doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Disertations On The Perfect Grouse Gun

the sport of american grouse hunting, using a light sxs gun, with the help of specially bred bird dogs seems to be a north east invention, which spread up and down the allegheny mts and out to the flat lands of the upper mid west...

most likely, the first hammerless sxs grouse guns, were box lock 12 bores, imported from england around 1880...

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/179...-richards-no-5056-built-for-john-deeley/

The population explosion of ruffed grouse was due to the need for firewood in the eastern cities.
The access was created by railway expansion.
Economic growth created “leisure time”.
Put leisure time, access, and big numbers together, and an entire mythology was born.

And a wonderful one at that.

Lloyd, it would appear you missed my Crudgington--as British as it could be, but ordered "bespoke " by an American. Seeing he was from California, he would have had to travel some to pursue grouse and woodcock. If lead shot was still legal in CA back then, maybe a quail gun?

In my case, the perfect grouse gun is a 2-inch12 gauge. Very light and quick. One could say it was American (Kimble) and British (Skimin and Wood). But regardless, it is an ideal gun for these birds. And, yesterday while fishing, I stumbled on some excellent cover - though I saw no birds.

And there in lies the heart of grouse hunting.
50% hunting the past, and 50% hoping for the future.
This week we walk reliable old coverts. Next week we explore the new.

I've personally killed a bunch over the years, bolt-action 16ga, 16ga sxs converted from MZL, 410 sxs, 20ga sxs, a couple 12ga O/U Skeet guns, a sawed off 12ga single, a Berretta 300th Anniversary MZL single shot 22 and trapline 22LR pistols. Growing up ruffed grouse were a staple and a game bird. As a kid my dad had bird dogs and a trip up to the grouse woods was worthy of taking me out of school for a week. Birds were never shot on the ground only on the wing and preferable over a point or flushed by the dog. Around the house targets of opportunity were taken with a JG Higgins single shot 22lr. I have fond memories of those days.

I ran remote traplines over northern MN and WI grouse supplemented a diet of beaver and muskrat meat mostly taken with the trapline gun (Lamma XXII and S&W 34)often on the ground. The pelts didn't prime up till Nov. so Sept and October were dedicated to birds on the wing over pointers and spaniels. My wife at the time shot a 870 skeet gun untill I bought her a Ithaca 37 Ultra-feather light English, her dad a Rem 31 Skeet gun, her mom a LC Smith sxs, and me a Ithaca SKB 100 opened to SK&SK, my German shorthair and his Brittanies.

Now my goto is a 5 lb. 15 oz Italian 12ga sxs.

Mr. Brown: You're right, I overlooked your Crudgington, my bad.

I've always wanted a lightweight double from an American maker, but I could never find one that either fit me or that I could reasonably afford. The few Foxes and Parkers that could have worked were priced astronomically high here then (roughly 30-years ago) and the few affordable Ithaca's that might have worked were simply too-small & short for me. I ran across a few "beaters" here and there that could have sufficed but... I wanted something a little better. Damascus steel was still very-much a mystery to me then as well and I wasn't prepared to venture my hard-earned money on something that was potentially "risky". We were selling lots of nice and even nicer British boxlocks through MW Reynolds in the early 2000s and that's when my eyes were opened to them as being a solution to my "problem".

I had purchased my 1st "good" gun in ~1997 (a lefty 557 Arrieta, which I still have) but it was and is a fairly conventional 12-bore and I wanted something much quicker (i.e., much lighter) and in 2008 I found my solution. I had been lusting after a 2-inch 12 for a long-while but the economics (and the feeding of it) were just too-much to deal with then. An early Boss 12 and this William Richards 16 walked into the shop as consigned pair on a fine late-summer day and I immediately seized upon the little Richards. It almost fit me perfectly (but only for a mild cast-on which I resolved immediately), the weight was right (5lbs14) 28-tubes w/good chokes and even 2 3/4 re-proof(!). It wasn't exactly "cheap" but it was everything I had been looking for. I could have continued to wait and look but I knew this one wouldn't last very long. I happened to be cash-flush then as well (having recently sold several other "almost" guns) and I knew that economic situation couldn't last for very long (some household calamity would likely claim it) so I ponied-up for it. The rest, of course, is history.

My Richards has accounted for many fine days afield and a significant number of birds since that time. I can't imagine hunting ruffed grouse without it.

There are grouse...and then there're grouse.


"To me, it sounded like the absolute perfect grouse gun for hunting out west."


In this case he's talking about Sharptail grouse.

The perfect grouse gun......

I just let go of a 25 1/2" Purdey 12 gauge weighing 6 pounds, 3 oz. with open chokes. Dated to 1933 and bought specifically to hunt Ruffed Grouse along the shores of Lake Huron/Georgian Bay. That was a pretty nice grouse gun.

I have a 26" Lindner made Charles Daly Diamond Quality 20 gauge that would be a pretty nice Ruffed grouse gun. So would the 28" Lindner made 16 ga Featherweight that is hanging out in my gun rack. Both of these are in the vicinity 5 1/2 pounds.

My 26" Francotte 28 gauge, at 4 lbs 11 oz, certainly makes for an easy carry when the going gets a bit tough.

But my favorite is my Tolley 12 ga single barrel. At 29" the barrels are longer than is commonly though of for a grouse gun but the length does a wonderful job of smoothing out the swing of the 5 lb flat gun.

In general, I think the best grouse gun is the one in your hands when the setter points and the bird flushes. Besides the guns above, my "best" grouse guns have included Wingmasters, M12s in 16 gauge and Brownings in both Double Auto Twentyweight and Superposed 20 gauge iterations.

included in my top five is a Remington 17, with 24" cut off barrel...