Brush guns

I wonder how my CZ carbine would do in those situations using 154gr bullets.
It will be just like all the rest, in that it will deflect if it hits anything off center.

The best solution to hunting in brush is prior planning and a machete
 
@Bamashooter- The M44 is such a cool rifle for that purpose.
I have always been told that 30/30 Marlin lever was the "brush" gun. However I have always carried and never had trouble with my Remy 7600 30-06. But I have never taken a shot through any brush. Actually, if im not certain (beyond reasonable doubt) that its a 1-shot kill I wont pull the trigger. I love to hunt but I cant stand to see any animal suffer.
 
Some folks from a gun magazine tested big heavy bullets against lighter faster ones and found there is no difference. If a bullet hits something in flight it will be deflected. Period.

Now if by "brush gun" you mean something short and handy, that's a different matter.

I have this one...very compact, fast handling, and enough power at close range.

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Apparently the "I hit a branch" excuse lives on. Whole lot of "I read in a magazine once". In the other thread where this started, I had been saying how I had one time dug wood splinters out of a deer I shot and another guy I know did too. Obviously some of those "Brush bullets" get through "Twigs". As for RN bullets being more prone to deflection and stoppage, try shooting them into wood or packed newspapers some time. You may be really surprised how they react to something solid.
 
Apparently the "I hit a branch" excuse lives on.
It's not an "excuse". It's what happened

I saw the branch after the deer ran off and it had a nice chunk torn out of the side

If you had a deer with "splinters" I'd be more inclined to believe it ran into a tree

As for RN bullets being more prone to deflection and stoppage, try shooting them into wood or packed newspapers some time. You may be really surprised how they react to something solid.

I prefer to use a bullet designed to perform well on deer, without planning to run it through a tree first
 
I totally agree with JMR40. Laser flat, great optics, and easy to maneuver. I use a Thompson center venture compact chambered 7mm08 topped with a leupold 2-7 for most of my dense woods hunting. I have on many occasion "threadded the needle" so to speak. Including taking a 145 in. 8 pt last season, with just that method.
 
IF a deer had splinters in it, then it was obviously very close to whatever wooden object that got hit first, which goes along with the "the further the object/wood/brush is from the target, the less chance you have of hitting the target" Be all that as it may, I have several rifles that I happily consider brush rifles, actually all of them would work just fine but favorites are; Mdl 7 in 7-08, Handi Rifle in .223, Rem 700 in .280, they are fast, swing smoothly, and accurate, heck what more can you want in a rifle. I have shot at deer in the fairly open woods before and watched them run off apparently uninjured, and upon inspectin find a twig or branch between me than them that has a new bright white scar on it, such it life, thats why its called hunting.
 
I have seen a funny trophy

a dude on a driven hunt fired thru a treestem and killed a boar, and several years later he did the same thing at the same location

they then cut down the tree and made it into a trophy:D

driven hunts are very fast and you swing almost like shotgunning so it wasn't necessarily bad shots
 
^^^^^ I'm in the same train of thought.

Which is why I have both a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 Rem Mag and a Marlin 1894FG in the same caliber. Can use the same ammo and will drop just about anything in the brush or small clearing.
Never had to shoot in the brush. But I like to think that I have the right tools should I need to.
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Me three, my go-to woods gun is a rossi 16" 44 mag carbine. BTW--if you ever want to part with your 41 lever please let me know. : ) I have a 41 mag blackhawk also, I hate the fact nobody makes a 41 carbine anymore : (
 
Just an excuse...

I thought "brush gun" was just an excuse to get a 45/70 lever action or one of those Ruger 44 Mag carbines...

At least that was my excuse...

Basically, a good "brush gun" is any rifle or shotgun which can be brought quickly to aim and its shorter length eases handling in thicker cover. Because of the relatively short distances to game, medium-power cartridges work quite well.

I always thought it had more to do with the size and agility of the gun. More so than "bustin' bushes" with the heavy bullets.
 
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Husqvarna pretty much describes it. You can either snapshoot or swing with a moving deer, but either way there is no guarantee you won't hit a sapling or something else in between. There is a big difference between hunting heavy woods and and farm fields.
 
I don't call it a "Brush Gun", it's my "Tight Timber Carbine" the good ol 30-30 or my Marlin in 375 Winchester (favorite), I kinda wish I had a 444 as well.:D
 
Brush Guns:
Preferred rifle & caliber for the purpose? I doubt there is such a firearm/s.

Shorter barrel length? offers little benefit to it's shooter if he/she doesn't shoulder or shoot that weapon but only a couple times every year.

A good brush gun is a weapon of choice its shooter is comfortable in knowing its workings & sighting no matter what nasty over grown terrain he finds himself in.

As for me. My preferred Still Hunting {not designated for just brush only} I actually have two rifles for the purpose. One has Iron barrel sights the other has a Williams Foolproof Peep w-o/ aperture.

1st choice: 300 Savage Model E carbine. (open barrel sights)
2nd choice: 30-30 Savage Model 1899 T.D. carbine. (Williams peep)

Both Savage rifles are dead on balls accurate to 100 yards. Any distances beyond. My 270 gets un-cased for those scenarios brush or no brush.
 
The ole' Guns and Ammo test.....

I think I still have that article somewhere. Interesting reading. What is really interesting is that the writer (after shooting all manner of bullets and weights) concluded that the very best bullet that did not deflect hardly at all when he shot through the small twigs he had assembled in his apparatus was the old-fashioned round ball he shot through his muzzle-loader. He surmised that a round ball was still traveling point-forward even if it did rotate/deflect slightly when it hit a twig - round is round, afterall. LOL.

J
 
This was recently delivered by the smith. Would be a good close quarters rifle.

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This is the most compact CF rifle I own. It is truly tiny.

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