Need some info on SxS Please

[Zack]

There is a gun show in a few days, I really shouldnt be buying more guns lol... I just want non "Evil Black Rifle looks" If there was a gun ban or scare of it, they wouldn't go after shotguns single shots/double barrels/rifle single shots? They would go for high powerd rifles? So I am looking at getting a side by side... I was looking at Stoeger how good are they? basic $299-$350 SxS?? I do not want a SxS that is MADE IN CHINA...

Is there any problems with SxS? barrel not shutting? escaping gases?

 

[ArmedBear]

SxS can have problems, sure. Escaping gases aren't among the most prevalent, though.

WRT bans, don't expect them to be predictable or to make sense. E.g., Austria banned the sale of pump shotguns in 1995, after a number of teens killed their parents with pump shotguns. Semiautos are legal to sell, as are multi-barrel guns, though. Gun bans are about demonizing something, but that "something" could be just about anything.

 

[Zack]

But you think I should buy a SxS or not? and pay alittle more for something else? I rather want? I have something with Wild west guns they are just neat, already got a lever action, once I am 21 I want to get a 6 shooter. Now I want a SxS lol..

 

[bushmaster1313]

Get yourself a used 12 gauge Stevens 311 sxs and have the barrels cut to whatever length you want over 18 inches.

Proudly made in the USA

 

[ArmedBear]

Get a SxS if you want. You don't need excuses.

 

[Zack]

What about the escaping gases? how long is a barrel life on the cheap model SxS by stoeger?

ArmoedBear with 21,848 posts I would think you own a SxS?

 

[ArmedBear]

I do. It was made in 1926. Barrel life is a non-issue. It also cost me less than a new Stoeger, but I had a bit of woodwork to do.

Escaping gases are not a problem unless the gun shoots loose, which it probably won't. Stoegers are used in CAS competition. With proper lube, some internal polishing and some replacement parts, they survive quite a bit of abuse.

Barrel regulation can be an issue with cheaper 2-barrel shotguns, i.e. do the barrels shoot to the same point. I believe Stoegers are adequately regulated. I've seen/heard some amusing things about the regulation of Baikals, though I think that Remington's influence on Baikal led to improvements.

That said, I shoot better with a SxS with a side called "Top" and one called "Bottom."

 

[Zack]

How do you open the interparts? I only see the firing pins but how would you lube up and clean the action, springs etc?

 

[ArmedBear]

The buttstock is usually held on with a bolt through the wrist, just like an 870. Remove the buttpad/plate and unscrew the buttstock.

 

[Zack]

Ah, Thank you so much

 

[ArmedBear]

BTW the action is called a "boxlock" but it's not really in a box. It's out in the open, once you remove the buttstock, like this:

 

[Zack]

Oh so helpful! Thank you!

How is the hammer cocked? when the barrel opens then shuts?

In the Stoeger 12g model, you can shoot any buck through it?

If I was to get a USED gun which I really perfer to get brand new, what are some other good brands for SxS? I go to gun shows and there is always a buttload of SxS but they are all over $400+ used old looking, must be good guns??

 

[UKShooter]

Hi,

That is correct, they are cocked by opening them then shutting them again.

So if you open it, load it, then close it, it is ready to fire

-Paul

 

[Zack]

Do you know how to place a sling on it? I seen videos of SxS with slings on the stock and the barrel, but how do you place it on it?

 

[oneounceload]

What are you trying to use the gun for?
In target shooting, and most every other application, a sling can hamper performance by getting in the way

 

[Zack]

A fun range gun and backup HD but I use my pump for HD

 

[oneounceload]

The only successful use I have seen with a sling was for those folks waterfowling where they had a ways to walk and needed both hands for carrying dekes, etc. - even then, they usually removed them before shooting.

IMO, a sling is more a hindrance than a help

YMMV

 

[ArmedBear]

WRT "fun range gun"...

It sounds fun to shoot watermelons with a shotgun, and I suppose it is. Once. A couple times if you're drunk enough (not recommended, especially with a short SxS, due to the obvious danger of blowing your toes off).

