Birding Shot Gun On The Cheap

[vultr]

The gun on sale at our local CT store is a Stevens 8308. Also, I was cruising the Corwin-Arms site and found a sinsinati pump action with a short barrel and pistol type grip but it also comes with a longer barrel, 26 inch, and a regular stock to fit on. The gun is cheap as and crosses off a lot of boxes for me. I'm wondering if this would be a good gun for my pack while I'm hunting then practice with some clay shooting. Ultimately I want to get good and comfortable with a gun then probably buy a more expensive one in the next 8 months or so. Something nice but used. Tire of being the worst shot on the Pheasant hunt! ahah.

If you have any intention of using your shotgun for clays, birds, or most any sporting application I would highly recommend against buying anything with a pistol grip. A possible exception would be for Turkey hunts, but that's a pretty specialist application.

Most of the short barrel/pistol gripped shotguns are range toys at best. That being said, they are really good at waging war against paper IPSC targets.

 

[Grouse Man]

You want a gun for pheasant hunting; I would suggest that 12 gauge, 26" or 28" barrel, IC or MOD fixed choke or tubes will give you great versatility and the best chance for success. If you want to go pump, semi, O/U, that's up to you. Same with make. Winchester, Remington, Mossberg, etc. will all do the job. You may find an 870 feels unnatural, but an Ithaca 37 is perfect for you. It's all about fitting YOU. Thickness and angle of the wrist, length of pull, width and height of comb, angle of buttpad, amount of cast, forearm width, location of safety, all play into how the gun feels and if it points where you're looking. You DON'T have to know much about these things, just know that they can all be different on different makes and models and that's why each may feel and shoot differently.

 

[patriot1]

...