Well Ted, those OU's are relative newcomers to the scene. And they've had single triggers pretty much forever. Hard to spot a trend heading in the direction of DT's among OU fanciers . . . although Cole does DT conversions on Beretta OU's.
By going to Gander, of course, you weren't in the right place to spot the trend in side by sides. Stop and think about what you saw in Spanish guns back in the early 80's. Plenty of single triggers (think the AyA Matador) along with PG and BT forend. When I look at my Stoeger Shooters Bible from 1960, their Spanish imports (from V. Sarasqueta) all have PG and BT. Most have a ST. If you look at guns coming in from Spain now, what do you see? Mostly straight grip/splinter/DT. Likely you'd have to special order to get PG or BT or ST. And a lot of guns with 28" barrels (29" not uncommon on smaller bores) along with chokes more open than M/F. All of those have been the trend--you might say "return to the classics"--when it comes to sxs.
Look at the photos of Stan's Turkish sxs on the AyA .410 topic: Straight/splinter/DT . . . 30" barrels, no less! If you'd wanted a double like that--especially a smallbore--not all that long ago, you would have had to custom order it.
Last edited by L. Brown; 12/24/16 08:06 AM.
