doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How Popular Are SxS's In Your State?

I shoot about every weekend with a group of guys who shoot vintage doubles. One guy shoots an auto and sometimes another shoots an over and under.
I shoot my side by sides about 50% of the time and my P gun the rest.
Always interesting to see what shows up, Purdeys, Bosses, a Woodward or another top maker.

From my view of MN

King- black auto loader
Queen pump
Prince - O/U

Peasant- Sxs

I am firmly in the peasant camp but I love shooting them. I always encourage the pullers at my local club to shoot one of my guns at a few targets and most have never shot a Sxs. We also have a group that shoots regularly with various Sxs's

I do think that the interest is growing and the availability of good Sxs guns through big stores like cabelas and the likes of gun broker has helped

Be happy- shoot birds and clays with whatever gets you fired up.

where I am in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC I still see plenty of sxs's. It's probably just my club, the BCC IWLA we have several members who are regulars here.
All I really shoot is doubles, I have a Citori and an 1187 but they are dusty.

May I offer a different perspective from a bit further south?

For all practical intents and purposes, pumps and self-loaders are not available to the average recreational hunter here; the U/O rules, but there is a small but active vintagers club, quite a few clubs have "novelty" sxs events, and a few damascus doubles are taken after ducks due to a small exemption for lead shot though damascus barrels. Quite a few quail shooters keep fine British game guns as their go-to quail guns, and there is a legacy due to quirks of colonial ties and economic heydays that means a good number of very fine vintage British guns remain here (although in recent decades, many where extracted cheaply from their owners by a couple of prominent dealers and sent to the US for a tidy profit).

For all that though, the sxs is not in common use, and pretty rarely seen.

Out side of a little SxS "Cult" I hunt and shoot with very rare.

Self-Loaders are most seen, followed about 50/50 between O/U's and Pumps.

I own and shoot a wide variety of Vintage Guns of all the above types, including Single Shots.

For me Hunting in a Traditional Sport, so I hunt and shoot Traditional Shotguns.

I enjoy shooting 100 year Old Pumps and Autos also.

Thats pretty much my experience too lagopus, one dealer i was talking to says anything double trigger is virtually unsellable, excepting to farmers looking for a cheap fox basher. Personally i shoot what i like, thats happens to be sxs's, all the better that the fashion dictates that you have to shoot a black plastic stocked magazine fed eyesore. It means there are good deals to be had on sxs's, for those that like them.

In Ontario:

1. Semi-auto, camo, usually Beretta, some Turkish Weatherbys
2. Pump action, 870 Express, Mossberg, Benelli, camo or black
3. O/U, usually Citori
4. Pump action with wood furniture, typically an 870
5. .410 single shot (this is specific to the vast north part of the Province, where the ruffies prefer to walk away rather than fly.
6. SxS. I can count on one hand those I know who shoot them.

I'm a relocated Cheeshead and one of the few local conservatves but am starting to morph into the long vowels.

Well a few years ago I became a Cult Member. I had about 15 shotguns of various types 2 of which were Fox B SXS's. Sold "ALL" of them and bought vintage SXS's and have only one non SXS
a Franchi 28ga 48 AL. So I basically shoot only SXS's.
In 15 years of Dove/Quail hunting in AZ I do not recall running into anyone else shooting a SXS. A young fellow in a dove field walked past me and looked at my gun and said "Wow! is that a side by side? Can I see it?" Like he never saw one before.

I'd agree.