Rubicon,
I agree with the majority of other folks in that a semi sure takes alot of the punch out of shooting slugs but I certainly would not discount a good pump or bolt gun.
I have been shooting a 12ga. Browning BPS with a Hastings fully-rifled cantilevered barrel along with a Leupold VX11 shotgun scope. As Fabs has already mentioned with respect to the one piece unit and point of zero, it makes swapping barrels a piece of cake. I mainly use this shotgun as a back-up and or for friends on birds and upland game. It has been proficient at helping me fill my freezer with does during shotgun season.
Last year while slinging some arrows at a local archery/gun shop, I came across a used Savage Model 210F Slug Hunter and after checking with two different employees at the shop (just to ensure that I wasn't losing my mind or eyesight
) picked it up for a song. It's a 12 ga. 3" bolt action shotgun with a 24" free floated-button rifled barrel that is drilled & tapped for a scope. It's got a very crisp trigger along with a heavy rubber recoil pad. The internal mag capacity is 2+ 1 in the pipe. It's nothing fancy -actually pretty ugly but very, very accurate. What I picked up as a back-up, climbed it's way to the top of the batting order pretty quickly!
These aren't that expensive-even new. I've since seen them on sale at BPS for something like $239.00 or that ballpark. Don't let the price fool you-it's alot of gun for the money.
It's not as smooth as a semi but is manageable for a couple of range outings a season along with a few quality hunts for a fraction of the cost. Give em a looksie
