Grouse gun chokes are interesting topic for me also. Much depends on how and when you hunt them. My choice being hunting with pointing dogs, and young ones almost exclusively, I don’t shoot wild flushes. No matter how much experience a dog has with grouse some birds are going to get bumped, but when all goes well the experience is up close and personal. With both grouse and woodcock I would be confident in saying inside 25 yards for the open first barrel. And although being sick with “ the next ones the best one”. The gun that’s first out and most successful is a 20 ga with .005/ .010 with 7/8 oz of 8s in the right and 7 1/2 or 7s in the left.
I also have a very fine and great handling flushing dog that I could brag on his large number brought to hand birds. For his work I require a bit tighter chokes, even though I can read him well and know when he’s hot. The distance to first shot is frequently a bit longer.
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