Philip Bourjaily

Phil Bourjaily's 10 Best Cheap Shotguns for Turkeys

Online Editors — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:32:18 -0400

A Toast on the Last Day of the Season

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:08:42 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

I rarely hunt opening day but I always try to go on the last day of the season. Seeing it out to the end is an important ceremony. Besides, if you have hunted enough, you’re relieved when the season ends. If you haven’t, it’s still a relief to be able to stop stressing about not getting out. It’s an occasion worth marking.

Although some of my closing day hunts are nothing more freezing walks with little expectation of success, more often they have been memorable.

This year was no exception. There’s a farm I get to hunt once a year that has always been the best pheasant place I have ever seen. I save my invitation for the last day and take my friend Rick. While the place doesn’t have the birds it used to, we still found enough to have a great afternoon on a January day so warm we hunted with our shirt sleeves rolled up. I killed my last pheasant of the year over a point by my shorthair at 4:20, ten minutes before the end of the season, then watched him point and let it fly away, as I already had three birds in my gamebag.

While we were putting dogs in their crates the landowner drove up to see how we had done. I’ve known him most of my life and hunted his place since I was in college. He is now in his 80s. Every year I wonder if this will be the last time I close the season on his place. Rick’s springer is 11 and may or may not hunt next year. The state of pheasants isn’t very good around here anymore, either, and while I am not old, I’m a year older and the end of the season marks the passing of time. Nevertheless, the last day is a day to celebrate, and Rick produced three cold bottles of Golden Pheasant* for him, me, and my young friend Peter who had come along.

A toast seemed necessary. “Let’s hope we’re all back here at this same time next year,” I said.

That is all any of us can hope for. I wish the same for all of you, wherever you ended your seasons.

*a pilsner from Slovakia. I am not ordinarily a pilsner drinker but this is one is quite good (I prefer it to the more famous Pilsner Urquel), and you have to like the name.

Thoughts on Stock Length

Online Editors — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:25:24 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

How long should your gunstock be and how much does stock length really matter?

The Beretta 391 in the picture came with spacers allowing me to alter the length. I made it 15 inches for shooting in T-shirt weather back in dove season, intending to remove a spacer to accommodate bulky waterfowling clothes. Instead, I left it and never noticed the extra length.

As long as you mount the gun by pushing it out toward the target, you can shoot a longer stock than you might think you can without tangling it up in your hunting coat. The advantage to a longer stock, I think, is that it makes a gun mount smoother. If I mount this gun correctly, bringing it to my face, the stock just meets my shoulder without my having to pull the gun back into my shoulder pocket, possibly pulling the muzzle off target as I do so.

On the other hand, sometimes I wonder how much stock length matters. I could always shoot my son’s 13-inch youth stocked 1100 pretty well. As long as you aren’t punching yourself in the nose with the thumb of your shooting hand, maybe stock length doesn’t matter.

It was, and may still be, a trend among some sporting clays shooters to shoot absurdly long stocks. I have seen people my height (6 feet) shoot guns with a length of pull as much as 17 inches. I could sort of shoot their guns if I mounted them first, but I couldn’t mount them from a low gun start at all.

Miss Twice or Hit Once: Learn To Slow Down

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:33:52 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

“If I have time to miss it twice I would have had time to hit it once.” That is one of best and most concise bits of shooting advice I’ve read in a long time.

It came to me in an e-mail from Matthew Miltich, a friend I’ve never met face to face, a bird hunter, jazz musician* and owner of Cosmo (great dog name), the handsome Welsh springer seen here.

Matthew’s season in Minnesota is coming to a close, and he says he’s had one of his best years shooting ever by learning to slow down.

Shooting quickly is overrated, even in the grouse woods where chances are fleeting. Rushing leads to throwing the gun to your face hastily, resulting in both in bad gun mounts and in looking at the gun. (try this experiment: take an unloaded gun. Mount it slowly while keep your eye on a distant object. Now throw the gun to your face. Notice how your eye goes to the gun).

Shooting fast also means you pull the trigger before your eyes are locked on the target. You can’t move the gun until your eyes can tell it where to go, and to do that, your vision has to be focused on the bird. That’s where Matthew’s advice is sort of the shooting equivalent of “measure twice, cut once.” You make sure your eyes go where they have to go, and only then do you move the gun and make the shot without hesitation – all in the time it takes someone else to miss twice.

*Matthew plays bass and his son Sam (Sammiltich.com) plays guitar. Together they keep old school jazz alive in northern Minnesota.

Poll: Where Do You Like Your Safety?

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:10:33 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

Where is the best place for a shotgun’s safety – at the front of the trigger guard or at the back? My gut feeling is that a safety should be at the back, if only because my first gun, an Auto 5, had a safety at the rear of the trigger guard. However, today I hunt waterfowl with guns having safeties in front, behind and on top. I switch among them all without much difficulty. Teaching yourself to use different safeties is just like learning to go back and forth between single and double triggers: shoot a couple of rounds of skeet calling for the bird with the safety on and you’ll get the knack in a hurry.

