chicken gun help please

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seanross

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prince albert SK
im looking for a grouse/partridge gun. most shots would probably be pretty close knocking them off of branches etc. i currently am using a 12 but its a big gun and im getting tired of wrestling it through the thick brush. im looking at an HR tamer 20 g. but it only has a 20" barrel. how would this pattern? how does the 20g perform? as i have never shot one before. next option is a 410 of somekind but as i read you pretty much have to be a shotgun marksman to hit anything with those. i guess my main concern is the 20" barrel. but it sure would be nice in the thick brush. anyone have any experience with these short guns?
 
Really? No answers? Well...YMMV but I've shot ditch chicken with a 12 gauge all the way down to a .22, and it just depends how far away I wanted to hold off to avoid pellets in the meat. I live in BC and it's almost always a shot into the road bank, and if it isn't, I don't.

Ummm... Try before you buy. Join the range. Haunt the range. Post on here for local shooters? Get something comfortable to shoot/walk with/display/throw in truck and fugettabadit.

20' barrel 20g sounds a treat! Get that one! Depending on choke/pellet size/distance you can blast their little heads right off:shotgun:
 
20 gauge works great. So does a .410 unless you are really trying to stretch the range, like 25 yards plus. Barrel length has no effect on patterns per se and the 20 inch barrel would be a lot handier.
 
I use a twenty two mag for those road shots LOL out of my truck of course I was worried about losing pellet speed with the short barrel but I'm sure it will be fine and its a full choke gun what kind of loads should I use? I can use lead for upland in these parts still
 
I wouldn't go with a tamer.... pistol grip guns are hard to handle when a bird flushes suddenly on you.... My two favorite grouse guns would be a stoeger coach gun double barrel in 20 gauge or... in winter I like to carry a savage model 24.... I have 410 / 22 combo.... but the 20 gauge 22 magnum combo is nice also....
 
seanross said:
I use a twenty two mag for those road shots LOL out of my truck of course I was worried about losing pellet speed with the short barrel but I'm sure it will be fine and its a full choke gun what kind of loads should I use? I can use lead for upland in these parts still
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Shotguns attain pretty much top velocity out of barrels as short as 18 inches. I use 1oz. high brass loads in my 20's and these will kill a bird out to 40 yards or so with a full choke barrel easily.
 
I use a single shot youth bolt action marlin .22 with nothing but irons.

It is super light, and about as short as legally possible, while being non restricted.

Following bush chickens into the thick brush is a breeze with this little thing, and it is as reliable as it gets, and I have no worries beating it up on the quad either.
 
Get an old Winchester Defender. 18.5 inch cyl bore barrel. It's what I use. Get a flat of
7 1/2 winchester universals from wally world and have at her.
 
I've shot dozens of grouse and all of them with a 10/22 or JW-25a 22lr

I probably shouldn't be saying this around the internet conservatives but one time I pegged one with my JW-25a when it flushed and flew away at like 15-20 yards lol
 
seanross said:
thanks for all the input guys. now it looks like everyone is sold out of the HR tamer:mad: so now im stumped.
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As stated, I don't think missing the opportunity to buy one of those is a bad thing. (pistol gip being the issue) You see lots of single-shot 20s show-up in the EE, grab one of those. Another option...Le Baron stores here in Ontario sell NEW 870 Express 20ga., 26" remchoke barrels for $309 if memory serves. Almost bought one, but found a used Wingmaster 20ga. for about the same money and bought it instead.

I've yet to find a great spot for birds, so when I do...the option of a quick follow-up shot is ideal. Whether it's a miss, or a second bird. :) This is a photo from my last hunt last year, this old semi (12ga.) took these 2 on the wing less than a second apart. In the interest of full disclosure (and at the risk of offending the purists) they were sitting on tree branches when I shouldered the gun, but spooked. One got about foot OFF the branch at the top of the tree, the other caught the pellets when they they all turned 180 degrees to fly away.

....glow in the dark chubby hunter :)

Grouse1.jpg
 
I used a Mossberg 500 in 20gauge with a 26" barrel for a long time and killed many, many birds. I recently picked up a Benelli M2 in 12 gauge with a 26" barrel and it is awesome. Feels exactly like holding my 20 gauge and doesn't kick much more either. What I like most is how the recoil comes straight back. Hardly jumps up at all, recoil is a little sharp for me to shoot endless all day but for hunting the lightweight is great to carry around. With an out the door price of $1700 for me it was a little difficult to justify but the more I shoot it the more I'm convinced. If you want a nice autoloading 20gauge I'd look into the Weatherby SA-08 with 26" barrel. Or the mossberg sa20.
 
seanross said:
im looking for a grouse/partridge gun. most shots would probably be pretty close knocking them off of branches etc. i currently am using a 12 but its a big gun and im getting tired of wrestling it through the thick brush. im looking at an HR tamer 20 g. but it only has a 20" barrel. how would this pattern? how does the 20g perform? as i have never shot one before. next option is a 410 of somekind but as i read you pretty much have to be a shotgun marksman to hit anything with those. i guess my main concern is the 20" barrel. but it sure would be nice in the thick brush.
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Are you talking about ground sluicing them off the road/branches, or shooting them on the wing?

If you're going to ground sluice them, a .410 is going to be about the best combination of small and lightweight going. There's a skinny, tiny little CIL break open, hammer .410 that my brothers and I ground sluiced grouse with growing up. Didn't weigh anything, and very very short in length. If you're looking for shotgun for ground sluicing grouse, that's hard to beat in my opinion.

Shooting them on the wing... different story, I think. I watched our neighbor regularly pass shoot geese overhead with a .410, doing better than the rest of us with our 12's. But they were around 30 yards and he claimed it was easy to just shoot them in the head they were so big. I think he was probably a very skilled wingshot who made that .410 punch way over it's weight.

There are any number of light shotguns out there in all the gauges, although light 12's are obviously harder to find than light 20's. Not too many manufacturers put barrels on their field oriented shotguns leaving the factory that are 24" or less, but 20" bbls are obviously available. Short barrels do affect your swing, I think most wingshots would agree on that. Loss of velocity is a non-issue, and I don't think you're going to find any kind of choke in the 20" bbl you're talking of using - not that barrel length would affect it anyways.
 
.410 single shot. It removes their heads, and it can knock them down up to past 30 yards. Most chickens i shoot are less than 20 feet away.
 
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