RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

1100lt 20 ga 26" imp. 1 oz 7 1/2 is death to a grouse.......i find 12ga to bulky in the woods of the UP....

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

Thankyou for the advice, I am now glad I only bought a couple boxes of 20 rounds each to tryout. I will just use it at the range on paperand not buy any more.

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

the only guns i use for hunting grouse it my .410 (which works excellent), my 20 ga. (this is cause you can take a longer shot if needed) and my .22LR (sometimes use this one for a challage). everytime i go out hunting i take one of these guns, i mix it up, the 12 ga. i have is only used for geese/duck hunts, i find it you want to have some great grouse burgers then you can use your 12 ga to hunt them. theres my .02

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

I like a 28 guage and maybe I'll go to a 20 at the biggest. IC chokes and #6 shot in whichever I'm shooting.

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

I gave some thought to getting a 28G but those shells are incridibely scarce in these parts. Not sure why. I guess this is a Goose / Duck predominant area but there are Grouse and Sharptail etc...

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

I looked at cci's site for info on those little shotshells, and found that they were only designed for short range pest controll, up to 15 feet.

wish i had looked it up BEFORE I purchased.

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

I still like my12 ga.and have been hunting birds for thirty-one years and still do not have any problems with my 12 ga. My brother uses a 16 ga. and I have friends that use the 20 and 28 ga. all work fine. I know alot of
young people that uses a 410 and that works as well. I do not have many
grouse burgers either with my 12 ga. and it works great for me on wing
shots. So I guess it is all that the user preffers more than anything else.

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

Interesting how diverse the opinions are on this. I happen to be in an area today where the grouse are exceptionally abundant this year. The fellow at the sporting goods store was out of .410 cartridges because out there...that's the favourite. Even he can't completely understand why.

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

Guns, chokes, loads, and guage questions are quite subjective, and everyone has their own opinion. He's mine. Hopefully it helps.

If your going to get a new gun, get one that fits you properly. One will shoot a properly fit gun better than they ever thought possible. If you aren't sure about gun fit enlist the help of the professionals at a gun shop or grab a book on the subject. If the gun fits you will shoot it well, and guage selection becomes a little less important.A proper fitting gun, because you will shoot it better will allow you to be more effective, and feel more confidentwith a lighter guage.

As for choke selection, I follow the standard that the closer the standard shooting range the more open the choke. I hunt almost exclusively grouse and woodcock. I either use a 20g s/s choked sk/ic, or a 28g o/u choked sk/sk. Again, if the gun fits, the pattern will go where you point the gun, so choke selection becomes a little less important.

Remember too, that a smaller guage gun doesn't mean less pellets in the pattern. An ounce of #6 is the same number of pellets whether packed into a 12g hull or a 20g hull. The only thing that changes is the length of the shot string.

RE: Best calliber for grouse
 

I usally use a 20gauge, but this summer i picked up a used 16gauge and been taking that to the woods this year, got 5 birds with it so far. its a nice caliber if you want something right in between a 12 and a 20 gauge, you might want to consider it also.