I attempted to research why Robertson believed that the top barrel firing first seemed advantageous. I was sure I read it in Donald Dallas' Boss book, but couldn't find find it specifically mentioned. I was able to find this from an old IGC entry concerning why the top barrel received preference: "The reason given for this was that the top barrel is easier to re-load quickly than the lower barrel," although the article went on to mention that this was not modern practice due to "muzzle flip". I can honestly say that I don't notice any additional muzzle flip firing the top barrel over the bottom barrel. As for ease of reloading, the gape is really wide when you pop it open and it is very easy to reload one or both barrels. Of course with DT, barrel selection is not an issue. On mine, the lower barrel choke is .042 if and so you want to intentionally select that barrel on a long shot. Mike let us know if you noticed any muzzle flip when firing that top barrel first.
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