Yup. I spent several years and hundreds of dollars trying to make black powder and paper patch bullets work.
It wasn’t very successful and I found smokeless and grease groove bullets make all 3 of my original 40-90 Sharps, more than accurate enough to shoot gophers consistently…
My son and I took our Sharps rifles out to see just how good a shot we could be on gophers. We did miss a few, but found out a lot about the ballistic qualities of a Sharps on small game….
I’ve never understood overloading the safe with big game hunting cartridges. You can shoot them a few times a year, but they just aren’t that pleasant to shoot.
I live where there are lots of varmints, so I have lots of varmint guns that I shoot regularly, from 17 HMR to 6mm Remington…
Here are 2 superb guns that will satisfy your needs for a nice 20 gauge, O/U, both well within your budget. I have several Winchester 101’s and prefer them to a Browning Citori. They are an excellent guns and will not disappoint…...
I have one on my 204 Ruger. I was shooting it and switched guns to my 222 mag. It felt like a 30-06 compared to the 204 suppressed. I didn’t realize they were recoil reducing as well.
I got another one for my 300 WBY. It isn’t as good at recoil reduction as a brake, but it takes the sting out...
For what it’s worth, I have lived and hunted my entire life in grizzly country. We had them all summer when we lived near West Yellowstone. For the most part, they are solitary animals, until they aren’t.
You can ask any survivor of a bear mauling and they will tell you their perspective is...
I have traveled and worked in Yellowstone my whole life. Once you get past the gate into Yellowstone, you will not be surprised at anything a tourist will do. Why they think they are the only people there and the Park was made for them, has amazed me my entire life.
I’ve killed everything you can in Montana with old rifles and cartridges. I didn’t need Swarovski optics to find or shoot them. This is about good optics or better optics.
If you can’t tell the difference between top tier glass and bargain glass, don’t waste your money.