Re: bolt action slug guns
As I have no experience with the 210, 212, or the 220, I would recommend you do a internet wide search titled "reviews of savage 212 or 220 slug guns" or worded similarly. I am also extreamly interested in buying a Savage 212 with accutrigger, as the new 12ga A-bolt is a little pricey and I already have a first run A-Bolt I bought for half the present asking price.
If money were not a issue I would buy the A-Bolt hands down. It is with out a doubt the finest production slug gun ever made and I am willing to bet it would be on par with the Tar-hunt. My A-Bolt slug gun is a walnut stocked blued model and I will tell you it simply screams craftsmenship as it's fit and finish is excellent, and it has a easy to adjust trigger. I just might work a few weeks of HD/OT and buy one any way.
I would love to get the synthetic stocked model.
As far as swapping stocks, to my limited knowledge there are no drop in stocks available OTC for any Savage bolt slug gun which means a new stock would require custom work of modifying a stock and that could be quite costly. Remember the Savage has a detachable mag, this fact would most likely IMHO, make swapping stocks a pricey proposition, unless you could get a stock with a blind magazine to work. Considering the Savage already costs $469-$500 W/O optics the cost of getting a stock to fit could easily place you in the same price range as the A-Bolt.
Personally if it were me before i spent any more $$$, I would see first if BH209 worked well in your ML. It works awesome in my Encore. BH209 gave me not only my best ever groups out of my Encore, but it gave me the most important aspect of any rifle, CONSISTANTCY!
As I own a Savage 10ML-II smokeless ML, and a Encore 209x50 ML using BH209, are both more accurate than any OTC slug gun and in the case of my 10ML-II that has a effective range that is at least 100yrds beyond any production slug gun, the only reason I still hunt with my slug guns is I simply can not bring myself to let them collect dust in my safe. The fact I still have several 100 12ga sabot slugs might also have something to do with why I still hunt with them.
Hope this was helpful,
Arthur.
Re: bolt action slug guns
Wouldn't hesitate for a second to recommend the Savage 220 or 212 bolt slug guns . Just got the 212 in and it is awesome, Hornady SST's ,2 3/4" are shooting 2" or less at 200 yds !!! Clean after 6 rounds . I will try to find a 3" slug so that I can reach out a " bit " farther but need more time . The 20 guage shoots the same way ( girlfriend claimed it ) , have dropped deer out to 220 yds with it .Leupold Ultimate Slam scope on top and you're in business . Had the Mossberg 835 Ulti-Mag deer/turkey combo before , the slug barrel shot well but couldn't hold a candle to the Savage at distance. Hope this helps .
Re: bolt action slug guns
I just gave up on slugs. I had an H and R 20ga and have an 11-87. I greww tired of paying the increasing slug prices for so-so performance. I now have a Savage Striker and love it. Way more accurate than any slug gun and cheaper to shoot.
Re: bolt action slug guns
WBV,
Have you experienced any problems ejecting fired shells with your 212? And approx about how many fired shells have you ejected from your 212 so far? I place little faith in hear say on the internet as in "I heard from a friend of a friend" type of statements, but I have been hearing some information that the 212 has had issues with ejecting spent shells.
Some of the explanations I have read for the cause of this "suposed" problem are one of the two fallowing:
#1-Not cycling the 212's bolt compleatly and with enough force, easy fix.
#2-The spent shells while being ejected can be stoped by coming into contact with a one peice scope base, also a easy fix by using a two peice scope base.
Just like to here your experience on this.
Thanks,
Arthur.
Re: bolt action slug guns
I can't answer your questions pertaining to the 212 but I do have one of the 220's.
1. Yes, cycle the bolt like you mean it! It ain't gonna hurt it.
2. I haven't had any issues with the one piece base on mine. The issue I saw was mounting the scope too low causing the spent shell to hit the windage scope cap. I put a Warne Tactical base and Burris Sig Zee high rings on mine......problem solved. Be sure to space the rings apart far enough as well. Oh, scope is a Nikon 3-9 Slughunter.
I did bed the front pillar/recoil lug area on mine with devcon. Not sure if it helped accuracy, but my barrel was slightly off to one side in the stock so I bedded it to correct that issue. There is so little contact area at the rear pillar, I didn't bother messing with it.
My 220 prefers the 2 3/4" Remington Accutips. The 3" were also good but a slight accuracy edge went to the 2 3/4's. I've shot several different brands too. I've shot 3 or 4 does since I got mine at ranges from 20-125 yards. All shots have been well placed and the Remington slug really does a number on 'em.
Like others, I wish factory slugs were a little more consistent for the price. I would like to load my own but time is limited so I haven't gone down that road yet. I have found that buying several boxes of the same lot number does help...if ya get a box with a different lot, chances are it won't shoot the same!
Here's a sight in target from last year:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...1115001218.jpg
Re: bolt action slug guns
art10ml-II yes black horn 209 works very well in ML, i was hesatent to buy a ML never using one but if performed flawlessly i sat and shot 35 rounds through it one day just to see how accurate it was and w/o having to spit patch and letting the gun cool the 35th sabot was just as easy going down the tube as th first one. It had a 22is length barrel and would stuff 3 tc shock wave 250 grainers and 90 grains of bh209 in the same hole @100 yards I bought a new cva optima this year and have got to work up a load for it i ove the bh209 its just a pita to deal with in the field. I was just wondering
Trappst i had read some reviews and had heard that you gotta use it like ya got a pair, but thinking about it thats a pretty dang big case to pull out and cycle like a rifle. they seem to be great guns after my experience with "lightning"= (junk) i am sticking with my smoke pole this year and may buy a bolt gun for next years season too many gun projects in the works.
snow getter i agree completely if im gonna spend 15.99-20.99 on 5 shots they better damn well be made to spec and i got a (shotgun) pattern at best thats why i went with another optima i cant use a slug gun for anything but killing deer so why pay $500 for a slug gun thats gonna sit but for 2 weeks when i can buy a $300 ML that i can hunt with in 2 seasons WAY cheaper to shoot and 10x more accurate!!! its all about economics to me if it sits and save me 200 bucks plus i get an extra 2 weeks to use it and its more accurate thats why i did what i did. maybe later for poops and gigs ill get one but not yet.
Re: bolt action slug guns
Quickkill,
I know what you mean. I have a Encore 209x50 and a 10ML-II. I shoot BH209 out of my Encore and smokeless out of my 10ML-II and get accuracy with both that makes me simply wince with pain every time I shell out $10 for a box of sabot slugs.
I do get quite good accuracy from my two fave slug guns, a Marlin 512 and a Browning A-Bolt. Had the 512 bedded, muzzle re-crowned and a trigger job the first year I got it waaaay back in the early 90's. Both will shoot day in day out 1.5" 3-shot 100yrd groups, but not even my A-Bolt the finest production slug gun ever made, can give me consistant MOA or sub-moa groups like my Encore and 10ML-II can. And in the case of my 10ML-II shooting 245 grain Spit Fires I get around 2650fps with my load of choice.
Like I have said before if I did not have so many sabot slugs, I would hunt almost exclusively with my MLs.
Arthur.
