So I bought a Quail/Pheasant hunt at auction in the Low Country (South Carolina) and I've never been before. What better reason to buy my first over/under. Any help for the novice upland hunter would be great. Wont be a one time hunt, but will probably hunt quail more than anything.

What should I look for in a new upland gun?
What gauge (12, 16, or 20)?
What loads to shoot?

What did I get myself in to?
Is it best to practice skeet or trap?

What do I need in the field?

You will want a lightweight 12 or 20 ga(20 ga will be lighter of the 2) action is personal preference. I prefer trap for that type of hunting to practice however either will get you warmed up. As for ammo since they are probably pen raised birds you can get away with low brass 7.5 since you are hunting quail too.

Thanks. Im hoping to find a couple guns to shoot before purchase so I get the right feel and swing.

Guns with the 26in barrels will give you quicker handling. A 28in double barrel is the equivalent of 26 auto or pump. There's really no performance advantage between the 2. Longer barrels are preferred for trap and shorter for skeet.

20 will do what you need.  You can always load a 3" in the second chamber with a tighter choke if you want more.

The turkish doubles are pretty nice for the money.  CNC machined and usually pretty good wood.  Best deal out there right now.  Academy sells their own brand and CZ has the Huglus.  Academy is probably the better deal.

You probably want a lightweight 20,

Or you could have fun with it and get one of these,


Because triple barrel

Granted it's eight pounds, but triple barrel

Thanks. I've had my eye on CZ for a while, but never pulled the trigger. Recently leaning to 12ga just for that longer reach on the follow up to a fleeing bird, but will be hunting over pen raised birds in the fall, so think a 20ga will be ok.

I hunt grouse most years and I gotta tell ya, I still love my Mossberg pump 20ga my dad got me when I was a kid. It's light, reliable and I don't care if it gets beat up a little. If you want to look like and old pro, a double barrel is what you want, like a Ruger gold label for instance. Cant knock the semi auto's though, surely something to consider.

IMO, foul and Turkey are the only game a 20 isn't enough for so if you're not chasing them a 20 is a great choice..

Depending on where I'm hunting, I'll use a full choke or modified and #6 shot. (depends if youre kicking them up and getting wing shots or if they're often found standing on the edge of a gravel road.) Same goes for pheasant. Quail I'd probably lighten up to 7.5 or even 8 shot.

Sounds good.

@Sylvan
Here you go
CDNN investments in Odessa, Texas
"Tiny blem "

Attached File

Not bad, but I am good for now.

Saving my pennies for a 3 1/2" semi auto.

Looking at the Browning Maxus.

I've done the pen-raised bird thing a couple of times ( pheasants).
a 20 would have been more than enough, though I used a 12.

use 7.5 or 8 for quail ( I use AA skeet loads- good hard shot), 6 for the pheasants. Field loads will be fine; no need for heavy loads for released birds.
Most sporting clays ranges have a quail station.
failing that, shoot some skeet.
don't hurry your shots on the quail; follow the bird with the gun "at ready", then shoulder and shoot when you've matched the speed of the bird.

have fun.
i'd rather hunt native bobwhites than just about any other hobby.

why the 3 1/2?
it seems to me that you just get more shot in a longer, strung-out pattern.
if you're going for geese  and want the extra horsepower, consider a 10 gauge. I've heard this advice from avid waterfowlers.

Also for turkey. I dont really use nore than e inch on water fowl

gotcha.
shot stringing doesn't matter on a gobbler, and I imagine there are a shitload of turkey loads in 3 1/2.
we used have a lot of turkey right around the house ( you'd often hear them in the mornings), but a number of newer property owners have constantly loose dogs, which I think has driven them farther out away from the roads.

WEhile nothign wrng with wanting get a 3.5 chambered scattergun, 3" is fine and even 3" 20 works well for turkeys.  It's a lot more about not taking a poor shot than anything else.

20 ga, 3", 12.75" bbl.

DSC_5312-Turkey SBS by FredMan, on Flickr

OP, probably the best thing you can do with any gun you get is practice and really work on the follow through.  Its easy to do that on the skeet or trap range, but when a bird jumps up sometimes you panic and point and 'aim' vs. drawing the bead, matching the speed, and following through.