And, while safeties behind the trigger just look right to me, from an ease of use standpoint, a safety at the front of the trigger guard (as shown here on a Winchester SXP) is the quickest to reach. I was taught to carry a gun with my index finger extended across the trigger guard to help keep branches and twigs from snagging the trigger. It’s a habit now, and as a result I only have to move my trigger finger a fraction of an inch to reach a safety at the front of the trigger guard.

The best safety at the front of the trigger from ease of use standpoint is the Beretta 390/391. The worst was the one on my Benelli Nova, which was both tiny and tucked up against the bottom of the receiver where it wasn’t easy to find in a hurry. It cost me a couple of chances at teal buzzing the decoys while I had it, although otherwise I liked the gun.

The best safety behind the trigger guard was the big triangular button on the Browning Gold which was huge, easy to switch off, and the easiest ever to change to left-handed.

Since I have no strong feelings on this question, we’ll take a poll. Safety in front of the trigger guard, at the rear, or no opinion?

If Pheasant Hunting Was My Job

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:17:29 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

Fortunately, I hunt pheasants for fun and can shoot them with whatever gun I please. And, just as fortunately, market hunting for pheasants is illegal. However, if hunting pheasants was my job and I was paid by the head of roosters I killed:

a.) I would be going broke this year in Iowa.

b.) I would put aside my double guns and shoot my Benelli Montefeltro.

The Benelli is such a perfect ringneck gun. Sometimes I wish I didn't own it because there is no good reason to take any of my other guns pheasant hunting as long as I have it.*

Consider:

It is a 12 gauge. 16s are nearly the equal of 12s and 20s are surprisingly effective, but the 12 gauge outperforms the 16 and 20 with lead, and beats them by a wide margin with steel. 12 gauge ammo costs less and is available everywhere.

It is a semiautomatic. While it is true I can only remember killing one bird with a third shot in 30 years of pheasant hunting, it’s also true that when I hunt with a semiauto, the gun is never empty and broken open for reloading at exactly the time another bird flushes as it is with O/Us and my double.

It is light. Although my Benelli is a 12 with a 28-inch barrel it weighs only 6 pounds, 13 ounces – less than many 20 gauges on the market. It’s light enough to be easy to carry all day, but it has enough weight forward that it moves smoothly to the target. The light weight combined with 12 gauge semiauto firepower is what makes it perfect for pheasant hunting.

It is an inertia gun. Not only are inertia guns reliable, they have no bulky rings or pistons or any other gas system parts up front, just the magazine tube. As a result they have very slender forearms, making them sit low in your front hand and point naturally.

It reduces recoil somewhat. I definitely notice the Benelli kicks less than a double gun on those rare occasions I shoot heavy, high velocity (1500 fps) pheasant loads.

As a side benefit, it’s a handsome gun, too, and mine came with very nice wood. That matters, because even if I hunted pheasants for a living, I would still want to look good on the job.

*Second choice might be a worn-slick 870 Wingmaster from the late 70s or early 80s when they really knew how to make them. I’d want one with a fixed choke barrel, as those tend to have thinner barrel walls and be lighter and livelier guns than the new 870s.

Finally, The Secret To Reducing Felt Recoil

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:32:56 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

Some of the comments to the “Top Five Softest Kicking Semi-auto Shotguns” post dealt with the concept of “recoil” versus “perceived recoil” or “kick.” Recoil, as I mentioned, is purely a mathematical construct. Kick deals with the interaction of shooter and the recoil of the gun, and how painfully that recoil is delivered.

Shooter’s stance, grip, pain threshold and many other factors determine how much a gun kicks. So do recoil attenuation devices like recoil pads and muzzle brakes. Stock fit also plays a part. As some of you mentioned previously, even a seemingly unrelated factor like muzzle blast can contribute to the feeling that a gun kicks. That’s one of the reasons I always wear ear plugs and ear muffs to the range.

The two videos below illustrate the difference between recoil and perceived recoil graphically. The guns are identical Browning BARs, a gas-operated semiauto said to be fairly soft-shooting. For the purposes of this exercise, we will assume them to be of the same caliber, and assume that the scopes, slings, and other accessories are of identical weight. Therefore, they would each generate exactly the same amount of recoil.

The first shooter apparently feels very little kick, as he delivers four shots quickly without flinching.

The second shooter feels so much kick he is almost knocked to the ground, even though he is shooting the same type of gun generating the same recoil. How can this be?

It could just be the difference the two shooter’s grips. But if you look closely, you’ll see the shooter at the bench is wearing earplugs, taming the muzzleblast and reducing the perceived recoil. The second shooter* is not wearing hearing protection, so he perceives much more recoil. There’s your answer.

*I have come close to posting this video in the past, but always chose not to because it portrays very irresponsible use of firearms. If you are offended, I apologize. However, it does make the point about the difference between recoil and kick perfectly, and since I had a semi-valid reason to post it, I decided to put it up.

