Favorite Bird guns....

[bbbass]

I never fired a 16ga... just couldn't see the point, although I do now (more power than a 20ga but lighter and quicker than a 12ga), but the shells are hard to find around here. I'd have to reload and don't think the setup would be worth it. Besides, I don't bird hunt anymore... don't have a dog, and have infirmities that make it hard to get out, and hard to shoot a shotty because I'm going blind in my dominant eye.

 

[Argonaut]

16 gauge is fine but I (like bbbass) don't see a lot of need for it. Ammo is more available than in past decades but never goes on sale cheep and the variety of ammo is not as great as with 12 ga. When I was young, before I was shooting trap and reloading, we would buy a couple of cases of 12 gauge when it went on sale about Dove season and shoot it all fall. I think it would be down to 1.65 a box or so in case lots. 16 gauge never was under 3.50 even then. My best field gun is a lightweight Merkel 200E 12 ga over under. 26" barrels IC/Mod, weighs about 6 1/4 lbs. it is a plain prewar (1938) gun in an Anson and Deely boxlock action. We have a Remington M17 20 gauge pump that we rebuilt for my wife. It was manufactured in the 20's on the Browning M37 patent. It weighs less than 6 lbs, and has a Polly Choke vent rib barrel. I also use my 12 ga Remington 870 wingmaster 21" barrel with rem-chokes a lot.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Ahh........Andy just wanted to show off his fowling piece!

That's cool, I like seeing it!



LOL!!! These are my waterfowling guns! All converted to HD now.
I deeply miss waterfowl hunting, I enjoyed setting the dekes, setting up the blind and grassing it in. It was all good! The Mossy 500 above was, belive it or not, repossessed by Monkey Wards and the previous owner had left it out in the rain for several days out of spite, allowing me to buy it for $90. I chopped and crowned it and pulled out the shell plug. I gave it to my recently widowed mother.
The Remington Express 870 below was purchased when steel shot became the law of the land. It replaced my beloved Winchester 1200, which I gave an HD job and gave to my now deceased best friend! I do have a Mossberg combination set, but I'm not switching the barrels to photo it!

 

[CountryGent]

I have never had the opportunity to use a 16-gauge. It sort of reminds me, albeit in a different respect, the 10-gauge. I owned and carried one a field for a while. I liked it, but the reality is that modern 12s could do pretty much everything the Big 10 could. I had to obtain ammo online or on trips to Eugene. I finally parted with the 10 earlier in this year. I didn't need to, but my schedule has been too nuts to hunt in any serious capacity for a while, it freed up a slot in the gun cabinet, and we had some costly repairs around that time, so it (and a couple other guns) were sold off. Maybe someday I'll find a nice SxS in 10 to replace that self-loader. Or not.

 

[ageingstudent]

This is an image of a shotty very much like my very first when I was 18 and finally old enough to buy my own (Dad would not let us have firearms, not even a bb gun). It was a Remington Model 31TC that I bought at a pawn shop because I liked the looks of it and it was only $100. Mine had an unusual extra wide vent rib, about 5/8". 28" barrel. I shot a whole bunch of clays/trap with it and some ducks. Had no idea what a find this gun was until much later in life. Had to sell it when times got rough.

View attachment 410494


My next favorite was a Charles Daly Miroku 12ga 3" chamber 30" barrels full and full. I eventually had the bottom barrel taken out to modified choke because I was shooting a lot of waterfowl over decoys. The top one is similar to what I had.

View attachment 410495

The shotty I used the most was an SKB 20ga O/U with 26" barrel. I don't remember what the chokes were but I shot clays from my thrower that was mounted on a spare tire, a ton of quail, grouse, many huns, and a bunch of pheasant. My fav for upland birds.

View attachment 410496

Edit: I had an Ithaca model 37 featherlite in 12ga, 26" modified choke. Shot clays and a lot of pheasant with it.

View attachment 410500

I had to sell all my shotguns, and I had many, as well as all my rifles, to pay for my divorce. I still miss them but not her at all. Now I'm low income so I will never be able to rebuild a collection like I had. Damn her black heart!!!

I should have slept with the westernfield. There's a dark joke in there somewhere with shotgun, choke, and ex wife but I'm not going there lol.

 

[Sniper03]

My favorite all time Bird Guns are #1 my Grandpa's Stearlingworth 20 ga. Double Barrel. Which I got to hunt with when I was young and later inherited. I have killed hundreds of quail and Pheasant with it and Grandpa also killed hundreds of rabbits and raccoons with it.
#2 Franchi 20 ga. Semi-Auto. Fastest Quail Gun I ever shot. Bird Gun I ever used.

Sniper03

 

[Twodogs]

Being Left Handed I never did as well with a shotgun as I thought I could,about 12yrs ago I bought a left hand Benelli super black eagle and all that changed, from clay pigeons to turkeys I do great with this gun in my hands.

