Quail hunting

Scar

Scar

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Probably has been discussed before but I’ve been tossing around ideas of what 20g to get for quail hunting. I really want an O/U, but those prices :eek: I have always owned pumps, I love my old wingmaster. What’s the big hype over O/U and sxs anyway!?
 
Howdy from WNC!

Hype: Olde School Charme... Seriously, IMO, it's not about the configuration of the bbls. It's about how the gun fits & points for you. A shotgun that you can shoot well may be a miss monster for me.

It is nice to not have to rack the slide in between shots, but if you're already used to that, no big deal. With an O/U or SxS, you'll be limited to 2 shots (unless you;re super fast on the reloads), but you won't risk getting cited by Game Wardens!
 
If God had meant for you to shoot an o/u, your eyes wouldn't be sxs! I used to bird hunt a lot. I love a nice o/u but I always used my Benelli Montefeltro Super 90 26". My partner had a sweet Citori with a straight English stock.
 
Windini said:
Howdy from WNC!

Hype: Olde School Charme... Seriously, IMO, it's not about the configuration of the bbls. It's about how the gun fits & points for you. A shotgun that you can shoot well may be a miss monster for me.

It is nice to not have to rack the slide in between shots, but if you're already used to that, no big deal. With an O/U or SxS, you'll be limited to 2 shots (unless you;re super fast on the reloads), but you won't risk getting cited by Game Wardens!
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You can have 5 rounds for quail. They aren't restricted like doves.
 
I have never had the opportunity to shoot an O/U. But I am in the market for a new 20g. One of the tournament's I got in on last year required me to have one (or smaller). Borrowed a pump I wasn’t acquainted with and it didn’t go well. Probably more shooter than the gun itself o_O And I totally get that old school charm thing. I need to find a few to shoot before I buy I suppose. I’m near Greensboro, if anybody wants to let me tag along on a range day :D
 
An O/U or SXS is the tradition with a lot of bird hunters, me included. I haven't found a SXS that shoots where I'm looking so it's the O/U for me. I have a "battery" of guns that I hunt with and they are Browning Upland Specials. All 4 gauges but the 12 see's very little use because of the recoil but I had to have it to round out the set. The Upland Specials are the ones with 24" barrels, screw chokes and straight English style stocks. I use the 20 and 28 for virtually every bird I chase and the .410 is reserved for planted quail and occasionally dove if their close.

@CaffeineQueen19 PM me if you want to meet at RCWA one day and shoot a couple of O/U's.......
 
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I still need to get up with you @Hammer21b and take you up on the offer for a Skeet day. I have three over/under guns I have not shot yet. I have two side by sides I wouldn’t mind firing for the first time.

I was a semi auto guy most of my life until I bought my first over/under which led to hunting with them for almost everything. Typically you don’t get more than two decent chances at birds before they are out of range. Weight distribution for swinging and simplicity (reliability) makes them ideal for me. I bought a Franchi 28 gauge from a member of the forum in the last year. I have never shot one but if I like it I will use it for birds except ducks.
 
CaffeineQueen19 said:
Probably has been discussed before but I’ve been tossing around ideas of what 20g to get for quail hunting. I really want an O/U, but those prices :eek: I have always owned pumps, I love my old wingmaster. What’s the big hype over O/U and sxs anyway!?
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There are some real advantages to the O/U. For like barrel length they are about 4" shorter than a repeater because there's no receiver to house a bolt. Two chokes can be an advantage for flushing birds like quail--open for the first shot and more choke for the second. You can easily catch your empties and not litter the hunting grounds. So far as perceived things I think a good one balances better and for sure looks cooler. Will one get more birds than your Wingmaster? Probably not.
 
Without going to TX or KS, where do you find any wild birds to hunt around here these days?
 
