Graybeard Outdoors banner

Up land shot gun.

12K views 49 replies 26 participants last post by  D Fischer 
#1 ·
What do you like the best, for up land hunting, SXS OU pump or a old single shot. Why do you like it?

For years my favorite was a wards western field 16ga pump. I liked it because it was fairly light and with the poly choke could change the pattern to what the birds were doing flushing close or farther out.

But I discovered a short 26 inch barrel Beretta silver snipe OU and have never looked back. Love this fixed choke mod and imp cyl shot gun.
I own 12ga pumps 20ga pumps and several 12ga OU's but the little Beretta is still after all these years my favorite.

:) Al
 
#2 ·
For years my go-to upland (grouse and woodcock) gun has been an Ithaca SKB 100 in 20 gauge, IC/M.


My picks would be:


#1 - SxS 20 gauge choked IC/M or Skeet 1/Skeet2


#2 - O/U, same as above


#3 - Pump or semi-auto 20 or 16 (if on a true 16ga frame size).


I much prefer my upland guns to have a tang safety - much quicker and easier to manipulate than a trigger guard cross bolt safety.
 
#3 ·
I use a single shot 16 gauge H&R with modified choke. My upland hunting is done in thick woods and skid roads so I never get more than one shot anyway. I'm usually in mountainous terrain as well so the light weight is nice to carry, it only weighs 5 lbs. 10 oz.
 
#5 ·
As a kid I had a 16 ga Rem Sportsman 58. It served me well for 20 years. Sold it. Later picked up a new 20 ga OU which served me 20 years. Son took it home with him five years ago and a full case of #8 shells. Now I only hunt dove on occasion and weight is not a big factor. I have a 2 3/4 IC barrel that I put on a 12 ga 1100 3" mag receiver. The heavier receiver dampens recoil a little. Still miss my little 20 ga OU but at age 70 I wouldn't use it much. Had a Fox Sterlingworth once. Nice SXS I wish I had back.
 
#6 ·
20 Ga. SXS, 26 inch barrels w/IC-M chokes, preferably a side-lock, splinter forearm.

I've always loved double guns. To me, nothing else feels as good or points as naturally. Now that may all be in my mind, but that doesn't mean it's not real to me! :)
 
#7 ·
I shoot Yildiz SPZ ME over and under guns with 28" barrels -one in 28 gauge for quail, the other in 12 gauge for pheasant.

The 28 is a tick under 6 pounds. The 12 tips the scale at 6lbs, 9 oz. Both are threaded for choke tubes.

I like these for their fit to my body -fit as if bespoke with zero alteration required. I like their light carry weight. Barrels are chrome lined on the inside and black satin chrome finished on the outside and I like that because its highly scratch resistant and adds a degree of weather-proofness. They also use selective pure mechanical triggers with no inertia block for resetting for the second shot. Both of my teenagers have their own 28 gauge SPZ ME's and all four in my household came with properly regulated barrels. They use the simple "Brescia" action design, as many F.A.I.R. guns do.
 
#8 ·
I hunt ruffed grouse and Pheasant up on the North Mt game lands in Sullivan Co. PA. It ain't flat. I like my upland guns to be light and comfortable to carry all day.
There are three guns that I use throughout the season. One is a flintlock fowler made for me by Mike Brooks....16 gauge, 42" barrel and six pounds four.
The second is an old Winchester model 59 - 12 gauge and just six pounds. The third is a little ATI O/U in .410 with 26" barrels and five pounds 10.
Pete
 
#37 ·
You must post a picture of that Fowler! I have built two flintlocks over the last couple winters and a fowling piece is my next build. Mike Brooks is one of the best builder out there...

Sorry to hijack!!!
 
#9 ·
i have two browning up land specials, a 26" 20 ga and a 12ga with 24" barrels. i hunt ring necks over dogs with the 12ga and grouse with the 20ga. for rabbits i use a browning double barrel bss sporter 20ga. at close to 73 i have gone to lighter weight firearms. as a youth i carried a old 9 lbs double barrel and thought it was the cats meow. eastbank.
 