A lot of what I see in 3 Gun and Cowboy Action is really a speed-reloading contest more than a shooting contest. Hitting steel plates with a shotgun is trivial if someone has the least bit of practice with it. Reloading and handling guns fast enough to win one of these timed contests is the real challenge, in the shotgun portions of these sports.

A SxS coach gun looks cool, but it's a boring toy after a short time.

"Fun" with a shotgun, long term, is breaking clays in the air. My wife: "It's like a video game, but it's real!" The only problem is that I couldn't afford to do that for fun until I was in my 30s. Here's my unsolicited advice: if you "shouldn't" buy something, then DON'T! If I hadn't gotten myself into some deep debt early in my adult life, I could have been shooting clays for fun, ten years sooner.

 

[okc-zee]

I recently picked up a 12ga stoeger coach gun for fun...I honed and polished the chambers,replaced the firing pins w/ black annodized steel ones,polished all metal to metal parts,dis-connected the manual safety,picked up a spare buttstock and cut it down and added a grindable limbsaver pad to it...all in all 12" LOP now..Maybe 2 hours total work in it...I've got about 500 to 600 flawless rounds thru it...I really like it...My next double will be a stevens...

Here's the Stoeger...

 

[oneounceload]

Nice work, but I guess it depends on what someone considers a lot. 500-600 shots would be 1-2 weeks at most for me shooting sporting clays. I need a gun that can go 100,000 without major hassles. Some of the cheaper guns don't tend to last that long. But, if you're only shooting a few times a year, they might work fine

 

[BCRider]

If you go for a SxS I'd get one with chokes so that you can use it for clays or hunting. I got an old Baikal and cut it down to 20 inches for cowboy shooting and it's great fun for all that. And while it shoots bird like a lawn fountain it holds groups of buck pretty well for a cylinder bore. Even cut down it patterns 00buck at around 12'ish inches at 10 yards. And the two barrels are within 3 inches at that range of being matched for center.

But other than shooting at the CAS events and some casual close in fun it's not really what I would call useful. Although it would do well at HD with the 00 buck where that's allowed (as in not up here where I live) thanks to being decently short enough to maneuver around.

But then if you have fun with a short "tactical" pump shottie I can assure you that a short double barrel is a bucket of grins as well. Just in a different way.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Is there any problems with SxS?

One common problem with SxS, and I sadly have this problem with my great grandfathers 16ga, is that on many designs the wood stock design had these 4 thin "fingers" that wrapped around the receiver portion of the firearm. These 4 thin wooden fingers tend to crack pretty easily and they are extremely hard to repair.

So, keep an eye out for that.

 

[huntsman]

they wouldn't go after shotguns single shots/double barrels/rifle single shots? So I am looking at getting a side by side... I was looking at Stoeger how good are they? basic $299-$350 SxS?? I do not want a SxS that is MADE IN CHINA...

I concur with your logic right up to the Stoeger part, resist the impulse buy and spend more for a better gun.

After all you’re talking about your last line of defense, you going to bet your life on a Stoeger?

 

[MCgunner]

I just want non "Evil Black Rifle looks" If there was a gun ban or scare of it, they wouldn't go after shotguns single shots/double barrels/rifle single shots?

Don't bet on that! But, then, that's political.

I'd stay well away from Chinese. Russian is much better, Biakal/Spartan if you can find one. They're in limbo right now as to importation unless things have changed and I haven't heard. Or, you could get a Stoeger, but I really like my little 20 gauge Spartan with screw in chokes. It's a very strong, reliable little gun if not much to look at, the AK of side by sides.

You won't find what most gun snobs would consider a gun they would own in a side by side for less than five figures. But, there are reasonably solid choices out there like the Baikal on a working man's budget, or in my case, a retired man's budget.

 

[huntsman]

You won't find what most gun snobs would consider a gun they would own in a side by side for less than five figures.

Maybe being a shotgun snob is nothing more than the realization that you can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig, and money is too hard to come by to waste on pigs.