Upland shotgun choice.

sillymike said:
While I'm a fan of the 12g (That's pretty much all I've been using for the last 40 some years, and I've got plenty on hand)

If I was starting afresh today, with what I know, and I'd be looking for a bird gun. I'm pretty sure I'd be getting a double in 12g, 2.5"

- There is a plethora of older British double available these days, going for very reasonable $. There build quality is most likely well above anything coming out of Turkey.

DSCF1082_49120554-c943-4970-a966-486242083fdd.jpg



- Ammo availability is kind of a moot point (with a bit of planning). Chasing grouse, on any given year, I doubt I'll go through more than 2 boxes... add another box (or two) in the summer to bust some clays to get back in the swing of things.
- Looking at the specs for 2.5" VS 2.75", I doubt the birds will notice any difference
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Totally correct on all points! 2 1/2" ammo can be found in factory configuration, but with very little expense , one can actually hand load it with a minimum of tools. There are quite a few around, and although at times a bit weathered looking , old English and Continental European SxS guns just ooze class and are a joy to shoot!
Cat
 
sillymike said:
While I'm a fan of the 12g (That's pretty much all I've been using for the last 40 some years, and I've got plenty on hand)

If I was starting afresh today, with what I know, and I'd be looking for a bird gun. I'm pretty sure I'd be getting a double in 12g, 2.5"

- There is a plethora of older British double available these days, going for very reasonable $. There build quality is most likely well above anything coming out of Turkey.

DSCF1082_49120554-c943-4970-a966-486242083fdd.jpg



- Ammo availability is kind of a moot point (with a bit of planning). Chasing grouse, on any given year, I doubt I'll go through more than 2 boxes... add another box (or two) in the summer to bust some clays to get back in the swing of things.
- Looking at the specs for 2.5" VS 2.75", I doubt the birds will notice any difference
Click to expand...

There's nothing stopping someone from shooting 2.5" shells in a North American gun, which is certainly a way to reduce recoil now that I've thought of it, but I've never heard of anyone doing that. Any deviation I've seen from shooting our standard 2.75" shells while upland hunting has always been a 'power up' to 3" and I expect there are more than a few 3.5" 12G upland shooters out there now. My belief is that too powerful a powder load will just blow a hole through the shot pattern, a view I comfortably held for years, coming as it did (IIRC) from author Michael McIntosh, but I'm not going to say it here, just in case it's wrong.
 
As close to an ideal upland gun for me as I’ve ever owned - a W R Pape high grade SxS in 20 ga/2 1/2”, made in 1912 with nitro proofed steel barrels. It provided a limit of five blue grouse and a bonus ruff last Sunday, it points like your ginger.
 

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Ashcroft,

Beautiful gun (and case) !

Big Bad said:
My belief is that too powerful a powder load will just blow a hole through the shot pattern, a view I comfortably held for years, coming as it did (IIRC) from author Michael McIntosh, but I'm not going to say it here, just in case it's wrong.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, it took me quite a few years to realize that the main difference between a 2.75" VS 3" was the payload... and while more pellets could theoretically allow to use a more open choke to create a larger pattern with the same density... at the distance I'm shooting the birds, I doubt it a few inches in pattern size/density would have made any difference. Therefore I rationalized that it was worth the $ and pounding.
 
sillymike said:
Ashcroft,

Beautiful gun (and case) !



For what it's worth, it took me quite a few years to realize that the main difference between a 2.75" VS 3" was the payload... and while more pellets could theoretically allow to use a more open choke to create a larger pattern with the same density... at the distance I'm shooting the birds, I doubt it a few inches in pattern size/density would have made any difference. Therefore I rationalized that it was worth the $ and pounding.
Click to expand...

BPI has several 12 gauge 1 1/8 oz loads for 2.5" shells using card wads, but on ruffies and such these are totally unnecessary!
I love shooting short cases, but when I do I usually use my 12 gauge with BP and brass.
Some of the best gunning I have ever had was with a 28 gauge using skeet loads and 9's, for several years the area I hunted was perfect until the oil company killed the vegetation on the shoulder of the road as there were too many accidents involving their trucks with deer and moose .
At one time I owned a gorgeous little Bland and sons 20, and it was chambered for 2 1/2" ammo. it was deadly on Sharptails and pheasants.
Cat
 
sillymike said:
Ashcroft,

Beautiful gun (and case) !



