Firing Both Barrels Simultaneously?

[Colorado Redneck]

One of my older brothers was goose hunting with a few guys in a shallow pit in his corn field. He was wearing those big old cheap yellow fuzzy gloves. Some geese flew in and landed a bit too far to shoot, and the guys all stood up and rushed the gaggle shooting as they went. Brother had a Monkey Wards 12 gage, and when he fired he ended up on his butt. Both barrels fired. I have no clue what rounds he was using, and 2 3/4 " shells are the max. He passed a few years ago, and the gun ended up with me. It weighs about 10 lbs....at least it feels like it.

[stinkeypete]

A double barrel shotgun with two triggers has simple duplicated lockwork. The front trigger generally operates the right barrel, the back, the left.

Fancy pants ones have a selector switch to swap this. I would not pay the cost of a shotgun shell for that feature.

Older hunting over-and-unders... some have double triggers.

I generally have a mod choke in right barrel and IM in the left. A close bird... front trigger, then the back because I missed and it's farther out.

Theoretically, I would say 'aha! That bird is farther out! I will use my IM choke, since I never miss!' In fact, I usually panic when a bird flushes and go with the front trigger first out of habit.

When cowboy shooting with my old Stevens 12 gauge coach length shotgun, pulling both triggers is no big deal. Just a lot of boom and recoil, but then, that's a great big heavy lump of steel, not no nice Beretta.

[bladesmith 1]

Stinkey, your second sentence is completely false. Please list any gun, anywhere that can do that. ALL double barrel guns [ O/U or SxS ] have two lock works, one for each barrel. Doesn't matter if it has outside or hammers in the receiver. Doesn't matter if it has one or two triggers. You can't change what trigger works what barrel. Now on a selective single trigger gun you can change what barrel fires first. Usually with a safety that slides sideways, same for O/Us. The reason for a ss trigger is with a gun that has different chokes in each barrel you can still pick which barrel with which choke is fired first. where as a gun with two triggers you just pull the one you want first.

Two barrels firing at the same time can happen to any gun with two barrels. A worn sear or tumbler notch giving it too light a pull, or maybe something in the tumbler notch stopping the sear from engaging completely. And just because it says 2 3/4" shells don't believe for a minute that 3" shells won't fit.

[44 AMP]

I don't know of any double trigger gun that has a selector. That is dept of redundancy dept.

Single trigger double barrel guns often have selectors, double trigger guns don't need them. The two triggers ARE the selector.

[stinkeypete]

I bought a cheap CZ 20 gauge from a pal who liked side by side so much he wanted to move up to an AYA.

The double triggers are a fun change, something new to learn. Mine doesn't have a way to swap which trigger does which barrel, and I could care less. Since it has screw in chokes, there is absolutely no point on top of no point at all.

[micromontenegro]

In a double trigger gun, you are supposed to ALWAYS shoot the rear one first, to avoid your finger slipping under recoil and accidentally doubling. That is why the left barrel (rear trigger) is choked wider. If you miss, you shoot farther with the front trigger, tighter choked barrel.

[44 AMP]

In a double trigger gun, you are supposed to ALWAYS shoot the rear one first...

None of the double trigger guns I've ever had or handled was set up the way you describe. Your description is backwards about front/rear triggers and right/left barrels.

Front trigger fires the right (usually, the more open choked barrel), rear trigger fires the left, (usually the more tightly choked barrel).

I say "usually" because I have a double gun, an Ithaca made in 1909 with both barrels full choke. It was my Grandfather's gun, and he ordered it that way.

[Mike Irwin]

I pulled both triggers on my Stevens 311 20 gauge a couple of years ago.

It was pretty stout, but not horrific. But, as I said, 20 gauge.

A lot depends on how the gun fits you, how you have it mounted, and the load.

By FAR the worst shotgun recoil I've ever experienced was a 12 gauge, 1 1/8 ounce slug out of my Dad's Ithaca Featherlight.

I didn't do a good job of getting the gun seated on my shoulder, wasn't wearing a coat (summer) and didn't have a recoil pad.

Sweet mother of dog that was a thump.

