Henry Rifle Forums

this is a link to a very interesting field test designed to the answer a long running question about a "good brush gun" ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5dve7vAY9I

until recently, all of my big game (deer/bear/boar) have been 30 caliber and I learned the hard way to refrain from trying to bust the brush .... this video confirms that was a valid lesson and it also provides an option .... I thoroughly enjoyed it

I enjoyed it, too. Very interesting. Hard to argue with results.

discussions centering on brush guns have gone on for as long as I can remember .... back in the late 50's/early 60's I remember discussing by very experienced bear hunters on brush guns .... that was the era when 30-30 Winchesters and 35 Marlins were the rifles of choice among most of the fellows I hunted with in my grandfather's bear hunting club ... however, most of those who routinely hunted the thickest brush carried 12 gauges with OO-buck or rifle slugs .... even as 30-06's and 308's became more and more popular, the brush hunters stuck with their shotguns .... we knew that faster bullets would spin off of course when they encountered branches .... this video would seem to explain why 1 oz slugs did so well

I really like his videos and have watched many over the last few years.

This one had some fun evidence to back up his theory. He got excited when he proved his point with the Henry!

My all time favorite "brush" gun was the Marlin in .35 Rem. I call Brush anything inside the woods line. Open fields called for the " bean field" .30 cals. .... .06 , 308,
Time passes and old favorites come and go.... RIP. .35 Rem !
These days with the scales moving more away from hi power rifles to straight walled pistol calibers being legal to hunt with as residential areas continue to expand I am carrying the .50 cal muzzleloader over the shotgun until Delaware passes the pistol ammo law.... We already have handgun so it's only a matter of time.
That's when my new Big Boy in .44 mag will join my TC Encore pro .44mag.

Quite an interesting fellow in the video. I wouldn't want to be on the other side of the brush with him shooting any of these rifles. I also watched his Henry Big Boy review of the 45-70 brassy. He blew up 3 liter soda bottles and helpless melons. He's a good shot with those open sights! Thanks for sharing this- I've never seen it.

We hunt from tree stands here and do our best to prune and bush hog shooting lanes for a clear bullet path. This theory seems to be more about "slip hunting" on foot or possibly deer drives. We normally use scatter guns with buck shot here in N.C. It would have been interesting if you used a shotgun with slugs or buck shot also.

Either way, I enjoyed it probably a little too much!

Gregorsway wrote:We hunt from tree stands here and do our best to prune and bush hog shooting lanes for a clear bullet path. This theory seems to be more about "slip hunting" on foot or possibly deer drives. We normally use scatter guns with buck shot here in N.C. It would have been interesting if you used a shotgun with slugs or buck shot also.

for many years I was a member of a deer hunting "down east" in NC and later ran a club that had land 4 central counties .... our hunting varied from ringing fields over a square mile in size with Texas type tower stands to thick woods ..... for the most part we were still hunters who set up a stand in a given area and hunted whatever walked by .... we also did some hunting running dogs .... each type of hunting required different types of firearms .... shotguns for dog hunts and deep in the woods .... also shotguns for hunting the edge of our property near housing areas and for use when a line of hunter walked through an area driving deer toward stationary hunters at the other end of the area .... long range (and I do mean long range) rifles for hunting from stands over vast fields .... 100/200 yard rifles for smaller fields .... I really enjoyed those years

I liked the video. Thanks for posting it. I guess the closest I have to a brush gun is my .44 mag Big Boy.

I wouldn't hesitate to use my Marlin 336 in 35 Remington in brush.

Nice video, thanks for the link.
That replicates written accounts of test I've read.
I like what he said atbthd end,"sure a 30 caliber expands but a 58 caliber doesn't shrink".