For me the sxs means I will hit some instead of missing them all. Found out too late in life that I am right handed and left eye dominant. Sucks for shooting a shotgun. The sxs compensates somehow for me and I will hit them much better than with the Remington Sportsman I grew up shooting. As far as having 5 shots with a pump or semi unless they got a lot slower since I was a kid you will never need more than 2 shots anyway. LOL
 
You guys must have never gotten into a lot of birds if you never had a chance to fire more than two shots on a covey rise. I've had several covey's in really thick brush that couldn't all get up at once. A 15 bird covey straggling out 3 or 4 birds at a time. I've also stumbled on two covey's really close to each other where my partners 2 rounds were gone and then another covey breaks! Nothing wrong with choosing o/u's or sxs's but there are plenty of times that the extra rounds in a pump or autoloader come in handy. Shoot what you are most comfortable with.
 
SPST said:
You guys must have never gotten into a lot of birds if you never had a chance to fire more than two shots on a covey rise. I've had several covey's in really thick brush that couldn't all get up at once. A 15 bird covey straggling out 3 or 4 birds at a time. I've also stumbled on two covey's really close to each other where my partners 2 rounds were gone and then another covey breaks! Nothing wrong with choosing o/u's or sxs's but there are plenty of times that the extra rounds in a pump or autoloader come in handy. Shoot what you are most comfortable with.
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The areas we hunted typically were not too thick and most of the time the covey was gone in a second or two and then it was down to the dogs finding single birds. Occasionally more than two shots were needed but that is what the other guys in the hunting party were for. One person needn't try to shoot them all. LOL
 
BlackGun said:
I still need to get up with you @Hammer21b and take you up on the offer for a Skeet day. I have three over/under guns I have not shot yet. I have two side by sides I wouldn’t mind firing for the first time.

I was a semi auto guy most of my life until I bought my first over/under which led to hunting with them for almost everything. Typically you don’t get more than two decent chances at birds before they are out of range. Weight distribution for swinging and simplicity (reliability) makes them ideal for me. I bought a Franchi 28 gauge from a member of the forum in the last year. I have never shot one but if I like it I will use it for birds except ducks.
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Just give me a call.
 
CaffeineQueen19 said:
Probably has been discussed before but I’ve been tossing around ideas of what 20g to get for quail hunting. I really want an O/U, but those prices :eek: I have always owned pumps, I love my old wingmaster. What’s the big hype over O/U and sxs anyway!?
Click to expand...


Sounds as if you need to take a road trip to Wagram so you can put your hands on a whole bunch of different shotguns to see what you might like.

I have two over unders and shoot them just fine but started with side by sides and still use them most of the time.
 
SPST said:
Without going to TX or KS, where do you find any wild birds to hunt around here these days?
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I haven’t had the opportunity to get on wild birds yet. I know people talk about pen raised and how horrible they can be. But I’ve been getting birds from shady knoll in Ashboro, and it could just be me but those birds are unbelievable. I mean the first few times trying to hit one, I had to pick my jaw up, scratch my head, and apologize to my dog.
 
Charlie said:
Sounds as if you need to take a road trip to Wagram so you can put your hands on a whole bunch of different shotguns to see what you might like.

I have two over unders and shoot them just fine but started with side by sides and still use them most of the time.
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What’s the name of the shop? I do need to put my hands on some different ones. Not many places around me carry many shotguns especially O/U’s
 
I quit bird hunting when it started getting hard to find wild birds in NC. For me that was in the mid '90's. After hunting wild birds my entire life, I just couldn't do pen raised birds. I tried but it's just not the same. I don't care what anybody says, wild vs pen raised is like night and day.
 
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HTSmith said:
There are some real advantages to the O/U. For like barrel length they are about 4" shorter than a repeater because there's no receiver to house a bolt. Two chokes can be an advantage for flushing birds like quail--open for the first shot and more choke for the second. You can easily catch your empties and not litter the hunting grounds. So far as perceived things I think a good one balances better and for sure looks cooler. Will one get more birds than your Wingmaster? Probably not.
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That alone could sell me on getting one. Many times I’ve held second shots because I new the choke wasn’t right.
 
SPST said:
I quit bird hunting when it started getting hard to find wild birds in NC. For me that was in the mid '90's. After hunting wild birds my entire life, I just couldn't do pen raised birds. I tried but it's just not the same. I don't care what anybody says, wild vs pen raised is like night and day.
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I’ve hunted pen raised birds a couple times at a place in upper South Carolina. We had to kick them to get them to fly.
 
