Two triggers or one for a hunting gun?

[WolfMansDad]

Just as the title says, do you prefer two triggers or one on a hunting double? Not for clays, which is predictable, just for hunting, which is not.

I'm lusting after the Ruger Gold Label, but I want two triggers.

 

[kentucky_smith]

I shoot an old AYA without selectable triggers, fixed choke. 1st pull mod bbl, 2nd pull full. No fumbling around, no worrying which to use first. THis is for the occasional open field flatland upland hunting. Worked for a lot of people for a long time.

 

[jcord]

I use a stoeger coach gun. I like 2 triggers and SxS instead of o/u.

 

[ArmedBear]

I shoot a plugged semiauto.

Is there a 'smith who will install three triggers for me?

 

[PJR]

Two triggers is the best instant choke selection available.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I like two. If the bird flushes early, or if the dog is young and has gotten out ahead, I like to be able to select the modified barrel, instead of having to waste a round in the IC barrel, to get to the modified barrel.

LD

 

[Fred Fuller]

Two barrels, two triggers. It OUGHT to be self explanatory, but it seems that some so-called gun designers don't "get it."

Worst of all is a single non-selective trigger, single selective is only a tad better IMHO. KISS still works.

lpl/nc

 

[TrapperReady]

Worst of all is a single non-selective trigger, single selective is only a tad better IMHO. KISS still works.

Lee, do you actually use the selector when hunting? I used to try, but mostly because it was there. Anymore, I just follow the "see the bird, shoot the bird" formula. I don't worry too much about chokes or stacking loads (for a repeater).

BTW, all my guns have single triggers... however, if I were to get a SxS, I'd prefer double-triggers. Just because.

 

[MCgunner]

Two triggers, instant choke selection. With all the years I hunted with my old side by side, it just became an autonomic reflex, if the bird was close, I'd go for the front trigger, bird was long range, I'd go for the back one. You don't even think about it, you just do it.

 

[ArmedBear]

I know more than one guy with messed-up or chopped-off index fingers. I suppose they might want single triggers.

I also know a couple old guys who actually use their selectors while dove hunting.

Me? I figure doves are hard enough to hit, especially in wilderness terrain where, unlike on agricultural land, you don't see them coming and you often have no idea where they might be going when you do see them. Why introduce more complexity?

All of that said, after patterning the old fixed Modified barrel I used for dove and quail this season, and shooting clays of all sorts, at all sorts of distances, with it, I really question how much difference it all really makes.

IC is pretty open. I could see using it for flushing pheasant. But for smaller birds that fly away fast, Modified seems to work for me. When I pattern it, I like what I see. Most of my birds hit the ground stone dead, this year, too, which appeals to my ethical side.

I might pick up a SxS sometime this year (they should go on sale soon, since Xmas and Quail Season will be over). I've wondered about the trigger. On principle, and for simplicity, double triggers do seem like a good choice. But how much does it REALLY matter whether you shoot IC/M, M/IC, or M/M with the two barrels, anyway?

Thoughts from the guys who've enjoyed a lot more wild game dinners than I have thus far?

 

[TrapperReady]

But how much does it REALLY matter whether you shoot IC/M, M/IC, or M/M with the two barrels, anyway?

My personal opinion? None. If not none, then pretty close to none.

Case in point... I have used my 425 O/U for quite a bit of bird hunting. I used to run IC/IM and would sometimes try to use the selector. I found the selector cumbersome (unless I switched it well in advace -- like moving it to the top barrel when the dog was getting birdy "way out there"). I also found that frequently I'd drop a bird with the "wrong barrel", either because I'd messed up with the selector, a bird flushed "where it shouldn't have", or I missed with the first shot.

Nowadays, if I'm using that gun with lead shot, I just screw in a pair of IM tubes and don't worry about it. Bird goes up. Gun goes bang (sometimes bang bang), and the bird goes down.

The only time I want a very open choke is when I'm grouse or woodcock hunting, and then the shots are either close and close again, or close and wasted (due to the amount of thick cover). The difference between a couple of chokes wouldn't make a hoot's worth of difference.

That being said, I'm a hypocrite when it comes to SxSs. I don't own one yet, but when I get one, it will probably have double triggers and fixed chokes, each a little different. Why? Tradition. I don't think that it will actually be that helpful, but it's what comes to mind when I think "SxS".

