About a year ago, I wrote a column in which I stated that there should be no real argument about what gauge shotgun adults should choose as long as it was a 12-gauge.
That column provoked a few responses from people, including one of my close friends who didn’t like me putting down their 16-, 20- and 28-gauge shotguns.
I didn’t think I really put those gauges down as much as I explained the advantages of more shot and the better patterns available with a 12-gauge. Anyway, we had a lively e-mail conversation for a about a week after that column came out.
In this column, I would like to talk about over/under, or stacked barrel shotguns — in 12-gauge, of course.
To begin, let me preface my opinions with the fact that I really like over/ under barrel shotguns as long as they are well-built, mid-range quality or higher firearms.
I like the looks of any high-quality shotgun. They just have a regal look about them that is different than high-quality rifles. Since I am not as tall as many folks, I like the fact that stack-barrel shotguns, with their break open mechanism, allows me to shoot the same 28- and 30-inch barrels as pump or semi-auto action shotguns with a weapon that is shorter overall and seemingly quicker to get on target.
I also like the fact that stack-barrel guns are easy to clean. No breaking down the gun into several parts and removing the action is necessary. Just break it open and the barrels are easy to get to. And everything else is right there where it can be cleaned or dried out if the weather has been rainy or misty.
That is not to say that the gun shouldn’t be taken apart periodically for cleaning. But it isn’t necessary every time the piece is used unless an awful lot of ammo was fired through it.
It is also easy to break open and separate the barrels from the stock and put them in a case for travel to the kids’ home in another state. There, one can reassemble the piece and visit the local range for sporting clays, or trap and skeet shooting.
Since semi-auto firearms are prohibited in many African countries, over/under shotguns in 12-gauge, with number 1 buck or 00 buck, are preferred by many professional hunters there who are required to follow up dangerous game their clients have wounded, such as leopards in the long grass.
Does this mean everyone ought to get at least one over/under barrel, break-open shotgun? No. Over/under barrel shotguns, like anything else, have advantages and disadvantages that should be considered before deciding what kind of shotgun to purchase.
First of all, no double-barrel shotgun shoots to the same point of aim with each barrel. The higher quality double-barrel shotguns, whether over/under or side-by-side, are regulated to have their patterns converge close to the same point of aim at a given distance, usually 40 yards.
Out to that distance the two barrels may be close, but they are still on different planes instead of the single sighting plane of a pump or semi-auto gun.
With shotguns we don’t measure accuracy in the same way we do with rifles since we expect the pattern of shot to cover the target if we can shoot pretty close to it. However, it is preferable to have over/under shotguns regulated to shoot really close to the same point of aim with each barrel.
There is no doubt that a fixed-breech shotgun recoils more than a pump or semi-auto. A 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun, either with stacked barrel or side-by-side, will pound the shoulder harder.
Maybe I’m just so punch drunk from shooting hard recoiling rifles and shotguns that I simply don’t care anymore, but that was not always the case. Many people don’t shoot as many shots downrange each month as I do and don’t like to be belted in the chops or shoulder with close to 30- or 35-foot pounds of energy each time they pull the trigger.
For those folks, a pump or semi-auto will be more comfortable to shoot.
Over/under shotguns can be clumsy to use. That certainly goes against the marketing hyperbole that over/under guns are automatically great handling pieces. Most people who use over/under guns had to learn how to handle guns that have to be broken open to load. In a duck blind, it is an art in itself.
Over/under guns can have reliability problems. All firearms wear and require maintenance. Galling wear of an over/under receiver is a certainty without proper lubrication. You may also have a more complicated trigger mechanism and two firing pins that could break instead of one, and repairs on over/under guns are usually more expensive.
Fire power is another consideration. The third shot may not be important in clay games, but most of us use shotguns to hunt various birds and waterfowl where the third shot in a pump or semi-auto gun allows us to drop three birds with three shots if we are good enough to do so.
Good quality over/under shotguns usually weigh 8 pounds or more. Many feel that they are too heavy to carry around for a day of hunting as well as too painful to shoot.
Many who take up clay games shooting have trouble lifting them to the shoulder for more than two or three rounds, where one shoots 25 shots per round.
Cost is another consideration in deciding whether an over/under is for you. Mid-range quality over/under guns can be a little over $1,000, and higher quality guns can be anywhere from $1,800 to $2,300. Many premium-quality guns are $3,000 to over $5,000. A family can be outfitted with 870s and BPSs for a fraction of the cost of even a mid-range quality over/under from Browning, Beretta or Weatherby.
Just make sure if you are going to purchase an over/under shotgun, you know why you want one, that it is at least a mid-range quality gun, and you can justify the cost.
Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He was a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University for 25 years. There he taught orienteering, marksmanship, self-defense, fencing, scuba diving and boxing. He was among the first DPS-certified Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.
