What are your favorite calibers for thick, brushy areas ?

.45 Colt, .480 Ruger, .475 Linebaugh, .500 JRH, .500 Linebaugh, however, everywhere I hunt is pretty heavily wooded and most shots are fairly close. That said, I will not try to actually shoot through brush as that is a recipe for disaster as far as I am concerned.

Everyone refers to the "brush gun" but in my opinion there is really no such thing. A bullet, no matter the velocity or bullet weight can deflect enough to miss the intended target simply by hitting a twig, branch, vine or whatever else it may encounter before it gets to the target. It's always best to have a clear shooting lane. Sure there's guns that handle better in brush than others due to length, etc. but that does not mean the bullet will get to the target without possible deflection.

Like Max said. I carry a 45 Colt in the woods, but ain't gonna try to clear brush with it.

[That said ,I will not try to actually shoot through brush as that is a recipe for disaster as far as I am concerned]

I agree with Whit, although it can't be prevented at times on follow up shots for wounded game as you sometimes take whats offered.Sometimes you just don't see that limb in the line of fire. Big heavy bullets seem to work best for such situations.
African PH's seem to always prefer long heavy for caliber bullets, and they see more game shot in a season than most of us see in 10 yrs. If it works for them it should help here,although the best advice is wait for a clear shot.

Agree,not to be used in place of a bush hog. Lots of rifle hunters prefer 30-30, 35, 45-70 in close situations. Just curious as to your experiences.

There was an article some 30 years ago in F&S where they compared different chamberings in a brush scenario and they found that the "traditional" slow brush guns didn't fare so well. According to their study slower velocity offerings deflected more than than faster ones and the 270 Win won, for whatever that is worth.

I read an article probably 10 years ago and the finding were similar to what s4s4u noted. I think the 338 win mag with 220 grain pills fared the best but the 270 did better than the 30-30 I think for most of us the term brush guns refer to guns that are relatively short range. That pretty much includes any revolver and any other handguns with straight walled cases.

Also short barrels that making swinging to aim easier in the thick stuff.

If we are talking about Revolver Handgun Hunting in heavy woods where the range is limited to under 60 yards hunting DEER this would be my take on this.

500 S&W Handloaded down to a reasonable performance level. My idea of reasonable would be a WFP Cast Bullet of atleast 370 grains or more traveling at 1,000 to 1,200 fps.

Other 500's loaded to the same performance levels as for the 500 S&W described above.

475L and 480R Handloaded down to a reasonable performance Level. My idea of reasonable would again be a WFP cast bullet of atleast 370 grains or more traveling between 1,000 and 1,200 fps.

460 S&W Handloaded down to a reasonable performance level. My idea of reasonable would again be a WFP cast bullet of atleast 370 grains or more traveling between 1,000 and 1,200 fps.

454C Handloaded down to a reasonable performance level. My idea of reasonable would again be a WFP cast bullet of atleast 370 grains or more traveling between 1,000 and 1,200 fps.

44 Magnum Factory 240 Soft Points or a Cast WFPGC of 240 thru 310 grains. Probably limit the 240 to 1,300 fps, and the 310 to around 1,100 fps.

45 Colt Handloaded 250 grain or heavier WFPGC bullets at book full house velocity.

41 Magnum Factory 210 jacketed bullets, or Handloads of no less than 210 grains with WFPGC bullets running at book full house speed.

44 Special Handloads with no less than 240 grain WFP bullets.
In my opinion the 44 Special is not enough gun if you cannot hold off for a perfect double lung broadside shot.

357 Magnum with 180 WFPGC bullets. Full House Load. I personally consider this to be on the bottom end of the power scale for deer hunting. In my opinion the 357 Magnum is not enough gun if you cannot hold off for a perfect double lung broadside shot.

As was said above shooting through brush is limited for a follow up shot on wounded game ONLY, not your first shot.

As you can see from my comments above on the Big Magnums, I think most are WAY over the top for deer, and need toned down quite a bit.

I hunt with a 9.5 Inch 480R Super RedHawk with a 30mm UltraDot sight. I only deer hunt with it. My loads have always been a 375 - 400 grain bullet traveling at 1,200 fps or below. I hunt in heavy woods from a tree stand with my maximum range being 100 yards. All shots have been under 60 yards to date.
I am totally happy with this combination for deer.

Bob

12 guage slug........ even that will be deflected depending on how it hits a branch...I have on two different occasions shot through saplings 2 and three inches in diameter and killed deer.No rifle caliber in hunting guns I know can chop down trees...bust brush ect... I will defer on the handgun calibers to the more experienced handgunners of the board.

Any brush can do strange things to a bullet. Thinking back to my younger days I can remember a bow incident when a buck was within 15 yds. The only thing between us was high grass. I shot and watched for the buck to go down, well, it just kept going. Taking the few steps to where the buck was I found the arrow laying flat on it's side right where the deer had been. Apparently, the grass wrapped around the arrow and made it fall straight to the ground. This instance was only grass at 15 yds. and a lesson that stuck with me about deflection all these years.

I've seen some of the old articles on bullet deflection that were mentioned (maybe not the exact ones), and they were shooting through multiple layers of plexiglass, not brush.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot40.htm has a good representation of what happens through wood with rifles.

Another member posted pictures of an elk hunt where he used a 500(something, sorry don't remember) where he hit a sapling before the bullet struck the bull with no deflection. It comes down to what you hit, how you hit, what you hit with.

i dont take much stock in F&S. seems they dont have much use for anything without a lot of add $ to spend. just my 2 cents. the problems of shooting through brush are...

1 the weight of the bullet vs. rigidity of the object hit. a 22lr kissing a 1/2 inch maple branch is going to deflect more than a 45-70 kissing a leaf from the same branch.

2 the distance to the target from where the bullet starts to yaw.

3 this is where i get into trouble! although speed may play a part i think that the rotation of the bullet that causes one bullet to yaw more than another.

so the best brush gun is a shotgun slug from a smooth bore. maybe even pumkin ball

My go to brush gun for deer hunting is my 45-70 contender 16" barel with iron sights. I have had so much trouble with scopes up close right at daylight I quit using them in heavy cover. What I call close shots is less than 30 yards. I missed one with a scope at 12 yards because all I could see was hair. The 45-70 is a real thumper too.