[stinkeypete]

Ithaca Model 37 featherweight? All 6 1/4 pounds of it?

I love mine, but a few years ago my wife was laughing at me for my shoulder. Blue, black, purple, green, yellow.. the bruising was very colorful!

Fit wasn't right and... that's a "walk much, shoot little" shotgun. One of my favorite pheasant hunting shotguns.

[FITASC]

Had it happen to me one of the first times I ever fired a shotgun (about 12 years old); being LH, I pulled them; shoulder was sore, pheasant was obliterated, as was some local shrubbery in the woods. Kept me from buying some sweet doubles over the years until I bought a DT SxS, and I love it. It seems it is easier for a LH shooter to use since I do not get the dreaded bruised knuckle that RH shooters seem to suffer from.

[44 AMP]

It seems it is easier for a LH shooter to use since I do not get the dreaded bruised knuckle that RH shooters seem to suffer from.

I'm a right handed shooter and do not dread, or suffer from bruised knuckles due to double triggers. Its not a right hand /left hand thing, its not even a double trigger thing, its a people who don't know/understand the proper way to do it, thing. IN a way its in the same class as people who get their fingers pinched loading Win/Marlin (side loading gate) lever guns. They get pinched or bruised because they aren't doing it the proper way.

Unless your intent is to fire both barrel at the same time, or as close to the same time as possible, you simply don't put more than one finger in the trigger guard.

(for normal sporting use) Your (single) trigger finger goes into the guard to fire the front trigger. No other finger has any business in there. You fire your shot, and during recoil assess the need for a second shot, and if so, one simply slides your hand back on the stock, allowing your (single) trigger finger to pull the second trigger.

IF you do put two fingers in the guard, the rear finger can be bumped (and bruised) by the back of the front trigger, if you are shooting something with enough recoil to do that.

The classic African "stopper" double rifles will SLAM your second finger, due to the heavy recoil, and many of those guns have hinged front triggers to help protect the shooter from that.

Many folks apparently have never been taught the proper way to use a double trigger gun, and since it has two triggers, they think you use two fingers, and if/when the gun "bites" them due to recoil, they blame the gun.

Same kind of thing for people who get their fingers pinched by the loading gate of a lever gun. It's because they aren't doing it the proper way. Using your fingers to push in the rounds does work, but you can get pinched. Using another ROUND to push in the ammo also works and NEVER pinches your finger.

There are guns where holding the gun one way lets it bite you, and doing it slightly differently does not. My Grandfather taught me the "right" way to use his Ithaca SxS 12 ga. At least as far as the triggers were concerned. What he didn't teach me was about putting my thumb over the wrist of the stock. The GUN taught me that, by giving me a split lip the first time I shot at a bird with my thumb in the "wrong" place, for that gun....

HIS gun had the stock made to his order, and it has more drop than common, to fit his slender lanky frame. Worked flawlessly for him, but for me (and other people with a slightly different body size/shape) the result is the gun comes UP in recoil a lot more than other guns (and it does it rather hard!)

What it taught me was that pushing off the safety and wrapping my thumb over the wrist of the stock (which is what I normally did with every other shoulder arm) was the way to get my lip split by my thumb knuckle as the gun came UP hard in recoil. Only made that mistake ONCE!

Grandpa never taught me to avoid that, simply because the gun never did that, FOR HIM!..

THe only other gun I've ever used where I make a deliberate effort to ensure my thumb is alongside the grip and not over it, is the Win Model 97 shotgun.

If your thumb is in the wrong place when you pump the action, there are sharp edges on the bolt that can slice your thumb quite painfully. (but only if your thumb is in the "wrong" place )

[bladesmith 1]

It seems to me many people are posting who haven't shot SxSs very much, if at all. 99% of the SxSs have the left barrel choked tighter than the right. The front trigger fires the right barrel that has a more open choke. Most of the hunting in America the first shot is the closes so a more open choke. The second shot further away so more choke. Now in England where a lot of " Driven Bird " shooing is done then they choke the right barrel more tight. With two barrels and two different chokes and two triggers there isn't any rule or proper method which barrel you want to fire first. You can pull the back trigger or front one first depending on how close the target is.