Upland shotgun choice.

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regulate34

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Well it’s been an exceptional upland season so far.
Ruffed, spruce, blues and sharpe tails. Haven’t connected with a chucker yet.

I picked up a H&R 20g on the EE in the spring. My H&R 410 has been my go-to for 15ish years.
Decided to try a 20g this season as the 410 has been hard to find anything but #9 shot.

Long story short I am sold on the 20g. Puts birds down better and has more range and ammo is more abundant.

I’ve been having so much fun hunting with my dog that I have been thinking of getting another 20g (O/U,sxs or semi)
I have had a a fair amount of double flushes over the dog. So I’d like to have something with a second shot
I have yet to own a O/U or SxS.

Any dedicated upland hunters out there?
What kind of setup are you using.

Pros/cons?

The CZ sharp tail has caught my eye.
Seen a few rem1100s on the used market too.
 
My upland gun is a Beretta SV10 Perennia III o/u in 12ga with 26" barrels.

Hard to beat Beretta o/u's IMHO...

Cheers
Jay
 
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The CZ and Huglu’s are some of the better quality guns coming out of Turkey. I would also recommend looking at the Churchill SxS. I have both the 12g (Churchill 512) and 20g (Churchill 520) and found them to be excellent. I’ve been using my 12g for pretty much everything but waterfowl and turkey hunting and its been exceptionally good. I also use it to shoot skeet and easily have a few thousand rounds through it of various shells. Still locks up like a bank vault. The guns are very light which is perfect for long upland hunts. My 12 gauge weighs around 6lbs and the 20g is around 5.5lbs

Here is a review I did on the 512 many years back. I have since purchased the 20g and another 12g. https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1768358-Akkar-Churchill-SxS
 
I have a preference for the Franchi doubles. They seem to be the lightest to carry from my experience and it makes a noticeable difference when you are hiking all day. I'm on my third Franchi O/U. I started off with a 30" barrel and now running a 26" and the difference between them is less than 1/2 a pound. The 26" gun weighs 6 lbs. 2 oz. and it shoulders and swings like a dream.
 
I hunt with a 16X16/9.3x72R drilling, a 20 gauge FAIR Iside Vintage, and a Westley Richards 12 hammer double- which I sometimes use wit 20,28, or 410 inserts. If I am hunting with the 12 gauge barrels, it is with black powder and brass cases.
I also hunt with traditional muzzle loading shoguns, all CYL/CYL
Chokes on the drilling are CYL/MOD, the Iside Vintage is CYL/IC, and the Westley Richards is CYL/CYL.
I hunt over flushers and pointers, but sometimes just go for walk if it is ruffies.
And no, I don't change chokes as a rule on the 20 and have never felt " under choked"
Cat
 
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Falconflyer said:
Over and under or side by side in 20 ga are my first choices but many like a semi auto, I don't like having to search for the empty hulls after shooting and I won't leave them laying around.
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That’s the one thing I don’t like about a semi. Flinging shells all over.
 
vmax204 said:
I have a preference for the Franchi doubles. They seem to be the lightest to carry from my experience and it makes a noticeable difference when you are hiking all day. I'm on my third Franchi O/U. I started off with a 30" barrel and now running a 26" and the difference between them is less than 1/2 a pound. The 26" gun weighs 6 lbs. 2 oz. and it shoulders and swings like a dream.
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I think I would prefer a shorter barrel. Was thinking 24-26”. My H&R has a 26”. It’s a nice light thing to carry all day.
Seams to point well for me too.
 
I use a 26" barreled 20g 686 for 90% of my upland hunting.
I've always preferred O/U shotguns to SxS. I did buy a Benelli M2 20g for upland hunting on the really nasty days.
 
diemaco said:
I use a 26" barreled 20g 686 for 90% of my upland hunting.
I've always preferred O/U shotguns to SxS. I did buy a Benelli M2 20g for upland hunting on the really nasty days.
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How do you find the 20g. Ever find it lacking?
I’m new to 20g. Been very happy with the 7/8oz #6

Have used 1oz #5 steel too and it was folding birds well at 30yrds
 
My Churchill 15" 12g has been a very reliable and successful upland gun. I would never use it on the prairies chasing Sharptails but in the bush looking for grouse it's been great.
 
Ruger 308 said:
My Churchill 15" 12g has been a very reliable and successful upland gun. I would never use it on the prairies chasing Sharptails but in the bush looking for grouse it's been great.
Click to expand...

How do you find it for wing shooting?
My 410 has a 20” bbl, I find it doesn’t swing that great.
 
Ruger 308 said:
My Churchill 15" 12g has been a very reliable and successful upland gun. I would never use it on the prairies chasing Sharptails but in the bush looking for grouse it's been great.
Click to expand...

How do you find it for wing shooting?
My 410 has a 20” bbl, I find it doesn’t swing that great.
 
I like a 20 gauge most of the time... I have a Browning Citori O/U and a BSS Sporter... about 90% of the time I carry the BSS... great little grouse gun for wingshooting.
 
My go to upland shotguns are a Grulla Consort in 28 gauge, and a Grulla 216RB in 16 gauge. Both are English stocked, twin trigger SxS guns, the 28 with 27" barrels and the 16 with 29" barrels. I like the two triggers, for the instant choice of two chokes, by just choosing a trigger.
 
Most of my life used a wingmaster. I now use a sxs. Nice, light. Had a (perhaps stoeger??) o/u for awhile, it was just too heavy.

I love my sxs. Lighter than a wingmaster to carry and just feels right somehow.

edit: for calibre as others have said, 12 ga. Started son on a 20 ga browning youth, beautiful gun, started daughter on a .410 mossberg. Real nice gun. Very expensive to shoot. Just for simple price I'd suggest 12 ga, unless you just want something different.
 
regulate34 said:
How do you find the 20g. Ever find it lacking?
I’m new to 20g. Been very happy with the 7/8oz #6

Have used 1oz #5 steel too and it was folding birds well at 30yrds
Click to expand...

I've never really found it lacking. You barely have to hit a grouse on the wing to fold it. I use 7/8oz 6s as a general woods load. I usually step up to 1oz loads for pheasant, but haven't really had an issue there either.

Then again, the closest I've been to a wild pheasant hunt is Pelee, so YMMV if you're hunting real birds.

I exclusively used that same 20g O/U for decoying geese with steel 2s without issue as well. I knew my limitations and tried to stay within them.
 
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