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which barrel first


Daz Harrison
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I always have cylinder to 1/4 in the first barrel and 1/2 in the second, taking the nearer bird with less choke to preserve the bird. When using a semi-auto I find that half choke is best for me and try to take the first bird that bit further out. Half choke allows the odd 50 yarder as well !

Edited by jimmydean
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ive confused my self :( which barrel first when shooting out of a hide, i have fixed chokes which are full and half/Modified, please could you explain why ?

 

No right or wrong and depends entirely on how the birds present themselves, often the tighter choke is best employed on a pair coming in at different distances where you would shoot the further bird first. Other times you may have two birds over the decoys together where it would obviously be better to shoot the more open barrel first leaving a bit of choke to deal with a fast departing second bird.

 

You may also be sitting in the hide with few birds decoying properly and find that the tighter barrel will give you a few shots at distant birds skirting around the area.

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tighter being the half ?

 

Full is the tighter one, half is itself a bit on the tight side for decoyed pigeon :yes: if you're doing things right anyway. I'm not suggesting you need to worry too much but few people have the skill to use Full on pigeon without either missing/winging a few too many or smashing them up at under 35 yards.

 

Depending on how good a shot you are I would try and get birds to decoy at not closer than 25 yards but more ideally say 30-35 yards because closer shots will mean even your half choke will not have opened up to its advantageous best.

 

On a typical days decoying my preferred recipe would be 1/4 or LightMod (under half) plus 3/4.

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tighter being the half ?

The full choke is tighter.It's a bit like the adjustable end on a hosepipe, when you have it tightened up(full) you get a narrower jet .Open it up(half) and you get more spread but not so concentrated jet.Much simplified but hope it helps.Cheers.

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The other thing to bear in mind is that if you are shooting an over & under, the lower barrel is likely to be slightly more accurate, because it sits right on the centre of gravity of the gun. The upper barrel is above the centre of gravity so the trajectory is therefore more affected when the gun kicks. It's not huge difference, but most people will shoot a bit better with the lower barrel.

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The other thing to bear in mind is that if you are shooting an over & under, the lower barrel is likely to be slightly more accurate, because it sits right on the centre of gravity of the gun. The upper barrel is above the centre of gravity so the trajectory is therefore more affected when the gun kicks. It's not huge difference, but most people will shoot a bit better with the lower barrel.

Are you sure?

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I think both barrels are as accurate as each other , the thought is though that the bottom barrel gives a straighter line of recoil enabling the shooter to be able to fire the top barrel sooner due to less muzzle flip.

 

Factually correct but in practice it makes no odds. It is true that for certain clay shooting disciplines it is advantageous to have the least amount of disturbance in recoil terms to enable a more fluid second shot but in reality it really makes no discernible difference.

 

There are very few instances in Sporting where shots have to be taken so quickly as to make the recoil flip noticeable, in pigeon terms it would be an irrelevance.

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Factually correct but in practice it makes no odds. It is true that for certain clay shooting disciplines it is advantageous to have the least amount of disturbance in recoil terms to enable a more fluid second shot but in reality it really makes no discernible difference.

 

There are very few instances in Sporting where shots have to be taken so quickly as to make the recoil flip noticeable, in pigeon terms it would be an irrelevance.

 

 

Factually correct but in practice it makes no odds. It is true that for certain clay shooting disciplines it is advantageous to have the least amount of disturbance in recoil terms to enable a more fluid second shot but in reality it really makes no discernible difference.

 

There are very few instances in Sporting where shots have to be taken so quickly as to make the recoil flip noticeable, in pigeon terms it would be an irrelevance.

 

I agree with you , I did say the thought is , my personal thoughts are the same as you , it does not make a iota of difference so use which ever barrel you want in what ever order !

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Factually correct but in practice it makes no odds. It is true that for certain clay shooting disciplines it is advantageous to have the least amount of disturbance in recoil terms to enable a more fluid second shot but in reality it really makes no discernible difference.

 

There are very few instances in Sporting where shots have to be taken so quickly as to make the recoil flip noticeable, in pigeon terms it would be an irrelevance.

