16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 27 Aug 2012 Posts: 32 Location: Fargo, ND

Is there any inherent advantage, primarily for upland game, of the O/U versus the SxS shotgun?

Member Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 1975

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

Not inherently, however if you normally shoot a single barrel gun, the O/U will be easier to adapt to, since the sighting plane will be similar.

Joined: 30 Apr 2012 Posts: 6 Location: Vail Arizona

First off, we assume you are talking about a 16 ga. Over & unders are OK, but if you want to come off as COOL, you better be shooting a side by side. If so you might be mistaken as the" worlds most interesting man".

D.Carson

Joined: 27 Aug 2012 Posts: 32 Location: Fargo, ND

Member Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 592 Location: Minnesota

The double guun world has been debating this question for a very, very long time. But nobody questions the cool factor of a 16ga SXS. Very Happy

Joined: 30 Apr 2012 Posts: 6 Location: Vail Arizona

Oh, I forgot to mention, I shoot a Parker and a Fox, yes they are both 16ga's. Very Happy

If the good Lord intended us to shoot over/unders He would have placed our eyes one over the other. Rest my case..... Laughing

Ron

It's simple.. If you want to look at it and carry it and get oohhs and aahhhs a side by side is the ticket.....If you want to actually hit something with regularity go for the O/U.

Seriously though, it is all what you get used to and what fits you best and to a large extent which action you prefer.

Make mine a SxS. Just what I'm used to & shoot better with...

Regards,

Member Joined: 17 Feb 2007 Posts: 497

I believe along with most others that O/U's and Single Barrel guns work best for most people at Targets, and Doubles worked better for some folks on Game, especially Flushing Game.

Joined: 15 Dec 2011 Posts: 156

I figure it this way, if there is some inherent characteristic of the o/u design that makes it superior to the sxs, why did it take to the 20th century for the design to become popular? The skilled artisans of old made some fine guns from the the invention of the wheel lock to the first internal hammer doubles. Were they missing something or did they know that the sxs was as awesome as it gets.

Not sure that SxS's are all that awesome, and generally the evolution of any mechanical device makes things better and better. If you look at the SxS, there hasn't been much evolution for a very long time, where as the O/U is the shotgun choice for many manufacturers to continually change and upgrade.

When a shotgun action has a special class in sporting clays, it isn't because they are cutting edge.

My 2 cents would be that gun fit is far more important than config of the barrels. This comes into play more in the field than shooting clays as most people target shoot with a pre-mounted gun. If you pre-mount, you can deal with quite a lot of mis-fit and still break targets. It's a lot harder in the field.

Personally, I just love shooting a sxs (that fit me), but some can't get used to it. If your eyes are on the target (live or clay), barrel config shouldn't make a lot of difference. I also shoot all my clay targets from low gun position, just to always work on smooth gun mount. I'm a very mediocre shooter, but get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Isn't that what this is all about? Very Happy

Greg

Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 694 Location: MN

Started with SxS and just stayed with it. As a tall shooter though, I have never found a "stock" O/U that had enough DAH for me. All sorts of SxS do...especially the older continental guns.