GF needs a grouse gun
- Thread starter LeducAb
- Start date
Perhaps where you grew up, where I grew up I never met anyone that used a 16 gauge. Almost everyone used a 12 gauge.
Around here it was the 12 gauge and .410. Never did cotton to the .410, got me a 20 gauge for partridges. If out after ducks, and later grouse, the 12 banger would suffice for both birds, 4 or 7 1/2 shot.
- Location
- In the shadows of the Rockies
What happens when you come across two birds?
Then it's a matter of fate for the one that gets knocked out of the gene pool.
3" #4 shot shells work fine.depending of the continent and your age ....
Then it's a matter of fate for the one that gets knocked out of the gene pool.
You use 3" ammunition for grouse? And I have always considered 3" overkill for pheasants. A light target load of #7-1/2 shot kills grouse just fine.
I started out using a 16 at a very young age and it was a little gun more than I really wanted, it could back me up step or two, but when I got a .410 I realised it was just not a game gun. I've read that the problem is that much of the shot pellets get physically scraped down the tiny diameter barrel, physically distorting them, and the shot column has little integrity left after it exits the muzzle. One of the best, or at least the most enthusiastic, grouse shooters I ever met used a 28 gauge and I have no doubt they're effective, but a .410 is a bridge too far an is just not a wing shooting gun.
- Location
- In the shadows of the Rockies
3" #4 shot shells to maximize .410 Grouse-stopping power.
In a 410 I agree with 3" for hunting, but #7-/2 shot aimed high, will provide quick clean kills with less shot in the breast meat. There just aren't enough #4 pellets in a 410 to provide a dense enough pattern for reliable head/neck shots at any distance.
in Brittany and Normandy we used 28ga only for woodcock but that was a very specialized shotgun. not very efficient on flying pheasants i can tell ...
Following my .410 misadventures, I wouldn't use anything less than a 20 for anything, and I DO use a 12 for everything, but just saying it's bad to go under 28. The 28 is supposed by some to be a magic shotgun gauge, people talk about it having a recurrent cult status (like the 16, it comes and goes). I hope that cult thing never happens for the .410, the shotgun so puny they had to give it a calibre rather than a gauge.
never used the .410 so cant comment but we had for small birds the 9mm flobert and it will never come to my mind to use it for real birds ...
you are right the 12 is really universal but the 16 ga well used in those days was really a very good caliber but seems as it did not take off in N America he died on tracks ...
you are right the 12 is really universal but the 16 ga well used in those days was really a very good caliber but seems as it did not take off in N America he died on tracks ...
The 28 gauge worked just fine on every pheasant I shot at last year, and that was quite a few pheasant, as I hunted pheasant every week, and I almost always took my limit.
If your accurate enough, there is just enough pellets to take down a grouse on the ground or in the air. I apologize I thought I clearly stated my preference was based on less pellets hitting the bird with the .410 then the 20. Hence the chicken soup vs a whole chicken. My finally suggestion was a semi 20.
Keep in mind that 26 overall length is highly unusual for an upland gun. Anything under 26 inches wuill be restricted and thus cannot be used as a grouse gun. The lighter the gun is, the higher the felt recoil will be; i.e. a lighter gun will kick more3. Even in 20 gauge and with light loads, a 5 lb gun will not be pleasant to shoot.
If I were you, I would take her to the range and have her handle and shoot different types of guns.
I haven't read all 16 pages of this thread, so maybe the OP has found the gun...but I'd agree with the first few posts that meeting all those criteria would be a little tricky. I recently picked-up a 20ga Citori and if price was no issue, that might be the absolute perfect grouse gun. (I sure hope it is for me. )
However, I bought an 870 Youth 20ga. for my 12 year old daughter to hunt with, that gun has a 21" barrel and weighs 6lbs. Still a little heavy, but she could carry it for hours before the weight became an issue. They make a "Compact Jr." that has and 18-3/4" barrel and it weighs 5-3/4 lbs, but unless your wife is very small...the length of pull on that stunted stock might make it hard (possibly painful) to shoot.
Mossbergs...while I'm not that familiar with them, tend to be lighter and sure FEEL lighter with the aluminum receiver. Worth consideration. Something like this maybe? http://www.mossberg.com/product/510-youth-mini-super-bantam-all-purpose-field-50485/ Another gun worth considering is a used Ithaca 37 Featherweight. I inherited one in 16ga over a year ago, and while I've never been a fan of the looks of them...that feeling quickly disappeared once I got to shoot it. Lighter feeling gun than an 870, shoulders/points beautifully, action is super-smooth, etc. I'm a die-hard 870 guy...but was planning on making IT my grouse gun until the Citori came along. It will still get the nod if the weather looks sketchy.
