16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 196

What chokes and Length barrels do you prefer.I had to pull the trigger on an old sauer 20 ga. 24” barrels C and IC.I really feel like I should have looked harder but I am a reel sucker for really exceptional wood.

If you are doing it properly, the shorter the barrel the better, IMHO. I use a 26” for both field & clays. If the Citori Upland Special had a lightning stock instead of an English, I would have bought that as it has 24” barrels, but I don’t like a straight stock. Ruffed Grouse are in the thick stuff typically. I don’t hunt any other grouse so if you’re asking about Sage grouse or Ptarmigan that may not apply. That said, if I went on a trip for other grouse, I would still use the 26”, as I am used to it.

My first grouse gun was (is) a Stevens made from the parts of 2 guns. One of the barrel sets had a dent towards the muzzle so I cut it off at 21” and a few 16ths. Both barrels remain wide open. Made navigating those alder swales & birch thickets easy, and made me feel like a crack shot when the birds fell. I kept the other set whole with M & F, 28”, both barrel sets fit the gun. But it’s on house protection duty now, as the safety is only for show due to a bad pin support.

C & IC should do you quite well for Ruffed Grouse.

Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 2125 Location: Hudson,Wy

Once upon a time I might have considered that the perfect grouse gun. Now? Now I am concerned more about how it actually feels in my hands, no matter what the barrel length. I have guns that work very well for me in a startlingly wide range of barrel lengths. The handling dynamics and stock fit are why they work well in my hands. If your new gun works for you personally, then you have a winner for sure no matter what theories may say. If it doesn't...there are plenty more choices out there.

Joined: 07 Mar 2010 Posts: 483 Location: South Eastern PA

I like 26 or 28 inch barrels, anything longer is a handicap in my opinion when in the the thick stuff for grouse and/or woodcock.

Wide open chokes are especially useful for woodcock, a little bit of choke is ok for grouse where I hunt. I always bring an extra gun in reserve in case of an accident or malfunction so if conditions warrant a little more choke my back up gun will have it.

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

What WyoChukar said.

To add, there's the 20 ga Parker with factory 26 inch barrels, chokes opened to .007 in both barrels (a little tighter than IC). I have to fiddle with the stock a little, esp the sticky recoil pad, to make it come up quicker.

Of course, that's the gun I'm carrying when the big blonde coyote, circa 70 lb, pops out on the sand road in front of me >50 yards down range. Somehow, RST's standard 7/8 ounces of #6 ain't gonna do much there and then.

Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 196

My other sauer hammer gun had to sand down the stock for some cast off but if this don’t fit I will put it in the for sale section.The gun was made around 1920 6lbs. Even and the wood,never seen wood that nice on a sauer had to take a chance.I did look at foxes,Parker’s and a restored Lefever 20 ga. With Damascus barrels I feel like a fat kid in a candy store.

AC,

WyoChukar/Garhart has the right idea, no matter the length of the barrels the gun has to carry, swing and mount perfectly.. In reality I have Grouse guns with most all the different length barrels, I use different guns in different types of habitat. For many years the shortest Barrels on my guns were 26'. This past year I picked up a Special Order 20 gauge L.C. Smith with 24" barrels. Yes L.C. Smith did make them as a Special Order gun, very hard to get your hands on one of these fantastic guns.. Glad you picked up a short barrel gun yourself, simply fantastic Grouse guns in thick habitat.
So far I have taken 4 Grouse and about 6 Woodcock with the 24" barreled gun.. It does open uo a new world of gunning in the very thick habitat. You would not think the 24" barrels would be much different than the 26" barrels, however I found out real quickly it is. The 1st few birds I downed were Woodcock in what seemed like the Vietnam Jungle, due to the incredibly thick October Pa foliage. The short barreled gun did an incredible job in the heavy habitat. I am currently looking for a L.C. Smith 16 gauge with 24" barrels, to add to the Grouse gun collection.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

L.C. Smith 1914 Special Order Field Grade with 24" barrels and #5 gun French Walnut Wood. The gentlemen in Ky knew what he was doing when he ordered this serious Grouse gun back in 1914.

Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 444 Location: WI

A gun that fits you, and that you can hit things with is the best grouse gun.

I think a lot of people believe (or have read somewhere) that they should want a short barreled gun for tight cover, but there are probably far fewer instances where a barrel length difference of 2" actually makes a difference than people want to believe it does.