 

[ArmedBear]

I'm starting to really like like fixed chokes.

Never have to worry about whether they're screwed in, never have to tear up my hands with a bronze brush trying to get the accumulated plastic wad crud out of them, never find out that the choke you just screwed in is off-center or out-of-round.

Too bad that they're no longer readily available on any guns but those on the real high end, or on the less-common bores.

...which isn't to say I'd never want a 28, but it's not a top priority for my budget at the moment...

(BTW, to the original poster, I wouldn't let the trigger steer you away from the wonderful and highly-tempting Gold Label if you like it in every other way.)

 

[PJR]

It's what you get used to. My 12 gauge sxs is choked skeet and light modified and has two triggers and an auto safety. Most often when I'm hunting I have a one ounce load in the right barrel for close shots and 1-1/8 ounce in the tighter barrel if the bird gets up further out.

It's surprising how easy it is to adjust between a single trigger o/u or semi-auto and the twin trigger sxs. But give me a sxs with a single trigger and I am constantly trying to shift to a second trigger that isn't there.

 

[ArmedBear]

Why the 1 oz. load? Less muzzle flip?

And do you go so far as to use slightly different sized shot in each (something I've done a little of )

 

[TrapperReady]

AB - I can speak for PJR, but...

Why the 1 oz. load? Less muzzle flip?

And do you go so far as to use slightly different sized shot in each (something I've done a little of )

For birds like dove, grouse, quail, woodcock, and chukars, they don't take a whole bunch of pellets to kill cleanly. I often use my normal 1 oz target loads for all of the above. I do that because (a) it's what I've got around (b) it's inexpensive and (c) it works well. For pheasants, I use 1 1/4 oz of #5 lead loaded as hot as the recipe allows.

I have tried stacking loads of different sized shot in the past, but don't anymore. I'm not convinced that it ever gained me extra birds.

 

[MCgunner]

After last season, hunting over a tank (that's Texan for pond) at my buddy's farm, I'm thinking of going with IC/full. I was shooting my Winchester autoloader (M1400) last season with a modified choke, but the danged birds would come straight in so close, I hesitated to squeeze on 'em as the pattern was so dense at that range. There were longer passing shots, but I let a lot of birds fly by I could have dusted with an open choke and I'd swing around and shoot at 'em going away, which is somewhat a low percentage shot. I mean, it was great hunting, but I think I could have used an IC for those close birds.

I was shooting 12 gauge in the Winchester, my new double is a 20 gauge, so I'm thinking the long range barrel should be full. I'll be shooting 7/8 ounce loads. I need to pick up some Win AA to pattern out of it. I just got this little 20 SxS and have only patterned one load in it, cheap Remington heavy dove 1 oz load. It was pretty dense, but had a few dove size holes in the pattern. I think I can get it a little more consistent than that with a quality 7/8 ounce load.

I know there's a difference between skeet/IC and full just from trap shooting. I got on this boat to the Bahamas with the wife once about 15 years ago. They had a trap shoot off the back of the boat for a magnum of French champagne. I think it was 5 bucks for 5 shots or 10 bucks for ten shots, don't remember, but it seems like it was a buck a shot. First time, I didn't do well. I'm used to choked guns. You could fire as many rounds as you wanted. So, I'm sitting there talking to the wife and thinkin', "Ya know, I bet that danged choke is open." I was letting 'em get out there a ways.

So, I went down and stood in line and took another turn. Before the guy loaded it the barrel for the first shot, I asked to see the gun, dug out a dime, and it rattled like a clapper in a bell in the muzzle of the gun. I thought that kid was going to freak when I did that, but I assured him there wan't a problem... So, "PULL", I shot soon as I got the bead in front of the clay and it dusted 20 yards off the trap, did that every shot, 100%. The rest of the shooters were apparently eastern city liberals because I walked away with the booze and I ain't that good on clays. Only friggin' clays shoot I ever won, LOL! I think that gun has some of 'em messed up. It was a Remington M870 and I think it probably had a skeet choke in it. You really had to be quick on the bird or it was out of range of that open pattern.

