what's your brush gun

[troy fairweather]

Thank you. I shoot the Browning A-5 all summer, when late fall comes around and I pull up the Model 8 on a whitetail and see that humpback (Like in pic #2) I can't help but grin. Many thanks to the late great John Browning.

i love the dubble thump from the long recoils. i had to sell my 2 35 rems and my 25 rem m8s last year and my 141 as well as my favorite 14 1/2 in 44-40

 

[Llama Bob]

I guess it depends what's in the brush. There's always the .50-110

 

[cdb1]

I gave up on golf a long time ago, it’s just too frustrating for me. I’d be doing great every time I played until I got to the hole where you hit the ball through the windmill, and then I’d blow it.

 

[Venom007]

I use a 12 bore with Brennekes

 

[BWS]

1st year issue 740, '06 loaded to 2600fps with Hornady RN 150's( bullet designed for 30-30 velocities).Iron sights...... 2" rig @100,at best.Just don't want to beat on it with a heavier loading. It's an OK rig,nuthin fancy.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Representative picture but this is same as mine in 45-70

 

[Chuck R.]

My idea of a "brush gun", it's accounted for a couple elk so far. REM MOD7 MS (Mannlicher Stock) from the custom shop in .350 REM Mag with a Swarovski 1.25-4X:



The 20" barrel gets a 225 Nosler going to 2700 fps and a 250 at just under 2500.

 

[gotboostvr]

I can't think of anything handier than my 16" Rossi 92.

44mag is enough thump and accurate enough for the standing, unsupported short range shots I take while in the flora and fauna.

Light, powerful, easy recoiling, fast cycling and durable stainless steel. Easy to manage in the thorn thickets and not too afraid to scratch it up.

 

[DM~]

When I was a kid, my dad put a target in some willows and shot at it with a bunch of different calibers/cartridges.

It didn't take long to see that there is NO such thing as a brush gun, IF you expected to hit a target reliable!!

Then again, short guns are more handy in the brush, so I guess you could call "them" brush guns.

Either way, here's mine,



S&S shotgun with an 8x57 under...

DM

 

[badkarmamib]

A brush gun is short, light, and quick-handling, with fast, short-range sights. Hence, my 1986 Marlin 336 .30-30 with Williams FireSights. I still remember my first deer, felled by this beauty (is in the eye of the beholder).

 

[Jason_W]

Even though this is the rifle forum, my go to brush gun will always be a short barreled shotgun.

Where I grew up, brush meant places like cedar swamps and spruce stands so thick they’d black out the all too rare sunny day.

Any deer you saw (not that there were any) would be seen only briefly and at exceptionally close range. You’d be lucky to have time to positively ID a legal deer let alone line up sights or find it in a scope.

Nothing comes as quickly to the shoulder or points as naturally as a good shotgun.

 

[Llama Bob]

When I was a kid, my dad put a target in some willows and shot at it with a bunch of different calibers/cartridges.

It didn't take long to see that there is NO such thing as a brush gun, IF you expected to hit a target reliable!!

Ah, but how big a gun did you test, and with what bullets? Bullet weight, bullet rigidity, and flat meplats with sharp corners all help reduce or eliminate brush deflection.

It seems pretty obvious that a big enough gun will stop caring about brush. I can't really see even a 3" naval gun caring. So what's the cutoff?

I can tell you this - the 50-110 with the 510gr solids from Cutting Edge at 2000 ft/s shot into oak rounds off-center tracks straight and exits no matter how big the round. So I'm thinking smaller twigs from softer species aren't going to have any better luck.

 

[Nature Boy]

I grew up hunting the swamps of Louisiana where we ran dogs. Whoever was the designated driver always carried a shotgun because sometimes you’d jump one 15-20 ft away and he’d be moving quick. A shotgun is handy in that situation

 

[entropy]

Win. 94 .30-30 and an assortment of Mosins. Might try my AR pistol for walking around this year.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

A lot of truth to this, you need to be able to shoot through openings and miss the limbs/brush/etc.

This is my brush "laser"

 

[DM~]

Ah, but how big a gun did you test, and with what bullets? Bullet weight, bullet rigidity, and flat meplats with sharp corners all help reduce or eliminate brush deflection.

The ones I remember him and I shooting mostly was a 30-30, 35 Rem., 30-06 and a 7.62x54…

He had several factory loads, but the one I remember really disappointing me is, the 30-06 using, as dad called them, "army shells". (read fmj's)

We could actually see the bullets streak off to the side as they went toward a target and you never knew where it was going to go...

I remember dad telling me, "that's why you never shoot at a deer in the brush"...

As an adult doing my own test, I quickly learned that no rifle cartridge/caliber/bullet is good "in the brush"...

DM

 

[Varminterror]

Since I dont believe in brush busting cartridges I don’t believe in or have a brush gun. I do have a Marlin 30-30 that is used for hog hunting but the reason I use it isn’t because of “brush”.

I wholly agree with this position.

I carry what I carry “in the brush” for the attributes of handling and anchoring power, with absolutely no delusion of “brush busting” in flight. The 4 I use are convenient to carry, even if I have to do a little ducking, diving, twisting, and turning to get through the brush.

Of course, I hunted last deer season with a 13lb 20” AR with a 6-24x optic, in an area where my maximum visibility for a shot was about 35yrds... no rule is hard and fast in my world.

 

[Llama Bob]

The ones I remember him and I shooting mostly was a 30-30, 35 Rem., 30-06 and a 7.62x54…

In general the calibers that don't deflect much are flat noses with weights starting in the 300-400gr range or so. Of the common american calibers I would look at .45-70, ..458WM.

There was a guy that did semi-rigorous testing using a bunch of dowels. IIRC .45-70 and shotgun solids did fine, all the small bore stuff not so good.

 

[DM~]

MANY years ago I read an extensive test of "brush busting" bullets/cartridges...

The absolute best was FAST twist long bullets... Actually the 160 grain .264 was best...

The not so good ones, were the slow twist bullets, size didn't matter much..

Their conclusion was, that NOTHING was reliable in the brush!

DM

 

[cdb1]

This is my brush "laser"
View attachment 797080

I’m a sucker for Model 99’s.

 

[labnoti]

Perfect for Hickok45 to do a vid of this.

He did:

 

[someguy2800]

I also do not believe in shooting deer through brush. Twice I have shot off tree branches that I did not see between me and the deer and both times I lost the deer. One I never saw a sign of the deer again and the other one I blood trailed for 3/4 of a mile and never recovered. If your shooting through brush you better be starving.

I hunt exclusively in thick woods and sloughs so I guess all my rifles are brush guns, but I guess I have a few that would fit the classic description

444 marlin handi rifle



45-70 guide gun



One could argue this is a modern brush gun. 7.62x39 AR15. Would be a great hog hunter but we don't have wild hogs in Minnesota.

 

[ThomasT]

I think this has been mentioned but not posted. Take it for what you will.

 

[silicosys4]

I don't think of brush guns as being able to shoot through brush. I think of a brush gun as a gun that's handy enough to be brought up quickly for the close shots that occur when you hunt in brushy areas and short enough to move easily with through brushy areas

Here's my brushiest brush gun

 

[dak0ta]

I don't think of brush guns as being able to shoot through brush. I think of a brush gun as a gun that's handy enough to be brought up quickly for the close shots that occur when you hunt in brushy areas and short enough to move easily with through brushy areas

Here's my brushiest brush gun

View attachment 797124

Exactly, it's not about bullet deflection, it's about the terrain.