single barrel or double smoothbore

[sheba]

I m looking at buying a new bp shotgun for hunting and was wondering what people prefer in a percussion gun a single shot or a double and why.

 

[nkbj]

Actually I prefer a single barrel because food doesn't run away. Or, put another way, I have to wait for the smoke to clear and whatever is laying there is mine. If I was wading brush and going after hogs then I'd use the old Navy Arms double but don't think I want to get that adventurous right now.

 

[Rifleman1776]

The double shotgun I had was one of the few guns I have ever owned I couldn't wait to sell. After shooting the first barrel you must decap the unfired barrel, check to make sure the load didn't unseat and come forward (a very dangerous condition) then load the fired barrel, make sure both are properly seated, recap and cap the you are ready to shoot again. A single barreled shotgun/fowler can be reloaded in about the same, or less time without the additional safety concern.

 

[nkbj]

You shot it one barrel at a time?

 

[Lorne Johnson]

I've been shooting doubles for some years now, and I wouldn't switch. The second barrel is really useful in a duck blind where one does get cripples. In a deep covert I can reload, or just keep going with only the second barrel loaded until I get to a convenient spot.

Rifleman is absolutely correct about uncapping before reloading on barrel, and it can be a pain.

I found that using tighter fitting overshot cards (Circle Fly makes them in all gauges) or using two overshot cards in the second barrel eliminated the need to re-seat the second barrel.

Of course, in the end, what really counts is your preference.

 

[Dave K]

I am the one. I love a SxS and it is really all I shoot when wanting to shoot a smooth bore. Like I have said in other posts about shotguns, I am so used to it, I don't think anything at all about making the non fired barrel safe to reload the now shot first barrel. BUT, I am also a bird hunter, so for me, maybe the second barrel, though not always used by any means, is a great feature for me. For me, after shooting so much SxS's it would be like leaving home with my squirrel rifle and only taking one load to shoot with. But that is just me. You have to determine why you prefer what you would like. Apparently single barrel and SxS's were made for a reason and I actually see more SxS's than single barrels in my area. Maybe it was the cost, maybe it was how it was intended to be used. :idunno:

 

[jeffdrown]

I appreciate my 20 gauge SxS. My last coyote hunt I killed a "double" with first shot and finished off a third Yote with the second barrel..all within about ten seconds. Couldn't do that with a single! That most likely was a chance of lifetime" ..but I'm thankful for two barrels. Anyway ..I want a single 12 Fowler now too. Nothing wrong having both..lol! P.S. I also use tight over shot cards..never had any problem with second barrel on 20 gauge!

 

[BrownBear]

I'm a fan of doubles too. There's zero issue of dislodging the second load due to recoil when you use correct components. Any time I fired only one barrel I checked the second load as a matter of course when reloading the first. In over 20 years of use and many thousands of shots, I've never had a charge move. Use too loose base wads and I don't doubt it's an issue.

I'm just not able to make myself drop the rifling and shoot a fowler or smooth rifle with round ball for all my hunting. Just doesn't really fit my location. Even if I used one for round ball, I'd still prefer the double for upland game, small game and waterfowl which account for most of my hunting.

Don't get me wrong- I really enjoy big game hunting and put a lot of days into it. But I don't fire 10 shots at big game in a busy year. Heck, 10 shots is a sloooooooow morning on my hunts with a double.

 

[Rifleman1776]

You shot it one barrel at a time?

OK, humor aside there is more to the story of my SXS. Not really ff there might be useful info for the OP to consider.
Mine was a Richland Arms shotgun. Identical to the Navy Arms, and others, coming into the country in the 80s except it was browned not blued.
It was choked mod. and full. Wads (proper sized) could not be loaded without serious pounding with a massive mallet. To load, undersized wads had to be used. So, before first shot was ever fired I had a bad situation.
I had the right barrel honed out to cylinder bore. It patterned so much better than the left modified the right was my #1 barrel for almost every situation. The left was rarely used. It did dislodge the charge because of the undersized wads.
Now, I know SxS shotguns were imported into this country from England and Belgium literally by the boatloads for many years. Even today the originals have little collector value because so many are still kicking around. Somebody must have liked them.
Not me. I'll take a single barrel flinter with cylinder bore any day.

