What's YOUR Upland Shotgun?....

D

Dave McC

Staff In Memoriam
It's that time of year. The last litter of grey squirrels has reached eating size, I heard a quail call yesterday and the leaves are starting to turn.

So, what are you toting in the fields and forests this season?

An old friend, a new toy, or all of the above?

To start things off, I'll probably take Jessica, the little 20 gauge Express.

Modified choke, skeet tube in the vest. 6s and 7 1/2s there also.

If I get out for doves again, the SKB 20 O/U.

So, what's YOUR choice, and why?...
 
I'm still shooting the HR Partenr pump I got FREE 5 years ago. How ever I am going in to buy a couple new ones this year just haven't made up my mind yet on the Winchester SX3 or the Benelli Montifeltro in 20g.
 
My go-to for all my upland, starting last year, is a Browning Silver Hunter, 20ga, 28".
I have a Remington 11-87 12ga and never really shot it well...no function issues, just not a good fit.
I handled a few Silver Hunter's in the shop and they just seemed to point well for me....maybe the semi-humpback design gives me a little something the others didn't.
I have had good success with it, incl hammering the biggest rooster I've ever shot at an estimated 30yds.
Carrying the 20 for long upland hunts is much easier than the Remmy.
3" 1 1/4oz lead is not too expensive, either.
1oz of #8 is good for quail, grouse and huns.
I would buy the 12ga version if the right deal presented itself.
 
Remington 1100 unless attacked by a pheasant while duck hunting, then the Maxus quickly becomes my upland gun :D
 
S&W Elite Gold 20 gauge SxS, 6.4 pounds, English stock, DT chokes IC/M (.009/.016), 28" barrels

Comes up and points like extending your finger, light enough to carry all day, and damn good looking to boot!
 
Browning Citori XS Skeet models - with 30" barrels - are my field guns ( and skeet and sporting clays guns ) ...and since they all fit real well ...and I shoot them pretty well :D ...one of them ( maybe the 20ga or 28ga if I find the time to get out and do some Quail hunting this year )....

http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=62169&d=1281543688

so one of these are my primary guns ....
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If I fly somewhere to hunt ...I'll usually take one of my Benelli's ( super sport models ) in 12ga or 20ga ...and the reason I take them - is I don't want to give the airlines a $ 3,000 wood stocked shotgun ..../ where the carbon fibre stocks on the Benelli's aren't cheap ...they can be replaced easier if an airline messes one up ...or if they're stolen ...I won't cry myself to sleep. The other reason to travel with the Benelli ....is its a "one gun" does most everything ...some Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays and well as some birds in the field...( and 5 chokes ) and I'm all set ...and I can always get 12ga or 20ga shells anywhere ...

http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=70136&d=1304972491
Here's one of the Benelli super sports ...

( I don't eat or hunt squirrels ...:eek:) ....hope I never get "that hungry" ...
 
I hit Wisconsin the end of next week for Grouse and I'll be packing the "dynamic duo" that I always take up there, a Browning 20 ga Upland Special and a 28 ga Superlight. One of them is always right for that job. When I make the pheasant opener in Kansas it becomes the "original pair", the same 20 Upland and the 12 Upland in case their getting up too far for the 20. I've already done Doves in Texas with the 28 and 410 Superlights so the 410 will rest until Feb or March and then it will hit the plantation Quail hard!!!! Their the only 4 guns I hunt with anymore....
 
It depends on how I feel. If I feel nostalgic, I can carry my 12 gauge Browning Auto-5. If I am feeling conservative and highbrow, I can carry my 12 gauge field grade Browning Citori (heavy). If I am feeling European-ish, I can carry my 12 gauge Fabrique Nationale Automatic Shotgun (beautiful little shotgun, invented by an American by the name of John Browning). If I am feeling more modern, I can carry my aluminum-receiver FN Browning Patent Semi-Automatic (yes, that is an alloy receiver humpback). If I feel like a sharpshooter, I can carry my 20 gauge Browning Auto-5. Do you notice a pattern here? Sure, I could carry my 20 gauge 1100, or the 16 gauge Model 12, or the 12 gauge 101 (can you say "heavy"?), but they just don't move me. Give pointing dogs, a shotgun, and a box of shells, and I will be happy for a long time. Or a 22 and a box of shells for grouse, whatever.
 
Arrieta sxs, 12 gauge, choked skeet and light mod, 28" barrels or my Beretta 391 20 gauge with a 28" barrel.
 
most of the time a 12 gauge Merkel 147....or if Im feeling nostalgic...a 12ga Fox Sterlingworth or a grade 2 LC.. or maybe a model 12 in 12 16 or 20ga...maybe Dads old Ithaca 37 or a King Ferry made 20ga 37 ultralite....or maybe even my late uncles Winchester 42...possibly one of the Browning O/Us....or one of the others....Im starting to think I have to many but dont tell my wife....:)
 
12 ga. 870 with 26" IC and number sixes for chukar. Number 6 shot.

20 ga. 870 lightweight for the above, but with modified choke. Still # 6 shot.

For quail or doves, 7 1/2 or 8's works fine.

Hunted with many an acquaintence who liked a tighter chokes for the above gauges. Not me.

The 20 ga. with modified had the same range as the 12 IC. Just a smaller pattern.

Favorite sage amd blue grouse gun is 20 ga. Beretta O/U with 28" bbls, both bored modified. Had the chokes bored out because this gun was bought before the plastic wads became standard, and the mod. and full bbl's shot full and xtra full with the new ammo. 6's worked real well, and so did #5's. The number 4's that some prefer I found to be not necessary and a little thin on pattern. Sixes always worked so well. Always used 1 oz. in 20 and 1 1/4 0z. for 12. Loaded my own.

Had a favorite duck load that was deadly. Short mag. 1 3/8 # 5's I handloaded in 12 ga. Steel shot reg's. put and end to that great load.
 
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For me upland game is squirrel and rabbit so it'll be the newer 311, 12ga, choked full and not quite as full, loaded most likely with 1 oz of #4. But the place I intend to do most of my squirrel hunting in is overrun with hog som that right barrel may be loaded a tad bit heavier.
May take that shot out of the 20 ga Yildiz stock to see if I like it any better as a field gun. Choke it mod/IC and load some 3/4oz #6.
I've also got this Stevens 67 20 ga I picked up on the sly that should see some field time.
 
This.....

p413059343-4.jpg


Franchi AL48 28ga
 
Once I drop a tree rat in the front yard to verify that me and the gun are properly "regulated", I will be totin' the $100 stevens 20 gauge 5100 SXS with 20" barrels giving my ugly ol' M-500 20 ga. a rest... For the first time in a while, I own 2 shotguns and more important... I have a second gun equally or better suited for all day carry (in my ol' broke up hands) and it is a classy ol' "workman's" twice barrel shootgun!:D

Brent
 
Decisions, decisions, ...

either my A5 16ga (no rain, please it's 95%), the M37 16ga (reblued by Les H.), or Red Label 20ga.

Grandad's 1894 Remington with BP shells loaded with 7-1/2's.

Durn it!:eek:
 
For upland game i always grab my old western auto revelation my mom bought me when i turned 13. Its really a mossberg 500 under a diffrent name. I cant tell you the amount of critters that have fallen to that gun.
 
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