Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Side by Sides - Easier or harder to shoot ?

I have never carried one afield - what say ye old toasters of SXS’s

Easier to shoot, or easier to make mistakes with them aim wise ?

love my sxs you don't aim you point, if the gun fits that's all there is to it, ( usually lighter and shorter)

I like ‘em stacked both ways. A gun that fits and has good dynamics is all I care about.

Prefer SxS 's with double triggers but have O&U's too. As gunscrew pointed out you point them not aim and fit makes all the difference. Patterning them is equally important like our rifles not all ammo performs to our liking in every Shotgun.

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This, this, THIS.

If it fits.............it'll hit where you're looking. If it doesn't............it won't.

Have and have had twin-tubes stacked both ways. Some pretty pedestrian stuff and some higher end Brownings and Winchesters. Best I ever shot with a SxS was a stupid little 24" Brazilian-made (Amantino) Stoeger. I think I paid $350 for it brand new.

Really enjoy may SxS's....but I "point" better with a single barrel....why I don't know

Addition: But like pump shotguns....most today think they are something foreign and difficult....They're not

Just came back from a Pheasant hunt in S.D. and used a SxS and a pump....One guy asked me if I could get off a second shot with a pump....Friend I hunt with thinks it is an event that requires extreme manual dexterity....

And sometimes aiming is the way do it....on the hunt mentioned had two Roosters coming into the corn with wings set....stuck a vague out of focus bead on their chest and hit the trigger...Some top shotgunners will tell you there are times to have barrel awareness and other times you shoot the flash....It all depends on what the target allows based on target speed, distance, time and how you see it....

I you grew up on 1100's or 870's and then later on Beretta O/U's.

The visual clutter of SxS's and A5's make me feel like I am looking through glasses with cracked lenses.

It is all about fit......................

I like to shoot a SxS now and then.

With Zero Cast I look down left barrel; all my SxS need the stock bent to a Cast Off of about 3/8 inch.

No shotgun is aimed.............................

Before spending good money on a SxS read the book The Orvis Guide to Gun Fitting by Tom Deck.

I hadn’t heard of that book, thanks Reba.

I think it is pretty dependent on how comfortable you are with the shotgun. It also depends on why the change, I like them for the esthetics, having two chokes, instant selection of the choke, quality ones balance well for me, nothing prettier than blued steel and wood and the woo-woo part they just seem to call to me. I can't imagine going grouse/woodcock hunting with anything other than a sxs.

I tend to think I shoot them all pretty good. My favorite wild bird gun is a 25" two trigger 12ga sxs at 5lb 15oz it is fast and I get on the birds quick. On birds for hunt tests I shot a 30" 12ga single trigger O/U I needed to ride them out to give the dogs better retrieves.

As I'm getting older most of my single trigger guns are gone and the ones left are sentiment keepers.


I like them for waterfowl also.

Love the SxS. My Dickinson Estate 16 ga is my favorite field gun, but on the skeet range I shoot better with my Beretta 686 Onyx Sporting 12 ga. The SxS is stocked to shoot a little high for upland birds on the flush, makes me think my way through the high house clays.

I love a good fitting SxS with double triggers, but then again I am right handed with a dominant left eye.
I can also shoot an auto or pump but they just don't feel right.
I also can't see why having one extra shell is better than two different chokes.

I hunt birds with a 28 gauge SxS and do just fine with it. For pheasants I often switch to a 20 SxS.

I am a firm believer in Bob Brister's theory that some people have difficulty with SxS doubles due to eye dominance variations.

I don't have eye dominance problems (at least at the moment) so tend to prefer SxS's over O/U guns because I prefer two triggers, which tend to be more reliable--and are far more prevalent on SxS shotguns.

Plus, really good SxSs are coming down in price, due to the repressive gun laws in other countries--which somehow assume a 100-year-old "game gun" might be used by gangbangers or terrorists.

Prefer my sxs’s. Other than being a few ounces lighter, it’s a matter of what i enjoy/personal preference only.

