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

There's the tradition and history of the SXS; the Anglo and European craftsmen plying their hand crafts. Or the American manufacturer trying to meld the familiar with a wild new world. I think there's something in some of our genes beyond our volition that pulls us towards the past and I'll not argue it. The most fruitless discussion one can ever have is which type of shotgun is best. The only answer is it's the one you enjoy shooting the most. Anything else is just meaningless chatter. Me? I hate change. Heck, I still use Hoppes #9 cause it just smells like it always has....for my 70 years.

Ah Joe, O/Us are a passing fad and the reason one sees so many is that they've conjured up a way to mass produce them at a price-point.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I don't know. A lot of people don't like them saying that Model 12s or Model 37s plus the new autoloaders have better field handling characteristics. You don't see many being used today anyway.

There is no doubt that I shoot rabbits better with a SXS, and that includes clay rabbits. (and I shoot a high percentage on the furry kind!) A number of things at which I might point a shotgun are targets which are disconnected from wing-shooting...i.e. coyotes, squirrels, turkeys, etc. Then, compact, carry-friendly arms, especially those with options (read drillings) fill the bill nicely, and that means break action types. A certain Beretta O/U got sold because I could NOT, NOT hit as well with it, and I think I was crossfiring with my left eye--so the stacked profile works against me. I own a nice Beretta auto, but it is pretty much dove fodder. Pumps are going the way of gas street lights in my gun safe, since I smack the end of my pointing finger when I shuck the thing. Blood blisters get old in a hurry. Just my two cents...Steve

I've taken a few target o/u guns into the field just to mess around. My 32" 12g and 20g sporting clays guns made swatting pheasant childsplay. I now shoot lightweight, smallbore sxs guns. ...cause I like 'em better.

As Joe points out, it's about "how"

Dave Katt, +1, best, Mike

As someone once said, "Its a matter of what blows your skirt up."

SxS's were simply the venue for the gunmaker's art when it was formative and during its apex of both design & execution and as such can be appreciated on that basis alone .. or not.

I could argue that the SKB's of the not too distant past represent the penultimate modern machine made SxS wonder, extremely well fit and to an extent not always equaled by some better known and much more expensive names. It's well worth buying a clean SKB 100 and having it stocked to your liking, IMHO, but it is only that, an opinion. I doubt one can buy a better built gun for the money. OTOH, there are select guns from the same era or slightly earlier that had chopper lump bbl's, fine fit & finish & remain 'sleepers' in the present.

Most any SxS will be shallower in it's frame than an O/U of the same gauge. I honestly can't even think of a single exception.

As far as your question about the 'what is it' about a SxS vs. 'others'. It has twice the width looking down the bbls., for starters, perhaps aiding in seeing the muzzle in a peripherial sense against some backgrounds & it has some substance in your hand, but most importantly most of the time on targets of opportunity when rough shooting or behind a dog [assuming it is reasonably 'fit'] they come up natrually .. some say they are fast handling, but that is hardly universal as Rocketman's MOI readings clearly prove.

Don Zutz in his writings said it was more a 'weight balanced between your hands' thing and tried to get their essense & appeal into words. He did as good a job as any & better than most. Gough Thomas is another author who offers a lot of insight into the mistique of double guns.

More than you asked, but your question needs a good vetting now & again and I'm glad you asked it.

Yes, I think that it is an illuminating discussion, as I belive that it is more than a Chevy vs Ford thing.

I am intriqued on some of the writings mentioned and think I will pick up Gene Hill's Shotgunner's Notebook.

I hope I never have to choose to shoot either an O/U or SxS to the exclusion of the other.

I have a 20ga o/u; all the rest are sxs 12s. I shoot well with the 20 o/u but can't hit anything with an o/u 12.