The end of the side-by-side fad?

[JPShelton]

All I know is I'll never buy a double with a single trigger. Got to have two.

That's what I used to say, too.  It was DT/Ejector/Straight Grip/Splinter Fore-end for me, or nothin'........... Then I went to the gun show last Saturday, and I walked out with a IZH 43 12 bore with SST.

JP

[SHOOTALL]

Go to your closest sporting clays or skeet range when they are having an elite competition.  Count the number of SxS and OU you see.  You'll be able to count the SxSs on one finger, if there's an idiot in the group.

They are fine for messing around but they are more difficult to aim and shoot reliably.  There will always be some around but I do think there has been something of a fad, probably enhanced by the cowboy shooting guys.

truer words have never been said ! good post ! The only real advantage the SXS has is when loading you don't have to lower the bbls as far as you do with a OU .

[JWP58]

I must've not got the memo, because i am chomping at the bit to get a CZ bobwhite in 20ga...

[SHOOTALL]

I shoot a side lock BP gun some and love it . But in the clay bird sports the OU rules when it comes to guns with 2 bbls. That is for those who are competitive at least . You can get into the wind blowing the stack bbls . Or the sighting plane od the SXS ( but are we suppose to sight down it anyway )  . I mentioned loading . Then the better sighting of the OU with a single rib to catch your eye ( see SXS )  . there are many who feel the recoil of the OU is better suited to a follow up shot and the list goes on . I like the look of the SXS much better but shoot the stack bbl better go figure !

[JPShelton]

All my life I have heard about doubles and the feel, handling etc...that may be true for some folks, but for me it is fall out from the snobs in Britian...

I don't get the fascination with over and unders, either.  All of my adult life, well meaning shooters have advised that the over and under gun is the right tool for the serious clay sports enthusiast.  I'd like to get on with one, just to fit in with the big boys and be cool.  The problem is that I haven't found one yet that fits and feels right and that I shoot well. The more svelte the fore-end is, the less well I am likely to get on with the gun.  I don't get on well with many Italian autoloaders with slender fore-ends for that same reason.

for me nothing handles and shoots as well as a nice pump...

My first shotgun, which was gifted to me when I was 14, was a New Haven 600 ct.  I still own it and with its retrofitted 24" vent rib Accu-Choke barrel and incresed LOP, I shoot it fairly well.  I will never part with it.  But for me, nothing shoots as well as a "nice" side by side.  My definition of "nice" includes guns like my 20 gauge Fox Model B.  And I have wanted a Baikal 43 ever since an outdoor writer pal of mine got the Remington-branded version on a pro deal and let me shoot it.  Nothing out of the box fit me as well or felt so right.  It was a gun I was predisposed to hate, but after shooting it, I fell in love with it.  I determined that I wanted one back then, and patiently waited for the right deal to come along, and it finally did.

So I am not shooting side by sides to express my Anglophilic leanings.  And no "gun snob," British or otherwise, is likely to be too impressed with my Savage Fox Model B.  The only person besides me who is impressed with their Baikal is probably Vladamir Putin, and his is a wee bit fancier than mine.  But those impress the heck out me, and I shoot them well, and I enjoy shooting them, and that is why I shoot them.

Snobbery has little to do with it.

JP

[Bigeasy]

SxS shotguns have been around quite a long time to be considered a fad.  Most younger shooters have been raised on a single sighting plane, and may feel uncomfortable with the view when looking at a SxS sight picture.

A lot of SxS's are excellent handling, with great balance, an important thing in wing shooting.  Frankly, the looks and handling of the new breed of 3 1/2 .12 ga. pumps and semi's leave me cold.

My Ugartechea below is a quality made .12 ga., 26 inch imp cyl / mod gun that weighs right at 6lbs, and kills pheasants real dead.  Easy on the eyes too.

Larry