Agree, and in my opinion there is a practical reason to shoot top barrel first - when reloading after taking just one shot the top barrel can be reloaded without opening the gun fully. Useful when space is tight in the hide and/or when time is of the essence.

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Agree, and in my opinion there is a practical reason to shoot top barrel first - when reloading after taking just one shot the top barrel can be reloaded without opening the gun fully. Useful when space is tight in the hide and/or when time is of the essence.

Exactly how I like to do it, I shoot top first as I just find it easier to stuff one in the top in a confined space, multi chokes shooting half and three quarters.

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I have always shot 1/4 and 1/2 with the 1/4 first shot in the the pattern and 1/2 going away . I changed the configuration late last year so that my 1/4 is the top barrel , this was the increase speed loading as I found the lower barrel difficult to load at times. My normal technique is to watch birds approach if I have more than one coming I let this land in the pattern and shoot the following bird first then the sitting bird as it spooks out of the pattern which will be on a direct path away and easier to follow the line.

 

As I've stated before if you have a number coming in I will attempt a triple , that is first to land and the following try and get two lined up and drop with one shot then take the sitter as it goes away. We usually manage a couple of triples over a weekend.

 

I'm not trying to be blasé about my shooting but the original question was which barrel first , when you start shooting you shoot and miss a lot, as your confidence grows you have more doubles in time you will manage triples. I will always remember DB shooting six birds with three shots with his auto when we were shooting rape and we had birds coming in tight flocks of ten to fifteen.

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I'm pleased I don't have an over and under they are to technical for me. I just thought if you could shoot straight the rest didn't really matter. Something I heard yesterday from a very good gunsmiths....I quote. My father always told me if everyone shot with a skeet gun and open chokes everyone would be a better shot. Something in there somewhere I'm sure.

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I personally think that the gun becomes an extension to your own body in the way that you can shoot without thinking just a reflex action. If you think about the shot too long it gets into you head and you miss . When you say which barrel first . I've take distance birds with the 1/4 barrel and decoy shots with the 1/2 . That's just taking the shot with confidence and not thinking.

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I have always shot 1/4 and 1/2 with the 1/4 first shot in the the pattern and 1/2 going away . I changed the configuration late last year so that my 1/4 is the top barrel , this was the increase speed loading as I found the lower barrel difficult to load at times. My normal technique is to watch birds approach if I have more than one coming I let this land in the pattern and shoot the following bird first then the sitting bird as it spooks out of the pattern which will be on a direct path away and easier to follow the line.

 

As I've stated before if you have a number coming in I will attempt a triple , that is first to land and the following try and get two lined up and drop with one shot then take the sitter as it goes away. We usually manage a couple of triples over a weekend.

 

I'm not trying to be blasé about my shooting but the original question was which barrel first , when you start shooting you shoot and miss a lot, as your confidence grows you have more doubles in time you will manage triples. I will always remember DB shooting six birds with three shots with his auto when we were shooting rape and we had birds coming in tight flocks of ten to fifteen.

You shoot Browning, then. :lol:

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The other thing to bear in mind is that if you are shooting an over & under, the lower barrel is likely to be slightly more accurate, because it sits right on the centre of gravity of the gun. The upper barrel is above the centre of gravity so the trajectory is therefore more affected when the gun kicks. It's not huge difference, but most people will shoot a bit better with the lower barrel.

I have checked the date and this post is a couple of days late...

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To the OP:

 

unless you're a very experienced and quite advanced shotgun shooter (in which case you probably wouldn't be asking the question), you don't need to worry about this at all. A standard (eg 1/4 and 1/2) choke configuration will be fine; it doesn't really matter which in which barrel and it doesn't matter which barrel you shoot first.

 

Not that there is no difference, just that the difference is of minimal importance to the less advanced shooter.

 

I shoot 1/4 and 1/2, bottom barrel first. Just because that's a standard, basic thing to do, and what I've always done. I feel as though varying any of those variables would make me more likely to miss. Which is possibly also not logical, but is how I feel. I don't want to mess about with things. I want to keep as many things as possible the same.

 

I think you might be better off taking a similar approach for now.

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