain-they gave me a store credit, but no cash. Those old style 3 inch Copper Solids shot well back then, but since the change (smaller hollow point) they don't agree with this gun. Anyway, after all the shooting I was driving home and said to myself, "Self, you didn't think too well, shooting all those rounds in one session, you are not going to be able to move your arm tomorrow."

Well next morning I didn't feel like I'd been shooting at all.

Uncle Matt (in IL)

lou-lou

I'd go with the 20ga first then to a 12ga over a period of time