If I were him, I'd trade that 20 in on a 12 right-off. A 20 is OK if he never shoots much past 125 yds. If he gets a shot at 150 or 200, he will have a nasty tracking job and that is almost a certainty.
I hate to say it, but there is a reason Savage chose the 20 for their bolt gun. It is inherently more accurate with really good ballistics. As far as not being able to shoot past 125, I have several kills with mine over that distance. In fact, I just looked and the average kill for that gun is 127! That includes 2 kills over 200yds (226 and 258). Not much tracking at all.
A few years ago I came to the realization that after the first shot is fired, the deer is either down or gone. That was when I decided to trade my Mossberg 500 with a rifled barrel and rifle sights in on an H&R Ultra Slug gun. 5 deer and 3 years later, I can say it was the best deer-gun related decision I ever made. I hunt in a shotgun only area that is a 60-40 mix of woods and fields. The chances of a shot at over 100 yds is pretty good. I have a permanent tree stand set-up at the edge of one of my fields. three of the five deer I have taken with my 12 Ga. Ultra Slug have been over 100 yds with the farthest ranged at 156 yds. Every one of these deer were one-shot kills . . . they dropped where they stood.
Most of mine drop in sight or with in 20yds. Since I bowhunt as well (actually more), such a simple find job is no issue. I have killed over 2 dozen deer since 2007 with mine.
I recommend the following:
(2) Put good glass on your Ultra Slug - cheap glass will probably not hold-up under the recoil.
Good doesn't neccesarily mean pricey. My KonusPro 1.5-5 has been on my gun since it was new. It has been dropped, beat, bumped and just plain abused and still shoots perfectly. It is no on three rifles as well and only failure has been one that was dropped from 12' unto cement. Cost less than $100
