Handgunhuntr
I used the 20 ga slug barrel last year to kill a nice buck in my home state of Indiana. I bought the barrel from Ed's and put it on a frame that I wasn't using. I mounted a 4X Weaver scope on it using a Weaver Base a Weaver 4 x 4 extended rings. I hunt from fixed ladder stands with seats that get smaller as my butt gets bigger and I wanted a shorter gun that would be easier to handle in the stand. The 20 ga slug barrel did that well. The deer passed behind me and I had to stand up and turn around to get the shot. At around 100 yards the Winchester slug broken both front legs and the deer went down hard. The barrel does have a measure of recoil and some brands of slug shoot better than others. Accuracy was good but not as good as my Savage 210F 12 ga. I had never really had a lot of confidence in a 20 ga before last year but this year I will use it again to see if I can repeat the performance of last year.
As for slugs, when the Remington's first came out several years ago I purchased maybe 10-12 boxes in 12 ga. I used these up in the Savage and they killed and shot very well in my gun. I then purchased another 10-12 boxes and checked accuracy before season started. The second batch did not shoot any where near the point of impact as the first group and the accuracy was not quit as good.
I just purchased a 20 ga cantilevered Hastings barrel for a 1100 Remington auto loader and they cautioned against using the early Remington 20 ga sabot slugs in their barrels. I know of no such warning for the Encore barrels, which appear to be much heavier made than the Hastings.
