Pennsylvania Game News - December 2009 - 58

Lock, Stock & Barrel By Jim Romanelli The Brush Gun W HENEVER I HEAR the term “brush gun,” it takes me back to the 1950s & ’60s when the Winchester M94 and Marlin 36/336 lever actions, as well as the Remington 760 pump rifles with their open sights and barrel lengths of 20 inches, or shorter, ruled the day for those who hunted close-quarter, thick wooded areas, where the shots rarely went more than 100 yards, and were usually around 50 yards. These rifles are lightweight (under 8 pounds), easy to carry through the brush, quick to get into action and, with light recoil, allow for fast follow-up shots. Their accuracy was within 2 MOA, which was plenty accurate enough for woods ranges. The thought was that a cartridge/caliber combination of medium speed with flat or round nose bullets was just the ticket for cutting through the brush and staying right on course. The bigger the caliber, the flatter the slug, the more of a brush cartridge it epitomized. The favorite brush busters then were the .30-30 Win. with its 170-grain flat/round nose bullets at around 2,100 fps, the .32 Win. Special with a similar 170-grain slug at the same speed, and the .35 Remington with its 200-grain round nose at 2,000 fps. There also were the Remington rimless cartridges, such as the 25-, 30- and 32-caliber Remingtons (which are now obsolete) that matched the same speeds of their Winchester counterparts. Actually the Savage M99 and the Rem. M760, which were stronger than the earlier lever and pump rifles, were also extremely popular. They were chambered in flat shooting cartridges, such as the .2503000 and .300 Savage cartridges, the.3006, .270 Win. and .308 Win. among others. Unfortunately, the Savage M99 has not been made since 1999, but luckily the M7600 (the recent model of the M760) is available. These are the forerunners of today’s versatile brush guns Even old-timers, such as the .38-55 Win. with a 200- or 250-grain bullet going 1,500 to 1,800 fps, as well as the venerable .45-70 Springfield cartridge that would heave its massive 405-grain factory round at 1,200 fps, were in the field harvesting game. I remember seeing a few .44-40s, and in my early years I used a Marlin 94 in .38-40 Win. with its 180-grain slug at 1,300 fps. Yep, those were some of the brush gun cartridges of that day. There have been times, when using a couple of those rifle/cartridge combos in some thick areas, that I’ve hit small trees/ branches, and the slug did burrow on through and kill deer (Those obstructions were very close to the deer, though). I’ve also missed due to obstructions I had hit. I once was aiming at a buck’s chest through mountain laurel at around 35 yards TWO of the author’s “brush guns.” The top one is a Marlin Guide Gun with an 181/2inch barrel in .45-70. The other is a Savage 99 in .300 Savage with a Mannlicher stock. GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - December 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - December 2009