Best shotguns for grouse

[Nightfox_308]

me and my dad were using remington 11-87 20 gauges with a full choke for grouse but we always missed them so when we started to research online that people were using skeet and cylinder chokes for grouse. so we bought a cylinder choke for our 11-87 12 gauge and patterned it with nine shot. it pattered the best at 20 yards. Yesterday i bought a 12 gauge feild tactical black crome charles daily pump. today we pattered it at 10 20 30 yards and it pattered great. now my dad wants to steal it. i just wanted to see what other people thought of it.

 

[Okiecruffler]

I hear "grouse" and the first things I think of are SXS's and tweed jackets. But if the CD works, why not.

 

[bensdad]

If you are patterning your gun, you are miles ahead of most of the grouse hunters I know. However, #9 shot is a little small for grouse. As long as you don't mind going to all that trouble, see if you can find a #7 1/2 load that patterns o.k.

feild tactical black crome charles daily pump

I don't know what that gun is, but almost any shotgun (other than 410) can be good medicine for grouse.

 

[dewidmt]

When I last hunted ruffed grouse in Maine, I used a SXS SKB 20 ga. Choked IMP/MOD. #7 1/2 shot. Worked like a charm. The longest shots you'll probably be taking are around 25-30 yds. Improved cylinder is the perfect choke for those ranges. I used the same gun in Idaho for Valley quail, Huns and Chukar. I personally like a SXS because it is a bit shorter overall and handles a bit "quicker" in typical grouse cover. But if the Charles Daly works for you, use it!

 

[kentucky_smith]

Light is good around here where the terrain can be a bit more vertical. I use a Franchi 48AL, a couple of A5's or now a Winny 101 choked skeet/skeet.

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

12 ga. with 24" or so with open bore.

I started at 16 years old with a Savage 311A 12 gague with 28" barrels with Mod. and Full.

When I turned about 30 I cut off 4" of barrel and reset the front site.

Haven't missed a grouse since. What I learned over those 14 years was toooooo tight a choke.

To bad I such a slow learned--it was those rabbit and duck hunts that kept the barrels long till I purchased at Mod 1100 12 ga. with 3" for ducks and geese.

Try 7 1/2's for grouse.

 

[sm]

I've never hunted grouse, someday maybe I will.

My old Citori 3 barrel Skeet gun has busted grouse, with both the 20 bore and 28 ga barrels.

28", fixed skeet choke.

Come to think of it, that gun also busted Pheasant, I have never busted Pheasant either...

Humm...

 

[Gordon]

Ahh yes, my favorite bird. A 20 guage Win 101 bored skeet1 and skeet 2 with Fiocchi 7.5 plated shot!
I used a Citori O/u .410 with Imp and modified choke with 3" 7.5s to good use after a day or so of practice with the 20ga.
My Mentor, a 2 star General,now long deceased, prefered a 28 and sold me his 16 ga. Darne SxS because "it's too much gun"

 

[axeman_g]

nightfox... the first question is what type of terrain and what is the foliage your hunting? Is it thick confier forest, abandoned apple orchards, mountain sides with laurel or willows thicket?

If the stuff is really thick, short barreled with open cyclinder... mountain side are tight but the gun can be a little bigger with IC choke... orchards you could get away with a 28" with IC or 24" with mod

min shot for grouse is 7.5#... fast ones at that. I have used Fiochi Golden Pheasants in #6 with good results... good results being about 10% hit rate.

 

[PJR]

My grouse gun is a 12 gauge sxs, 28" barrels choked skeet and light modified.

I use a 26 gram International load of copper plated #7.5.

 

[hockeybum]

never hunted grouse but they don't look to be much bigger than snipe. i use a 12 gauge remington 1100 for them. 2 3/4.

 

[Nightfox_308]

the terrain is thick brush with some pines and berry vines its also steep mountian terain in PA usaully we get about 6-9 flushes in about an hour or two

 

[Okiecruffler]

they don't look to be much bigger than snipe

Round here we hunt snipe with a burlap bag and a long stick. But maybe your snipes is bigger.

 

[Bud Tugly]

Grouse in this area (UP of Michigan) favor thick cover and are explosive, so the premium is on a quick first shot. Second shots are rare and you'll never get more than that unless you happen to jump a covey. Shots much over 25 yards are uncommon and I've taken most in the 10-20 yard range.

I've had great luck with a .410 single shot, but my favorite is a 20 SxS. Number 7 1/2 in the IC barrel and 6 in the Mod side just in case. I've fired O/U's but never owned one since they just don't "feel" right to me (personal preference).

