the ultimate brush gun?????

[thomastaylorIII]

I was thinking about a sort of ultimate brush gun for deer and this is what i came up with.
Marlin 336 (used preferably) 30-30
xs scout foward scope rail
some sort of red dot with 1-2x magnification under 200$ (need suggestions for red dot)
or xs ghost ring sights
I like the ideal of being able to shoot up close and have the ability of makeing a shot out to 120 yards or so.

or a slug gun of some sort.
I have a model 1100 12gauge 2 3/4"
benelli nova 12 gauge
again some sort of red dot or tritium/fiber optic sight

so what do you all think, good bad improve or a totally different ideal
what do you think

 

[R.W.Dale]

Pump action remington 7600 carbine, 30-06 combined with a good reflex sight or low powered scope. Does everything the firearms mentioned above can do only another 100 to 150 yds farther away and also features a handy detachable mag. No need for weird scope mounts and if you buy good optics you won't need the weird sights either

 

[Eric F]

Oh Boy! My favorite subject.
Look no further. Remington covered this alot of years ago. Look for a remington model 8 or 81 $300 to $600 iron sights in 35 remington. Or a Gibbs-Navi Arms enfield 45-70. I have the remington in 30 remington and still looking for a gibbs.
Gun show tomorrow Its there and in my grasp if only.......

 

[dstorm1911]

krochus, quality of optics or how much they cost has zero bearing on a dropped weapon resulting in dead optics..... if ya got no backup system then ya are now done hunting......

Want a low cost, proven extremally reliable compact carbine with 30/30 ballistic good out to 300 yards?

Norinco SKS paratrooper AKA Cowboy companion etc... $200 these days at most gunshows still in the original boxes 16" barrel, lightweight tough wooden stock, easily converted to 5 round mag add a side scope mnt cheap with weaver rail, if your state allows red dots for hunting ya can go with any number of low cost red dots, exchange the stock rear sight for a mojo peep sight and ya have the favorite rifle of North American indians for hunting as well as varmint control due to its low cost and extremally tough and reliable design, chrome lined chamber and barrel combined with super easy one lever take down for total cleaning........... add a Trigger job and your set and ready for anything that can be stopped by a 30/30 as they are nearly identical balistically with lots of low cost hunting ammo options available....... simplicity that can't be matched......

there is your proven ULTIMATE brush gun or were ya just looking for an excuse to buy a 336? in that case then yep its the only possible option available..... delete all of the above before showing your wife the printout of the thread

 

[Deer Hunter]

For mine, it's an M44. Just took a large buck with it two days ago while in the woods.

 

[thomastaylorIII]

hmmm enfield in 45-70...... never heard of that, but i like it......

 

[cracked butt]

Leverguns are so19th century.

My ultimate brush gun would be a AR-15 with a collapsable stock, a 16" 458 SOCOM upper, Leupold CQ/T scope.

+'s
-Much more powerful than most lever gun cartridges
-Adjustable stock makes for easier shouldering even with several layers of clothing on.
-Semiauto is MUCH faster for follow-up shots than a leveraction

-'s

Expensive

 

[R.W.Dale]

krochus, quality of optics or how much they cost has zero bearing on a dropped weapon resulting in dead optics..

BS:

Quality optics and mounts are one of the least fragile parts of a rifle package. There is no comparison between el-cheap-o sub $150 scopes and junky mounts vs a set of steel rings bases holding on to a high quality optic. destroy a set of grand slam rings and a VX2 leupold scope in the field and I garentee theres enough damage to the rest of the rifle to take it out of commission sights or no. But that's OK as the remington 7600's come with NORMAL iron sights in case you feel the need for them.



I'm guessing you've never owned a scope that cost more than $200

Want a low cost, proven extremally reliable compact carbine with 30/30 ballistic good out to 300 yards?

Except for that whole 4moa thing. Which would be a very very good day with my norinco paratrooper. 4" at 100yds becomes 16" at 300 hardly hunting accuracy.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

All my rifles whether bolt,lever or semi-auto are brush guns as well as open field guns.

 

[Deer Hunter]

Krochus,

The Russian POSP scopes are pretty tough, and they rarely go for over $200. I have a weaver version on my STG58 that works extremely well.

 

[R.W.Dale]

All my rifles whether bolt,lever or semi-auto are brush guns as well as open field guns.

Exactly! It's almost as though people think it takes certain short range chamberings to kill deer inside 60yds.

A 300yd rifle will kill deer just fine at 100yds but the opposite doesn't work out so well.

 

[Gator]

Sounds like mine (except for the caliber):

Marlin Guide Gun .45-70
XS scout foward scope rail
Aimpoint
and XS ghost ring sights

 

[Fat_46]

Savage 325A.

30-30 Bolt action, carbine length, iron sights, removable mag. Ugly as sin, accurate as heck.

Mine LOVES 168gr Combined Technology bullets on top of some H4895.

Pointy bullets in a 30-30, all in a tight package that can be had for under $200

 

[Ohen Cepel]

I would go with Gator here.

Bigger is better for the brush.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

"Bigger is better for the brush." Why?