 

[Dave K]

I agree with the cyl. bore. Especially, IMHO, if you are comparing it to a restriction choked bore. Just has to be on serious PIA, IMHO I have no experience with jug choking though. But ALLOT of experience with cyl. bores. So far, I have not been able to find one that I can't make work. It just depends how dedicated one is to spending time tuning the load to the gun. I do have a single shot flint, British Style fowler to go with my SxS flinters and perc. guns.

Using undersize wads to get past the restriction choke sounds like a necessary evil. But, can't you place a very snug over shot card to keep it tight to the breech? I have done this many times on guns that I have bought wads that were a little on the loose side and all stays tight for me, this way.

 

[Billnpatti]

My personal preference is a single barrel simply for safety reasons. If you shoot one barrel and then want to reload it, you MUST remember to remove the cap from the unfired barrel before starting the reloading process on the fired barrel. If you forget to uncap the unfired barrel, you are working over a loaded and primed barrel. If the loaded barrel went off for any reason, you will suffer a severe injury or possibly death. The double barrel guns are fine guns but one must keep their wits about themselves when hunting with one. A moment of excitement and carelessness can become a very serious mistake.

 

[sheba]

I m trying to decide between these two a Pedersoli Baker shotgun with a single selective trigger and backaction locks or the Pedersoli mortimer flint

 

[Britsmoothy]

I lower the hammer on to the unfired cap. No percussion can ocure that way.

My wads glide down, my OS card is tight and never moves.

Any choked gun I have had I used no conventional wad, just cards curved slightly as they pass the chokes or a ball of news paper. No pounding required!

Why the stress :hatsoff:

B.

 

[jeffdrown]

good point Britsmoothy !

 

[Gordon Jabben]

I'm probably in the minority but I like double triggers and two different chokes in the barrels. The back trigger is for the tighter choke and you don't have to mess with the selecter.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I'm probably in the minority but I like double triggers and two different chokes in the barrels. The back trigger is for the tighter choke and you don't have to mess with the selecter.

Me too! I've always felt that the great advantage of the double was the availability of two different chokes and sometimes even two different loads for instant selection just by pulling the proper trigger. Maybe because I grew up with double triggers but for what ever reason I have always found selecting the barrel by moving my finger to the proper trigger was a very quick and natural operation, with selective single triggers I always had to think about it and some "single selective triggers", especially those with the selector as a cross bolt through the trigger itself, are so awkward that for all practical purposes they may as well be non-selective. I can get used to a selector on the top tang provided one can change the selector with safety on or off, but double triggers are more natural for me and most especially when working with exposed hammers.

 

[Dave K]

Joe and Billy, I am with you. I want and like 2 triggers. Even my "modern" SxS's have 2 triggers or they are history! Just too used to a good thing to want to change.

 

[steved]

I have a Pedersoli SXS and in my hands it might as well be a single shot. That's because I grew up shooting semi-autos and over/unders with one trigger. Now, when I miss a first shot with the Pedersoli, I almost always pull the same trigger again, no matter how hard I try to tell myself about the two triggers as I approach a dog on point. By the time I realize the mistake and reset my sight picture at a flying bird - and the smoke clears - it's too late to squeeze the second shot. So, if you are used to a single trigger, then you might consider a single shot, or practice alot with the two triggers.

Regarding the two guns you pictured, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Given those two choices, to me it would come down to what I prefer to shoot, a percussion gun or a flintlock, not one or two barrels.

PS. Just noticed that the Baker SxS has a single trigger. That would cure my problem. Wasn't aware of that model when I picked up my Pedersoli five or six years ago

 

[410-er]

Got 3 doubles.A 11ga,14ga,and a 20ga.Really like my doubles! :thumbsup:

 

[cynthialee]

I like the look of two triggers.

Besides, can you give em both barrels at the same time with a single trigger?