gun dreams

[Mortblanc]

That is simply the risk one takes while dealing with game in these "pre-event" days while the game laws are still in effect and being enforced.

Over here we can not have slugs and shot in our possession while in the field. It is one or the other, not both.

Post event there is not a reason one could not carry the O/U with shot in one barrel and a slug or buckshot in the other allowing you to take anything you see with the same gun by a simple choice of triggers.

Just as there will be no reason you could not carry the O/U in your hands and a pellet rifle or centerfire rifle slung over the shoulder.

Over here our primary squirrel, rabbit and bird guns are shotguns in spite of what you read on blogs and internet forums. The majority of people that are out there bringing home small game (and a lot of large game) are using shotguns, just as they always have. (we have more than a dozen states that do not allow hunting with a centerfire rifle) You can always find pictures of someone that has taken a bag of squirrel with a .22, but for every one of them that do, there are ten hunters out there with shotguns.

I am not even counting the pronouncements of the mall ninja commandos and their choice of second firearm, myself being more inclined to depend on the shotgun as game getter and protector and see the second firearm as a pure food procurement tool which might double as "designated marksman tool". A scoped and well fed .308 can put venison, beef, camel, goat sheep or pony on the table or keep the bad guys far, far away with equal finesse.

The .22lr could be the right choice as second gun in specific circumstances,
1. if one is never going to see large game at long range
2. if they are never going to encounter hostile people at ranges past 60-80 yards.
3. if one needs a rifle that can be silenced with no exceptional effort.

Everything we are talking about is opinion. That opinion can be based on each person's experience or on each person's speculations. They are not the same.

I can accept any person's decision based on their actual experiences and situations, I just know that a lot of what is promoted on the internet is really just speculation.

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Sorry, CH posted after I read M's post and before I hit the button.