Sorry Aaron, but there really is a split second's difference with an O/U, getting on target for the second shot, when you shoot the bottom barrel first. That's the reason Perazzis that don't have a selective trigger are set up to shoot the bottom barrel first. Sometimes a split second's advantage is enough.
I can’t say in actual practice shooting clays and birds the theoretical advantage of an O/U allowing you to acquire and obliterate a second target quicker has ever presented itself. Just today I shot 5rnds of skeet using my full/full Greener Empire and five other accomplished shooters, all shooting target o/u models from Krieghoff and Kolar. I hung with the best shooter there, but with the quickest second shots on doubles. All breaks close together just on my side of the center stake. Obviously a lot of that comes from hold point, break point, timing, practice, reaction time, etc... While I used to shoot A LOT, I was never competitive. I don’t consider myself to be some shotgun prodigy. Nevertheless with my double trigger SxS, I wasn’t able to “catch” the supposed downfalls of a SxS.
Maybe a master class or Olympic level shooter doing international skeet?
For ME, the benefits you state above about an o/u I deem theoretical. I’ve shot plenty with o/u’s too.
For me, those times when the second shot has to be hurried have come on sporting clays courses, which is where 99% of my clay shooting takes place. It's not a sign of a good target setter to encounter a pair that have to be shot that quickly, but it happens from time to time. Sometimes the lighting changes enough on a station to cause the first bird to be hard to pick up, which in turn can cause you to have to rush the second shot.
I may be a bit more sensitive to the slowness to acquire the second target (or bird) than most, for whatever reason. I've mentioned it before, but I find the same principle to exist for me when using a straight grip gun with much of anything over 1 oz. of shot. The gun just moves around in my hands more than with a pistol grip. I just don't have as firm a level of control, which leads to a split second delay in getting on the second shot accurately. Same thing when I shoot the top barrel of an O/U first, I notice that "extra" movement of the barrels. I certainly don't consider myself a prodigy either, but I am a serious student of the shotgun, and relish the technicana surrounding them. I am by nature a competitive person, and over my lifetime of shooting sports I can recall dozens of matches/tournaments where one point, or one bird, has meant the difference in my finishing in HOA, or in "also ran". I thrill in the pursuit of perfection. That absolutely doesn't make me better, or "righter" than anyone who doesn't. I'm just wired that way.
The actual time difference is real, but how much most of us need that slight advantage to kill the bird is questionable. I agree that the benefits in actual use are slight, but I just can't put it in the column, under the heading, "fallacy".
Good thread, thanks for starting it! And, I always appreciate the wisdom of a craftsman, such as yourself, when it is shared here. I have so much to learn about these guns. Thanks for being a part of this forum.
Best to you, Stan