 

[Argonaut]

Being Left Handed I never did as well with a shotgun as I thought I could,about 12yrs ago I bought a left hand Benelli super black eagle and all that changed, from clay pigeons to turkeys I do great with this gun in my hands.

My Merkel has a left handed cast to the stock and my Wingmaster is left handed. My 1100 TB Trap is also left handed but I have never had any trouble shooting right handed guns either. Some people are sensitive to the ejected casings going by there face. I haven't done Italian shotguns since seeing high end Berettas shoot loose under heavy trap use.

 

[KKG]

I started shooting birds with a Remington Model 12. As a kid in NW MN but that Shooting was to put food on the table for some friends. I got pretty good at it but then just before he passed away my Grandad told me I wasn't supposed to be Shooting Birds with a .22 Rifle. Kinda took all the fun out of it so I haven't hunted birds with anything other than my Smith and Wesson Model 41.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Ahh........Andy just wanted to show off his fowling piece!

Yeah....I never get tired of showing it off...
The last grouse I got with it , has a funny story...

So there I was walking along a old logging road , when up jumps a grouse...Taking flight down along the lower part of the ridge I was on... I bring my gun to bear and fire...down drops the bird.

I mark the spot and re-load....as I am cleaning the grouse...I hear running footsteps coming my way...
I turn and look as another hunter runs up to me asking if I am alright...
"Yes" I reply..."Oh" says the other hunter ," I was on the upper road and saw you shoot , I thought your gun blew up!"....

He apparently never saw a flintlock in action before....
Andy

 

[Medic!]

Found a .22 did a better overall job out walking the farm.
I could shoot a coyote in the head at 50 yards. Or a quail, chucker, pheasant in the head at 20.

And I grew up putting food on the table.

Nothing against those that used a scatter gun. I just didn't need it.

 

[CountryGent]

"Yes" I reply..."Oh" says the other hunter ," I was on the upper road and saw you shoot , I thought your gun blew up!"

LOL! Now that, my friend, is one for the ages.

 

[KKG]

About Three days a week my Grandpa would send me off to school with his Remington and a box of Ammo. The trip to school was about two blocks and the rifle went under my jacket in the "Clookroom" and the Ammo with my name on it went to the Teacher. At the end of the day I'd go out the backdoor and walk about three miles getting home. Grandpa would meet me down by the tracks and we'd clean whatever. The whatever would then be taken to several of the good folks in town. My Mother and Grandma would have had a fit if they had known, so we didn't tell them. If all the game critters hadn't been hit in the head I'd be asked to explain myself. Life was good!

 

[Joe13]

Found a .22 did a better overall job out walking the farm.
I could shoot a coyote in the head at 50 yards. Or a quail, chucker, pheasant in the head at 20.

And I grew up putting food on the table.

Nothing against those that used a scatter gun. I just didn't need it.

I take both. (At least I was when I was out more a couple years ago)

I like my Henery .22lr cuz it's so small that it doesn't add hardly any weight to my pack.

 

[Medic!]

I had a little Stevens [?] over under .22/4-10. It was a handy little set up.
Mostly for a slug or buck 4-10 shell to put down larger game at close range.

The truth is. I never truly developed the skills to shoot a shotgun very well.
It just wasn't what I needed.

I do wish that little over under was still in my life. But my stepbrother was a bit hasty reloading one day.
And the poor little long gun was blown to bits.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Soo, restricted to bird config shotties here?

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Well, not really....as the title is Favorite Bird Guns...
Which may mean a finely balanced and nice looking shotgun or....Whatever is you favorite bird gun...be it a "classic" upland shotgun...a home defense gun that just works well at everything...a .22...or what not...

Post it and a story if its Favorite Bird Gun no matter the flavor...
Andy

Soo, restricted to bird config shotties here?

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Meh, no story, never hunted, but i think it's a nice looking double




The irony here, is that i actually had Winchester shells at the time, but didn't think or realise it for the pics

 

[1BigGuy]

Mine is an old Ithaca Model 37 in 12 gauge. It's helped me tag a number of ducks and turkeys. It just "feels" right when I shoulder it up. No other gun has that feel for me.

 

[DeanMk]

About Three days a week my Grandpa would send me off to school with his Remington and a box of Ammo. The trip to school was about two blocks and the rifle went under my jacket in the "Clookroom" and the Ammo with my name on it went to the Teacher. At the end of the day I'd go out the backdoor and walk about three miles getting home. Grandpa would meet me down by the tracks and we'd clean whatever. The whatever would then be taken to several of the good folks in town. My Mother and Grandma would have had a fit if they had known, so we didn't tell them. If all the game critters hadn't been hit in the head I'd be asked to explain myself. Life was good!

Now THAT'S a "different time"!
Granted, I too remember when kids did that and no one gave it another thought.
Doesn't seem like all that long ago, either, but watch the nightly news and you realize just how long ago that was.

Dean