A question please,
With that heavy shot load, would not an over under help pattern dispersion?
The horizontal plane of the side by side will cause the patterns to shift as recoil moves your body differently with the left and right barrel.
The vertical barrels of an over/under react differently
Mike
You are exactly right! And I am not basing this on theory, but on the experience of several friends also shooting the heavy tungsten loads. They do tend to have up-down issues; one barrel usually prints the pattern higher than the other. However, the differences are not nearly as much as with my sxs. Some have compensated by using 2 different loads to get the same POI; others just remember to aim a little higher or lower.
I only know of 2 other hunters that are using sxs guns and tungsten loads, and both are using 28 gauge CZ guns and 1 and 5/16 oz loads. I don't think their problems were very significant with the lighter loads and heavier guns.
So why not just use an o/u? I don't like them; no reason for it, they just never have appealed to me. I grew an attachment to sxs guns in my youth and its never left me. I already talked about killing my first squirrel with a borrowed sxs .410, and my dad wouldn't buy the gun for me. All I remember is that it was a .410 Winchester and the man wanted $40 for it; my dad said that was more than it was worth. I've often wondered how much it would be worth now.
My first 12 gauge was bought when I was 14 and it was a Spanish-made sxs with 26" barrels. I don't remember the manufacturer, but nobody had ever heard of them. It cost $60 in 1968. How I loved that gun! It balanced perfectly and I began to have some real success at wing shooting with it, mainly hunting doves, quail and ducks. I killed my 2nd deer with it, a big 8 point. And then one day the left barrel wouldn't shoot. We sent it to a gunsmith, and he said the metal was so soft he didn't think his fix would hold. It didn't, so we sent it back.
I got it back during turkey season one night; I was 16 at the time and made plans to go hunting before school the next day. I called to a gobbler on the roost, and he flew down and lit about 20 yards away. As I raised the gun to shoot him, I flipped off the safety and both barrels went off. The gun smacked me in the mouth and busted my lip pretty bad. We had a baseball game that afternoon, and since I played first base, all the players on both teams kept asking me what had happened to my mouth, so I told the story dozens of times.
I inherited my grandfather's quail gun - a Stevens 311 12 gauge. Neither barrel would shoot, and the finish was rough, so I had it restored and have hunted with it a good bit. I spent way more on restoring it than it was worth, but it was worth it to me.
So I want a good sxs turkey gun just because I want one.
