"A .22-caliber handgun is quite adequate for grouse."
I'll say. The Bud shot a blue grouse which pitched over - stone-cold dead. Fleshed 'im out & there was a bare 1/2-caliber crease along its thigh. Thing must have died of fright.
We still get a kick out of that one ...
I've shot rattlesnakes & smallish birds at from 3-5 feet with .44 mag shotshells & their reliability for clean kills is so disappointing that perhaps the companies that make them may (perhaps) be the only firearms-related group that
should be sued for a faulty product = they suck. Yes, perhaps, they're pest-control niche, but real game deserves a clean kill - these don't. (BTW, that sue 'em comment
was tongue in cheek)
& Kilgor, why not just walk over & pick up that downed bird?
11.43x23, wanna try your hand at some gamebirds with a handgun - I'd suggest that Contender & .410/.45Colt barrel (pssst, use the .410
) ... decent enough patterns to 20-25 yards to date with 7-1/2s & 6s.