For what it's worth, it took me quite a few years to realize that the main difference between a 2.75" VS 3" was the payload... and while more pellets could theoretically allow to use a more open choke to create a larger pattern with the same density... at the distance I'm shooting the birds, I doubt it a few inches in pattern size/density would have made any difference. Therefore I rationalized that it was worth the $ and pounding.
Click to expand...

I had enough hard won shot grouse fly on into brush etc and take forever to find, sometimes amounting to never, that in dense ground conditions I started to double tap a hit bird for insurance. As the great Burton Spiller (for one) wrote, all you need is one pellet to break a bone but many is better and without a dog to do retreives an extra shot is good insurance.
 
Have to concur that upland hunting with a heavier gun starts to become less fun packing it for miles.My SKB has filled the bill nicely being a light 20. but there are many options for sure.My 28 Beretta upland A 400 has not been tested yet next week will see how it performs.
 
reddog said:
Have to concur that upland hunting with a heavier gun starts to become less fun packing it for miles.My SKB has filled the bill nicely being a light 20. but there are many options for sure.My 28 Beretta upland A 400 has not been tested yet next week will see how it performs.
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Your 400 should be great. They do seem to have a problem with factory Federal rounds hanging up in the ejection port. Unfortunately I proved it also
 
regulate34 said:
I went with a cheap 20g because 410 was hard to get.
I have a 12g 870. 21” vent rib. Tons of ammo. But I just don’t really care for the gun to be honest
Handels like a club.
Click to expand...

Mostly hunted pheasants with mine, and they tend to fly in a straight line. I really love my churchill sxs. Has single trigger, too. No ejectors, but lifts the shells so easy to remove. When shopping for my sxs put a post in the shotgun forum with my wishlist and asked for suggestions. Got a lot of great ones. I'd never heard of a churchill before, but it's one of those guns I'll never sell.
 
We shoot side-by-sides and semi-auto’s for upland. Gauges are 20, 16, and 12. Guns are manufactured in Italy, Spain and USA.
 
We (wife and I) have been really enjoying the Rem 1100 Sporting 28 for grouse (mainly ruffies and blues as I don't care to eat the spruce hens or sharptails, although my mother loves them, so we usually take a few for her) since we acquired it, and it really likes the Fiocchi 7 1/2 ammo...although I would say that the birds don't! LOL
We took 17 birds on our last outing with it!
Since it (Rem) now belongs to the wife, I have picked up a Benelli Ethos and it has worked well for me so far, including a double with one shot for its first harvest.
I also have a Winchester 37A to pack along in the side by side.
I just acquired some Hevi-Shot and Kent Bismuth ammo to try, and to have have if I get a chance for ducks where I don't need a retriever, or get another chance for pheasant on an antelope hunt.

I have been thinking of a larger gauge and am leaning towards a 20 ga, in either another semi (but left handed) or a sxs, for larger birds. Just haven't pulled the trigger to get one as yet.
 
I use a Yildez overunder 20 gauge and love it. My wife and I hunt grouse every fall and we found a side by side is okay, but she was missing some birds with it, and has gotten better results with the overunder. I got mine from a guy on this site, but new I think they are just over a thousand, and they have a reputation for being pretty well built for the price. I find it hard to put a three or four thousand dollar shotgun on my quad while running around all these great trails we have in the boreal forest, getting mud and water all over everything.
 
Well one of the site sponsors on here has CZ 20g sharp tail in stock. Case hardened too.
I’ve added it to my cart 3 times now. Haha.

But I promised my 4yr old a dirt bike in the spring. Dam being an adult ��
 
45CAT said:
Your 400 should be great. They do seem to have a problem with factory Federal rounds hanging up in the ejection port. Unfortunately I proved it also
Click to expand...

Thanks for that 45CAT I don't have any federals in 28 but will look out for that.Going up Thursday.
 
Vintage (1951) 20-gauge Browning Superposed is good;
qRP4ZK3.jpg


London-built hammer single is better (16 gauge, 2.5");
VwenvxF.jpg


Lancaster 12 gauge 2.5", built in 1864, is best:
SJ7VCPB.jpg
 
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