Brush Guns

From the 24hourcampfire.com

If you go back and read what was being published back when the “Brush Buster” myth was running rampant you also see a lot of suggestions that shooting through a bush was an acceptable way to take game. I’ve got an O’Connor article from back in the mid-fifties that describes Jack shooting through a small bushy tree to hit a deer in the ass on the other side. His idea was that the deer would be incapacitated enough for him to get a finishing shot without much tracking. All that stuff is strongly discouraged now. The culture of hunting has changed dramatically.

Somebody did a few experiments with the old brush buster myth in the past few years. As I remember heavier cartridges did better than light and pointy bullets did slightly better than round noses, but the sample was not big enough to be conclusive and the conclusion that nothing could be reliable as a brush cartridge or bullet.

The reputation for brush rifles is something different and it is quite valid. Everyone has their own criteria, but it boils down to a rifle that works well in heavy cover where the hunter has to do a lot of hoofing and then take quick snapshots.

My criteria:

1) Deadly: One shot into the boiler room inside 50 yards puts them down
2) Quick: It has to come up and be ready to fire without my thinking about the firearm. This is a shooting situation that develops very quickly.
3) Short: Long barrels need not apply. You need something that will snake with you through the bushes.
4) Light: I’m not going to schlep my Garand through the bracken for a lousy deer.

I have a lot of thick cedars where I hunt, and a lot of deadfall. Every year, I try to take at least one mid-day excursion through the worst of it, looking to surprise something in their bed. I have tried several firearms. Here is my list:

Remington 742 in 30-06. Fast to mount. Fast second shot. I don’t load more than three, because after the third round you’re just whistling Dixie. Mine was a bit long, and it was heavy.

Savage 99 in 308 Win. Fast to mount, not all that short.

Remington 7600 in 35 Whelen. I have not had it out for stalking in the cedars yet, but it looks like it might be a winner. It has Leupy quick take-off mounts and a scope. I’d probably go back to the iron sights or a peep if I went into the brush with it.

M1 Garand: Forget it, unless you want to hire me a gun bearer.

Marlin 336 in 30 WCF: I thought this was going to be my brush gun, but I honestly have lost faith with the 30-30 for the time being. Mine has not had the overwhelming dropping power of the 30-06 or 308. It is light– I’ve got to hand admit that.

My #1 choice for deer in brush? Drum roll please:

Remington 1100 with a rifle-sighted slug barrel shooting 2 3/4 Remmie Sluggers. It’s the same gun I’d take bird hunting. It comes up to my shoulder without thought. Inside 50 yards, whatever it hits has died instantly. Mine is an old TB Trap model–maybe lighter than some autos.

One other thing I’ll put a plug in for is Weaver Pivot Rings. I don’t think they’re selling them anymore, but you can still get them. I have really bad eyes, and it’s getting so I really need a scope. However, inside 50 yards I still prefer irons. As many rifles as I could got a 4 power scope on Weaver pivot rings. If I’m down on the ground and stalking I swing the scope out of the way. If I get somewhere where I can ambush the deer, the scope pivots back. See-thru mounts are horrible. They try to split the difference and end up screwing up both situations.

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JBabcock
Campfire Regular

Reged: 12/07/02
Posts: 560
Loc: Auburn, Wash.
Re: Brush Guns [Re: shaman]
#1062925 – 10/30/06 07:35 AM

I think the whole concept of a “brush gun” is nothing more than a myth.

I use my bolt actions for all hunting, including heavily wooded terrain. There, I can pull the trigger on it just as fast as I can any other kind of gun. And most times, you only get one shot. I can run the bolt fast enough if needed.

shaman
Campfire Ranger

Reged: 12/28/02
Posts: 1368
Loc: Neave, KY
Re: Brush Guns [Re: JBabcock]
#1063018 – 10/30/06 08:37 AM

Then I would not change a thing. Some things just work. You’re lucky enough to stop right where you are. Me? I gave up all my other vices, and I got married. I got bored with college football, I’m lousy with cars. It was either deer rifles or a saltwater aquarium.

I personally find that when I walk out to one of my bow hunting stands with my bolt 30-06 and my beanfield scope and try to hunt, I keep hearing sniggers. It may be just the wind. It may be my imagination but it might be the deer. On the other hand, I have a hard time seeing the other end of my pasture without binos. As a result, I’ve got to pick a venue and take a rifle to hunt it.

Probably my best overall deer rifle is the Savage 99 in 308. If I was going somewhere where I did not know what I run into, it would be either my primary gun for deer-sized stuff or certainly the backup. It comes as close any I would have to the one-gun rifle. The Winnie bolt gun in Ought-Six comes in #2, but it has a big honkin’ scope on it leftover from my days using it as a varmint gun. Close-in, you have your choice of which small patch of hair you want to see.

I am a hunter that shoots, rather than a shooter than hunts, so I don’t have all that many closets filled with deer rifles, but the subject of what makes a good deer rifle intrigues me. It’s a fascination instead of an obsession. I can quit at any time, honest.

The Shaman’s Myth of the Brush Gun– the real one

You’re right in the end: the brush gun is really just a myth. On the other hand, I can pick up my 1100 and a fresh box of Sluggers and walk into the cedars and something magical happens. The deer are sniggering as much as ever, but for one brief Saturday afternoon I’m away from the shaving mirror and me and the brush gun can slip into the woods.

I can stalk the deer and when I look down that 1100 is still as bright and shiny as the day I bought it. The Remington Sluggers are just as green, and as long as I stay along the ridge, and maybe angle downhill a little bit and don’t try to go back it can be like twenty-something years ago back in Hocking Hills on Opening Day. The only thing missing is the stray shots zipping through the treetops. Those I don’t miss at all.

Of course the 1100 is starting to get a little dented, but I’m not wearing my reading glasses. I don’t see the wear on the stock, or the lines on my hands. Along about sunset, I start trudging back up the ridge and as long as I do it slow enough the myth keeps working. Finally, I get back home and put my brush gun up on the rack next to Moose’s Garand and Angus’ Mosin Nagant– my sons don’t seem to mind the weight. They’d schlep a boat anchor through the woods if they thought it would get them a deer.

Once in a great while I catch some deer laughing a little to hard or too long out there in the cedars, and it makes the trip worthwhile by reaffirming the myth and topping off the freezer. KY rifle season ends, and I don’t feel bad about not buying an Ohio tag and joining the orange army the next Monday for the start of shotgun season. I put the 1100 away and don’t think about it until next year.