A Shotgun As The Best Deer Rifle?

06/02/2024 – I work in a horse barn, or at least scaled down horse barn. It is weathering in the middle of the woods, but otherwise well maintained. The floor is made up of long runs of finished and sealed 2″x8″ pine plank. The walls are rough sawn lumber below the wainscot, the ceiling is vaulted with cross beams, and interior temperature and humidity is controlled.

The shop is crowded, but within there are guns & ammo, a place to do photo shoots, a reloading area, a bench top machine shop, filled book cases, and a Linux workstation.  Located across the driveway from the house, the shop is a sanctuary. Last week it got its annual perimeter clearing, insecticide bath and interior spring cleaning.

Yes, the house is also in the woods. I finally got the last of the compost and fertilizer down for flowers, shrubs, decorative trees, and fruit trees. The house also got an insecticide bath. The lawn is mostly green, if a bit scruffy like a farm lawn. Lots of hummingbirds, songbirds, woodpeckers, deer, fox, raccoons, bobcat, etc. It is a lot of manual labor, but the work feels good.

My kids ask me why I haven’t put the house on the market. They suggest I could live with them. I could have my own room and privacy. God bless them, they are good people. But my wife and I spent our lives being independent, and taking care of ourselves. More to the point, this is my home.

My wife would always smile at me when we worked together on home projects. She always made me feel appreciated, even for the little projects, even when she worked along side me, and clearly did the thinking. Now, I do the work for the coffee. Just at sunset, exhausted but relaxed, I sit out on the porch, sip a cup of coffee, and enjoy the summer quiet.

Are slug guns an expression of hunter honesty?

I do not write about shotguns very often. Interesting operating systems, unique designs and specialize ammunition do sometimes draw my attention. In use, skeet, trap and other forms of competitive shooting have held my attention, in aggregate, for approximately five and one half hours over the course of my life.

Upland bird hunting leaves me… confused. I would be concerned that my misidentification would lead to collateral songbird damage. Hell, I had to put a camera and software in one of my bird feeders just to identify its patrons. Perhaps, when birds weight one hundred pounds field dressed, I may reconsider.

Slug guns are a way of life in some states that restrict hunters from using conventional rifles, or rifles utilizing bottleneck cartridges. The truth is, ballistically speaking, they would be an ideal firearm in most woodland hunting areas. Why deal with the shock, awe and expense of a high power rifle, tuned and outfitted for 500 yard shooting, when the longest line of sight in your hunting environment is less than 100 yards?

The Savage M220 slug gun. A gun for the pragmatic hunter?

OK, not quite as it comes out of the box, but very close. The… seasoned scope and rings are mine, the rail comes preinstalled on the gun. The high comb is supplied as part of the accessory kit packaged with the rifle, however, a lower comb is preinstalled.

Yes, I did refer to the subject firearm as a slug gun, gun, rifle and, now, a firearm…. the enigma that it is. The M220 is a bolt action, twin locking lugs and all. The barrel is button rifled and the receiver, drilled and tapped for optical sight bases, is fitted with a Picatinny rail. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck…

But there is the ammo; brass based plastic hulls. If that doesn’t raise shotgun suspicions, I don’t know does! But there is no shot, just a singular, sub bore diameter projectile, strapped to a plus size sabot. Now that sound French. I think we’ll refer to the subject firearm as a slug shooting rifle, and call it a day. No, wait, it’s definitely not a day…

While Savage Arms splits its firearm production amongst Lakefield, Ontario, Wakefield, Massachusetts and Sun City Machinery Co.,LTD
Rizhao City, China, the Savage 220 is manufactured in Massachusetts. All locations are politically very similar, geographically significantly different.

That is one BAB…

The bolt presents a dual extractor, flat breech face, which also serves as a bolt guide. Just aft are the Rotating twin locking lugs. Bolt lift is 90°. I would not classify feed as slick, but I would classify it as smooth. A function of large diameter, 20 gauge plastic hulls, large surface area friction and chamber walls. Extraction is the same, however, a little end of travel effort is necessary to cleanly eject. Not bad, just a little different for those used to brass cartridges.

Quietly safe

The tang safety is three position: forward as pictured – Fire, mid position – trigger blocked but bolt can be cycled, fully back – trigger blocked and bolt locked closed breech. There is a protruding cocked indicator in the center of the bolt shroud.

Look familiar?

The Savage 220 utilizes the Savage 110 long receiver, which was introduced in the late 1950s. Hey, if it ain’t broke… The fact the M220 is built like a rifle contributed greatly to its accuracy.

The two round box magazine protrudes down a bit, but should not be an issue for anyone that… holds a rifle like shotgun properly. The aft portion of the ejection port is opened to clear the 20 gauge’s 0.766″ rim.

Hey, Joe, what’s with the scope? Honestly, I decided a scope would be useful for checking the gun’s accuracy, and the best approach to minimize the effects of my eyesight and other optical type sight’s limitations. So I reached into the scope cabinet, fished around, and this is what I found in my hand.

The polymer magazine snapped in and out easily, but locked solidly in place. This M220 has a bolt release button at the front of the trigger guard and an adjustable AccuTrigger and AccuRelease. The AccuTrigger can be adjusted down to as low as 2.5 lbs. The AccuRelease in the trigger face prevents drop jarring trigger release.

Adjusting slug gun to shooter, not shooter to gun…

As a members of the take this ten pound rifle and learn to adapt generation, the number of shooter accommodations provided is mind boggling. OK, maybe mildly curious, but still… The AccuFit system provides a choice of five comb heights and three length of pull spacers.

 

If you have ever had to stretch your hand to fully engage a trigger, or fold your arm like a chicken wing to accommodate a too short length of pull, or have your head bounce around like a bobble head doll without cheek support, this is a nice feature.

Put a scope on the Picatinny rail, even with low mounts, it takes a high comb to place center of eye with a scope optical center. I tried mounting a brush guarded red dot and the circumstances were about the same.

20 Gauge for large game…

With 1,000 ft. lbs. considered sufficient kinetic energy at point of contact with big game, even the 2 3/4″ Remington Accutip 20 Gauge 260 grain slug load comfortably exceeds that criteria at 100 yards with 1129 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy. Muzzle velocity is 1850 fps, muzzle energy is 1976 ft. lbs..

The Savage 220 can also handle 3″ 20 gauge, which bumps MV to 1900 fps and ME t0 2084 ft. lbs. 100 yard performance is 1437 fps and 1192 ft. lbs. For me, the performance is so comparable, I would probably go with the 2 3/4″ load with reduced recoil.

How about accuracy? Below, center to center, that is a 0.75″ group. I don’t know about you, but the Savage 220’s accuracy impressed the heck out of me. I grew up in the smooth bore, rifled slug era when 5″ was shotgun bench rest shooting. No, there was no such thing as shotgun bench rest shooting for dramatic effect, but 5″ smooth bore slug 100 yard groups were a fact.

Overall

I have been listening to Duffy and Shanice Green to mellow out before writing the conclusion. Cannot imagine what it would be like walking around with that kind talent… or any kind of talent.

The Savage 220 is an excellent slug gun with, in today’s inflation infused state, a more than reasonable price tag. Performance wise, the gun is aces. Fit and finish are of good quality, even if devoid of fancy attributes. It is a hunter’s slug gun, so the priorities Savage assigned to this model are correct; accuracy, reliability, longevity, good aesthetics.