#10 ·
for the last 3 years this has been my go to bird gun. she is and 1882 saxton 12 ga w/ 2 1/2" chambers. because of her age i keep a new stoger sxs in the truck just in case. have added a 16 ga stevens and a iver johnson hercules grade 12 ga to the stable but haven't had time to shot either yet. my wife shots a cz sxs in 12 as well.
 

Attachments

#11 ·
My favorite shotgun is a Remington Model 11/48 16 ga. with vent-rib and screw-in chokes. When I turned 16 my dad gave me a Remington 11-48 16 ga shotgun for my birthday. That gun was stolen in 1983. For our 25th wedding anniversary my wife bought me another 11-48 16 ga. I also have a browning, 2 more 11-48's, a 48, Stevens sxs, Marlin model 90 over/under and an antique stevens single barrel all of them in 16 gauge. The 16 ga standard load is 1 ounce optional loads (factory) are 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 oz. Federal use to make the 1 1/4 oz but I haven't found it in a long time. There were some 16 ga guns made with 3 inch chambers but I have never seen one. If you go to the 16 ga forum they will tell ya all about them.
The only difference between 12 and 16 ga. is weight and you can easily find 3 & 3 1/2" chambered guns in the 12 ga. Steel shot brought about the 3 1/2" chambered guns....trying to make the 12 ga into a 10 ga. The gun manufacturers are the reason the 16 ga was killed. They decided make people to buy 2 guns instead of just the 16 ga to do all their hunting. The 20 ga for upland hunting and the 12 ga for ducks, geese, and deer. Now who wants to tote a heavy 12 ga up and down hills for birds. The 20 ga now with steel shot doesn't reach out like the 12 ga mag or the 10 ga does. So to hunt everything it's owning a 20 ga and a 12 ga mag.
 
#17 ·
I actually handled a 16 gauge with 3" chambers. It was an Italian made Charles Daly O/U.

Sent from my SM-S765C using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
My first hunting was with Dad's Winchester M37 and Granddad's Remington model 10 12 ga pump gun. First new gun was a 12 ga Ithaca Model 37 pump gun with 26" modified choke. Didn 't kill many birds and the ones I did were badly shot up. Did much better with woodcock and grouse when I put a 20" cylinder bore slug barrel on it!

The 37 was replaced with an Ithaca/SKB model 100 12 ga SxS mod and IC. I would pick up a SKB M100 or M500 in 20 ga if I found one I could afford.
 
#13 ·
Today I only have four shotguns; 16ga Mod 37, 16ga AyA, 28ga AyA and a 410 AyA, all Matadors. Go to gun is the 28ga AyA. If I'm hunting pheasant, seldom do, I'll use the 16ga AyA. The only thing I'd use the Mod 37 for is waterfowl and I don't hunt them anymore. My AyA's are light to carry and handle really well. I had a Savage O/U years ago that I did like. I think it was a model 200, not sure. I had a Browning Citori but just didn't care for it. Probably the best upland game gun I ever had was a Browning Double Auto in 12ga. That's one shotgun I'd like to have back!
 
#14 ·
When I lived at home still, we ran rabbits almost every single weekend of the season. When I rabbit hunted that hard I had a mossberg 500 20ga with 24" barrel and improved cylinder choke with number 6's at all times. The few times a year I walk the brush for rabbits and grouse now is usually done so with a 24" barreled 12ga side by side.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#15 ·
I dont get to hunt much upland birds any more--- but when I do it is most often a 16ga H&R with a full choke that shoots slightly open - as an improved modified. Very light, pleasant shooting and points good. Also use a 20 ga Stoeger Coach gun in brush with I/C-M chokes-- short and has the double triggers.
 
#16 ·
I've used a 12, 16, 20 28 and 410 for bird hunting, very little 410. I've used on auto, only one I'd ever own again, Browning double auto. Pump for a long time, started with a single shot and graduated to a bolt action Mossberg.. Had a few nice O/U's but my gun of choice for q whole lot of years now has been SxS's. For me, nothing come's close to the SxS for handling.
 
