14Supersport04 Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 After using a 12 bore SxS club gun for my round of clays this morning and shooting very well with it at a wide range of targets i am considering trading in the O/U for a side by side. This is not just something i have thought up today as i have been considering it for a very long time. I have my eyes on a 30" Thomas Bland and sons boxlock. My question is does anyone have any major reasons as to why i should not change to SxS? It will be used for small amounts of clay shooting and also vermin and game shooting (average hight pheasant). Thanks, Supersport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisAsh Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 Thousands of people used them for all shooting before the war and seem to have done all right, as long as the gun fits and you have enough practice you can probably shoot the same with either gun Fashion has a lot to answer for, after all there is only so much you can do with two smooth tubes and a very simple action Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 As Chris says. A few years ago I switched from using a O/U 12 bore for everything to a S/S 20 bore. Just to see how it felt. Whilst I still own the 12 bore, it gets very little use, and is more a foxing gun, capable of firing large loads that I can't put into a 2 3/4 inch chambered 20 bore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 If you do not take the clay shooting seriously then there are not too many negatives . Check the chamber length on the gun you are thinking about though as if it's 2" or even 2.5" there will not be a huge choice of cartridges like their is for a 2 3/4 " chamber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TONY R Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 Used both SxS and O Us continuously throughout my life, i can see no real advantages or disadvantages in either that amount to anything tangible. It can be argued OUs have more weight generaly and the single sighting plane are an advantage in clay shooting, but in reality SxSs are just as capable if not popular at the moment in clay shooting. In Clay shooting today the OU is the norm, and show up at any semi serious comp with your dads old webley 700 and it wont be recieved quite as well as the same gun would have been in lets say 1934, when most of the guns would have been SxSs. In the same vein show up on a late 70s early 1980s game shoot with an OU and you again would have been very much in a minority back then. Only up until this past few years has one form of shooting remained pretty independent and with a run what you brung attitude to gun types, and that sport is wildfowling, SxSs stayed popular and probably in higher % than in other forms of shooting Right up to recent times. Semi autos are the most ubiquitous type of gun i see on marshes these days by a good margin, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wilksy Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 I love shooting both my sxs and o/u only thing I'd say is i feel the sxs a lot more after a hundred clays or a day in the hide but not enough to put me off, I'd say keep both! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panoma1 Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 (edited) I love shooting both my sxs and o/u only thing I'd say is i feel the sxs a lot more after a hundred clays or a day in the hide but not enough to put me off, I'd say keep both! See below! Edited post appears as the new posting below! Dunno why? Edited April 16, 2016 by panoma1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panoma1 Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 "Nail on the head" springs to mind! O/U's started to appear in numbers in the UK around the sixties as mainly clay guns, and have steadily spilled over into the game shooting arena, where they have, to a certain degree, taken over! In my opinion they are fine for most kinds of driven where the quarry comes to you! but a light, responsive SBS comes into its own with fast driven game and walked up for example Grouse, where most O/U's are very pointable but usually heavy (to soak up recoil during heavy cartridge use as per clay bustin) and slow! Especially in the longer barrel versions, and horribly uncomfortable to carry on a long walked up day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougall Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 crack on! my heart says s/s and they have that 'something' whilst I do shoot better with o/u,especially at clays, love the look/feel/tradition of s/s...get a bit of history in your hands! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenlivet Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 Rather spookily there's a Thomas Bland side lock ejector just come up on Gunwatch! Karma?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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