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Forums10
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Mar 29th, 2024
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86 |
I will give the explanation I have been given and read a number of times over the years about the lay out of a Brit traditional side by side. First of all, it is nothing to do with the barrels or choking it is all to do with practicality and tradition thrown in and I am sure you are aware that we Brits run on tradition. If you take a single barrel gun in the far past gunmakers always without exception put the lock on the tight hand side because everyone in their eyes was right handed being a lefty had lots of bad associations Devil etc, even to Edwardian times children who were obviously left handed where made to change to being right handed with disastrous results in many cases. That being the case the cock hammer or the part that held the glowing match was to be found on the right side of the guns lay out. With a single barrel gun, no problem lock on the right and one trigger and you are right handed well the gunmaker says you are. Then two barrels came along two locks one either side of the gun and you only have one thumb to pull the cock or hammer to half or full cock, and not every person who shoots has a hand the size of a coal shovel so to raise the right hand cock or hammer is easier because your thumb is in a straighter line with your wrist, the left hammer is a more oblique pull and to many people more effort is needed (this does include myself) this being the case the right hand hammer or cock was favoured and in consequence the right hand barrel because of the guns physical layout. It is also said that on walking up game the bird when flushed is closer to the gun so the first barrel you use requires less choke but that came a lot later after the design was set.
Also, on many vintage Brit side by side guns you can change the barrel firing order just by swapping the triggers over though not all. On occasions this can be a benefit, the odd time I visit a friend who lives a good distance away who is a left hander I can borrow one of his guns because it has neutral cast and just do a quick trigger swap.
But like all things in life there may be a lot more explanations though I do like this one.
This is the only thing I found enlightening...
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 937 Likes: 53
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 937 Likes: 53 |
Perhaps interesting would have been more appropriate than enlightening!!
Perry M. Kissam
NRA Patron Life Member
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Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 60
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 60 |
I would suppose...maybe an English chap would explain.
I recently bought a UK imported Browning Superposed that has screw in chokes...had a cylinder in the top and a modified in the bottom.
The gun has a barrel selective safety so selection played no part...Being that most people shoot the bottom barrel first on an O/Ur it kinda puzzled me a little.
What ever the fellow was shooting he was expecting his first shot to be longer...just the opposite of upland hunting. The answer to this puzzlement are all in your post. Unlike in the US style of hunting, the predominate wingshooting in the UK is driven birds. The Guns stand in a line, and a great distance away is a group of beaters (sometimes only with flags, or sometimes with spaniels) who walk towards the line of guns, driving the game towards you. Driven pheasants which are stocked at large estates, driven grouse which are native on the moors in the north, and some even shoot "flighted" mallards. And now, it has become popular to shoot wood pigeons over decoys or at dusk; while not a game bird, this is also often an incoming bird. Our idea of pheasant, quail, and grouse hunting - walking hedge rows, forests, and fields and behind dogs - is called "rough shooting" or "walked up." Because the overwhelming style of wingshooting is on incoming, driven game, having an OU with the bottom barrel choked tight makes a lot of sense.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86 |
Thanks that's what I figured.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86 |
I remember you saying that several times.
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,982 Likes: 106
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,982 Likes: 106 |
Howdy jOe. Are you talking about Stan killing doubles on doves shooting the left barrel first, where the tighter choke was shot 1st on incomers and killin doubles? Yes, I saw his post on that in this very tread.....but alas, it disappeared. It certainly sounds like a magnificent feat, indeed. Not too sure why the post was deleted, but oh well. I have a gun made similarily, where the right barrel is choked more than the left. Im assuming it was made for incoming targets. Its an English gun, so driven birds? Its easy to switch double triggers if need be, if practiced, no matter how the chokes/triggers are situated.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,149 Likes: 1147
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,149 Likes: 1147 |
I deleted the post because I assumed I was being redundant, in having had posted it before ..............."several times".
SRH
May God bless America and those who defend her.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86 |
Stan it doesn't hurt to repeat yourself we all do it all the time.
Just part of getting old...ask Toby Keith.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 268
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 268 |
As a lad; living in the sandhills of Nebraska; a shotgun was almost always 30" full choke.
It took me many years (and probably better shotshells) to learn that more "open" chokes worked better for me.
Nowadays, I have a grandson, a shooting whiz, who learned to shoot with a "skeet" choke.
Sam Ogle, Lincoln, NE
Sam Ogle
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 268
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 268 |
As an employee of a "Cabela's Gun Library," I learned that on double rifles, a person shot the rear trigger FIRST. The reason was that if one was in a hurry and let his finger slip while shooting front trigger first, one could "double."
They say it only took once to learn the lesson.
Sam
Sam Ogle
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