Beware The Man With One Gun

Sarah Smith — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:21:21 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

The saying goes “Beware the man with one gun, he knows how to use it.”

I know a lot of good shots who own a bunch of guns and do very well with all of them. However, at the very highest levels of shotgunning, world class competitors practice so much and perform at such a high level, they become closely attuned to their equipment. They become one-gun shooters in a way that generalists like me can’t fully comprehend.

A few years ago I met Gregg Wolf, a young sporting clays shooter from Minnesota who had just won a World FITASC Sporting Clays title. Wolf’s shotgun, a Beretta 687, had been rebuilt several times internally. The stock had been repaired with electrician’s tape and Super Glue in a couple of places. A large enough piece of the stock head was missing that you could peek inside and see the springs and sears. Wolf guessed he had 500,000 rounds through the gun. “Beretta wants to replace it,” he said, “but I don’t want to give it up. It will take me months to learn a new gun.” That is sensitivity.

Wolf’s comment reminded me of the oft-told story about Ted Williams. Williams, of course, was a freakishly gifted athlete and was obsessed with the craft of hitting a baseball. Once, when presented with four identical 34-ounce Louisville Sluggers, he hefted them all and said, “This one is lighter than the others.” As the story goes, it was, by half an ounce. For that matter, years ago I interviewed turkey calling champion Matt Morett. As we finished the interview he took several identical production turkey calls of the kind he used in competition and made a few yelps on each one. To me, they all sounded exactly the same. To Morett’s expert ear, each was different. He picked one, said, “This one’s got the sound I like,” and gave it to me.

Are the very best shooters and athletes hyper-attuned to their equipment because they spend so much time practicing with it, or are they born with a Princess and the Pea-like sensitivity to tiny differences that helps them become the best?

Best Girlfriend Ever?

Sarah Smith — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:35:09 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

Here’s your chance to play Dear Abby because this letter, which ran on November 5, 2011, lands squarely in the Gun Nut wheelhouse. My first thought was that “Ambushed in Minnesota” makes the short list for Best Girlfriend Ever, unlike Gwen (“Run turkey, run!”) the subject of another classic “Dear Abby.”

Dear Abby: Because I love the outdoors, I volunteered to prepare my boyfriend's duck boat for the hunting season. I sanded, primed and detailed the boat and painted cattails on the sides. I bought seats, hardware, even made a full camouflage duck blind on my sewing machine. My boyfriend is elated and even more excited that I intend to hunt with him. His buddy is not. He has backed out of the hunting trips and refuses to talk to me about the issue.

Should I tell my boyfriend I have changed my mind and save their friendship, or go with him and reward myself for all my hard work?

Ambushed in Minnesota

Dear Ambushed: Do not back out. The person your boyfriend's buddy should be talking to isn't you, it's your boyfriend. His behavior is selfish and childish. A compromise might be in order, but it won't happen unless "the boys" arrange it between themselves. So stay out of the line of fire.

Who do you side with? The girlfriend or the hunting partner? Or do have beginning duck hunting tips to share? Let’s hear your response to “Ambushed in Minnesota.”

Is Improved Cylinder The Do-It-All Choke? Yes and No...

Sarah Smith — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:33:56 -0400

by Phil Bourjaily

Years ago at the Remington Shooting School our instructor had us put Improved Cylinder chokes in our guns and shoot springing teal targets. We backed up five steps with every break until the whole class was hitting teal with Improved Cylinder chokes from the Ilion Gun Club parking lot. The point of the lesson was supposed to be that even an open choke like Improved Cylinder can break targets that are very far away, and that therefore, IC is all the choke you ever need.

Yes and no.

The video made by instructor Gil Ash illustrates an interesting point. Each of the color-coded circle cutouts shows the effective pattern of different chokes at five yard increments, starting with light brown representing 10 yards. “Effective” is defined as putting an average of three pellets in an edge-on clay target. The circles are based on patterns Ash shot with 12 gauge target loads.

“Effective pattern” and overall pattern spread are two different things. No matter how wide the whole pattern, the effective part that kills birds and breaks targets reliably is the central portion, where most of the shot is concentrated. As a pattern spreads that center changes size--starting out very small and growing larger, then eventually shrinking as more and more pellets migrate out of the center and spread to the pattern edges.

As shown in the video, IC does have the largest effective spread at 30 yards. However, as it also shows, when distances increase to 35 and 40 yards that effective spread shrinks dramatically.

So, as Ash says, you can break targets at 40 yards (the 40 yard disk is the dark blue one) with an IC pattern if you’re hitting them with that small pattern center. However, notice how much bigger the dark blue disk of the Modified choke is by comparison--Ash doesn’t pick it up, but you can see it behind the other circles in the Modified set. So even though you can break those long targets with an open choke, it’s actually easier to do it with a tighter choke, not because the pattern is “tighter” but because at long range the effective pattern is actually larger.