.410/20ga/12ga~personally, 20ga. is my favorite for grouse. In thick bush, a fairly open choke..sometimes cyl./no choke. In more open areas, MOD.
)However, I bought an 870 Youth 20ga. for my 12 year old daughter to hunt with, that gun has a 21" barrel and weighs 6lbs. Still a little heavy, but she could carry it for hours before the weight became an issue. They make a "Compact Jr." that has and 18-3/4" barrel and it weighs 5-3/4 lbs, but unless your wife is very small...the length of pull on that stunted stock might make it hard (possibly painful) to shoot.
Mossbergs...while I'm not that familiar with them, tend to be lighter and sure FEEL lighter with the aluminum receiver. Worth consideration. Something like this maybe? http://www.mossberg.com/product/510-youth-mini-super-bantam-all-purpose-field-50485/ Another gun worth considering is a used Ithaca 37 Featherweight. I inherited one in 16ga over a year ago, and while I've never been a fan of the looks of them...that feeling quickly disappeared once I got to shoot it. Lighter feeling gun than an 870, shoulders/points beautifully, action is super-smooth, etc. I'm a die-hard 870 guy...but was planning on making IT my grouse gun until the Citori came along. It will still get the nod if the weather looks sketchy.
.410/20ga/12ga~personally, 20ga. is my favorite for grouse. In thick bush, a fairly open choke..sometimes cyl./no choke. In more open areas, MOD.
I bought her a Hatsan semi 12gauge three years ago, because it had the collapsing stock. I fitted it with a limbsaver before she ever shot it and I loaded it with the lightest target loads. This is well before hunting was thought of by her or I. She had so much fun shooting it and laughed her ass off at the fun of blasting paper targets I hung in a cut line.
Three weeks later she refused to shoot it ever again because it was too loud. An abrupt turn around and one of the many reasons women can be so weird at times.
This year I bought her the 20gauge Sinisinati pump. I was going to refinish the wood to a black high gloss and cut the length of pull down so that she felt comfortable. We drove an hour to go shooting she refuses to try it and after I do set it up and take a few shots we pack up and drive all the way home after 15 minutes at the range.
She gets really pissy at times.
I sold that 20gauge pump and ordered her a tactical style Asena semi auto from Corwin Arms which should arrive here today.
She doesn't like synthetic "boring in her words" bird type shotguns.
I'm hoping the Asena with its "tacticool" look will entice her enough to at least try to shoot it.
I'm going to get her to double up on the hearing protection just to cover my ass and see what happens.
If she is still pissy I give up. It's not the guns, it's not for a lack of my patience, she is an enigma wrapped in a riddle that I'm pretty much done trying to solve LOL.
Three weeks later she refused to shoot it ever again because it was too loud. An abrupt turn around and one of the many reasons women can be so weird at times.
This year I bought her the 20gauge Sinisinati pump. I was going to refinish the wood to a black high gloss and cut the length of pull down so that she felt comfortable. We drove an hour to go shooting she refuses to try it and after I do set it up and take a few shots we pack up and drive all the way home after 15 minutes at the range.
She gets really pissy at times.
I sold that 20gauge pump and ordered her a tactical style Asena semi auto from Corwin Arms which should arrive here today.
She doesn't like synthetic "boring in her words" bird type shotguns.
I'm hoping the Asena with its "tacticool" look will entice her enough to at least try to shoot it.
I'm going to get her to double up on the hearing protection just to cover my ass and see what happens.
If she is still pissy I give up. It's not the guns, it's not for a lack of my patience, she is an enigma wrapped in a riddle that I'm pretty much done trying to solve LOL.
If you purchased a short barreled tactical gun, it will be loud. A longer barreled hunting gun will be much more pleasant to shoot.
She stands beside my 9mm pistol, she stands beside my 45/70 guide gun while I shoot bear loads.
She says those are pretty loud, but she never complains about them.
When it comes to her she associates sound and recoil as related, it's not that she can't shoot them she acts like she doesn't want to or genuinely fears the recoil.
Double plugs might be the trick
She says those are pretty loud, but she never complains about them.
When it comes to her she associates sound and recoil as related, it's not that she can't shoot them she acts like she doesn't want to or genuinely fears the recoil.
Double plugs might be the trick
