I Need info on S/S shotguns for bird shooting so i can get a licence please any useful info is needed.

There has long been an argument over the preference....over/under or side by side. For me the side by side feels better, its response is quicker, and I like its classic lines. I have both, but favor the S x S. Not sure what you can obtain in RSA but there should be some wonderful old British doubles available, if affordable. I alzo prefer the English straight stock with splinter fore end and double triggers. My two favorites are my Garbi and my AyA. You won't know until you shoot them.

Hi James

Send me a PM and I will mail you some useful stuff.

Regards

I second everything billinthewild says -word for word.

To it, I would only add that when it comes to a sxs - and if you are determined to have one, you should go for a quality sxs - and, for that, be prepared to spend real money. You can get fairly decent over and unders for much less than you should be prepared to spend for a quality "double". (I began shooting sxs's so long ago that we called them "doubles" -and an over and under was not what was` meant) So why go for a sxs? I can only refer again to billinthe wild's comments -with particular emphasis on how nicely a good sxs handles. You find yourself just generally comfortable all around with it - starting with ease of loading. (Here, I have to admit a lifelong prejudice against over and unders -because of that annoying necessity to exert a little pressure in order to load the bottom barrel. Maybe more modern O&Us have solved the problem and I'm outdated) One last word - In your area you should be able to find some really fine old British doubles - and they will probably have double triggers. Believe me, you can learn easily to adapt to them. The trigger finger develops "muscle memory" and you will automatically, without thinking about it, shift from front trigger (right barrel) to rear trigger. I did snap shooting at ruffed grouse for many years with such doubles -where you have next to no time at all and never had a problem -except missing the grouse, of course, but that had nothing to do with double triggers!)

I can repeat all that is said here but Don Zutz says it better than all of us. If possible obtain the a book "The Double Shotgun" by Don Zutz

http://www.amazon.com/Double-Shotgun-Don-Zutz/dp/0832903868

Once I read it years ago, I've never been able to bring myself to go back to any other type of shotgun. It will give you all you need.

Thet just seem to handle and point more natural. Some say it's because the barrels set lower in your lead hand rather than the stack of 2 barrels of an o/u. I have some very expensive over unders and find myself choosing my side by sides over them all the time. And it's really fun to smoke some poor guy with an o/u at the trap and sporting range with an old sxs.

SWD

Thanks for a most informative post. You have answered something for this retired shotgun shooter that I always had wondered (privately) about and never had heard discussed - how the O&U has a "stack of 2 barrels". I remember shooting O&Us that had a beavertail fore end -and still the shotgun gave me the feeling of swinging a length of 2 x4. I always preferred the sxs - and your post perefctly explained to me about the contrast with the sxs. That factor of barrels "set lower in your lead hand" explains my lifelong affair with the sxs! Fact.

I own only sxs shotguns, but shoot ou's better if I haven't been practicing. I much prefer the looks and handling of the sxs 's.

I've got three, a Fox Sterlingworth 16, a Parker 12, and a Lefever 12. They are my favorite shotguns.

I have a cheap (but very well made spanish sxs), I have taken many Pigeon/Fox/Pheasant/ & Duck with it & prefer it over the o/u I have, Just don't know why!

FWIW, I prefer the O/U only because I have shot competitive trap and I like the looks of the O/U. For me the O/U just feels better or more natural. Looking down the center of two barrels just doesn't look right to me. An O/U is more like shooting a single barrel shotgun or rifle. Lou

Steve Latham:

Can't resist chiming in after reading Dr. Lou's post. It's because you shoot a shotgun as a "pointing" firearm and not an "aiming" firearm that you are successful. Rifle shooters are accustomed to lining up sights and then putting the sight on the target. Shotguns are pointed - the way you point your finger at an object. Eye and the tip of the barrel( your pointing finger) "line up" -and a swinging barrel on a flying bird is like pointing your finger at it. Of course, you can overswing (or underswing), point too high or too low - but that is not "aiming" sights at a target. It's not for nothing that shotguns don't carry the sights that a rifle does. Thus (after my longwinded preface)you recognize that a "single barrel sighting plane" is unimportant - because you are pointing the tip of the barrel. (We custom fit some shotguns so that the shooter is not throwing up the shotgun -and looking at the middle of the barrel length - or some other point along the barrels -or even down behind the barrels -otherwise, as most of us do, we are pointing the tip of our extended "finger" coordinated with our eye. Successful SxS shooters do this without thinking.

I don't think any of us will disagree that there are many good reasons to own a sxs. But the most important reason is that you want one.

If you are asking if the SxS is the best shotgun to buy, there are far too many variables for this to be an easy answer. Although I own far too many shotguns (according to my wife) in all gauges and types, for the last 20 years I have become a 16ga fanatic. In 16 gauge, I shoot a Browning Citori O/U, a Browning A-5 semi-auto, an AYA No.2 SxS, and Winchester Model 12 pump. I shoot them all well, but they are different and each excels in a different way. If I were hard pressed to choose only one, I would reluctantly choose the Citori O/U. Its not as pretty or as light as the AYA, but its more versatile and I can shoot it well in a wider variety of uses.

Yes its possible for someone with a SxS to beat an O/U or auto shooters at clays or trap with a SxS (I too have done that). And some of you may shoot better with your SxS than you shoot with your O/U. But I contend that if you take out the variables (like gun fit and the amount of experience with each gun) the vast majority of shooters will simply shoot better with an O/U. You need only to look at the records of competitive shooting to see that.

However, that being said, no amount of statistics can offset the aesthetic beauty of a finely engraved sidelock SxS nor the pleasure of carrying and using such a gun in the field.

On second thought, maybe I would pick the AYA. Its a good thing that I don't have to choose only one!