Deer Drive gun?

[Craigman]

I'm looking into getting a new gun for deer hunting and for using when we do deer drives. We hunt on all private farm land and towards the end of rifle season here in MI we usually do a deer drive. One or two people push the woods about 3/4 miles away then we have 3 points where we set up shooters where the deer usually run to.

Shots on running deer can be 20-120 yards on avg.

My choices so far are:
AR-10 (with either red dot or 3x9 scope turned way down in magnifaction)
AR-15 (in something bigger than 5.56)
Pump rifle (this is what I have and 'im unsuccessful so far)

we have lots of deer managment doe tags and eat venison all year, so please no comments on unsportsmanlike conduct.


Whatt'yall think? ANY SUGGESTIONS WELCOME


I'm leaning toward the AR-10 for good knockdown power and basically I just want one..

 

[jon86]

I just have to ask, what do you mean by "unsuccessful?"

 

[Craigman]

hard to aquire iron sights on the old Rem 141 35rem. long shots are difficult and i think the bullet moves too slow which is making it hard to judge the "lead time"

 

[ScrapMetalSlug]

An AR variant should work fine. Either way you go, I would practice with iron sights. I have never had much luck picking up moving targets with a scope. Aperture sights on an AR sound ideal to me.

 

[LoonWulf]

Driven hunts are one of the most common ways to hunt here. Ive always used a bolt gun with a scope, or a remington 7400 also with a scope. Any of the guns youve listed should work just fine, as long as you practice enough to be confident on moving shots with what ever you chose.

 

[Tirod]

An alternate caliber AR will do fine out to 350m, no problem handling 120m. If you go with the AR10, you're just lugging around two pounds more weight, and extended firepower to reach out 600m, and won't need it or use it.

Try the red dots, they are exactly what fills the bill on a moving 120m shot. Place dot on target with lead and pull trigger. The lead is entirely a skill, but the red dot allows the user to acquire the target more quickly when little time is given.

Look for the red dots that have very little scope visible when viewing thru them, as they block less overall view downrange.

 

[Big Bad Bob]

I love my model 141 in .35 Remington but for drives i prefer the old 12 gauge with 000 buck

 

[armedwalleye]

Ditch the scope.
While I'm not a 30-30 fan, there's a reason they've sold gajillions of 'em. They're light, fast, and hit just hard enough.
Here's my walking gun...A 99 Savage in a 308. Short, light weight, and can shoot a real piece of ammo. Got a rotating magazine, so you can shoot pointy bullets if you like.
Can only be had on the used market, but if you can find a good one, you'll never sell it.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

when we do drives i usually am carrying an open sighted lever gun in 3030 or 44 mag.

 

[303tom]

We don`t drive where I hunt, hard to drive deer out of a 1000 acres of timber.

 

[hardluk1]

Thats a question you should not have to ask. You shot the rifle you can get 1 well placed round on target with. regauardless of pump or semi-auto. It may depend more on ground cover and type. I don't think I have ever shot more than one time at a deer. They don't tend to hang around very long. The difference between your savage shooting a 35 rem and the 308 is realy not anything to worry about. 2100fps ain't slow.

I have used 12ga with buck shot in thick woods at 60 yards up to a 7mm rem mag and fired when the deer was at 20 feet.

 

[bigedp51]

My Grandfathers small farm was next to a dairy farm so deer were plentiful and deer drives were a fact of life. Our hunting was on the sides of mountains and ridges here in central Pennsylvania.

The most popular rifle here for drives is the Remington 760 Gamemaster pump, and the Winchester 94. (no semi-automatics allowed for deer hunting)

Below is my favorite, a Winchester 30-30 Trapper model, I have carried Remington 700, Winchester model 70, Rem 760, Ruger No1, etc but for some reason the light and handy Trapper model was my favorite.

Sight selection sitting in my tree stand. (accuracy mode)



Sight selection for fast action drives (scout rifle mode)






The 30-30 trapper model is short, light and fast, the peep sight never fogs up and the over sized white bead front sight easy to pick up in dim light conditions.



