Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire SxS Shotgun Hunting

Pat Powell is a righteous dude, and hits more clays with a bent barrel shotgun than I can keep up with!

Ask me how I know!

ya!
GWB

The first shotgun I ever used, over 40 years ago, was a SxS, a 20 ga. Killed my first ducks with it, as well as a lot of rabbits.

I still have a soft spot for a SxS. A particular favourite is my Krieghoff, which not only has SxS 16 ga barrels but a 7x57R beneath, and yet weighs only 6 lb bare. That little gun handles and swings so nicely, even with its short barrels - only 22" or so. An ounce of shot, or maybe 1 1/8, seems to do anything I want to do with it, and I've taken various birds, rabbits, foxes, pigs, goats and other critters with it.

I also like the Brno ZP 49. These are a real sidelock, mine a dual trigger with ejectors and a straight-hand stock. Quite a light gun too, and again best suited to 1 - 1 1/8 oz loads.

I've shot a good number of others. A couple I remember fondly were my mate's Boss, which he inherited, a Dickson which another mate had, and (perhaps at the other end of the scale as far as fancy guns go) a Savage 20 ga which I borrowed one afternoon, with which I killed a running hare with each and every shot in the box of cartridges.

Yes, they do tend to have really nice wood on them, given their price range. Frankly I don't use mine nearly enough. Haven't fired it in probably 6 years.....overdue I reckon. I just couldn't get used to the looks of the pistol grip/Beavertail forend enough to want one....hence why I chose the English straight grip and splinter.....may make a difference. They sure are purty little things!

When I retire....I am hoping to spend the rest of my lifetime chasing enough birds to wear that thing out.....LOL

Frog---OUT

To be sure, there's words of wisdom in what Pat says. If you don't believe it.....attend any major Trap Championship and count how many SxS guns you see in use by the Top shooters......bet you don't need more than one hand. Hell.....bet you don't need one finger! LOL

Ya don't see many sports cars hauling wheat either.

You don't see too many trap guns in the upland fields either, for some reason.

I've hunted with sxs for over 50 years. Never had any trouble killing things with them, except grouse, which I still have a fair amount of trouble with, regardless of the shotgun. For pheasants these days, I prefer a 12 gauge Charles Moore hammer gun built probably in the 1880s or early 1890s. Prettiest gun I own and a hammer of Thor on roosters.

I wouldn't shoot anything else given the choice.

I understand your point.......however, for purely accurate shooting at a flying target, most experts tend to prefer a stack barrel. Now I agree, they don't have to lug those 30" plus guns across hill and dale......so people make concessions for the choices they decide upon.

Truth is, it's a love affair. I've owned and shot, in the field o/u guns but just cold not fall in love with them. And, I don't have to. Further, in rough shooting, I am not convinced of the superiority of an o/u, but if I could bag 20% more birds with one, it wouldn't matter. The whole sport is a love affair.

To many of my hunting buds the sport is a game where one keeps track of scores; not me. I am there for far more personal reasons than keeping score. Shooting a sxs is a connection to my father and grandfather. So is the entire sport. ;-{>8

That’ll preach Old Trapper!