IMO multi-shot capability and 12 gauge are unnecessary overkill in a dedicated grouse gun and just add more weight to lug around.

 

[Seven©]

Winchester 101 20ga. Light and fast.
Mine is MOD/IMP. I use #6 shot.

My dad bought it for me the day I was born in January 1968. Remember this was before ultrasounds. Mom said the instant he saw I was a boy, dad left the hospital to buy it. Seems he just happened to have it on hold at the gun shop.

I grew up beating the hills of WNC with dad and grand dad for grouse. Vienna sausages, sardines and crackers for lunch. Some good bird dogs, and some bad. German pointers are retarded. GOOD TIMES!

Grand dad passed 10 years ago. Dad isn't able to hunt anymore. My dog is an Akita house guardian.

But, my grouse gun is still my 101.

My apologizes for the story. Grouse, guns and dogs always makes me misty eyed.

 

[Dave McCracken]

My lifetime bag of grouse stands at 3. MD isn't good grouse habitat except for the Catoctins and Alleghanies. I do know some dedicated grouse chasers.

Grouse hunters need good legs and light guns. Favorites run less than 7 lbs, oft less than 6.5 and are shorter than waterfowlers.

One acquaintance with many shotguns favors a Fox 16, another a 20 ga Darne. SxS shotguns are common, along with the old AL48 from Franchi which in 20 gauge redefines the word "Light".

Ithaca 37s in 16 and 20 gauge are also common.

Chokes run from little to none.

T'were I gone ahuntin' with what was in the house here and now, I'd tote a 20 gauge 870 with 21" barrel that weighs 6lbs, 2 oz and screw in the Skeet choke. 7/8 oz loads of 7.5 shot would be in it, with some 6s along JIC the ranges got long or the leaf cover very thick.

 

[Striker]

I've never hunted grouse, but if I ever do I'll go with a variation of Dave's theme and head out with my 12 Ga Special Field 870.

 

[TrapperReady]

I hunt ruffed grouse (and usually woodcock at the same time) in northern WI. The cover is typically extremely thick and shots are almost always under 20 yards. Most of the time, you have a very short window through which to shoot and a bunch of branches in the way.

The gun I use most often is an old beat-up 16ga Winchester Model 12. I purchased it with a full-choked barrel, which I later trimmed down to about 24". This made it easier to handle in heavy cover and removed the choke. I now get wide, even patterns that work great at the distances I shoot most grouse. For ammo, I use 7/8oz of #7 shot; although if I'm using a different gun I'll use one ounce of #7.5.

The biggest consideration for me when grouse hunting is having a gun that I can carry all day and always be ready to shoot. Grouse will pop up at the least-expected times and give you almost no time to react.

FWIW, at various times I've hunted grouse with: and NEF 12ga single, 16ga Browning A5, 12ga 870 w/ 21" rifle-sighted barrel, 12ga 870 w/ 28" barrel, 30" barrel Browning 425, a Beretta 391, a Benelli 20ga M1, and probably a couple others as well. The 16ga Winchester mentioned above has accounted for more grouse than the rest combined.

Frankly, if I shot it a little better, that NEF single is darned near ideal for it. Lightweight, easy to handle and I can only think of a couple times when I've connected on anything other than the first shot.

 

[plumberroy]

gun I have the most grouse with? marlin single shot 22 where I grew up we had a few grouse killed most of the one's I've got were when in my early teens. while squirrel hunting were shot on the ground though the head lot easier to hit that way. as far as a shotgun a double, or o/u or single shot that is short light and open choked

 

[Essex County]

I'm basicly a pot hunter now. Tend to frequent old logging roads where a single shot 28ga. with a modified choke serves well. Essex

 

[plumberroy]

I'm basicly a pot hunter now. Tend to frequent old logging roads where a single shot 28ga. with a modified choke serves well. Essex

I have found that a single shot 28 ga with a modified choke serve well for about any small game I put an adult stock on a youth gun for a short handy walkabout gun I have patterned the gun and did a couple of other tests that I trust and have come to the conclusion that if the shot is under 30 yards and the game survives it ain't the guns fault
roy

 

[Nightfox_308]

This is my choice of grouse shotguns 12GA only weighs 6lbs it has a fixed cylinder choke good for walking the mountanis hills of PA

 

[COK]

I use a light weight O/U 20 ga mod and improved , 26 inch barrel.