Second runner up would be the .35 Remington in a pump and third runner up a shotgun with a slug barrel, BUT a 12 gauge with slugs doesn't make fast followup shots because of recoil.

 

[Craigman]

Thanks guys, Im kinda leaning toward putting a peep with a white dot like the one above or maybe a cheap reflex sight (that I have laying around) on my pump 35rem. I'm lucky enough to live about an hour away from Williams Gunsight Co. so maybe I'll take it by there to see what they have to offer. And, I do definitely need practice on running shots.

 

[hardluk1]

I alway wished I had picked up a good old ugly remington pump. Accurate , short and have a slick action. Old guy that grew me up hunting had one in 300 savage that was one diedly old rifle.

 

[TXSWFAN]

First lesson I learned about deer drives is that the deer are usually to far for a shotgun and to fast for a rifle.

I'd take a Saiga 12 with a 20 round drum of 00.

 

[Eb1]

For deer drives I have always thought a 12 gauge shooting 3" buckshot or 10 gauge shotgun shooting buckshot. If you need a rifle a would lean towards a lever action.

In some 12 gauge guns you can shoot a 3 1/2" shell, and that would give you more distance with buckshot.

 

[BBDartCA]

Try an M1 with red dot or reflex sight.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Anytime I ever walked through the thickest stuff around to "drive-deer" to other hunters sitting just outside the woods, waiting for the deer to come out, I have never seen one deer.

I could never understand carrying any kind of long-gun into that thick stuff as the gun ends up tangled in the stuff you are trying to crash through! At most, I could see using my 500 Magnum pistol (short-barrel), however, I wouldn't get my hopes up as I have never seen a deer during a "drive!" Besides, if there are to be a drive, now I would be one of the guys sitting as I cannot physically crash through that stuff hours on end! My body is not as strong as it was 40 years ago!

 

[LoonWulf]

Most of the push hunts we do here, shots can run from 30-200+ yards depending on the shooter, and positions. Thats why we use scoped rifles. When pushing, i generally just make a bunch of noisy and only shoot stuff if its standing around for too long lol. HATE carrying deer to the truck when some one else can do it for me lol.

 

[WNC Seabee]

Isn't the mitten entirely in the "shotgun only" zone?

 

[cyclopsshooter]

mitten and greater than 5.56.. my guess is washington.. and on the right side of it there are a lot of roads guys do deer drives on

 

[Craigman]

thumb and up (east west line)can use centerfire rifles. below that its shotgun. im usually the one sitting out. The "pusher" never sees deer. They run way before he gets to them. But we know where they are cause where we hunt its rolling hills and blocks of woods in between apple and cherry orchards. (middle left coast part of the mitten)

I was just thinking..... what if I hog out the notch in the rear part of the open sight and paint my bead white? will this screw up the sights? I know I'll have to re-practice to see where the new POI is and maybe bump up the rear one notch?

 

[LoonWulf]

if you widen your rear notch you might make it a bit faster. Id really look at a reciever sight tho, if i have to shoot iron sights thats the ONLY option ill chose. I just dont see normal opens well enough.

 

[Eb1]

I'd have to agree. The factory bucks just are to slow to get on a fast moving deer. I have shot one of my 336 Marlins with Skinner sights, and they work fine, but you have to change out the front sight. A ghost ring of some sort would get you a more accurate shot off, quicker that is.

Good luck, and the good old 30-30 is never the wrong choice, but a 3 1/2" even a 3" 12 gauge pump shooting 000 or 00 buck would be a better drive gun if you ask me even if you are left handed.. The deer is going to be moving at around 20-30 mph through the brush. Just something to think about. Load up the first one with buckshot, and then follow with a slug. That is what is so good about a shotgun when hunting on drives and such. You can mix your ammo to the situation. With a rifle you stuck with the caliber it shoots. You know? Two 000 buck in 3" followed up with a slug if it gets out of range. Hard to have those options with a rifle on a deer running full sprint through the woods.

 

[Clipper]

My wife also has a 141 in .35. We recently had Williams install a front firesight and peep rear on it, and remove the apperture in the field. She's deadly with it, and target aquisition is fast.