doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Gun Configuration Preferences

I’ve noted that even among people who use double guns by preference, opinions on details vary widely.

My question is regarding other features.
Ejectors? Double or single triggers? Straight vs pistol grip? Buttplate treatment? Forend type? Solid or vent rib? Other similar details.


Anyway, what features do people like and what is a no go for you?

Simple is best for me, 2 triggers, game rib, straight stock, splinter fore end, ribbed horn buttplate, 29" tubes, 6 lbs. 9 ozs, stocked like it was built for me. At times I do crave a bit more constriction in my second barrel, choked cyl/.014". My principal gun for over 15 years now and it will be the last gun I sell.

For me it depends on the intended use.

SXS guns, straight stock, splinter, barrels at least 28”, no ejectors, unless they are Darne ejectors, double triggers, checkered ebony, horn or checkered butt, truly prefer no recoil pad. No ventilated ribs, thank you very much. I hunt grouse, woodcock and pheasants. IC and IMod get it done, usually.
O/U guns, I really only use them when it is too cold for double triggers and need gloves, single trigger, somewhat tighter chokes, Mod and Full, usually pistol grip, since that is typically how they come. I’ll switch the O/U off with an A5 16 gauge Standard, with either a full choke Sweet 16 27” barrel, or, the barrel it came with, a 26” IC, depending on what I expect.

I have other guns, but, those questions weren’t asked.

Best,
Ted

For once, I actually concur w/ Ted; just add a sling. The platform needs to perform in any condition w/ assurances and not necessarily frills.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

I prefer 28" minimum for barrel length, according to usage, and up to 32" on many of mine. File cut, flat rib. Double triggers for hunting, single trigger for comp. I love ejectors, and the guns my stable consists of proves that out. I could care less about butt treatment, but usually have a pad because i need as close to 15" LOP as is possible and very few doubleguns have that without a pad, of some sort, being added. On any gun that has recoil to speak of I want a pistol or semi-pistol grip. It helps tame recoil significantly for me, which helps me get on the second shot faster. With a .410, straight grips are fine.

For once? Wow.

Anyway, both Darnes, a 12 and a 28, have slings. The Halifax 12 has sling swivels, and that sling simply isn’t as usable and handy as the Bretelle Darne. I have a Bretelle Darne waiting for a 12 gauge that needs one. The 28 has a Bretelle Darne, but, seldom gets used.

The O/Us and other unmentionable guns, do not have slings. I did put a sling on the Mossberg 500 .410 bore, hoping it might lead to the Missus hanging around in the woods with me a bit more, but, that gun hadn’t been fired since she and the boy completed gun safety training together.

Best,
Ted

12 or 20 gauge SxS, 28"-30", swamped concave rib, double triggers, Prince of Wales - or close, splinter, and because modernity is what it is - screw-in chokes, otherwise modified and full. Stocked to fit. But I've learned to settle.

I should maybe add that I like extractors because I don't like seeing empties lying around, and I don't like bending down to pick up mine because, certainly distracted watching the bird escape through the canopy, I would not catch the ejecting hulls.

I prefer a beavertail forend on anything smaller than 16 gauge. With a splinter forend on 20 gauge or smaller, the fingers of my left hand stick up above the barrels and spoil the view. This problem can be ameliorated by using a barrel guard, but that can slip if, for instance, you pick the gun up from a vertical position by grasping the forend.

I agree, although I prefer the extra length of 30" barrels. My Miroku/ Browning side-by-side has 28" barrels that weigh exactly the same as my Webley's 30" ones, but is somehow not quite the same. A Prince of Wales grip does make a huge difference to me here in southern England.

There again, I am often the one Gun using a side-by-side.....

grouse woods are difficult enough walking through, so a straight grip is easy and I prefer dbl triggers. A Prince of Wales is nice for a clays gun and while I have some single triggers, I still prefer dbl triggers. My gunsmith would say dbl triggers and extractors present fewer problems.