#19 ·
I am a old man 72. hunted all my life. had rabbit dogs(11 at one time) bird dog (best bird dog of all time. was offered $5000.00 when he was 6 months old. died in my arms at 14 years old) kill a B&C elk 379 points. did all that with cheap guns. now as a old man I save my money and bought a beretta O/U 20ga. best gun I have ever had. so, save your money and buy best and lightest gun you can get. regards, richard
 
#20 ·
Ithaca M37 12 ga pump with a 18 inch cylinder bore slug barrel.....there wasn't anything left when I managed to hit a woodcock with the 28 inch modified barrel. M37 was succeeded by an Ithaca SKB 12 ga sxs bored improved cylinder and modified.

I would use a 20 ga o/u or sxs if I could find a well made one with open chokes at a reasonable price.
 
#21 · (Edited)
You seem to take the same slant on this subject that I do.
It's not the action that's so important, as the gun as a whole unit.
Like you, I appreciate a light, quick handling gun that puts the shot where I need it to go.
That being stated, I love my little H&R 20 ga. single. Ever since I opened it up to modified choke (fixed), there's nothing I can't hit with it, as long as I don't shoot over the gun.
In addition to that, my father acquired a nice little Remington 1100 lightweight, also 20 ga. Modified (again fixed) back in the late 70's. It replaced the 12 ga. 11-48 he'd carried since the 1950's.
That 1100 is a sweet little shooter. I think I was about 15 when he got that gun and I didn't like shooting it back then, but I pulled it out of the gun case about 3 years ago and discovered just what a little honey that thing is.
...and speaking of when I was 15 years old, I got a Stevens 511 for Christmas that year.
20 ga. SxS, mod./full fixed, 26" barrels, double triggers.
I hated carrying that gun, because it was akin to a 6 lb. 4x4, but when the birds flushed, it could nail 'em every time.
Of these I've mentioned here, only the Stevens has moved on.
If someone were invite me out to a weekend pheasant hunt this fall, I'd pack both the single and the auto, but I'd use the single primarily, because it ticks all the boxes I need it to. None of the others can do that.
 
#26 ·
Ive got two I use most. a 20 guage browning straight gripped side by side and a 20 browning upland special straight griped pump. Had a straight gripped 870 special field 12 that I should have never parted with. Favorite is the side by side. But have to admit id do a bit better on flying targets and clays with the pump. Lucky for me im not that good with a scatter gun anyway so I can take out any shotgun and miss just as well.
 
#27 ·
My favorite gun? Well training I take my AyA Matador out most the time. Not as often but sometimes I take out my AyA Matador 28ga and most my hunting is with it. Haven't had my AyA Matador 16ga out in a number of years. Mostly because I seldom hunt pheasant any more. Don't hunt duck st all anymore so I have a mod 37 in 16ga I haven't fired in years. Getting a new pup next spring so will have a new 28ga coning along before long!
 
#30 ·
Well the gun that I use is probably the ugliest and least expensive of the lot. It is a beat to heck Mossberg 500 20 gauge with a 24 inch barrel and screw in chokes. When I'm hunting pheasants in the brush, horse weeds or whatever I lead with my gun. When I have to cross a barbed wire fence I lay the gun over the fence and push it down. It killed 106 rooster pheasants last year and 23 so far this season. I shoot 1 oz 6 shot in an improved cylinder over a couple of fine tuned pointing dogs. Once in a while I fill in and help guide a hunt or too. You should see the look on a Perazzi owners face when I drag out the Mossberg. However I don't hug my gun and walk backwards through the weeds to protect it. My Mossberg is like my favorite hammer....I got it to use.

I do have a few pretty ones too that might get to go out on a nice day. I want a sxs 20 gauge with 26 inch barrels but don't know what to get. It is a want and not a need but sometimes gun wants out way needs.........
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top