My Pop, a man who could easily be mistaken for Popeye the sailor man, purchased a new Beretta Silver Snipe, circa 1964 or so. Per usual, the gun was stocked for a nice, short, fat European man, and was still too long for Dad. He shortened up the stock and had a Pachmayer recoil pad put on. Thus began a 40 year era of sometimes single shot operation of what had been a perfectly functioning single inertia trigger.
Well, Dad discovered goose hunting and bigger guns, and the Beretta mostly sat. A few years past, Dad started carrying the old girl for a bit of upland with me, as it is lighter than any of the other shotguns in his arsenal. I did strip and clean it, and refinish the stock, but, I noticed the pad had become quite hard, over time. Bingo. The gun is back to perfect funtion. My Dad has never weighed more than 135 lbs, and while the gun can certainly "rock him back in his shoes", so to speak, I don't know if that is a factor here. It seems to work well with any and all loads today.

I have noticed, over the years, that the guys who prefer single triggers seem to be folks that never really got the hang of a double trigger gun. I haven't met someone who can honestly say, they can successfully use a double trigger gun, but prefer a single trigger. A single trigger has always seemed, to me, like eyeglasses or a hearing aid-it gave someone who was hamstrung, so to speak, the opportunity to use a double, when they otherwise wouldn't have been able to. I know the guys who make the argument that the single lets their gloved hand in the guard when it is cold out, but, they still use the single trigger gun when it is 75 and sunny early in the season. Whatever. But, be honest about it.

I remember it took me about 1 season to learn to use a two trigger system, as a young man. I wanted to learn how to use it, which I think makes a huge difference in how well you learn how to shoot a double trigger gun. I suppose I could use a single trigger gun, today, if I had to, as the Red Green guys say, but, fortunately, I don't.

So, those guns, are for you guys. You know who you are.
Best,
Ted