Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Upland bird hunters....what's your gun of choice?

Pics if you have them, please.

I would answer my own question, but I have never been upland bird hunting.

I know that my grandfather was a big upland bird hunter. He was also a gun collector, but his collection was pilfered by relatives of mine after he died. My stepgrandmother managed to hold aside two of his guns for my father, including an old Remington 16 auto...not sure if he hunted with it though.

My dad hunted quail a lot right up until I was a small child, at which point they had pretty much disappeared. Don't know what gun he used. He had an ithica 12 gauge that he turkey hunted with. Also a Browning over under 20 gauge that my granfather gave him around 1950. My dad died 13 years ago, so I can no longer pick his brain about these things.

Anyway, just curious to know/see what you all hunt with.

Turkey...

Pheasant- this one is my 16 guage Ithaca 37. Also like using its twin sister 20 guage.


Brother in law here with his Beretta 391. When I get serious about killing roosters, I pull mine out as well.


Wild quail with the 16 guage Ithaca



20 guage Ithaca

Pheasant...

Bob White quail - Browning Superposed Pigeon Gd 20 26" choked M/IC.

Blue (scaled) quail and pheasant- Beretta SP IV 12 28" screw chokes. Usually IM/IC for blues. For pheasant, I try to match chokes to the hunt.

Turkey - usually an 870 with a full choke tube.

Preserve hunts - either a Benelli Monterfeltro 20 with open choke tube or a Winchester 42 choked Mod. Thinking of adding a 28 ga.

I'm getting a little old to chase Chukar and the other open prairie species.

I would add that I used the 42 for opening day doves last year. I haven't had so much fun with dove in a long time. Just take the closer shots. I used 8.5 shot target loads. Worked great.

Jack

Some Pheasants but Grouse are my favorite.
I use a Merkel 20ga.

Favorite is my Benelli Legacy 28 gauge. A good pointing Lab also helps....

Webley side by side 2 1/2 inch...

Ithaca/SKB 200 20ga Pheasants & grouse

Ithaca/SKB 385 28ga grouse, when I feel like being more sporting.

Browning Gold 20 gauge with straight stock

CZ Upland Special 12 gauge

Blue Grouse, 410 commie gun...

Top to bottom, Beretta 470 12 ga.; 471 in 20 ga.; and an AyA 28 ga. Use them all about equally on pheasants but the just the 28 on doves.

The AyA 4/53 "dove gun" (but can't tell it from the 20 on pheasants.

Also occasionally use a Beretta Xplor A400 for the big birds when I feel the need for an extra shell in the tube.

I'm a lefty but like many auto's and pumps, the A400 has a reversible safety; that way, resell or trade is easier for me should I want to and I have never ever noticed the ejected shell flying past my face.

How do you like that 4/53? Been looking at 16's in it and other in the price range +/-.

Very much. Fairly plain but tight wood to metal, lock-up, and high quality nevertheless the plain sister look. And even with 28" tubes a dream to swing at 5.5 lbs.

In fact, had I not gone with Beretta's first, and had to start over I just might have gone all AyAs.

Grouse and Quail my favorite of all my shotguns is the V Bernardelli Premier Gamecock.

Most of my bird hunting has been from my camp in VT that I have had for half a century. The bear season also used to open there in the spring and continued till it froze up.

My Sauer drilling was best there however in other states like CT it was not allowed cause of it's rifle barrel.

I prefer side by side doubles for that. I used a 20ga Bernadelli Gamecock the longest and now I have a 20 ga Ugartechea I want to try.



Since CT has deer hunting where shotgun slugs are ok but not rifles I have an Ithaca pump that's a combination gun for me as well because of it's irons and scope mount.

I have two that I prefer.

12 ga Browning 425 American Hunter


16 ga Browning 525 Sporting


Can't wait get the guns out with my new bird hunting machine

Benelli M2 20 guage.