O/U vs. SXS

What do you prefer

  • O/U

    Votes: 40 46.5%

  • SXS

    Votes: 46 53.5%
  • Total voters
    86
O/U for games; SXS for game

Although this statement has been rare in my life: "I agree with the majority opinion." (Maybe it's because this majority is made up of hunters and shooters.)

I shoot O/U for games, SXS for game. I stole that phrase from Stephen Bodio but I don't think he'll mind.

I used to shoot most of my game with a 20 ga., but in the past few years I've gravitated to the 12 and the 28. I mostly hunt over my dog and friends' dogs. I prefer to hunt with a SXS 28 when I can. What doesn't feel ethical to hunt with the 28 (like wild flushing Kansas roosters on a windy day) I hunt with a SXS 12.

There are still a few places with good populations of wild bobwhite most years. Very few places left, I know. I'm lucky enough to have a standing invitation to one of them. The 28 is made for them; them, and my local grouse.
 
I used to shoot most of my game with a 20 ga., but in the past few years I've gravitated to the 12 and the 28. I mostly hunt over my dog and friends' dogs. I prefer to hunt with a SXS 28 when I can. What doesn't feel ethical to hunt with the 28 (like wild flushing Kansas roosters on a windy day) I hunt with a SXS 12.
Click to expand...

Awesome! You can always share pics of those SxS guns for our old sore eyes
 
The SXS guns . . .

Oneounce,

My SXS guns are nothing fancy. Both CZs--a Bobwhite in 12 and a Ringneck in 28. But I do enjoy them, and they have both shot well for me and been reliable.

Here are a few pics.

My wonderful setter, Freckles, with the 12 ga. Bobwhite and a pair of grouse we took up on the ridge above our house. Freckles passed away last December and we miss him. This fall we'll hunt with his kid brother, Buddy:

Agooddayswork.jpg



The actions of the two guns. For those not familiar with CZ guns, both are boxlocks. The sideplates on the 28 are decorative.

CZ12281.jpg


The breech of the 28:

28ga.jpg
 
I picked O/U. Reasons:

1. That's what I learned to shoot clays with.
2. That's what I own.
3. I don't know much about SxS/s, so I stick to what I know.

Pretty lame reasons?:o
 
Thanks for posting the Parker photos

Beautiful Parker.
That's a shotgun.

We had one just like it (same grade--Trojan?) hanging on the wall at home all through my childhood.

My father hunted with it. (My brother and I shared a Savage .410)

Brought back a lot of memories . . .
Thanks for posting the photos.
 
Thank you for starting this discussion.
My parents moved to northern Spain when I was 11. I grew up bird hunting. When I was old enough to get my own gun, my father asked me what I wanted. I must admit I had a thing for the double barrel SXS. Reminded me of the hillbillies back home. And I thought they looked cool.
Everyone I asked told me the SXS was a hair gun, while the O/U was a feather gun. I don’t know where that came from, but it stuck. So I got a semi-auto Franchi instead.
We moved back to the States when I was 17, and continued to shoot birds, and stuck with the semi automatics which I still use today for primarily duck hunting.
For the last year or so, I’ve been having the itch to buy a double barrel. I’ve been like a tortured Hamlet, pacing back and forth praying to the shotgun gods for an answer to the SXS vs O/U dilemma.
So last night I type that into Google, and see a link to this forum. And I couldn’t tell you how happy reading it made me.
I realize the post is 3 yrs old, but it was new to me, and I wanted to thank you guys for the input sharing your opinions. They’ve helped me decide on my next gun, which is going to be a SXS.
Thanks
Calvin.
 
Since you lived in Spain, then you might as well look at the AyA, Arrietta families. On a less expensive note would be the CSMC RBL; and for a little less, the S&W Elite Gold - which is now sold through Cabela's as the Dickinson
 
At heart, I'm a traditionalist.

I prefer revolvers over semi-autos, blued steel over stainless steel, and a side by side shotgun ahead of an over/under.

Two years ago I picked up a nice SxS Stevens 20 gauge with double triggers. I've come to REALLY like that gun.
 
I have the Savage/Fox BSE in 20 Mike, and compared to the S&W it is a pig on a shovel with a gritty heavy trigger, fat beavertail and the swing dynamics of a barbell..................... :D, but it was my first SxS so it sits in the safe.
 
I was a convert. I started out as a pump liker. Then, when I shot a double, that was it. Had to get a double. I started out liking only O/U doubles but came to shoot and start liking SxS. Then I got to where I liked them a LOT more than an O/U (and I still own both). Nothing wrong with the O/U, it just seems like the SxS sight picture and feel is better. Actually, there really isn't a "sight picture" I mentioned since you really don't aim a shotgun. But I guess it is the "visual experience" of a SxS is just much nicer for me.

Lou
 
I have serious love of sxs.
I like to hunt cane breaks and flood zones, late season, close range jump shooting. Almost everything is in season, 00buck left barrel, 7 1/2 right. What ever jumps up, deer, rabbit, dove, quail, withing range I'm ready. I have the Stoeger 12ga with two triggers. After deer season is over I don't carry the buckshot.
 
I have both but my SxS is a 100 years old but with the same shells, the SxS just kicks more, I think its the way the barrels are in relation to your shoulder if that makes sense.
 
Your 100 year old SxS was made for folks when the average size was a lot smaller than folks of today so the stock dimensions are more than likely such that you are experiencing more perceived recoil due to those dimensions
 
Go actual shooting, I prefer O/U for many of the same reasons others have noted. I just seem to shoot better with a stack barrel.
For fun range stuff, I like the shorty SxS coachguns, because they are just plain cool.
 
I just do not like O/Us. The only O/U that has even tempted me in over 30 years was a little Beretta 28 gauge. For targets I usually shoot a semi. In the field, a SxS is just right.
 
BigD, perhaps but the person that bought this gun new my grandfather was a much bigger person then I am, I'm 6 ft he was a couple of inches taller.
To me it's the nature of the beast, SxS just have more felt recoil. I get time in the next couple of days I'll compare LOP between it & my O/U's.
 
Got to have both. I shot a round of skeet once with a Model 21 12 gauge choked WS1 and WS2. It left nothing to be desired. As long as they have a pistol grip, I like them.
 
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