IMO, for hunting, way too much is made of the “difference” between sxs’s and anything else. There is no “difference” in how you point the gun. If the gun fits you well (whole other topic), at the time of the shot the barrel(s) should be a ghostly shadow low in the visual field, something you are vaguely aware of, if “seen” at all, and that’s it. Look at the bird. The barrel configuration, the width of that shadow, means next to nothing. Beyond that, as to sxs vs. anything else, it’s a matter of 1. Familiarity and practice followed by 2. Personal taste. I grew up on pumps, got into sxs middle age though still shoot pumps and semi’s in bad weather, and still have a few break-actions. The difference is small differences in fit amongst them, then weight and balance, then muscle memory f’ing me over the safety’s location some days, yes. But as to action type or barrel configuration, neither here nor there in terms of “easier to shoot ... or easier to make mistakes with them aim wise.” Is my opinion. Heck, the pump is way more complicated - and it ain’t complicated!

MD mentioned per Brister that dominance can affect sxs use. Might be. I’d like to read that to understand it better if MD would kindly point out where to look in Brister’s work. I struggle with a neutral to *slight* left dominance, so slight it just depends on the day and (i wonder) what i ate/drank whether i can (right-handed) swing-away without care, vs. have to put a slight squint on the left to snap my dominance rightward. Same with pistol and rifle. Can’t say one shotgun action/barrel configuration vs. another seems to factor, though. Maybe it does and haven’t noticed.

Can’t answer for Brister, but the more there is to attract the off eye, the greater chance it will take over. And there is definitely more with a SxS than a single barrel.

I can hit just fine with my side by side but sometimes have a hard time pumping it if I haven't used it in awhile.

What I like about my side by sides are: Twin triggers for reliability and choke selection. English grip for more ergonomic carrying in field...hunting I walk a lot and shoot occasionally. Round actions for a slim comfortable fit in the hand for carrying long distances...I use 16 and 20 ga SxSs (both are side-locks) and they carry in hand better than any semi auto or O/U I've used.

Today shot a fine round of skeet with my CZ Bobwhite .410, but its not my hunting gun. I may give up a bird or two per 25 shots at sporting or skeet with my SxSs vs my Beretta A400 or A391, but its really fun to shoot SxSs on the range on occasion...with light reloads. Twin triggers took me about 100 rounds to get used to 18 yrs ago. I can go back and forth without thinking about it...not sure how that works but it does!

I think they're easy to shoot and carry and would love to find one that I liked. I should work on that some. I feel like they're overpriced for what you get. Am I wrong?

If you’re referring to new-production sxs, then you often have a point. You’re often paying a premium for imitation case color and laser engraving, or lofty prices for the real deal, but in either case paying inflated prices for what is often the wrong gun if a pretty gun.

We don’t know each other and say the following respectfully, you ma know and do all this I don’t know: First, study up in a book or two about shotgun fit and stew on it a while, applying it to the shotguns you own now. Decide/commit to WHAT you want and stick to it (guage, barrel length, grip, etc) Then locate some legitimate shotgun dealers in your region. Used is your friend. You can’t point at a catalogue, pointing to a gun you find impressive, and just order it (and be disappointed.) Instead, pay no mind to the grade, just to fit, and shoulder them until can’t think straight, noting/recording which fit perfect, and nearly perfect, but move on from others no matter what they “look” like. Beauty is as beauty does, and you may luck out and it’s also a looker but again, don’t be swooned.

You’ll find many superb quality older, used sxs are out there. English, Belgian, German, Spanish, French. Prices will vary, but are not necessarily high. Am fortunate to have had/have some high zoot sxs’s, but one of my favorites still is a Simson (German) 16ga boxlock, very good condition, tight, modestly engraved if nicer than most you could buy new today reasonably. $700? Can’t beat that with a stick. And it fits ME.

A simple but key tip is to note most of these older guns are short stocked, LOP around 13.5” give/take. It would be typical to lengthen the gun; how is up to you. I like tastefully done leather slip on’s so as to not affect resale, but digress. Point is, most of the time, as you lengthen the stock/LOP, the action and barrel will rotate forward and DOWN, which is going to affect your fit.

So if you like a gun but upon mounting it, you’re seeing a fair bit of top of rib (shooting high), don’t despair, because if lengthen the stock this will rotate down to a degree. How much - depends. A smidge may even be desireable; matter of preference. Conversely, if mount a gun and you are sighting dead flat over the rib, but shoot better with more length to the stock, beware. You may end up with a low shooting gun and being in SD, will do you no favors on rising pheasants.

Wrote this while reflecting on bits that affected my sxs enjoyment; learning. Hopefully there is something in all that to help you and others get together with a good sxs at an acceptable price-point and find happiness and good shootin’.