(full disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases)
Not long after moving to the Ozarks, I realized that my long-barreled magnum rifle with its 3-9x scope was a bit much for the brushy country of my local conservation area. While I have taken deer with it there, I have also lost the opportunity at more than one because I couldn’t find the animal in the scope before it disappeared into the thick brush. I needed something different, I needed a brush gun.
Table of Contents
What is a Brush Gun?
A brush gun is simply a gun for the brushy country. Where ranges are short (less than 200 yards), nicks and dings may happen, and the opportunities at deer are fleeting. I would also like to say that I don’t believe in the myth that brush-busting cartridges are for punching through brush to get to the deer. They are rounds for when you are busting through the bushes and need a round that, when you do have a clear shot, will put a deer down quickly so that you don’t have to follow them far through the mess. The rifles should have natural handling characteristics (more on this later), be chambered in calibers that perform well at closer ranges, and have optics that are suited to the same.
Calibers
There are many good brush gun calibers, some old, some new. Some of the ones I know better are discussed below.
.35 Remington
I consider the .35 Remington as the grandaddy of all modern brush cartridges. Debuting in 1906 in the Remington Model 8 semiautomatic rifle the .35 Remington quickly gained a reputation as a formidable close-range cartridge with its near-ton of muzzle energy. It has taken everything that walks in North America, but it’s at its best on whitetail deer, black bear, and hogs.
.357 Magnum
While not an ideal deer round in a pistol, when housed in a rifle, the .357 Magnum can be pushed to perform satisfactorily on deer or hogs. The low recoil makes this an ideal youth rifle for close cover, and several coworkers use a .357 lever action as a starter rifle for their kids. In all the cases I’m aware of, after a good shot the deer went less than thirty yards, fell over dead, and the kid was hooked on hunting.
.45-70 Government
A brush-round for big game. The .45-70 has been with us since 1873 and continues to flatten animals of all sizes across North America. Particularly beloved in areas frequented by grizzly bears, the round has found a home in compact lever-action rifles. Loaded with a 325-grain bullet, Hornady’s Flex Tip load leaves the muzzle with nearly 3000 foot-pounds of energy, and heavier loads are available. If it absolutely has to die now, this is the cartridge.
Other choices
The list of other potential brush cartridges could be exhaustive. Rounds like the .450 Bushmaster, .360 Buckhammer, .44 Magnum, 444 Marlin, .358 Winchester, and the 12-gauge slug are all solid close-cover performers. And while putting a big hole in the animal makes for a short tracking job, some of the big rounds have big recoil. That is why the old .30-30 is still a great brush cartridge; the recoil is minimal, even in light and handy rifles, so most shooters can easily put the bullet where it has to go, making the tracking job short. A good shot beats a poorly placed big hole every day.
Guns
When most people talk of brush guns, they tend to mean a short-barreled lever-action rifle and those are excellent choices. However, there are many other great rifles for close cover. An AR platform rifle with a 16-inch barrel makes a great brush gun. The list of available calibers for AR pattern rifles is extensive compared to a few years ago. Just off the top of my head, I can think of the 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 SPC, 300 HAMM’R, 350 Legend, 400 Legend, and 450 Bushmaster.
Bolt-Actions are another solid choice. My wish list includes a Savage 110 Hog Hunter in .400 Legend. The 20” barrel and synthetic stock would be great for hunting the thickets and blowdowns that cover my local conservation area. Bolt actions come in every caliber under the sun, and most manufacturers have models with barrels under 20 inches, some with iron sights even. I prefer models with a tang-mounted safety or a hammer. With either system, the weapon can be made ready with a flick of the thumb.
I also need to mention the pump-action rifle. This is the quintessential New England brush gun, popular in states like Pennsylvania that restrict hunting with semi-automatic rifles. Typified by the Remington 760/7600 series, in standard calibers like .30-06 and .270. Savage produced the 170 in .30-30 and .35 Remington, and the old Remington model 14/141 is still a solid performer in .35 Remington.
Sight Systems
Most places that I hunt have a hundred yards’ worth of visibility through the trees, if that, and you really don’t need much to get a clear sight picture on a deer at that distance. Magnification is nice if you need to verify antlers, or “thread the needle” through the branches for a clear shot, but sometimes the reduced field of view is an obstruction too.
There are three sight systems that I recommend for the close-in country: red dot optic, iron sights, or an LPVO (low-power variable optic).
Red dot optics offer fast target acquisition, a clearly defined aiming point, and both eyes open shooting. The ones that I have used were unforgiving of poor shooting form regarding a consistent cheek weld, but that may not be true for all models.
Iron sights are an old friend to me. I have used the factory sights on my Marlin lever-action for years, and my Rossi .357 wears a William’s aperture (peep) sight (as does my Sheridan pellet rifle). There is no tunnel vision from looking through a tube, and no trouble finding the target. Bright light can wash out the brass front bead on my Marlin, but the .22 Magnum I used to have with Williams Fire Sights never had that problem.
LPVOs are a concept that has finally gained traction outside dangerous game hunting. Since everyone started putting them on their AR’s, the offerings have gone from the old 2-7x and 1.5-4.5x, to 1-4, 1-6, even up to 1-10x variable with a true 1x. These scopes give the hunter the ability to use the scope like a red dot, but not be up a creek if the battery dies. And if you need to zoom in for target identification, you can.
Final Thoughts
“Brush Gun” can be a vague term that means differing things to different people. To me, it is a compact repeating weapon with good handling characteristics, wearing a sighting system optimized for working at less than 100 yards, chambered in a caliber stout enough to ensure an immediate kill or at least a short tracking job. Considering the amount of hunting opportunities that would fall under this criteria. I think that almost anyone who hits the woods should have at least one “brush gun”. At the very least it’s an excuse to get another rifle.
