Ammo for grouse hunting?
- Thread starter Slaymoar
- Start date
Hey FLYBU44~thanks! It is a Wingmaster, a 1968 "large frame" gun that I bought in a shop a few years back, in NEW condition! Couldn't believe my eyes. Anyhow, Remingtons just feel right to me, point beautifully, and kill birds effectively.
I got my two grouse this year with an 870, 12ga shooting #7. I've never even thought of going after them with a 22, sounds like hella fun (and a serious challenge). First one was with some crazy full turkey choke, second was with an improved cylinder. I'm pretty sure I'd have missed the first one with a 22, but the second one... damn... he posed so long it's like he thought I was painting his picture or something.
How about an M37 Ithaca in 20 gauge? Scaled right for the gauge and generally are about one pound lighter than the same 870.
That is also a beauty! You guys are killing me with these nice pump guns, makes me miss my BPS I sold a while ago.
lol...good one. Spoken like a person who doesn't drive 3 hours (one way), hike 6 hours, and be lucky to see ONE bird. Put that effort in, then see how you like your .22 for grouse hunting. I shoot more .22lr than anybody I know, and trust myself to hit a sitting grouse with one out to 60-75 yards with only a tree branch as a rest. Still take the shotgun though, as un-sporting as it is.
I usually have used a .22 for grouse/rabbit. I actually have a baikal .22/410 that is pretty much ideal for grouse and such, but i rarely use the .410 barrel. but it is nice if the chickens are in the grass off the side of the road. I tried to switch it up and give my shotguns a little action this year but here in the BC mountains where I hunt, many places if the bird flushes 25 yards off the road it could have fallen a 100' down the side of the mountain lol. Took me almost half and hour to climb down and find one off the road this year. Im sticking to the .22 and getting them on the road!!
A good trick if you have a .22 that really likes lead roundnose bullets is to take a piece of wood about 6" long and about 7/8" or so thick. Then drill about a half dozen (or more if you want) holes with a 1/4" drill bit. You set your bullets into the holes and then gently take a couple of strokes with a file make them flush with the wood. Instant and even flat point like the CCI Small game bullet (which I can never find in stock anyways). It makes them deadly on small game and I have never noticed much if any change in impact out 50 yards or so.
A good trick if you have a .22 that really likes lead roundnose bullets is to take a piece of wood about 6" long and about 7/8" or so thick. Then drill about a half dozen (or more if you want) holes with a 1/4" drill bit. You set your bullets into the holes and then gently take a couple of strokes with a file make them flush with the wood. Instant and even flat point like the CCI Small game bullet (which I can never find in stock anyways). It makes them deadly on small game and I have never noticed much if any change in impact out 50 yards or so.
A WHOLE lot of upland hunters I know would be as puzzled by that statement as I am. I don't mean to take comments like that personally, but I think it's a ridiculous thing to say. You CAN make a case for one being a bit more challenging, but it's absurd to suggest one method is sporting and one isn't. There is challenge in both, unless you're from a different planet and think you can't miss with a shotgun.
Kinda depends on your grouse, and the season. Early in the season, my ruffed grouse are skittish. You can hear them flush more often than see them. If you want one, you'd better be able to wing shoot them.
Later in the season, when they are up in the trees, you can take a few out of one tree. Slay 'em from the bottom up, so the bird that drops doesn't spook the others on the way down.
Honestly, I find shooting a stationary bird with a .22 I'm familiar with considerably less sportin' than being on my toes for a flushed bird.
Internet is amazing at dissecting every word, and understandably anything can be taken in any way.
- Yes shotgun is as sporting as anything else, and very much so. Apologies to all shotgun wielding hunters alike.
- I - personally - find it more fun and challenging to hunt with my 22.
- I need shotgun budget and to practice skeet before wing shooting, I am not interested or into it. So not happening any time soon. Not interested in wing shooting - yet.
- I ideally want 1 bullet through head, nothing in the meat. I understand shotgun can make it happen every time by all kinds of hunters that would be equally appalled that I would say that, but in my experience there are often BB's in there.
- This thread is 1000000000000% about rimfire only, no shotguns, and is in rimfire forum and didn't want to get into shotgun because I want to avoid all this ->
- Damnit I though i was safe from shotguns here lol
The term "sporting" is super easy to use the wrong way, but is so perfect to add in as a replacement to the sentence "more fun to shoot and in this situation given my conditions and set of skills, this would provide the most challenge". The internet makes it super easy to ruin the intent, and hard to detect whether it was used in ignorance.
You did edit your OP, after the first few responses (in a rimfire forum) suggested shotguns for grouse.
Internet is amazing at dissecting every word, and understandably anything can be taken in any way.
- Yes shotgun is as sporting as anything else, and very much so. Apologies to all shotgun wielding hunters alike.
- I - personally - find it more fun and challenging to hunt with my 22.
- I need shotgun budget and to practice skeet before wing shooting, I am not interested or into it. So not happening any time soon. Not interested in wing shooting - yet.
- I ideally want 1 bullet through head, nothing in the meat. I understand shotgun can make it happen every time by all kinds of hunters that would be equally appalled that I would say that, but in my experience there are often BB's in there.
- This thread is 1000000000000% about rimfire only, no shotguns, and is in rimfire forum and didn't want to get into shotgun because I want to avoid all this ->
- Damnit I though i was safe from shotguns here lol
The term "sporting" is super easy to use the wrong way, but is so perfect to add in as a replacement to the sentence "more fun to shoot and in this situation given my conditions and set of skills, this would provide the most challenge". The internet makes it super easy to ruin the intent, and hard to detect whether it was used in ignorance.
Easy there fella, not worth an ulcer. More than just fun semantics in open forums, abstract advice is also available free of charge. Like asking in a rimfire section about ammo, and the first few replies suggesting shotguns. You edited your post accordingly.
Rest easy, only one post here suggested rimfre was more sporting than shotties, and it wasn't yours'. Like all of us, it was an opinion, and a valid one.
"If I miss, I miss" is cool. But in a forum that started with a grouse having 4 holes in it, and not dying it may raise a hunting ethics question.
Can't deny, no matter how we take the bird out, they are yummy!
