I usually take a long weekend to hunt the northwest part of the state of MN. with a fellow BBSer for a long weekend in the fall. The last few seasons I have brought a single gun, a recent to me Darne 20 gauge R10 in 20 gauge. I prefer to bring only a single gun, to lessen the "kludge" factor, not having so much to pack/unpack, and any double with two triggers is a good choice, and a Darne is a great choice, there are few examples of broken Darnes. The gun is sub 6 lbs, nicely balanced, typical left lever safety that works well for me. Nice gun for a longish weekend of grouse hunting.
I had never patterned it at the typical grouse shot yardage I've noted in that part of the world, prior to today. Never thought too much about it, I had gotten some birds, and missed some birds, about par for me for early season.
This is the open choked pattern at about 23 yards, a run of the mill range up there in the first few months of the season:
Wow. Thats a bit tight.
Second, tighter barrel, which, I don't think I have ever fired at a grouse:
The patterns don't say early season grouse gun to me. They say later season pheasant gun. A use I had never considered with this piece, which practically screams "take me GROUSE hunting, please!" I would be a bit loath to move this gun on, it has sweet handling, and light, crisp, trigger pulls, something one doesn't always get with a Darne R model. I don't have the equipment to measure 20 and 28 gauge gun bores that I have for 12 and 16, but, this may be a wakeup call. I would have had a pretty good idea how a 12 would have patterned before I shot it.
At any rate, I'm not poor in grouse capable guns, not even poor in specific Darne capable grouse guns, either the V19 in 28 and a different R10 in 12 gauge, both with much more open chokes, will suffice this fall. Nice to have choices. And, slings, which both guns have.
I hadn't considered this little 20 to be a pheasant gun, up until today. But, it might just end up that way.
Best,
Ted
