BY TYLER FRANTZ SMALL BUT MIGHTY I remember vividly test-firing three firearms in preparation for my first deer season on a mid-November afternoon more than two decades ago. An eager 12-year-old, I helped my father hang a makeshift target in front of the cut bank next to our barn. We paced off 100 yards to our bench location, where a blanket-covered garbage-can served as a perfect shooting rest for my still develop- ing frame. I had shot .22s and BB guns, even a 20-gauge shotgun with light loads, by this point. But that day was my first experience with big-game firearms - a father-son experiment of sorts as my first deer season approached. Dad laid out three options - a beadbarreled 20-gauge with slugs, a scoped 12-gauge with slugs, and a Remington DEER GUNS THAT FIT COMPACT FRAMES DECEMBER 2019 53