Just for comparison from my collection:
16 Grade 2 hammer 30" barrels O Frame: 6lbs 15oz
16 VH 26" barrels 1 Frame: 6lbs 13oz
16 Trojan 28" barrel 1 Frame: 6lbs 5oz

Friends 16 VH 26"barrels O Frame: 5lbs 14oz

Andy, when pheasant hunting north of Westminster, Maryland with a friend who only had a single barrel 37 Winchester, we flushed a woodcock in a wooded area. My friend duplicated your feat of shooting a woodcock completely out of his wings. We were high school buddies, but he was not into bird guns like I was. We went to college together and he left early to become a Ranger and to Viet Nam with a 75th Infantry unit. I left a year later, also for a two year Army hitch of a less heroic character. We had some great pack trips in western Maryland, but he found his outdoor life as a Park Ranger Superintendent in Wyoming and I stayed in Maryland and collected Parkers.

:confused:

Easy fix for the tight chokes without boring them out is some spreader loads. They work well. I have used then on a 20 ga. mod x full 21 of mine for quail. Not perfect but certainly workable.

That's great in theory, but when a grouse or woodcock gives you .2 seconds in snot thick cover there is no such thing as letting them get further out. I do that with chukar, quail and ditch chickens

I did some with polywad inserts and they do help, but I enjoy roll crimping shells as much as I enjoy flossing my teeth. ADHD I think...

:rotf::rotf:That's exactly what I was thinkink Andy. When I read Mills' response I thought "We need to take Mills grouse hunting. In the words of my Dear friend Craig Doherty after I failed to get off a shot on 3 straight grouse flushes "Shoot the f**** tree Dan" :rotf::rotf:

Edit by John D: Could you please watch the language? This isn't Reddit - it is a gun collectors forum...

I didn't want to insult him, but yeah, we need to take him out! I took a friend who is a clay target shooter grouse hunting for the first time. After about ten miles and HEARING three birds, he said, "Let me get this straight, you do this s*** for fun???" :bowdown:

Edit by John D: Could you please watch the language? This isn't Reddit - it is a gun collectors forum...

Agree with Andy and Dan. With grouse hunting, its like the wedding vow, only its "shoot now or forever hold your peace". The sound of the grouse flushing galvanizes me into action. Unfortunately, that often translates into my shooting on game lands/released pheasants, I shoot too soon. My buddy Terry says to himself "My what a pretty bird" before he shoots , I doubt I get out "my" before I shoot. Wild pheasants don't dally around and require quick action.
On sporting clays, however, I wish I could shoot sooner , I think it would help my scores. Those clay targets move much faster than a game bird.

Probably my favorite thing in all of the sporting world is that thunderous launch and the way they careen through the trees. Such a magnificent bird. I think that's why Parkers are so cool, there's so little action anymore that carrying a gun you appreciate and love is a reward in itself. Like a bamboo fly rod I guess. By my estimation my last 4 pounds of grouse flesh cost about $8,000 per pound after guns, gas, dogs, accessories and I have zero regrets.