Us Brits got round the very simple problem of rapid firing by using a pair or even a triple of matched guns. The rate of fire that can be sustained by a gun with a good loader has to be seen to be believed.

We do over here have a good number of big driven shoots where the bag is 300 or 400 birds a day between a team of 8 to ten guns. The emphasis thugh is on quality of birds rather than quantity - a really good shot is probably hitting 1 in 2 1/2 or 1 in 3.

I once stood next to a chap who was shooting a pair of purdies on such a shoot - on one drive he had ten right and lefts in a row - and the birds were all fast phaesants 30 to 40 yds up.

Over and unders (especially in 20 bore)are becoming the standard choice now on game shoots. Most people find them easier to use than a a traditional side by side. I use a 50 year old double tiggered AYA Coral - which I am told were actually re badged Merkels, as Merkel were at that point behind the iron curtain.

Where side by sides are still popular is walked up shooting where weight is an issue - I now use a 410 by W J Jeffery - a very old gun but it only weighs 4 1/2 lbs - and quite happily shoot phaesants with it out to 30 yds - its tight pattern kills or misses completely. Also here in scoltand at most shoots will have a good collection of old sides by sides - Dicksons etc - mostly handed down through the family - a friends father still uses his grandfathers pair of Holland and Hollands - they must have fired hundreds of thousands of cartridges - the checkering is completely worn away, indeed the wood under the checkering is worn away, barrels are not blue but silver where the fore hand grips the barrels. But apart from the occasional service they have been used several times a month since they came out of Holland & Holland over 100 years ago.