Anybody hunt with a SxS double trigger shotgun?

[tops]

People that think Damascus barrels are not safe to shoot probably still check the choke with a dime. Larry

 

[Bill Bates]

Here is a good discussion of what load for your Damascus guns. The photos of the barrels flats on the nicely plum browned Belgian double is my gun.

What load was my vintage double designed to shoot? - The DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com

 

[Bill Bates]

All this turkey talk has brought on lots of gobbling, i mean talking.


My brother was one of the best turkey hunters ever until he quit.
He can move better than D. Boone, he sounds like a Gobbler or hen. He quit because folks would hear him and move it to get a bird. HE was sitting by a large Oak, waiting to shoot a Tom he called in, when BOOM! a guy had set up a tree or 2 behind him and shot the gobbler. Bro yelled out the guys heritage and the fella ran off, Bro pick up the bird and never has hunted public land again.

Keep your eyes open and your neck turning, like ole Tom hisself.

Good luck to all of you.

Good advice for turkey hunting nimrods.

As a hunter that pretty much is stuck hunting public land which about 70% of Utah is I do worry about other hunters. Mostly it is a brushy where I hunt with little opening that give you, if your lucky, a 40 or 50 yard view.

This will sound funny but I've started putting out some dirt cheap foam decoys when I setup. I don't do it so much to attract old Tom, that is what a call is for; but, as a sign to other hunters I'm in the area so keep out.

Keeping your neck and eye turning is also good advice. The Tom I called in and killed last year circled around my setup and came in on the same little trail I did. I just caught him out of the corner of my eye. I quickly swung my shotgun around and about took his head off 15 or 20 feet from where I was sitting.

Oh I don't do my scouting with a side by side. I carry a camera with a big lens and an old S&W .44 on my belt to keep the bears off.

 

[old tanker]

Two barrels and two triggers is just how it should be.

A more elegant solution does not exist!

 

[Bill Bates]

A more elegant solution does not exist!

A more elegant solution does exist; but, I bought that boxlock and a house instead.

Page Not Found - Holland & Holland

 

[smoothshooter]

I've always hunted with a pump shotgun, tried automatics a couple of times and didn't like them for some reason so I switched back to my Mossberg pump. It does everything I want and brings down the game, but I'm just a hair too slow with it on quail so I thought I might get a new gun. I never liked over/unders so I bought a CZ Ringneck side by side 20 gauge with single trigger and I freaking loved that gun and I was deadly with it. I then sold it for some strange reason and I still can't figure out why I sold it but recently saw they stopped making the Ringneck so I bought an old Ugartachea 12 gauge. It has the english straight grip and double triggers, and is in mint condition and I've never shot a gun with double triggers before I hope the learning curve isn't too bad.

Yes, and would use double triggered shotguns exclusively if more were made.

 

[JJEH]

Anybody hunt with a SxS double trigger shotgun?

I sure wish. The ones that I like are way out of my league

 

[BigBill]

Yup my first new shotgun was a sxs 12ga western auto w/30" barrels made by FOX I think. Hunted with it for decades. Double triggers, full and mod barrels. She's still in the safe.

 

[ky wonder]

I don't hunt with them, because I can't hit anythng with a shotgun. But I do have a very pretty Darne 28 gauge, and a pretty Charlin 12 gauge. I take out the old clay bird slinger and shoot holes in the air with them.

the darne was a gun, that I always wanted one of ,but never bought.

my dad had an old hunting and drinking buddy back in the late 50's and early 60's who was a wwII vet who had a 20 ga that he liberated in France shortly after D-day.

we swapped work back then in our crops, and I picked up my love for double guns and two cylinder John deere from him.

he was a gracious man that did not mind a lot of questions from a young kid.

your post on the darne made me remember this old man. his name was Emmit Lewis from Elizabethtown Ky. he and his wife had no children and he passed at some point while I was over seas, I would have loved to had his gun it would set in a place of honor with other old family guns

 

[Hair Trigger]

I sure wish. The ones that I like are way out of my league

Yeah, I'd love to win the lottery and buy a new Holland and Holland. Save up my sofa change long enough and I might be able to afford a Parker, LC Smith or AH Fox

However, I make do with a trio of Savage Fox B's. I don't hunt, but I do shoot quite a bit of skeet, trap and sporting clays, usually with the 12 gauge. I've put as many as 200 rounds through it in an afternoon of clays, and it's solid as a rock (a 1973 model). So, a good shotgun doesn't have to be an expensive one. I also have a 16 and a 20, both get used on occasion; the 20 gauge dates to 1950 and the 16 to 1962. They are lighter with shorter barrels and the LOP is shorter than my 12, it takes me a while to get used to them .

