doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What's special about SxSs

So, I have three SxSs. Had all other actions at one time. Just acquired a new O/U and wish I never bought it. I just shoot the SxSs better and they feel better too. What is about these? The lower profile? The wider sight plane?

or is it all in the head?

How can you expect to shoot a O/U as well as a SxS when you can't even see one of the barrels? ;-)

Considering many of the best shooters in the world use O/U, I'm guessing it has something to do with 'dancing with who you brought to the dance'.

Many articles have been written about what shoots best, and if you line up enough folks, you may get a consensus, but I reckon you won't find the answer. I'll be the first to agree, of the shotguns I've shot, I love to shoot a SxS the best - English SxS to be precise, but I know a good part of it is in my head - because it's the gun I was taught to love and respect.

I'm 53 yo and grew up shooting O/U and automatics. Over the last 5-6 years I developed a fondness for S x S shotguns. I used to shoot competitive skeet and trap and still shoot competition guns better at clay pigeons, but find myself going to the skeet range most often with my S x S's. They are just more fun to shoot. I love a well-balanced and light weight S x S. As many outdoor writers and gun writers over the years have shown us, S x S's are better suited for hunting because they are closer between the hands and point better in terms of target acquisition with dense, dark backgrounds. Guns with a single sighting plane like pumps, auto and the O/U are better suited for precision shooting such as 27 yard trap. Long live the S x S Game Gun!!

To each their own, but for me it's a SxS for birds and an O/U for clays. I think the more dynamic handling of the SxS lends itself more toward upland hunting. The more precise pointability of an O/U is more effective on clays.

I see the point of "closer between the hands". That may be it for me, now that I think of it. Now, what to do with the O/U.

Thanks all for the response.

Guns should be made/owned/used for purposes; guns are created different handling dynamics, feel, allowable shell power, etc. for by design. More O/U's have been made in configurations suitable for target/duck/high phesant whereas more Brit SXS's were made in "game"/upland configuration. Beyond picking a gun suited to your purpose at hand, the configuration is mostly in your head. However, "in your head" is very important to both shooting well and enjoyment of shooting.

I have on O/U and I do shoot it very well. Actually better than all the SxS's I have. But, the SxS's just make me feel good to look at them, to carry them and to own them. So I guess I shoot the O/U better, but I enjoy shooting the SxS's better.

..'cause my dad shot one....

This gauge



This gun.......with all the scars that means it was uuuused.

Asking why a fine side-by-side SLE game gun is the "ne plus ultra" of shotgunnery is like asking why a Steinway or a Bosendorfer is the standard in Grand pianos- you will never know until you play one--

I have never owned, nor, at age 70, most likely will own either an autoloader or and Over and Blunder- I shoot 12 side-by-sides with double triggers, 28" to 32" barrels, ejectors, snug chokes- and also 12 gauge older Model 12 Winchesters, also with 28" to 30" barrels, equally well on feathered targets awing- I don't consider clays to be the same, for me anyway. I've been doing so since age 12- and you don't teach old dawgs like me new tricks very well, now do you.

I have shot O/U's and a few pricey autos that friends own, mainly on clays with them- and if I were a dedicated clays shooter like some of them are, perhaps might go to either the autoloader or an O/U-- Gene Hill covered this side-by-side versus the O/U topic quite well in his "Shotgunner's Notebook"- well worth reading, as is anything Gene ever penned.