…barrels to frame or frame to barrels?

And why?

I use my left hand to slowly raise the barrels to frame. Keeps my right hand grip in a more ready to mount position. Longtime mentor told me to close a double “as quietly as possible”. By that he meant in a fluid motion without slamming things shut. Less wear on the gun and if you need to slam anything hard to close it needs to be properly joined.

I normally close barrels to frame out of habit. Those that would chose frame to barrels probably do so with barrels pointing down out of safety. I would think either is acceptable provided gun safety awareness is practiced religiously.
Karl

FWIW- I close my doubleguns just like the late gun writer Paul A. Curtis showed in his 1934 book Guns & Gunning--100% muzzles down toward the ground, and never ever close to a man's feet or his dog-- RWTF

I try to remember to close break open guns by lifting the stock to the barrels as being both safer and putting less stress on the gun.

If an accidental discharge is going to happen it is most likely to occur when the gun is shut.

Many years ago I was shooting with a Spanish SLE by a well regarded Spanish maker. I will not mention his name as I have otherwise had his guns well spoken of by knowledgeable friends. I had bought it, a self opener, with 2 pairs of barrels at Weller and Dufty.

I came to a ditch to be crossed by a muddy plank, unloaded and then shut it to make a more rigid balancing pole.

When I opened it on the far side one of the ejectors sprang open.

This fortunately alerted me, and when I closed the gun I did so with the barrels pointing down into an empty bit of ploughed field.
Basil, a very large Black Labrador, wandered over to sniff the resulting hole in the ground clearly puzzled as to what I had found to shoot down there?

The fault was with some difficulties finally diagnosed as poor lock geometry in that the lock on that side was set up so the breast of the tumbler was striking the edge of the bridle, thus giving the bridle screws a sideways clout that soon loosened them.

I had it fixed, curing the problem, but by that time I no longer felt the same about it and I know my gunsmith was happy when I replaced it with a pre-war BSA BLE.

Robert Churchill says frame to barrels. As long as the gun is held pointed down range in a safe manner I don’t think it makes a difference. I close barrels to frame while holding the top lever.

Common sense says action to barrels but I’m a creature of long time habit so it’s invariably barrels to action. But with barrels always pointing in a safe direction, often towards ground except when feathers are flying.

Never thought about it, and .......... I don't put much importance on it, either way. What does the bolting care?

It doesn't.

And a snap action gun should be allowed to snap. It properly engages the bolting surfaces that way.

This is not a good idea, and Shotgunjones beat me to the punch with an explanation why:


As far as which method is best from a safety standpoint, I would suggest asking actor Alec Baldwin what he recommends... and then do the opposite.

Slightly off topic: Good discussion. A friend handed me his open Kreighoff the other day. I closed it sloooowly holding this top lever over and released the lever when the breech face was home. A friendly admonishment from him: "Kreighoffs are meant to be closed. Just close it". Need some guidance here. thanks, Gil

I will add my 2c worth from the perspective of a beater, walking and occasionally standing stop -in front of the guns on pegs. I can tell you all that it is not a particularly pleasant feeling to watch the shooter on his peg flipping up the barrels to the action. Unfortunately this method of closing after reloading seems to be the norm on most shoots nowadays. A sad reflection on the competency of these shooters and their ignorance of the technical aspects of shotgun mechanics.

I was always taught to raise the wood to the barrels not the barrels to the wood. The muzzles pointing safely to the ground. As geener4me above says and for exactly the same reasons. Sadly gun safety is slipping somewhat in Britain with people entering shooting with little or no mentoring. They go to a formal driven shoot not knowing how to behave. Commercial shoots are to blame in my opinion as they are only interested in making profit. Some of the things I see these days would have had the perpetrator sent home at one time. Lagopus.....

YouTube clip re: British shotgun handling.

Safe shotgun handling

Just close the dam thing and don't worry about it....

Exactly, and worry about proper gun mount….

Sounds like a subject for gun writers who had run out of things to write about.

Just to expand on Parabola's comment regarding a (?)Spanish gun's faulty lockwork, an acquaintance (metallurgist/engineer) who carries out a considerable number of repairs on older traditional English sxs shotguns as well as modern O/U's of foreign manufacture (some of them quite pricey) remarked that the locks on the former were "without exception well filed, well tempered and properly hardened" whilst the latter's were "all soft as **** ".
This comment - and the fact that the most likely occasion for accidental discharge is on closure after reloading, makes it obvious why I get irritated when I am standing 50-60 yards in front of a "gun toter" who flicks his barrels up to close the action (mostly an O/U of continental manufacture.)

His gun, his call, but I am on the same page as you are- I have the barrels pointed to the ground in front of me, bring the buttstock and receiver group upwards to the breech with the opening lever pushed over to the right, onve I feel the barrels seated in the action, I slowly release the lever and allow it to return to closed position. I've never handled or shot a Kreighoff, but didn't the O/U design stem from the 1930's Remington M32?? Just curious, but what was their record for durabillty- they were quite heavy I believe> RWTF

His gun, his call, but I am on the same page as you are- I have the barrels pointed to the ground in front of me, bring the buttstock and receiver group upwards to the breech with the opening lever pushed over to the right, when I feel the barrels seated in the action, I slowly release the lever and allow it to return to closed position. I've never handled or shot a Kreighoff, but didn't the O/U design stem from the 1930's Remington M32?? Just curious, but what was their record for durabillty- they were quite heavy I believe> RWTF

Obviously safety is everyone’s number one priority when handling any gun any time, so I thought the question was something esoteric about the actual closing of the gun. To be honest, I’ve never thought about it, but I tend to bring the barrels up to the stock, or a combination of both, being careful where the gun is pointing.