So, yes, I know there is a practical difference in choke pattern density. It's sorta hard to tell, though, between mod/full or IC/mod in the field in practical hunting situations, but I'm thinking IC/Full will give me a real choice next dove season.

 

[PJR]

Why the 1 oz. load? Less muzzle flip?

And do you go so far as to use slightly different sized shot in each (something I've done a little of )

Yes and yes. And as TrapperReady said I want less shot on small birds that are up close. For grouse hunting I might put a 7/8s ounce load in the right barrel and one ounce of #6 in the left for longer shots.

 

[ArmedBear]

Our quail might be tougher than your quail, Trapper.

Lots of people I've talked to here use #6, after some frustrating times chasing the birds around after they hit the ground.

Even when I've hit them with #6 with a Modified choke 12 Gauge at relatively close range, I haven't found any shot in the meat (I'm especially careful, since my wife is pregnant). And the one bird I got with a leg missing was hit with #8 -- maybe it was already missing the leg before I got it?!?

WRT loads from 7/8 oz. to 1 1/8 oz., I was just perusing Alliant's reloading book and the shot count chart is interesting.

 

[Rembrandt]

There are some 3 barrel guns with 2 triggers.....quite common on European drillings. Have never studied how they work, has to be an engineering masterpiece.

 

[TrapperReady]

AB - I was talking Bobwhite's. Other variants may well be tougher.

One thing I've found is that the angle has a lot to do with how tough birds are to kill. For example, if I've got a good look at a bird's head, then chances are very good that it's going down... and hard. In fact, on a preserve-bird shoot a couple years ago I neatly dropped several pheasants (which turned out to be left over from a morning group -- we were expecting huns) with 7/8 oz loads of #7.5 shot. In each case, they were quartering away and I could get pellets into the front of the birds.

I've read that one of the most common loadings used for driven bird shooting in England is 1 oz of #7 (not #7.5) shot. Then again, with birds flushing overhead, you've got a clear shot at vitals.

 

[Okiecruffler]

Two triggers, of course two triggers. If'n you ain't gots two triggers how the heck you supposed to shoot both barrels at once?

I've always lusted for a 311 12ga choked IC/Full. Seems to make an awful lot of sense.

 

[sm]

I believe in -

Two Triggers
&
Fixed Chokes
&
Stacked loads



There is no truth is the rumor that dove hunting was invented by shot shell mfgs. -me


Heard on the dove field : Not a shotgunner huh? I'd figure by now one of them doves would've run into some of that shot you been tossing by now. Three boxes and not one damn dove, you any good at retrieving birds others fell - the dawgs want a break. And you ain't getting style points in that get up you wearing either...

 

[win71]

I thought I was the odd one that used different shot in a double barrel. Of late I have been using a 28 ga. and have it choked skeet and modified. I'm hunting over a dog (pointer).

Anyway the open barrel has Fiocchi 3/4 oz. of #6's
The second is 1 oz. superX copper #6's

Keeping them straight is no problem. The 1 oz. Winchesters are Red, The 3/4 oz. Fiocchi is Green.

The first shot is usually close and the 3/4 oz. loads don't tear the birds up so bad. And by the same token the 1 oz. copper plated loads seem to work a little better on the longer shots.

 

[WolfMansDad]

Ahh, good. I see I'm not alone.

I want two barrels and two triggers for both instant choke selection and instant shot size selection. When I was a teenager, I hunted with a cheap, clunky double with fixed chokes, and usually put different loads in each barrel. For example, I would put a high-brass #6 in the left (modified) barrel and a low-brass #8 or #7-1/2 in the right (IC) barrel. The high-brass #6 was in case I flushed a rabbit or squirrel, and the other was for quail. (I hunted over a pointing dog but was not above taking furred game if it presented itself.)

Last year, I went on an organized quail hunt where there were also wild pig. We carried pig tags and slugs, just in case, but swapping the quail loads out in a pump seemed kind of awkward. Not something you could do if a pig flushed right in front of you! In this case, the pigs had long vanished when we arrived, stomping around with the dogs crashing through the bush, but it got me thinking anyway.

I really like two triggers and two loads for mixed small game. When the dog goes on point, you often can't tell what kind of bird he has until the flush. By then, it's too late to fumble with a selector switch.