Two-gun solutions for taking partridge during a deer hunt

Several problems..........if you are hunting big game and insist on shooting grouse you will likely not see any big game.Cast pistol bullets in a rifle loads ...quiet and doesn't tear up meat........Hammond game getter difficult to reload juggling parts bullet swage rod wooden and broke 25 rds later.Will replace with a brass one.Also at 50ft hits 10" low from hunting ammo set up although in same hole.Fired .22 blanks both green and brown have to be removed with a knife not so good when several chickens are rolling on the ground in front of you laughing because you missed the first one.I have used them to finish big game including moose.Carrying a pellet pistol is a pain.
 
I just scooped a Savage 24 in 30-30 over 20 ga. I hunted birds for the last 50+ years with a 22/20ga 24H-DL. I've always wanted to try the 30-30 over 20ga., so now I can get with it. I have never shot a bird with a deer rifle. Did try valiantly many years ago. Two of us blazed away at some spruce hens and missed the whole works. Must have sounded like the last few minutes of The Wild Bunch!! :)[/QUOTE
I had two any neither had their barrels regulated at the factory.The 20ga hit a good 3 ft low from the rifle sights.Got rid of them.The only Savage combo gun that was regulated I kept was a old 24 .22-.410 with the side selector.
 
There is a one rifle solution, a drilling,
I know the OP is looking at a two-gun solution, but I can't help but provide proof for the above quote. I used my drilling in Idaho this fall. It has a .22 insert for the right 16ga barrel.
J01WMcs.jpg


During a brief sit, a blue (dusky) grouse lit in a tree near me. Big mistake.
ROOh4zO.jpg


I asked the guys I was hunting with if they heard me shoot and they all said no. The .22 is far from silent, but it is muffled somewhat in the shotgun barrel.
Later, I had several mulies run past me at about 30-40yards. I was ready with the left barrel that was loaded with buckshot. All were does and fawns however.
When a legal buck finally stood still, he got the 7x65R...
1fYuhHP.jpg


I know drillings are not for everyone, but they have their place. The fellas I hunted with in the US didn't even know such a gun existed...
 
I know the OP is looking at a two-gun solution, but I can't help but provide proof for the above quote. I used my drilling in Idaho this fall. It has a .22 insert for the right 16ga barrel.
J01WMcs.jpg


During a brief sit, a blue (dusky) grouse lit in a tree near me. Big mistake.
ROOh4zO.jpg


I asked the guys I was hunting with if they heard me shoot and they all said no. The .22 is far from silent, but it is muffled somewhat in the shotgun barrel.
Later, I had several mulies run past me at about 30-40yards. I was ready with the left barrel that was loaded with buckshot. All were does and fawns however.
When a legal buck finally stood still, he got the 7x65R...
1fYuhHP.jpg


I know drillings are not for everyone, but they have their place. The fellas I hunted with in the US didn't even know such a gun existed...


Hey Dilly, have you tried .22 CBs? 29gr bullet going 710fps. Might take that volume down even lower, but would still be plenty for grouse. $10 for a box of 100 CCI at crappy tire. Just a thought.
 
steelgray, there are thousands of ptarmigan up here, so if I head out for late season caribou after the rut, this is what I'll be carrying.

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BRNO 7X57R over 12 GA with a 2-7X28 Leupold. Two guns in one: 7/8 ounce target loads for the birds, and 140-175 gr ammo for big game to past 300 yards.

Much easier than packing two firearms, and I'm sure it will work for your deer/grouse hunting.

Ted

Good choice, ;) I have one of the same. I don't have a scope but I do have an additional set of skeet barrels with mine. I find it ideal locally on some of our wet windy days walking the old logging skid roads in river bottom areas, where you're just as likely to run into a Ruff Grouse as a Blacktail.
 
Get the type of slingshot Davey used to slay Goliath, and you can load up the pouch with a few iron ore pellets. Patterns well, at up to 10 yds.

You know... all the screwing around I did with “swing” shots as a kid, I never tried a “buckshot” type load.

A childhood wasted...
 
:)Memories are coming back with the mention of 'slingshots'/catapults. Dad had a garage years back, in a small town in the B.C. central interior. As a result, in those basically ;) pre surgical rubber days, I had a corner on the market for red rubber inner tubes and ball bearings. However, what we found even better for taking Spruce Grouse perched in evergreens was shattered slices from the small test drill cores from the local hardrock gold mine. If I remember correctly, the diameter of these drill core 'slices' was about the size of a nickel. Shooting the 'sling shot' sideways, the drill core slices, at close range, would take the grouse head off. Ahhhh, ;) the memories of a :redface: juvenile delinquent.
 
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I just scooped a Savage 24 in 30-30 over 20 ga. I hunted birds for the last 50+ years with a 22/20ga 24H-DL. I've always wanted to try the 30-30 over 20ga., so now I can get with it. I have never shot a bird with a deer rifle. Did try valiantly many years ago. Two of us blazed away at some spruce hens and missed the whole works. Must have sounded like the last few minutes of The Wild Bunch!! :)[/QUOTE
I had two any neither had their barrels regulated at the factory.The 20ga hit a good 3 ft low from the rifle sights.Got rid of them.The only Savage combo gun that was regulated I kept was a old 24 .22-.410 with the side selector.

I took the 30-30/20ga. out and fired the 30-30 a few times at a 100 yd. gong. Nailed it every time. I don't think I'll be shooting any birds at 100 yds. with the 20 ga. barrel. I'll be testing the 20 ga. when it is a decent day. Can't count the birds I shot with a 24H-DL in .22lr/20ga.
 
Sort of off subject but I will mention the person who taught me most of what I know about hunting always beat it into my head if your are hunting big game you hunt big game, not birds. He always said if you were chasing something else sooner or later you would blow a chance at your principal target. To this day I follow that advice most of the time.

I hear ya, but the yotes were getting so bad our group started blasting them at every opportunity. Shoot 2 or 3 yotes almost every season. Deer would sometimes be shot less than 20 minutes later in the same spot. Obviously it doesn't increase your big game chances, but in some cases it doesn't seem to be so much of a big deal. In our situation I wouldn't risk spooking a deer to shoot a bird.
Depends on the game and the location.
 
I took the 30-30/20ga. out and fired the 30-30 a few times at a 100 yd. gong. Nailed it every time. I don't think I'll be shooting any birds at 100 yds. with the 20 ga. barrel. I'll be testing the 20 ga. when it is a decent day. Can't count the birds I shot with a 24H-DL in .22lr/20ga.

I have owned in the past and at differing times, two 24 Campers model Savage O/U shotguns.

The first one was definitely regulated the rimfire and shotgun slugs printed very slowly at 30 yards. Plus the upper barrel so accurate was very easy sniping pigeons off a grain storage bin 60 yards away open sights.

However the second one I owned the shotgun with slugs or birdshot, there was several feet in distance on 25 yards on paper targets. The shotgun barrel shot much lower

Disappointing to say the least.
 
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