Rancho Loco
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Different situations call for different weapons.
.270 for spot and stalk, guide gun or .44 mag for crawling around in the brush for close-up work.
.270 for spot and stalk, guide gun or .44 mag for crawling around in the brush for close-up work.
Speckmisser
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I think Rancho nailed it. But SD's on target too.
Best of all worlds is to find one and stick with it. But where's the fun in that? So the fallback would be to use the gun appropriate to the kind of hunting you plan to do. Hunting the hills and fields with lots of open ground, I'd of course use the .270.
Pushing brush and small oak meadows, maybe the Guide Gun.
Hunting thick stuff, or ambushing over water or food, I'd enjoy hunting with the revolver.
But any of the guns you mention should be fine for almost any application, except long range. But then, in most cases it's not that hard to close the range to well within 100 yards, so the argument is moot.
By the way, Rancho... Love the new avatar!
Best of all worlds is to find one and stick with it. But where's the fun in that? So the fallback would be to use the gun appropriate to the kind of hunting you plan to do. Hunting the hills and fields with lots of open ground, I'd of course use the .270.
Pushing brush and small oak meadows, maybe the Guide Gun.
Hunting thick stuff, or ambushing over water or food, I'd enjoy hunting with the revolver.
But any of the guns you mention should be fine for almost any application, except long range. But then, in most cases it's not that hard to close the range to well within 100 yards, so the argument is moot.
By the way, Rancho... Love the new avatar!
I'll take the Guide Gun 45-70. With a modern level reload pushing a 350 grn pill at around 2000 fps I have a maximum point blank range of around 187 yards. Far enough for me. Here piggy piggy piggy - I got a surprise for you.
Speckmisser
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Hey D OK,
Keep that 30-30 at a reasonable range, and it'll drop 'em just fine. It's gotta be one of the most under-rated guns ever, yet it's probably taken as much American big game as any other caliber on the market.
I've killed plenty of deer with it, and I know guys back east who use the 30-30 solely for bears with beau coup success. You just have to remember it's not a 250 yard gun, and most lever action 30-30s aren't gonna give you MOA accuracy.
Shoot that hog inside 100 yards though, and put it in the boiler room... that's one dead piggy.
By the way... the whole concept of brush gun is way too often misunderstood.
A "brush gun" generally indicates a short-range, quick handling gun.
A lot of folks think it means a round that will penetrate brush without deflecting, and this is a dangerous myth. Sometimes, a big, slow bullet will break branches and still hit on target. But nothing is immune to deflection, and a heart shot can become a gut shot in a flash.
It is never a good idea to shoot at a target which is obscured by brush, no matter what gun or caliber you're shooting.
Keep that 30-30 at a reasonable range, and it'll drop 'em just fine. It's gotta be one of the most under-rated guns ever, yet it's probably taken as much American big game as any other caliber on the market.
I've killed plenty of deer with it, and I know guys back east who use the 30-30 solely for bears with beau coup success. You just have to remember it's not a 250 yard gun, and most lever action 30-30s aren't gonna give you MOA accuracy.
Shoot that hog inside 100 yards though, and put it in the boiler room... that's one dead piggy.
By the way... the whole concept of brush gun is way too often misunderstood.
A "brush gun" generally indicates a short-range, quick handling gun.
A lot of folks think it means a round that will penetrate brush without deflecting, and this is a dangerous myth. Sometimes, a big, slow bullet will break branches and still hit on target. But nothing is immune to deflection, and a heart shot can become a gut shot in a flash.
It is never a good idea to shoot at a target which is obscured by brush, no matter what gun or caliber you're shooting.
GruntHunter
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.44 or .45-70 .... dead is dead
The one on the left was taken with my SRH .44 and the other one was with my Marlin .45-70.
Listen to Specmisser, A 'brush gun' is NOT for shooting through brush. That term is intended to mean that it is easier for it to be CARRRIED through heavy brush, as opposed to a long scoped rifle. I use both. At 100 yds with the stock fixed sighted Marlin I can hold 1 1/2" groups (off a bench). My neighbor uses a Browning lever .243 and 270 and has never had any problems bringing pigs down. We just aim for the neck, behind the ear, and it stops them every time. If you try and stop one in the 190 lb + size with a shoulder shot you're most likely going to be making 'back up' shots. I shot a 187 lb boar at 100 yds with my .30-06 and when I got up to him he was trying to get up so I pumped another round into him from about 8 feet. When I cleaned him, I recovered that last round I hit him with from 8'. It didn't fully penetrate him even at that close of range.
The one on the left was taken with my SRH .44 and the other one was with my Marlin .45-70.
Listen to Specmisser, A 'brush gun' is NOT for shooting through brush. That term is intended to mean that it is easier for it to be CARRRIED through heavy brush, as opposed to a long scoped rifle. I use both. At 100 yds with the stock fixed sighted Marlin I can hold 1 1/2" groups (off a bench). My neighbor uses a Browning lever .243 and 270 and has never had any problems bringing pigs down. We just aim for the neck, behind the ear, and it stops them every time. If you try and stop one in the 190 lb + size with a shoulder shot you're most likely going to be making 'back up' shots. I shot a 187 lb boar at 100 yds with my .30-06 and when I got up to him he was trying to get up so I pumped another round into him from about 8 feet. When I cleaned him, I recovered that last round I hit him with from 8'. It didn't fully penetrate him even at that close of range.
