doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com O/U versus SxS

While I favour double triggers I must admit I rarely shoot the left barrel first, maybe two three times a season, more often I simply shoot the right then left even if the tighter barrel would be more appropriate.

I favour double triggers out of habit and comfort, but Find I can go back and forth without issue.

I believe that O/U dominent use is like my favouring of double triggers has more to do with habit, comfort, and experience, than any innate superiority on either configuration's part.

I learned to use double triggers pretty late in life, at 50.

I have no trouble shooting the back trigger first when I judge it to be "long" shot. Or on an incoming dove.

I never could switch barrels on my Citori at a flushing long shot though.

I actually use the rear trigger first lots of times shooting doves, every shoot we have. But, there is a big difference between seeing a dove coming toward you and deciding "Left barrel first", and having a covey of quail flush wild and deciding instantly that you need that rear trigger because they are so far.

My hats off to Jim for taking the time to learn to do so. All that said, it's a whole lot easier to learn to switch triggers instantaneously than it is to learn to move a barrel selector the right way on demand.

Good discussion, and I'd still like to see those shooter's names and scores, if possible.

SRH

I started hunting with a DT sxs back in the 60s and selecting the barrel based on the needed choke came fairly easy for me. As Stan said, it's much easier on a dove field than it is quail hunting. I've never found an o/u I could shoot well, but I'll admit I haven't tried very hard. The single plane of the o/u must be a real advantage for the competition shooters or they would not be using them. A sxs with a high rib, like a Berretta 626, comes close to mimicking that advantage. But alas, no DT on it.

When I was in my teens (early 70's) and skeet was about score, a Win 101 20ga. was the goto gun. When I grew up, it became about enjoyment rather than best score. Now the SXS fits the bill.

About 2 years ago, on a cool morning, I went for a slow walk down behind the house looking for squirrels. Shot one out of a tall tree with my dad's old Flues. After the squirrel hit the ground, I opened the gun, pulled the shells, and got a big whiff of burnt powder. It was like stepping back in time. Nothing much better than old SXS's.

So Hunter Arms' single sighting plane rib didn't settle all this?!?



Sorry

BTW: I did chose the rear trigger fairly frequently when blocking (incoming birds) but also walking-up big country pheasants behind labs

There's go to be a technical advantage (however small) to the O/U in competition otherwise you'd see the odd SxS competing at the highest levels.

At club level much, I suspect, is down to familiarity and price.

When someone starts shooting, these days they're more likely to be handed an O/U, so that's what they become accustomed to. When they buy their first gun they then buy what feels right to them... and what they're already accustomed to feels right. It can't hurt either that you can buy a new O/U for relatively little compared to a new SxS (cheapest new Beretta 486 is around twice the price of the cheapest Silver Pigeon). By the time you're ready to upgrade, I suspect a SxS feels even more alien.

I used to shoot better with an O/U and hit rates following my first SxS purchase made me wonder whether I'd have been better simply burning the cash. Today, now the SxS fits, I'm shooting as well as I ever did with an O/U but enjoying it more...

I dunno, but a SxS just feels better to me.
O/U feel fat & clumpy in the forend to me.
Often times I have an SG or BB or AAA in the full choke left barrel & a #4 or #5 or even a 7 1/2 in the more open right. Trigger selection is based more on what load I want to deliver to the intended target. That way I have more bases covered for my type of hunting.
My two most used guns, one is choked full & fuller, the second is imp mod & imp mod. So with these two it is more about load selection. My other guns are full & mod, or near enough to it. With them it is load & pattern.

O.M

Here is my opinion of why my scores at sporting are higher with an O/U than it is with my S x S guns, for anyone interested. I have given this a lot of consideration over more than a few years of competitive shooting, and I think I may have the answer, for me. It is precision. Now, before some of you start howling "It's a shotgun, not a freakin' rifle!!", hear me out.

Many of you who shoot sporting clays most likely do so on small courses that are set up first and foremost to make a profit for the owners. In order to do that they must accommodate everyone from the infrequent gunner, who comes out a couple times before hunting season, to the member who tries to shoot at least a round a week to stay on top of his game. So, the courses must be kept on the "soft" side, because if a new shooter comes out and shoots a 26/100 he is discouraged and embarrassed, and probably won't be back. This is not what a club owner needs. So, for the most part, we're not talking about tournament grade targets, we're talking about 30 yds. or less, fairly slow stuff.

On targets like these a S x S in the hands of an experienced S x S shooter will show very well. For example, I can shoot a 50 bird 20 ga. course just as well with a 28" SKB 200E as I can with my 31 1/2" MX8. Why? Not much precision required for slow, close stuff. Leads that range from 0 to 2 ft. are easy to duplicate. I have shot as high as a 48/50 with the S x S in sub gauge events at S x S shoots, but have never shot over a 48 with my 30" SP II Sporting 20 ga. O/U at a sub-gauge event.

So, where does the O/U shine? IMO, it is on long birds, and especially long crossers and chandelles. It is not uncommon at all to have to see 5-6 feet of lead on a long bird in a major sporting clays tournament. Here is where my connotation of "precision" comes into play. When you pull a 12 ga. S x S ahead of a 50 yard crosser, that has all the spring on the trap that the setter can get, you have to get the muzzles waaaay out in front of that bird. I know we are not looking at the muzzle .... we're looking at the bird. But, the eye has to have a keen awareness of where the muzzles are, more precisely, where the end of the rib (bead) is, in order to be able to establish the proper forward allowance. It is easier to do this with the precision necessary when using a single sighting plane gun. Two feet of lead, no big deal. Six to seven feet? ... big deal. That is what I mean by precision.

If there is a place, in competition, where S x S guns are not a handicap, it might be in live pigeon shooting. This is a game of elevation, much more so than horizontal leads. That first shot needs to be taken before the pigeon has taken an escape route, if at all possible. That is the goal, anyway. That makes shooting above the bird a necessity, as he is being ejected upwards from the trap. The instantaneous shot requires that the lead be established extremely quickly. A S x S gives the shooter a greater awareness of where the muzzle(s) is (are), and some think that gives a slight edge to the S x S. If you don't kill him with the first shot, there is probably no advantage at all to the S x S on the second shot.That said, O/Us still dominate the game, probably because of familiarity. One of the greatest American flyer shooters ever was Billy Perdue, of AL. He shot S x Ss, by choice, and won live bird championships with them all over the world.

SRH

I'm not really sure I understand why a sxs would be at an inherent disadvantage, even with regards to precision on long crossers. When I look down the barrels of mine, all I see is a bead. I don't see two barrels with a bead in the middle, all I see is a bead, especially so when I'm shooting and concentrating on the target. I'm not discounting anything anyone is saying regarding o/u's, because I'm not a competition shooter, just a hunter and regular skeet shooter, but I'm not sure I totally buy it either. I'm probably wrong, but there's my two cents, fwiw.