When you start shooting you double, I'd do like RPG mentioned, practice at skeet and trap until handling the double triggers becomes second nature. It doesn't take long. Set your initial right hand grip so that your trigger finger falls naturally to the front trigger (right barrel). As soon as you fire the right barrel, let your finger fall back to the rear trigger. It is more of a thought process to move from rear to front, but practice makes it easier. Never keep another finger resting on the other trigger for a faster second shot; the recoil of the first is likely to make you fire the second barrel unintentionally.

Skeet and trap will also improve your accuracy for birds. If you can consistently score well at skeet with modified and/or full chokes, everything else will become easy.

 

[smoothshooter]

I'll go you one even better.

I like double barrels, double triggers, extractors, and double hammers.
In most cases, a SxS in 12 gauge seems like I am sighting down the wide side of a 2X4; 16 gauge, not so much, 20 and 28 gauge JUST RIGHT.

I prefer to not have ejectors because they make the gun just a little harder to break open to reload and cock everything.
If the gun has hammers, I just push the opening lever, and gravity alone drops the barrels down for reloading.
On a well-designed gun, especially in the smaller gauges, the hammers are close enough togetherthat they can both be cocked at the same time with my thumb as I bring the gun up to my shoulder if I think I may want to fire twice.

But those are just my preferences.
Not for everyone.

 

[gwpercle]

You bet !
Stevens 311, 12 ga., bought second hand for $20.00 in 1969 , I still have it .
Newer Stoeger , 20 ga. double from Turkey...$400.00 new about 8 years ago.
The Stoeger looks better , Turkish Walnut and nice blue , but the old worn plain jane Stevens shoots right where I'm looking!
Gary

 

[Cocked & Locked]

I like to hunt some and do critter control with my 1920's 16 gauge LeFever Nitro Special. I had the original 2 9/16" chambers and forcing cones lengthened so I could shoot modern 2 3/4" shells...still low power ones of course.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Problem with those beautiful guns is they really can't be used with steel shot for us waterfowlers.
Way back when, I acquired a BSS and had the bores opened up to IC/IC and for years used it as my primary gun. SOld it.
Acquired another that has not yet been fired with the intention of getting the chokes again opened up this time to S1/S2. Has ejectors the mechanical trigger and 28" barrels. This to my knowlege is the only real viable option for the waterfowler today who wants to safely shoot steel from a side by side. Problem is that I've gotten so used to my SBEII and my hunting has slowed down that I've never gotten around to doing it.

 

[catadjuster]

I use a CZ in 28 gauge with double triggers. Love it for quail and bunnies.

I actually used to compete in 28, 20 and 12 skeet tournaments with that gun and though I never won them, I came in far from last. I also called for the bird with the gun at my waist with the safety on so that taking the safety off while the gun was coming to my face became second nature.

 

[OLDSTER]

Two trigger double

This 1956 Belgian Defourney 10ga. magnum has harvested many geese and diver ducks over the years. The gun is not particularily heavy, and the recoil is not punishing. However, I always wear a couple band-aides on my trigger finger--if it's cold and I get my trigger finger too far into the trigger guard, the front trigger slaps me pretty good

 

[MJB]

My first shotgun was a Mossberg 500 pump. My second shotgun was a Savage/Stevens 311. The first two shells I fired with the 311 brought down two wood ducks. I hunted Canada geese many years with that gun and I always shot front trigger first so modified barrel first then full choke barrel. It was very intuitive and was not difficult to get used to at all.

 

[Farmer17]

This is an older post that got revived but I still like talking about Side by Sides. I bought a Yildiz 20 gauge from Academy Sports thats made in Turkey and the everyday price is about $485 and it's an excellent gun with removable chokes, splinter forend, selective ejectors, and single trigger. It has a non automatic safety with barrel selector and really nice walnut and good laser engraving and only weighs 5-1/2 lbs. I loved hunting dove, quail, and pheasant with it last year and only wish that it had double triggers and a straight grip but there just isn't anything else out there that's affordable. The days of reasonably priced AYA's and Merkels are over I think.