SXS or O/U?

[PointingQuail]

I have been hunting with either a Remington 11-87 Semi-Auto or a Benelli Super Nova Pump for the past few years now and have been browsing for a nice double barrel gun. I have found that I like the look and feel of almost every SXS that I have picked up, and not every O/U. In your guys opinion, is it just personal preference or is their real function difference in the two? It seems to me that O/Us have been dominating the market lately.

[Ruffshooter]

I used to use a SXS 16 wish I still had it. But I shoot a 20g RRL. Once I had it fit it is money. I am not a good shot but if I don't have time to think, we are in like Flynn. I find it come up easy and I like the instantanious trigger pull. I do not treat it well but it still keeps bringing em down.

Personally, I think it is preferance. You learn to shoot what you shoot. My first gun was a 4:10 that I shot until I was 17. Single shot. I think I took more birds with that than anything else I have owned.

If a gun feels good that is what you get.

My next I hope will be a Berretta Silver pigeon, with nice wood so I can scratch it up and drop it on the ground, and hopefully shoot a couple birds along the way for the pups.

[nikegundog]

I have been hunting with either a Remington 11-87 Semi-Auto or a Benelli Super Nova Pump for the past few years now and have been browsing for a nice double barrel gun. I have found that I like the look and feel of almost every SXS that I have picked up, and not every O/U. In your guys opinion, is it just personal preference or is their real function difference in the two? It seems to me that O/Us have been dominating the market lately.

If a sxs feels good for you go for it, however the site plain on an O/U is better. I don't believe there has been a major clay or skeet competition won in the last 75 years with a SXS, that speaks volumes.

[gotpointers]

Get whatever fits you best. Keep trying till you find the right one. I also started with the 1187. I have bought used and sold 6 o/u S in various brands and guages. I picked up a 16 guage sxs real cheap with intentions on just flipping it. I took it along on a dove hunt with my 12 guage ou that i had been shooting for a while. I was dropping dove stone cold with the 16 where i was wounding with the 12. I think its all about the fit. I also hated double triggers but now i learned to love em. The long shots i grab the back trigger and the front trigger up close.
Don't buy new buy used so you can sell it without looseing too much money if it doesent work well for you.

[mcbosco]

I notice a lot of barrel flex in SXS's. I also think a good quality SXS is much more money than a good quality O/U.

There are some nice used ones especially from SKB, which were sold by SKB and imported by several US companies. There are some nice Ithaca SXS around too.

The important thing is what you shoot well, but in shopping your best bet is a used one. As far a new ones go, AYA and Ugartechea make nice ones.

[Ken Lynch]

You have been shooting a single barrel gun and it is probably what you have learned on. An o/u is probably the better bet for you. Especially if you get it fit to you. The reason shows up most of the time on crossing shots. But can even show up in straight away shots. When looking down the barrel of a s/s each barrel is off set from line of sight down the beads. If the right barrel shots first it is further in front of a right crossing bird than line of sight. On a left crossing bird it is slightly behind. Choke of the gun masks most of the problems but extreme situations (longer range shots) will show it up all the time. If you adapt well after much practice there is no difference. If you just do occasional shooting it will start to give self doubt.

[djloder]

What way do you eyes look?

Get what you like and fits you.

[gotpointers]

Almost anything out of Eibair, Spain as far as Sxs go is good. There will be lots of brands out of there many never heard of just check the wood to metal fit as an indicator of how the rest of it is made. A lot of the turkish made guns such as the remington spartan will tell you right away what the rest of the gun is all about. If they are rough on the outside they are going to be even rougher on the inside. Although there are a few good companies contracting their stuff out to turkey. The cz ringneck and wood cock are pretty nice also.
The japanese made Skb has always been good although a little bulky. Mirouku japan has been the maker of the browning shotguns for years.
if anything catches your eye in your local gunshop that you haven't heard of or seen shoot me a pm with alternate contact information since my pm doesent work. Most of the time i can give you the scoop good or bad. I love shotguns and i am always taking them apart to see how the inner parts are machined. If you want to see a really well made sxs internals check out my website and click on the guns tab i have my old arietta taken apart and pictures of the internals are posted. Its really neat you can tell most of it is done by hand and almost everything is jeweled The website is www.gotpointers.com. i would try to post pictures here but i can't off my cell phone.

[JKP]

Being taller, I have always found a straight stocked gun to be better. I also grouse hunt in thick cover a lot where holding the gun in one hand while pushing aside the cover is the norm. I light, thin wristed double just fits me better. I also like double trigger...WAY simpler to select a barrel than buttons and gadgets.

Get what feels good in your hands and gives you confidence when you shoot. You may have to try a few guns...and fine "tune" what pleases you most with a gun fitting.

[DonF]

Anybody that hunts quail with a setter deserves it to common decency to shoot a 28ga SxS! I used to have a couple 12ga's that I really liked. My Charles Daley got stolen by my son and my AyA got stole by a thief! Still have my 16ga and used it a lot over the past seven or eight years. Two years ago I had my 28 I had cut off for the war department, get the stock lengthen to fit me.

