samboy Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 Hi gang. When shooting Olympic skeet why do shooters always load the bottom barrel first and not the top barrel first?. Or for any other discipline which requires a single shot first. Just curious. Thanks all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enfieldspares Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 (edited) There is less effect on the gun from recoil when the lower barrel is fired so therefore the gun is under better control. That's why the bottom barrel is fired first when shooting a pair and, of course, why it is the barrel of choice when but a single shot is being fired. Of course on a side by side the barrel which would produce least affect of recoil when the gun was fired would be the left barrel for a right shouldered firer! But most side by side guns are double trigger guns the front trigger fires the right barrel. And I suppose the small advantage of the right barrel being easier to reload? Having said that I have never, when I had an SKB 200, set up a selectable single trigger side by side to fire the left barrel first. That's the penalty of tradition and how the right and left barrel were customarily choked. Even on a Boss and its standard non-selective single trigger gun the right barrel fired first. Edited February 25 by enfieldspares Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 (edited) Have never given it any thought, so it must be a subconscious habit, but thinking about it I always load the bottom barrel first. My Perazzi has no barrel selector and always fires the bottom barrel first, so that’s possibly why, and my more open choke is always in the bottom, regardless of how the targets are presented in any discipline. 🤷♂️ @enfieldspares that makes sense. Edited February 25 by Scully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HantsRob Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 As well as recoil, less muzzle flip with the bottom barrel. Therefore in sporting targets you are "on it" quicker with the second bird. Overall, better accuracy between two birds for both recoil and muzzle flip reasons. I hadn't thought about SxS, interesting and of course makes perfect sense. Scully, that must be a bother if you have 2 different chokes for different style targets. What chokes do you usually use? Of course, no issues if they were both 3/8 for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 21 minutes ago, HantsRob said: Scully, that must be a bother if you have 2 different chokes for different style targets. What chokes do you usually use? Of course, no issues if they were both 3/8 for example. No, can’t say it’s anything I’ve given any thought to really. Even with guns which have barrel selectors I always without exception shoot the bottom barrel first, regardless of choke in any particular barrel. I shoot Sporting with skeet & skeet, full & full and every combination in between, but to be honest it’s generally 3/8 & 1/2 or 1/4 & 1/2. I’ve never been one to swap chokes or barrels dependant on any particular target. I’m a great believer in the old adage ‘you’re either on ‘em or you’re not’. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HantsRob Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 I have joined the magical 3/8's club. I am sure it's completely all in my head between that and 1/4 and 1/2. I fully agree and subscribe to sporting targets being either on them or not! That said I am hearing more bio clays clanging as they're hit but not smashing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 20 minutes ago, HantsRob said: I have joined the magical 3/8's club. I am sure it's completely all in my head between that and 1/4 and 1/2. I fully agree and subscribe to sporting targets being either on them or not! That said I am hearing more bio clays clanging as they're hit but not smashing! 🙂 I don’t know why, but it does indeed seem quite ‘magical’ doesn’t it! Without doubt 3/8th is my favourite choke, and like you I’m also pretty sure it’s all in my head. 🤷♂️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 In answer to the OP. I can recall that a lot of dedicated Skeet or Trap guns did NOT have a barrel selector, some even had a locking safety catch. I have an old Franchi Trap gun with a non-selective safety, which can be locked OFF. Remember, that a misfire or rather a non-fire due to user error, is a lost target in competition. At Olympic level, it could mean get yer coat ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet11-87 Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 funny enough, ive never really noticed a recoil or muzzle flip change between barrels but i always have the more open choke on the bottom and use the selector on the gun depending on the pair im shooting if its clays. usually running 1/2 and 3/4 but if i upped to 3/4 and full then the 3/4 is coming out aswell and going in the bottom barrel. and after a wipe down my guns go into the cabinet with 1/2 and 3/4, just 1/2 if its got the one barrel and 1/4 so it patterns like 1/2 in my duck gun. i must have a full set of chokes for most of my guns and i bet the 1/2 for all of them does 95% of the shooting ive got true cylinder and x full and they've never been in my guns that i can remember Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enfieldspares Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 I thought about this again and apparently, so I am led to believe some game shooters using an O/U set up the gun to fire the top barrel first as that is the quickest to reload. I personally don't own and O/U and maybe others here that do shoot driven game with one might comment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robden Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 Put "Why shoot bottom barrel first?" into your interweb search bar. You'll get enough info to read all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 7 hours ago, enfieldspares said: I thought about this again and apparently, so I am led to believe some game shooters using an O/U set up the gun to fire the top barrel first as that is the quickest to reload. I personally don't own and O/U and maybe others here that do shoot driven game with one might comment? That is fairly standard practice for game and wood pigeon shooting from a hide. Makes reloading after a single shot much quicker. Back to the original question, who knows. As I have said many times before, a snooker player does not need to chalk the tip of his cue every time, but it becomes a habit and part of the routine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 Whenever I am shooting driven game, regardless of the gun being O/U or S x S, I always fire the 'choke' barrel first. I can never understand why most game shooters never do this ? Preferring to shoot the open choke first, then 'pluck' the bird using the choke barrel, when the bird is a lot closer. Most 'game' guns were set up to fire the open barrel first, followed by the choke barrel. Fine on walked up stuff, where the bird jumps, is shot at and is followed by the choke barrel as the range increases, but not a lot of use on an approaching target. With regards to clayshooting guns, I agree that the bottom barrel can recoil less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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