Quail hunting and a 20g; I'm in! I was invited by my brother to go last year over some pen raised quail. Our Dad was a huge wild bird hunter and we grew up going with him. Lots of great memories. Honestly, I jumped at the chance to go just to watch the dogs and hoped we would get a few quail too.

It was a great day. Upon arrival, they handed me a Beretta Silver Pigeon O/U 20 gauge. I thought, this is a nice, quick handling gun, I wonder if I can hit a quail with it. Well, that gun fit me like a glove and for a while, I wondered if I was going to miss! The quail flew great that day and the dogs were perfect.

I shoot a lot of sporting clays and within 2 weeks of that hunt, I owned my own SPI O/U in 20 gauge. It is now one of my favorites for sporting clays and if I get to go back quail hunting, I am certainly reaching for it first over any 12g that I own.

Get one!!
 
It has long been my opinion that a side by side has the most appealing proportions when it is in 16 gauge. It just looks right. I have had two but gave a Lefever to my brother and a Parker to his son because they are great fans of 16 gauge, they do a fair amount of bird hunting, and I decided to get out of 16 gauge completely. I did shoot that Lefever on ptarmigan when we were in Alaska several years ago. Sweet gun.
 
Took said:
Quail hunting and a 20g; I'm in! I was invited by my brother to go last year over some pen raised quail. Our Dad was a huge wild bird hunter and we grew up going with him. Lots of great memories. Honestly, I jumped at the chance to go just to watch the dogs and hoped we would get a few quail too.

It was a great day. Upon arrival, they handed me a Beretta Silver Pigeon O/U 20 gauge. I thought, this is a nice, quick handling gun, I wonder if I can hit a quail with it. Well, that gun fit me like a glove and for a while, I wondered if I was going to miss! The quail flew great that day and the dogs were perfect.

I shoot a lot of sporting clays and within 2 weeks of that hunt, I owned my own SPI O/U in 20 gauge. It is now one of my favorites for sporting clays and if I get to go back quail hunting, I am certainly reaching for it first over any 12g that I own.

Get one!!
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I just looked that one up, I’m just an EMT. I’ll need to set up a go fund me for something like that. Lol or sell off every gun I already own :( I’ve been looking more towards the CZ quail, mossberg silver reserve or Stevens 555? Are these just a waste? If so I should probably stop dreaming and stick with a pump instead...
 
IMHO.... (experience) the 12 and 20 are too much gun for quail. A 28 (or in some circumstances) a .410 is prefect for quail/dove. Ample shot and pattern to down these birds, easy to carry and quick to the shoulder.....
 
I once watched an AA skeet shooter take a limit of 12 doves with his 410. Trouble was he hit at least another 12 that flew raggedly to the woods never to be recovered. No 410 for me.;)
 
I have a CZ Bobwhite 20ga SxS with 28" barrels and removable chokes. As was mentioned before with a SxS or O/U you get the benefit of a shorter overall length with the same 28" barrel as a pump or semi for the longer sight plane and balance. A break open shotgun is just more sporting. If I was a meat hunter I'd use a semi but since bird hunting is for the sport and not the quantity of kills I find the break open guns to be better for me. I haven't hunted in a long time now but the Bobwhite is hell on clays. the only problem is that the fore end gets too hot to hold after 25 fast rounds! When I use it for that kind of shooting I wear one of my GI leather glove shells on the holding hand.
 
HTSmith said:
I once watched an AA skeet shooter take a limit of 12 doves with his 410. Trouble was he hit at least another 12 that flew raggedly to the woods never to be recovered. No 410 for me.;)
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Conditions need to be favorable (fairly open field) and I only use shells that I reload. I use 8.5 shot and run it at 1200 fps, the only difference is pattern size......
 
For $650 you can get a base model CZ Drake over/under. I would get the CZ Upland Ultralight for $725 for walk hunting. I bought a O/U in the All Terrain cerakote finish for no worries in bad weather and duck blinds.

I haven’t set dates yet but the plan is to do a quail and pheasant hunt in Kansas this year. My son is in the Army at Fort Riley, KS with a house to stay. The base has many thousands of acres for soldiers to hunt everything from elk to doves.
 
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