Really, overall length is more important than barrel length if the "tight cover" variable is taken seriously, which it probably shouldn't.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2346 Location: West MI

Joined: 07 Sep 2011 Posts: 567 Location: wheeling, wv

Putz,
I grew up roaming the hills of SE Ohio also, what grand grouse hunting we had there. I also would go to the UP to grouse hunt. The hunting in Ohio was just as good as the UP, but it sure was a whole lot tougher with the hills and vegetation that wanted to rip one to shreds. I still spend a few weeks per year in the UP. I often hunt with either a Parker VH 20 or a DHE 16, both 26" cyl/mod as per factory letter, and both weighing 6 lbs even. Lately I have been shooting a Scottish 20 ga hammer gun with 30" barrels or a Dickinson 28 with 30" barrels--both weigh just over 5 1/2lbs even with those long barrels. I have not had any problems with long barrels being unwieldy, even in tight grouse cover.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2346 Location: West MI

Good stuff, fond memories indeed, of all the spec's shared, length is probably the least important, especially if you have dogs, we didn't, having to drop to all 4's to crawl out of a Rose tangle the size of a football field or missing a flush when your gun gets tangled in a spaghetti blob of Grape vines, length moves up the list a little bit.

Closed Grouse a couple weeks ago in Northern MI stumbling around up there, BECAUSE ALL THE &@## RAMPS WERE LOCKED UP, sorry....a walk in the park compared to S OH.

Thanks for the memories 3birddogs, great stuff...

Gentlemen,

I sure wish you gentlemen had more than just fond memories of the once nice Grouse hunting you had in SE Ohio, wish you still had your nice Grouse population in that area to make new memories with. However Pa is not to far away to make new memories. Many of the Ohio sportsman now have nice cabins on the northern tier of Pa to hunt out of. Most are very good sportsman and have a great time in our Pa Grouse woods.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Posts: 754 Location: Mn.

For decades I hunted with as short of a gun as I could for grouse hunting.

About 20 years ago hunting with my FIL back "home" in Pa. he watched me plow through thick brush and seldom get a shot off when a bird flushed. Or the dog flushed one and I was tied up in the thicket while he was in the open. I hunt flushers, Nova Scotia Duck Tollers. Finally he said you know it works better if you let the dog hunt and you hunt the dog from an open area. And you are stopping your swing with those poke and hope guns. Might want to use a longer barrel gun.

He was right. Now I follow a moose trail or 2 track and let the dog hunt. And I shoot a lot more birds.

He also watched me bleed going through multiflora rose and finally he asked me how many grouse I put up in it. Erh none. Lot of robins though LOL. I now stay out of the multifloral.

I kill a lot more grouse now than when I was younger. And it sure isn't because my reflexes are faster now.

Decided to buy a nice custom made grouse gun for my 65th birthday. So last fall used a 28" and 30" Iside to see which would be best. I have used both in the past but wanted to make sure and see over 3 weeks of hunting everyday which was REALLY the best if I was going to spend $5K+ on a gun for grouse.

I have both 28" and 30" for my 16 ga. NEA 500 and in the past used 28" for hunting and 30" for clays. Because always felt that shorter was better. Because 2" is actually a lot.

In Sept switched from my target 16 ga. to the 28" and 30" 6 pound Isides with 7/8 oz. loads. Next to my 30" 16 ga. SxS target gun.

Of course 30" is better for clays. Turns out the 30" also killed more grouse than the 28". So I ordered my FAIR Iside in 30". When it comes in hopefully in June I will turn around and custom order a Rizzini BR552 16\20 combo and the 16 bbl. will be 29" the best of both worlds. The 20 will be 30" and I only use 20 ga. for clays. Ruff grouse prefer to be shot with purple shells.

Joined: 17 Oct 2019 Posts: 455 Location: New Jersey

I prefer open and “opener” chokes and I think barrel length has little to do with it. Gun fit is the most important aspect of all of this. Last time I shot at Hausemanns Hidden Hollow I broke every bird on his 5 Stand including the #8 bird (7 out of 8 times) I shot at it. If a you’re familiar with it, it’s about a 50 yard shot that’s going away and climbing. I did it with a 26”” cyl/cyl choked Trojan 16 with RST 2-1/2” light loads. I’m confident you don’t even need choke in the grouse woods. I do however feel that good quality ammo is very important like RST or AA trap loads or similar.

Joined: 30 Sep 2020 Posts: 185 Location: ont canada