 

[R.W.Dale]

Mine LOVES 168gr Combined Technology bullets on top of some H4895.

how deep are you having to seat those bullets? In my sav340 even the 125grn B-tips are too long to be fed through the mag and not have the start of the bullet's ogive inside the case

 

[moojpg2]

Remington Mod. 7 in 7mm-08 (youth model if you want a real short/light gun, and short LOP is great if wearing heavy jacket) with a 2-7x (or 1.5-4x) Leupold VX-II (or VX-I)

It handles good in the brush,is relatively affordable, and will take any medium sized game like deer or black bear out to 300yds easily. And, I believe mine came with Iron sights too, if ya care about that. I don't think you'll ever kill a good quality scope without killing your rifle though.

 

[GunNut]

Marlin .45/70 of some variety. Either a 1895G/GS or a 1895SS would be great.

 

[dstorm1911]

Krochus "I'm guessing you've never owned a scope that cost more than $200" I'm betting ya've never owned a scope that cost more than $3000 have ya? guess what partner... I've destroyed ALOT of scopes, we build custom battle rated Rifles...... glass is glass bud and if ya drop a rifle and destroy it because it landed on the scope guess ya better give up on them cheap trash commercial Remingtons and look at some military grade stuff........ we've destroyed ALOT of scopes dureing destructive testing... never have destroyed any of the rifles they were mounted to but then I don't deal in fragile commercial junk either...... all milspec ya see thats what I do for a living bud.. build guns that can be air dropped......... along with their optics

$200?? man where are you shopping? our Sniper scopes start at $1200 and go up from there............ ya needa move up to Nikon bud and give up on that cheap a$4 Leupold cr@p

 

[GunTech]

I was surprised that Nikon rates high end. And the Nikon tactical is only $999 (closer to $800 if you shop around). I'll take a USO or S&B any day. I've seen nails hammered into a 2x4 with a USO without any damage.

As far as a brush gun, I'll take an M1A SOCOM or Scout.

 

[dstorm1911]

Guntech, the SOCOM would be perfect if ya can get it down to under $400...... that $1500 price tag cancels out what the OP was looking at regarding cost

Our stuffs custom order, Nikon is whats requested most for glass but then again the OP had cost limits...... he is budgeting $200 so what ya got in that price range for optics ya can drive nails with in a red dot and with a battery and electronics which will never fail nessecitating the need for a backup sighting system?

Ya might wanna jump up and read Krochus's original post as well as that of the original thread poster then edit your post to fit the criteria of the thread

 

[George Hill]

Just a rule of thumb: As soon as you use the word Ultimate, it isn't.

 

[GunTech]

Well, there's a SOCOM here on THR listed at $1100, but still high.

I can't think of a red dot for under $200 that I've had good luck with, and I've tried many. The best of the cheap ones is probably the Kobra - which is at least rugged. Most have parallax issues and don't handle being dropped.

I think I'd pick a guide gun over a 30-30, but we have the occasional bear around here. I still see them for around the $400 range.

The XS rail is slick, and my wife has one on here 45-70. The latest version extends over the receiver, so you can do a conventional or scout type mount.

 

[moojpg2]

I think some are getting a little beyond the scope of the question here, he's looking for a relatively simple deer hunting rifle, not a shtf survival rifle, not a rifle that needs to be air dropped, not a $1000 battle rifle, etc

A simple, short, compact, bolt action/ lever action with a quality low powered optic (and backup iron sights if deemed necessary), fits the bill nicely, and gets you to the desired 120yard mark. Marlin 336, Rem. Model 7., guide gun, etc. I figured the compact bolt action might fit the bill nicely, it will be good in the brush, and the 7mm-08 is a very versatile round for anything from varmints to black bear, and it can be used at longer ranges than 30-30/45-70 if the shot presents itself. And the bolt action is pretty bullet proof, and probably a little more accurate than the average lever action.

As far as Nikon being better than Leupold. I'd argue against that, I own multiple examples of both (both their top of the line tactical/target scopes, and $200 hunting stuff)and I would say the Leupold quality/fit and finish is a little better on average. You do usually get what you pay for, it's not a myth. And I have accidentally dropped rifles on the scope before, from a good height on cement, it didn't hurt either the gun or the scope(other than the obvious dings and scratches). Glass in many applications is a pretty tough material, you'd have to do something pretty stupid to hurt a good scope under normal hunting conditions.

Hell, the op could just save his money and put a slug barrel on his Model 1100, shooting good modern sabot slugs he's good to 100 yards in the woods, and his optic of choice, personally I would go with some good iron sights, ghost ring or whatever, for the sake of simplicity, no need for a red dot on a hunting gun, as long as you can hit good with iron sights.

 

[TCB in TN]

I have stalked and brush hunted with some excellent bolt guns over the years so don't get to hung up that you forget to look there, but I traded for a good little Browning BLR .308 that shoots real sweet, has both open site and a scope (I know some folks can't stand a scope on a lever gun), has the drop out 4 shot mag, so that you can use any 308 rounds, it is light, well balanced and just a dream to both handle and shoot. I haven't shot it out to 300 yards yet, but killed a fox the other day at about 175 and I do believe it will hold up pretty well on out another 100+. Guns American usually has them used for $550 to $600 with a little Bushnell scope. Not the best optics in the world but they are serviceable.

I do love the little Rem 7's and would suggest that you also look at the Mossberg Bantams (youth) short little rifles that are supposed to shoot and handle very well (they also come in the .308), (I like the little Mossy 100 I got for my son and all of the comments I have heard about the Bantam is similar).