doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Why don't we like O/U shotgusn?

It is called personal preference. There are a lot of reasons, probably different for each of us. Ilike all shotguns, but SXS's most.

I shoot, or have shot, all types of shotguns, SxSs and pumps being my favorite, but the truth is I shoot my 20 gauge O/U better than any of them.

I like SXS's best and always have,I also like pumps. If I ever bought an O/U it'd at least have to have dual triggers (like the old Marlins).
Steve

I find them equally attractive and your question akin to asking whether blondes, brunettes or redheads are most delightful to handle. Sort of depends on the model. My gun cabinet shows I like both equally well. Parker 20 VHE is my go to hunting gun, a premium grade 20ga B.Rizzini my sporting clays gun. They sort of represent the most gun I am willing to pay for - anything more expensive wouldn't go afield so would be of no use to me. Clearly have a prejudice toward 6lb guns and I don't like the looks of 12ga barrels, too wide. I don't shoot pumps or autos well, just seems too much weight forward for my taste.

On the few occasions I've shot an O/U in any volume I've done quite well with it and enjoyed the day. It may have even performed better than my SXS, I dunno. But, it was a tool lacking any emotional attachment for me. Almost all my SXS guns stretch back to the early 1900's or earlier and there is an instant bond with that piece of metal and wood. It's character, history, craftsmanship that pulls me to them. To realize that the first buyer of my gun could have easily witnessed all the history of the mid-1800's is a mighty magnet to me. I love to hold one in the evenings and ponder just where it has been and who might have owned it. I love to follow the lines that were made by a craftsman carefully filing it--no computerized machines here. I love to see the old photos of the workmen standing by their bench wearing soiled aprons. I guess I'm a historyholic and always will be. Which shoots best? Frankly, thinking about it, I don't give a damn. I'll always carry my beloved relics of another age.....one that I sorely miss. I've sorta become a relic myself.

My favorite hammergun is a plain W&C Scott from 1870, probably made for the American market. I can't hold it without thinking it was around a half dozen years before the first white man determined to settle in my home country--the Texas Panhandle. Custer was still romping around chasing bad injuns. Robert E. Lee was a tired old man still presiding over Washington College in Virginia. The huge buffalo herds still roamed the Great Plains. Birds in incredible numbers still covered our skies. All this comes back to me as I hold the gun. This example is why I shoot a SXS--it's so much more than a tool.

Here is a nice over/under, a old blued framed Ruger with its original box!


http://buy.auctionarms.com/10423800/ruger-near-nib-factory-employee-20-ga-red-label

That's very admirable, but don't be bullheaded about it.

I like most types of shotguns and among them prefer some more than others. I prefer "nice" (my preference) SXSs over them all, except I hold a special fondness for my late Dad's Ithaca 37 20ga pump, the gun I'll probably own last if I ever start planning for the future with earnest. The question of why we like a particular gun or type, can for all of us I am sure, be answered to our own satisfaction with only a short pause for thought. Why someone must (really) dislike anyone else's shotgun - well for that answer they may need a psychiatrist.

While I have been primarily a side-by-side guy, I like most shotguns, except bolt actions. Got Browning Superposeds, Ruger Red Labels and a Remington Model 3200 in the over/under variety. Pump guns in the Winchester Model 12/42 and Remington Model 31 flavors (want more 31s). Single barrels in the Fox, Royal and H & R flavors. Long recoil autoloaders in the Remington and Browning brands. Floating chamber autoloaders in the Winchester brand. And, keep it quiet guys, but last week I even shot two rounds of skeet with an Italian gas operated semi-auto!! I did win that gun, didn't part with any real money for it.

Ditto Joe Wood, he summed up my feelings about SXS's perfectly.
Don, your right of course, I would consider purchasing a single trigger gun, assuming both barrels were choked the same and I wasn't going to get either of the chokes opened up.
Steve