Generally speaking:

Ambivalent on ejectors/extractors.

Same for triggers. I shoot both and can switch back and forth with no problems - I did so while shooting clays yesterday.

Straight grip for hunting, POW or full pistol grip for clays.

Buttplate: Whatever it takes to get the proper length. If possible, a checkered wood butt (engraved metal enhancement a bonus) at the right length, followed by a leather covered pad as my top two.

I have big hands (XXL glove size) so a bigger forend doesn't bother me. I find a nicely done wrap around forend on a SxS pleasing...but the ones that look like someone rounded off the corners of a 2 x 4...not so much.

Solid rib for hunting - I don't need one more place to clean misc. debris out of on a gun going into the field. Either is fine for clays...but not a fan of the more extreme raised ribs - they're an answer looking for a question, IMO.

I don't care about chokes - fixed or screw-in are both fine.

I'm a recreational skeet shooter who shoots skeet to justify buying S x S shotguns that I would otherwise have no use for.

I prefer a straight stock, 30" barrels, double triggers & extractors. However, I won't let my preferences prevent me from buying a S x S that I find interesting or advances my collection by adding something different such as a snap lever

My must haves are barrels no longer than 28", straight grip or possibly a demi grip if it is not very tight, splinter, and two triggers.

I prefer a sling on my guns. My Darne V19 and my VL&D Francotte do not and I miss this feature especially in the field.

Yeah, & that's the trouble w/ Ferlacher's from the British Period Post WWII where the Bloody British had influence till about 1953. You get the aforementioned, cov.eted straight-hand grip but no sling swivels. Too, I prefer a swamped rib & long LOP.

I will say I keep a short stacked gun in my travel battery like the Merkel ATM and although I haven't really pondered on it prior, I think I prefer shorter tubes on a stacked gun than a SxS?

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Most of the Husqvarna double guns from the same era have a straight stock and sling swivels. Sometimes, they have ejectors, too.

I don’t seem to notice the difference in barrel length on an O/U as much as I do on a SXS. I never told anybody that, because it sounds nuts, but, I don’t shoot professionally and I don’t use an O/U very often when I do shoot.

Best,
Ted

I hunted Grouse, Woodcock and Quail for 40 years behind my beloved English Setters and my favorite gun for that purpose was a 20 gauge, straight stock, 28" barrels choked .007/.014, double triggers and weighing 5#14. Over the years I had 5 that roughly fit those specs, the first a Thomas Newton, second, which I still have a Purdey, except that one has 26" bbls and weighs 5#7, third a Webley and Scott, which weighed 5#10, fourth a Louca/Watson, and fifth a Wm Ford damascus HG.

For the past 5 years I have had to confine my shooting to clay targets and been enjoying a journey into Sporting Clay shooting. Basically my shooting is confined to a 34" Perazzi SBT with screw chokes (Comp IV made in 1977) weighing 8#10, a 33" .024/.024 Perazzi HTS SL weighing 8"4, a 32" 28 gauge .020/.030 Krieghoff K20 weighing 7# and a 32" .020/.028 Perazzi DC12 weighing 8#10.

Horses for courses.

My 12ga hunting SxS's run from 25" to 29.5" , shorter barrels over dogs, longer in blinds, clays whatever trips my trigger that day. Double triggers, splinter forends, hard butt plates preferred and dislike the look of vent ribs on SxS's. Grips, again no preference, I do like the look of a straight grip but I don't shoot them any better or worse. I do like the steel butt plates on Husqvarna shotgun but they do make shortening the stock to fit me harder. I do like exposed hammers, just plain fun to shoot, and own way too many. Although I only load 1 oz and under I prefer 12ga, a couple 16s find there way into the field and I do have two 20s hiding in the safe.

