Best gun for small game hunting?

My brother just sold a Browning Gold 3.5". I've got the same gun and it's a pretty good way to go, especially for higher volume waterfowl shooting. Whether you need the 3.5" or not is debatable, but it certainly was a big deal 25 years ago when I bought my Gold. I certainly don't feel bad about taking it out in foul weather as it's pretty easy to get and keep clean. If you go with an O/U or SxS they pose a different sort of challenge to keep clean.

Ardent gives good advice when he suggests a good quality pump. An older Wingmaster with chokes is a great way to start out. You can even swap barrels out and stocks to make the gun better suited to different chores while maintaining the same set of controls for familiarity.

More and more I find myself drawn to my OUs and SxS guns and I wonder to myself whether it makes a damn bit of sense to have two or three of each action type or if it wouldn't be smarter to have a couple of really well built guns and to go from there. Sure, it's fun to have this one for this and that one for that, but is there any reason that I couldn't do everything shotgun related with my 20ga and 12ga Superposeds?
 
FishHog said:
Agreed, 3.5" is just not needed and sure isn't fun to shoot. 95% of my ducks have been taken with 2.75". I always have some 3" BB's for geese, but otherwise there is no need.
But people love to believe the gun store telling you what you need and not what real life experience tells you.
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i do wish i had your choice: only one gun store that had not a problem to support during the last federal election the local liberal candidate ...
 
BigUglyMan said:
My brother just sold a Browning Gold 3.5". I've got the same gun and it's a pretty good way to go, especially for higher volume waterfowl shooting. Whether you need the 3.5" or not is debatable, but it certainly was a big deal 25 years ago when I bought my Gold. I certainly don't feel bad about taking it out in foul weather as it's pretty easy to get and keep clean. If you go with an O/U or SxS they pose a different sort of challenge to keep clean.

Ardent gives good advice when he suggests a good quality pump. An older Wingmaster with chokes is a great way to start out. You can even swap barrels out and stocks to make the gun better suited to different chores while maintaining the same set of controls for familiarity.

More and more I find myself drawn to my OUs and SxS guns and I wonder to myself whether it makes a damn bit of sense to have two or three of each action type or if it wouldn't be smarter to have a couple of really well built guns and to go from there. Sure, it's fun to have this one for this and that one for that, but is there any reason that I couldn't do everything shotgun related with my 20ga and 12ga Superposeds?
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Logic is nonsense when it comes to buying and owning guns. I have 27 12ga guns and still can find reasons to acquire more
 
medvedqc said:
i do wish i had your choice: only one gun store that had not a problem to support during the last federal election the local liberal candidate ...
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Honestly while I’ve never voted Liberal, I’ll never, ever hold another’s vote or views against them as long as they’re respectful to those they disagree with. I’ll politely debate with them if invited to, but the beauty of this country is we have political freedom, and ideally we can all converse politely about it. It would be a nightmare if we become like the US with heavily partisan privately owned media owned by billionaires with an agenda.

If I saw a gun shop supporting a political party that made me scratch my head I’d chuckle and mutter to myself this country really is free. It’s like the trucker protest campaigning in Ottawa for freedom. After two weeks you’re still there and haven’t been thrown in the gulag, congratulations you’ve proven you have freedom.
 
A 12 gauge pump with smoothbore and rifled barrels will have you covered for anything in Canada. Light loads for small game, heavier loads for waterfowl and turkey and the rifled barrel with slugs for big game.

My vote is for an 870.
 
Speaking of combos, my 22-410 is a dream in the grouse woods up north where the birds refuse to flush. One was just listed in the EE.
 
Evanguy said:
...Ive always thought a combo gun would be cool but for some reason i havent actually owned one....
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Lots of people say they love the combination guns, but I've never actually seen anyone out hunting with one in my area. I'm sure lots of you guys do - I'm just pointing out that they are hard to argue against in theory, but not great in practice. For many people. For most people? I dunno, everybody has their own niche. You can't really know until you try one.

For the combination guns we have, they haven't seen hunting use in 30+ years. Something else always seems like a better choice for the day. They do get used for pest control though.
 
alpining said:
Lots of people say they love the combination guns, but I've never actually seen anyone out hunting with one in my area. I'm sure lots of you guys do - I'm just pointing out that they are hard to argue against in theory, but not great in practice. For many people. For most people? I dunno, everybody has their own niche. You can't really know until you try one.

For the combination guns we have, they haven't seen hunting use in 30+ years. Something else always seems like a better choice for the day. They do get used for pest control though.
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The excellent thing about a combo gun, at least in my case, is that I get to embarrass myself with 2 different rounds on 1 bird. I always seem to shoot over them with the 410 and under them with the 22. They sure feel good in the hand though.
 
alpining said:
Lots of people say they love the combination guns, but I've never actually seen anyone out hunting with one in my area. I'm sure lots of you guys do - I'm just pointing out that they are hard to argue against in theory, but not great in practice. For many people. For most people? I dunno, everybody has their own niche. You can't really know until you try one.

For the combination guns we have, they haven't seen hunting use in 30+ years. Something else always seems like a better choice for the day. They do get used for pest control though.
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Myself I enjoy my light weight CZ Springfield copy of the M6 survival rifle. It's full choke 410 is good to thirty yards rabbits/sitting grouse. And if a coyote is unlucky enuf to appear in this boreal forest, then the 22 Hornet is employed from one light firearm.
Food and fur money. Win win win
 
If waterfowl and turkeys don't enter the equation, I would probably choose a 20 gauge SXS or O/U, not that you can't kill waterfowl and turkeys with a 20 gauge, but a little more payload is nice for those birds in many scenarios. Wingshooting versus ground-swatting is another considerstion, if you want to wingshoot, you will want at least a 20 gauge, sure it is doable with 28 gauge or .410 but there is far less margin with the smaller payload. If you are strictly a freezer filler and will be ground-swatting your game, a .410 can be just the ticket, or perhaps a .22/.410 O/U. Or better yet, a .22 and a .410.
 
canadian hunter312 said:
A 12 gauge pump with smoothbore and rifled barrels will have you covered for anything in Canada. Light loads for small game, heavier loads for waterfowl and turkey and the rifled barrel with slugs for big game.

My vote is for an 870.
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Not legal for much of BC hunting.
 
Butcherbill said:
Huh? Aside from the biggest of game or goats and sheep you can hunt pretty much anything in bc with a shotgun. Large game it has to be 20g or bigger.
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Not legal for Elk, Moose, Sheep, Goat or Bison

Legal for Deer, Black Bear and Cougar.

So no, you can't legally hunt pretty much anything.
 
MiG25 said:
Not legal for Elk, Moose, Sheep, Goat or Bison

Legal for Deer, Black Bear and Cougar.

So no, you can't legally hunt pretty much anything.
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Legal in bc for: small game, upland game, waterfowl, wolves and coyotes, cougars, lynx and bobcats, deer, bear, turkey, wolverine. So more things than not, As I said aside from the largest game animals in bc you can hunt everything else, nobody hiking into goat/sheep country with a 12g specifically to hunt either of those and seeing as we’re not limited to shotgun only zones like out east the rest is moot.

Hunting moose, elk or bison with a shotgun, why would you handicap yourself to begin with. I honestly wouldn’t want to get within 12g range of a moose or bison to take an ethical shot in the first place when a rifle does it better from the start.
 
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