Not SxS or O/U? well I shoot SxS's and that what I think you really need, it just looks and feels right when shooting over a setter! I have four shotguns, three AyA's in 16, 28 and 410, and one pump a 16ga Ithaca Featherweight with a con cob fore end. I like to shoot it when nobody is around!

Time for the truth, While some prefer the SxS, some prefer the O/U. The truth is it's a really personnel thing. For me, SxS's just handle really well. As long as I'm being truthful, I started with a Iver Johnson 16ga single shot with a 32" barrel choked full. It would have been hard on quail! :roll:

[gotpointers]

The japanese made Skb has always been good although a little bulky

I find the SKB's SxS to be light wieght, well balanced in a 25" barrel. Model 100 just under 6 lbs. in 20 ga. The lentgh of pull in most is 14". You can find a nice used model 100 around a $1,000.00.
The CZ Ringneck is the nicest turkish gun I've had my hands on. I shoot a CZ Ringneck 20ga. almost everyday training. IMO both are better balanced then my Parker Repro. 28 ga.

The SKB that I thought was bulky was a O/U. I dont see many of their SXS's in my area, the 25 barrel sounds like it would be a nice little gun. I had a CZ ringneck 28 guage that I swapped to Dan at Phantom Kennels for a new pointer. It had good wood to metal fit and overall very nicely done. I no longer liked single trigger guns after getting used to my 16 guage double trigger, so it was first up on the chopping block. The CZ however did eat much less than Phantoms Southern Sky does.

[captainshotgun]

In my 50 plus years of gun hunting I have shot them all. Right now my 2 main guns are a Benelli Ultralight autoloader, restocked with an English stock, & a Beretta Ultralight O/U, both 12's. The main reason I have the o/u is for early season grouse, although I have carried up & down hills in KY in turkey season when the temperature was in the high 90's. During the early grouse season in MI, a long shot may be all of 11 yards. It is under 6 lbs, loaded. If I could find a S/S 12 that light, I would trade/sell it in a heartbeat, & get the s/s. I still hunt with my S/S, & they carry a lot better. An o/u carries like a magazine gun, U might as well shoot an autoloader, & not have to deal with the recoil. IMHO, unless U have a real need for an o/u, there is no reason to own one. I have 2 of the Ithaca SKB's in 20, English stocked, splinter forearm,(they were never available in that configuration). Just over 5 lbs, unloaded. The guy I bought the one from called them magic wands. I agree entirely, but they do not scatter like the 12, especially with that Beretta spreader tube!

[gonehuntin']

Tried the sxs's and don't like them. I just sold a Ruger GL and a CZ Bobwhite. I much prefer the single barrel guns. I now shoot, for uplands, three guns: A Beneli UL, a Browning Superposed Superlight 12, and a Browning Feather 20. I bought the Benelli for a backup gun if I'm having a problem with my A-5 in the duckblind or my Superposed.

I don't think there's a right or a wrong answer here; it's what you like and are comfortable with. I've never cared what's "in" or what other's like, I shoot what I like.

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

I like guns so I have more then I need or can use but like Gonehuntin says use what you like.I started with a Semi Auto & have ended up mostly shooting O/U.I like their simplicity,just seem to carry better,safer,easy & quick to unload,easier to keep clean. I own atleast one or more of Semi A,pump,S/S,& O/U plus a few rifles,& ML rifles.Unlike alot of others when I buy a gun it stays here I don't sell them to buy another just add them to what I already have.

If I could afford them I'd own more & more expensive but most modern day guns will get the job done regardless of price or configuration!!

[Ken Lynch]

Guns are like Wine or Beer. You try it. If you like it you keep going back for more. If you don't you move on and try something else until you find what you like. Some people find something they like and stop searching others continue to search and build up a collection of what they like. Which ever person you are go forth and search.

[Steve007]

Therre are a lot of people--and I an one--who find that they shoot clay targets better with an O/U and birds better with a SxS. They attribute this to the (more) consistent flight of a clay target and more crossing shots with cleaner backgrounds, and the inconsistent movement of a bird with more rising shots and more cluttered backgrounds.

I tried to shoot clays for years with a SxS. Alas, I wish it were otherwise, but I'm just better with an O/U. But with birds, I shoot my SxSs.You may find it is the same for you; lots of us have.

[JWP58]

I love both styles, SxS and O/U. Classicness of the SxS, Sexyness of O/U...

Love my CZ Woodcock Deluxe 20ga! But i REALLY want a CZ Bobwhite in 28ga..

[kninebirddog]

I love the looks of the SxS there is just something nostalgic and a fine art look they have to them but I can't shoot them very well as it is unnatural to me to have to aim way below the target so I shoot an O/U

[Ryman Gun Dog]

Pointing Quail,
Heck I own them both, I use my good L.C. Smith double guns when I hunt, I line shoot my O/U guns. To me nothing beats a SxS double gun with DT in the Grouse woods or the Quail & Pheasant fields, a man should have at least a few of both.
RGD/Dave