I recently bought a used over under with double triggers. First time out shooting, I noticed that the rear trigger would only fire when pulled first.
I contacted the seller and he told me that older guns like these sometimes have a "firing order" ie you have to pull the front trigger every tike.
Now I am by no means an expert on shotguns but I checked with a couple gunsmith buddies and they had never heard of this. The gun in question is a 1950s bBeretta. Has anyone ever heard of this on a shotgun?

Either trigger should fire independently of the other- typical protocol with two-trigger doubles. I'm not familiar with old Beretta O/U's with double triggers, but it seems strange to me it would have a set firing order, especially if one has to pull the rear one first. Sorta goes against the laws of nature! (My protocol is to slap the front trigger and let the finger keep on sliding back to the second, all in one fluid motion.)

That's what I thought. Hopefully I can get whatever is wrong figured out.

The entire point of double triggers is to have two independent firing systems. If one doesn't work, the other one will. Also, with shotguns, the shooter has an instantaneous choice of choke depending on the shot presentation. With double rifles the shooter can make a choice between a soft or a solid simply by loading one of each in the two barrels. What you have is a broken Beretta. It could be something as simple as the trigger group needing a good cleaning.

RS

What he told you is pure BS. As others here have said, they are independent mechanisms and either should whenever you want them to.

I am with you except for the fluid motion part...



Unless you are talking about drooling!

as others have said either trigger should fire in whatever order you choose.
wondering if possible problem with safety? Wonder after firing first shot, is safety activated? Just a thought, having worked on a few (not Beretta), can't envision whats stopping trigger

You should be able to fire either trigger you choose first followed by the second. I would suggest you have some problem as mentioned with the safety or maybe there is an interrupter that works off recoil to avoid the second barrel from AD and it is sticking. There were some double triggers that you could pull either one and then again to fire the second barrel . Not really traditional double triggers but in reality two non selective single triggers in function. Don't know if Beretta ever did that or not. Never the less I doubt your lgs owner and think a trip to the shop is in that guns future. Be advised I have an older Beretta and have been told that parts are becoming difficult to find for the older Beretta guns. Call Coles gunsmithing and they can give you the straight scoop on Beretta.

The reason to have 2 triggers on a double barrel shotgun is to be able to instantly choose which choke you need for the game flushed.

I was told that double trigger shotguns the forward trigger shoots the most open choke of the 2 barrels. Upon shooting the open choked barrel a more closed choke barrel is next in order if needed since the game bird will be further away. I am however a pump man and have only owned a half dozen side by sides. I shot several double rifles in African dangerous game calibers and there is a definite order of fire. The forward trigger is used first. Upon recoiling the hand loses some grip and goes naturally to the rear trigger position for the fastest second shot.

I was taught that if both barrels are choked the same, right handed shooters should shoot the left barrel first as it has the least amount of leverage over the shooter, allowing for better follow up shots.

Regarding the OP's gun, there's something wrong/broken.

That is definitely not the standard, as most doubles are/have been made with the more open choke on the right barrel. In addition, all of the non-selective single trigger doubles I have seen or shot fires the right barrel first.

You are in good company, however, as the late John Olin who championed the Winchester Model 21, had his personal guns set up with the open choke on the left, tighter on the right, planned to shoot the left barrel first. His reasoning, as you describe above, was that he was faster recovering from the first shot as the gun's torque pushed it toward his face. That logic, though sound, just never won the day in production.

I've never owned a double rifle but have bird hunted almost exclusively with a SXS for close to 40 years. The first trigger is the most open choke on every gun I've ever owned,but it is easy to select either one and I have done so many times selecting the second when a bird flushed farther than expected.

I've grown so used to it that it has been very hard for me to transition to a single trigger O/U Beretta that I bought a few years ago. I keep fumbling -hunting the second trigger on a long shot rather than using the thumb selector.

I once had a shotgun with double triggers, French made , I think, that one trigger was like a non selective single trigger ( Fired open right choked tube first) then the other. Selecting the second trigger fired the tight choke first, then you had to change triggers to fire the other. My CRS is doing well, but I think it was on a Chapuis. Anyway, a pretty nice shotgun. I think that one also had an articulated front trigger, so that it didn't beat up your trigger finger.

Another oddity that I ran into. I once had a 12 ga Browning Superposed field gun that had a mechanical single selective trigger. No recoil set for the second shot. That feature would not have surprised me on a trap or skeet gun. Could have been a factory error?

A good smith can do the conversion. As in Briley or any of the other competition smiths that do the trap and skeet guns. The field mechanisms are the same. Browning factory is inertia.

Additiion: Had one Browning that after a lot of shooting went mechanical on its own. You could dry fire it and get the second barrel without a bump.