doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Have you ever had 1 barrel of a sxs not regulated?

When this is the case I wonder if it has something to do with a person being left or right-handed. Might sound far-fetched, but I recently read about a right-handed man who had ordered his doubles choked so that he could shoot the left barrel first, being convinced that his being right-handed prevented the gun from recoiling left as much, and giving him a fraction of a second quicker recovery time to the second shot. Probably read that on here, but cannot remember where.

Wouldn't be the first crazy thing posted here...

Thanks all. I was using a very light load, 2 1/2 dram 7/8 oz 12 ga load. I plan to try patterning again using a rest and will try different loads.

For what it's worth, if you spend enough time at the rifle range you will see right handed shooters consistently pulling to the right, and the lefties consistently pulling to the left.

I see no reason that shotgun operators would suddenly behave differently.

Are you right handed?

The gun could be crossfiring with those light loads, and the right barrel not showing it on the paper, or plate, because of the way you're holding it. Crossfiring is common with light loads in vintage S X Ss, but all I ever saw did it with both barrels, to varying degrees.

Try a heavier load in that barrel at about 1165 fps and see what it does to the pattern placement. If you determine it truly is just that barrel crossfiring you may have to use different loadings in each one to regulate it.

I have a Janssen 3" 12ga with 32" barrels I use for pass shooting. When I first got it I didn't pattern before it's first trip. I sometimes hit withe right, never with the left.
After patterning I saw the right was slightly off, the left was way off. The chokes had been opened, a bad job was done. I sent it to Mike Orlen who was able to correct them with some careful honing. Both barrels now shoot to POI and a bit less choke is fine with steel.

My first "real gun" was a 20ga Rem model 31. My mother had taken a fall quail hunting and bent the barrel. I learned to shoot with it. I can't remember which way it was bent but I know it was no lead one way and a double lead going the other way. Local gunsmith fixed it with the help of a forked tree in his front yard...Geo

they say confession is good for the soul. I was blaming the gun and it was me all along. The gun is a 1906 Dickson Round action with beautiful damascus barrels. It is close to my other gun dimensions but more drop and more cast off. I asked numerous people and eventually shot it from a rest as in rifle shooting to take out the variable and after a few trials did it again closing my left eye to insure I was looking down the rib. The patterns are fine. I believe I was getting more into the gun with the left barrel and the added cast off ended up with me shooting to the right. On the plus side the gun came with a sprare buttstock that is higher.

I'm very glad the gun is regulated. What you have "confessed to" shows again just how hard it is to hold gun the same every shot when patterning. I still prefer to hold it offhand, as opposed to using a rest, but I spent much of my life competing in offhand rifle and pistol, and believe that a gun can shoot a little differently (mostly elevation) off a rest as opposed to offhand.

I have found that the lighter weight a gun is the more susceptible it is to it's pattern placement being affected by minor differences in grip and mounting. At least with a rest you can determine lateral regulation easier.

Well done.

I thought you said it was Scott...