I have four O/U's, one my old international trap gun with lots of fond memories, hard to sell it. The rest are have two triggers and solid ribs, two are combo guns with spare O/U barrels for when I go on predator hunting trips and run into birds, handy travel rigs. The last is a Simpson on a Merkel frame, I looked at Merkels and Simsons for a very long time and a couple years ago added one, more like buying a painting than a shooter but I did shorten the stock to fit me, someone had put a pad on it years ago so no harm done.

I grew up hunting in the Columbia Basin irrigated farmland so incidental to pheasants jump shooting those nice grain fed mallards, teal and gadwalls out of irrigation ditches was always part of the walk. Since 1966 my go to gun has been a 1914 vintage straight grip, double trigger A-Grade A.H. Fox with 28-inch barrels. It left North 18th street improved modified in both barrels but I had the gunsmiths at Warshal's Sporting Goods in Seattle open the right barrel to improved cylinder. With it I've shot everything from quail along the Mexican border in California to sharptails in Saskatchewan. Here with Sage Grouse near Craig, Colorado.



I also enjoy skeet shooting with a similar 28-inch barrel Fox-Sterlingworth Ejector Skeet & Upland Game Gun --

Thanks for all the replies.
I’ll state my preferences as well.
I like longer barrels for most uses. 31” for my upland guns, up to 33 for targets and pigeons. I shoot a 32” SXS at wood pigeons and doves.
Basically all my guns have straighten grips including both O/U & SXS. Field and competition guns. I prefer double triggers for competitive shooting but often use a single trigger as well. Never my first choice. Field guns are all DT. I do have one 28” 20 ga SXS and a pair of 28” 12 bore guns.
SXS guns are mostly a full bodied splinter forend but my 32” SXS 12 bore has two forends. Full splinter and beavertail and was shipped that way in 1929.
I prefer solid ribs some swamped, some raised.
Butt treatment ranges from H&T plates to leather covered pads depending on use.

... but perhaps one's barrel preferences also depend on your height and weight?

I am 5' 9" and 150 pounds, so prefer a lighter gun, but still like 30" barrel length.

The famous gunmaker Mr. Churchill who promoted the 25" barrels between the wars was a very short chap, and heavily built, as well as having something of an ego.

HB

I only shoot clays, so I prefer a single trigger, barrels 28-30 inches, a pistol grip, and beavertail vs. splinter as the hot barrels prove a distraction for me.

I’m similar to Hal. 30” barrels, single trigger, pistol grip and beaver tail are my preference.

32 inch barrels, tight chokes, double triggers, splinter forearms, any kind of butt, but with a sticky surface. A handguard on the barrels for any kind of shooting where the barrels get hot. Grip style either pistol or straight grip. I like long barrels, tight chokes for all shooting at clay targets, regardless of range.

I have a wide variety of side by side, a single O/U (inherited) and even a single auto (also inherited)

My ideal upland hunting set up: 16ga, 6lbs, straight grip/splinter forend, 27in barrels, .005 & .015 choke, ejectors, non-automatic safety, 1150-1200 FPS, 1 1/8 oz #7’s (my standard hunting load in both 16 & 12) (though last year I did often carry a 6lb 12ga Churchill XXV a bit)

I shoot best with a good bit of cast off

Of 16 good guns on hand 8 meet the above description either exactly or within 2oz’s and 1 inch or so, though several are 12’s that weigh about 6lbs or so.

I'm down to one shotgun 🤪 ca. 1939 16ga Winchester 1897 with 3/4 choke. That's my preference, the only downside is short chamber and ejection port so I have to order 65mm shells. It was marked short chambers when at GS, but I thought otherwise because I'm gullible idiot and believed what I read in books and the internet. The info was BS and store staff knows what they sell. Went to combat range with Federal 1 BK, beautiful patterns, but had to stop shooting because case mouths were chewed up and it didn't eject empties.
The $500 English double keeper gun didn't pass inspection which revealed barrel pitting. Not bothering with expensive doubles, last one took 14 months to sell for good price, never again.