Blue Brick
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Whats your Favorite "Dove Gun"?
- Thread starter chas08
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Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow
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I've got two:
CZ Durango 20 ga, 20":
and
Winchester 1400, also 20 ga, 26"
These are my dove/quail/pheasant guns. Both have interchangeable chokes. The Winchester is a pussycat. Gotta wipe that first beauty down with oil right after the hunt, as hot, humid, & sweaty as dove weather is. My main problem with doves is that I have no dogs trained to retrieve them, and it's hellacious trying to find them in the tall summer flora. Oh yeah, hitting them is also difficult for me - I miss more than I hit. Part of that is due to them being smart enough to stay way up there as they migrate - I think by the time they get here, they've been shot at a few times. I use 7.5 or 8 shot shot & IC choke if set up right on water, and use 6 or 7.5 shot and IM, M, or M/F if set up away from water where they fly higher. 2.75" only, of course.
CZ Durango 20 ga, 20":
and
Winchester 1400, also 20 ga, 26"
These are my dove/quail/pheasant guns. Both have interchangeable chokes. The Winchester is a pussycat. Gotta wipe that first beauty down with oil right after the hunt, as hot, humid, & sweaty as dove weather is. My main problem with doves is that I have no dogs trained to retrieve them, and it's hellacious trying to find them in the tall summer flora. Oh yeah, hitting them is also difficult for me - I miss more than I hit. Part of that is due to them being smart enough to stay way up there as they migrate - I think by the time they get here, they've been shot at a few times. I use 7.5 or 8 shot shot & IC choke if set up right on water, and use 6 or 7.5 shot and IM, M, or M/F if set up away from water where they fly higher. 2.75" only, of course.
Virginian
Member
Browning BSS 20 gauge, or Remington 1100 28 or 20, depending on the mood and weather. The Browning is not a rain gun, and I have literally hunted doves in a hurricane. The Remmies I can take completely apart and clean.
Mannlicher
Member
I vary the gun between two choices for Dove. Early season, I am most likely to take the 20 GA DB Ithica. Later, I will be using a 12 GA Browning A5.
Guyon
Member
I only have one. A Remington 1100. One of those Wal-Mart close-outs mentioned here several years back. I've used it for dove hunts ever since I got it.
BarkeyVA
Member
12 ga. Marlin Model 90 o/u choked IC/Mod that I have had for over 50 years. My dad bought it used for me when I was 14 years old. He cut off the stock to fit me and added a piece back when I got bigger. I still shoot it as well as any gun I own. I just got a 20 ga. M90 choked F/Mod. I may take the 12 ga. and the 20 ga. with me and use either one depending on how the doves are flying.
TexasBen317
Member
someone else said "My all time favorite for quail would be an old 12ga Ithaca 37 I stupidly sold years ago. It was light to carry when a lot of walking was involved"
Got to agree,, getting older and slower that full chock on mine allows me to take my time and still reach out there and put the touch on them,,dove or quail.. mine really needs a factory re blue but I love it still.. Shortest pump action on the market still.
Got to agree,, getting older and slower that full chock on mine allows me to take my time and still reach out there and put the touch on them,,dove or quail.. mine really needs a factory re blue but I love it still.. Shortest pump action on the market still.
With all this talk about the BPS as a dove gun maybe I should try mine out...
Of course it's a 10 gauge, so I'd be sitting on the ground crying and twitching after awhile with a bunch of vaporized dove bits around me, but it might be fun...
I could take dove at longer distances, I guess... I'd have to avoid those power line birds with it though.
gp911
Of course it's a 10 gauge, so I'd be sitting on the ground crying and twitching after awhile with a bunch of vaporized dove bits around me, but it might be fun...
I could take dove at longer distances, I guess... I'd have to avoid those power line birds with it though. gp911
JesseL
Member
Winchester model 12, 16 gauge, w/ polychoke.
Savage 311 SXS 20G, but if the birds are really flyin' got to go with an autoloader or pump. Dove hunting in Ky., it was hotter than Georgia asphalt and the birds were thick, I had one cook-off in the chamber as we had paused to pick up the fallen, lesson learned!
Floppy_D
Member In Memoriam
Stoeger M2000 in 12g. Probably overkill, but it's my only shotgun, it works, and it's my only shotgun. Someday, when I'm as good as you guys, I'll buy a 410. Until then, I'll run what I brung.
orvpark
Member
I still use my old single shot 12ga, It would take the fun out of it to do anything else
Jason M
Member
You do realize you are driving me insane by bringing up dove season three months early... :banghead:
But to answer the question...
My 1975 Beretta AL-2. She has a 30" barrel and a fixed full choke. The bluing on her is easily 95% or better and it is as shiny as the day she was made in 1975. She weighs in at barely 6 pounds empty. I rescued her from abandon a year ago from the used rack in a gun shop. Dirty as all hell and you could barely pull the action open she was so gummed up. I honestly believe she hadn't been cleaned in 20 years--really. THREE cans of spray can gun cleaner later, a few runs of the bore snake and a thorough lubing later she shoots like new. I am smitten.
I own five shotguns and I'd sell most of them to keep the AL-2 if I had to.
-Jason
But to answer the question...
My 1975 Beretta AL-2. She has a 30" barrel and a fixed full choke. The bluing on her is easily 95% or better and it is as shiny as the day she was made in 1975. She weighs in at barely 6 pounds empty. I rescued her from abandon a year ago from the used rack in a gun shop. Dirty as all hell and you could barely pull the action open she was so gummed up. I honestly believe she hadn't been cleaned in 20 years--really. THREE cans of spray can gun cleaner later, a few runs of the bore snake and a thorough lubing later she shoots like new. I am smitten.
I own five shotguns and I'd sell most of them to keep the AL-2 if I had to.
-Jason
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chas08
Member
My apologies, I didn't mean to get you so worked up. But for us here in Texas' central zone it's only 1 month 4 days 23 hours and 32 minutes away....
TrapperReady
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My dove gun selection often comes down to "eenie meenie minie mo" while standing in front of the safe.
Past winners have included a 1958 20ga 870 Wingmaster, a 20ga Benelli M1 Field, and a 12ga Browning 425. I've been successful with all of them, although I probably hit the best with the 425, using IC and LM chokes.
Past winners have included a 1958 20ga 870 Wingmaster, a 20ga Benelli M1 Field, and a 12ga Browning 425. I've been successful with all of them, although I probably hit the best with the 425, using IC and LM chokes.
Okiecruffler
Member
Well, mine used to be my 20ga 311, but now that's my son's favorite. Guess I'll have to settle for the old 12ga 311.
Jason M
Member
I hate you.
Let me stay with you. I will hunt and do chores!
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chas08
Member
Jason, I share your enthusiasm. I started hunting Duck with my Dad at 10. I wasn't allowed to join the men shooting Dove till I was 12. I guess the "Old Man" , and I use that term with ULTIMATE respect, wanted to make sure all that he'd been teaching me had set in. It's such a friendly, social, form of hunting, that even now at 52, I still look forward to it like I was 12. I still make it a point to take his Model 12, 12 ga and my Grandpa's Model 12, 16 ga on at least one dove hunt each season. Keep the enthusiasm, and pass it on.
Gordon
Member
all around I like my old Browning BSS 12ga SxS with imp.cyl and mod chokes 28". Stoked with #7 1/2 of 'dove' loads on sale.Works for me!
ATAShooter
Member
Winchester Model 12, 12ga, 30" full choke.
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