I live in slug only territory . I hunted deer with a 20 gauge. My best deer/slug gun was an old Stevens Model 620 with a shorted barrel. Sweated on a set of Remington sights. This gun liked Remington slugs. It shot amazingly well and would (no kidding) shoot 3 shot groups with all three holes touching each other at 50 yards. A friend of mine begged to buy it and since I didn't hunt every year I sold it. (like a dummy). A few years later I ended up buying a Remington 1100 standard 20 gauge and actually found a factory slug barrel for it. I bought 6 brands of slugs and patterned each through this gun. A 2&1/2 - to 3 inch group at 50 yards was best it would do with Remington slugs so that was now my dear gun. That season I took a nice doe. My first shot at near 100 yards just missed the heart and took out the lungs. The deer took off running like it hadn't been hit. Lucky enough she ran parallel to me. My second shot a miss, but my third shot took her just above the ear and dropped her like a rock. I have hunted with other here in slug country and watch deer take two to three body shots before getting hit with a spine shot before dropping, or will go a half mile or more before dropping from a lung or gut shot. Slug penetration's are always good ,generally going completely through, but placement is critical or you will need to track them. They seem to make it to someone else's land before dropping which can be a problem. Head and spine shots are best, bone shots are OK. Otherwise they are going some distance even with a heart or lung shot. My experience Just FYI . As far as those 3" Federals go they are going to kick like a mule. I did sight ins for a local gun shop. I also have a destroyed rotor cup I attribute to those sight ins and particularly to 12 gauge 3 inch slugs. To me they are an overkill. All the energy after the slug exit is wasted. Just my biased opinion.