I always hated the shots where the bird jumped up and flew straight away from me.  Seems like an easy shot, but seemed to be the one I'd miss more than crossers.

Funny those are my best along with left tracking right.  I have some weird issue with right to left.   And appreciate the advice.

common with righthanded shooters.

Interesting.  I need to go shoot.

@Flatland

Track the bird using the core muscles around your waist.
The push-pull with your arms causes deficiency in whatever direction is opposite your shooting shoulder.
Your core is more evenly distributed.

Appreiciated, I definetly don't do that.

@LightningII

Whatever you buy, make sure the stock fits you.  If you don't, you're really going to hurt your chances.

Also, a great way to practice is to practice following the joint of the wall and the ceiling as you move from left to right and vice versa.  Many people have a natural arc to their swing.  This will help teach you to flatten it out.

CZ makes a fantastic lightweight O/U 12ga.  Kicks like a donkey on steroids, but it only weighs like 6lbs.

CZ Upland Ultralight

My Benelli Montefeltro 20 is my go-to upland gun.  I liked it enough that when my wife stole mine I bought another.

Benellis are overpriced but they frigging work.  As much as I love variety I have to admit the Benelli is all I "need" in the uplands.

If you're just going for a canned pheasant /quail hunt I'd buy something you'd use to shoot skeet and sporting clays. Then at least you have a use for it after. A light gun really only matters if you are carrying all day for several days. I would have no problem hunting with an 8 pound gun for a day, in this type of hunt that is not in heavy cover.

That said-if you are going to get into it and hunt wild birds seriously lighter is better. I hunt grouse about 30 days a year, multi day hunts in maine, over pretty rough terrain. Heavy cover that means a lot of one handed carrying  pushing through brush- which is where the light gun helps a lot. All my upland guns are side by side 16ga that weigh 5.75-6.2 pounds. These are not guns you want to shot a round of skeet with. All have 28" or 30" barrels. I find I shoot so much better with longer barrels, and even in heavy cover the extra 2 or 4 inches is noticeable to me.

So - infrequent one day canned bird hunts I'd get an over under 12 ga with 30" tubes. Browning or Beretta, but Fabarms make a pretty nice gun too. This is a gun you can use for other things. You can get these new sub $2500

Serious about bird hunting and need something lighter? That's when I'd look into a 20ga, which with modern guns will still be about 6.5# . I'd still get 28" tubes.

I'm not a big fans of the cheaper Turkish guns - sure they cost half as much as a browning or Beretta, but, you get what you pay for. I'd go used if I were in a budget. As I said Fabarms is making some nice guns as well and I would not hesitate to buy one.

This is all assuming you want a Modern gun. Every gun I hunt birds with is a Pre- 1930 side by side with the oldest being from 1894. But that's a whole other thing.

Sporting clays is probably the best practice for bird hunting. Go shoot a few rounds if you can.

I just went through what the OP is.  I was really wanting to get an O/U and was on a budget.  Started doing my research on the budget guns and everything I read about them steered me in a different direction.  Lots and lots of negative reviews on the Stoeger, CZ, and cheaper ones.  I decided go with an Beretta A-300 for now and save up for a nice Beretta O/U.  

The one O/U that seemed to have several good reviews and I kind of kick myself for not getting though was the Franchi Instinct.  A few negative reviews on the early release guns but the newer ones had a lot of positive feedback from owners.

Just got back from quail hunting in Arizona.

I was using a 12 gauge over under that worked fine with 7 1/2 loads.

But today I bought a 20 gauge over under (CZ Redhead, 28" barrel) for a future quail hunt in the Mojave desert. It will be lighter to carry and quicker to shoulder and 12 gauge seems too much for quail. I'll keep the 12 gauge for ducks.

nevermind

That is the standard answer, and there is some validity to it.  However, it depends on what kind of hunting you do.  Lots of SC presentations are gimmes and gimmickey.  I think the hard crossers of skeet along with the presentations of 1,7 and 8 give a great mix and usually a lot cheaper.  Just my opinion.