Single VS double-triggers

Cat, I used to be that guy who changed choke tubes at every sporting clays station but the last few years I only change chokes if the target is really far or really close, everything else gets IC and Mod!
For many years shooting Trap a lot of the old guys frowned upon shooters using anything more open than full choke from the 16 yard line. I had the gall (as a joke) to ask one of these guys what I should tighten up to from the 25 yard line if Full was required form 16 yards and was met by a stoney silent stare..... Damn kids! So as an experiment, I switched to mod at 16 yards and my scores didn't change, then I went to IC from 16 yards and my scores stayed the same, I even went back to 25 yards or so and broke targets with my IC choke but I think my score did suffer a bit. There's a great comfort in not being so technically minded that you think you have to change from slightly tight to slight looser to break a given target and I think that's what these old guys were saying but not saying, ignorance is bliss and simple is good!
 
I have done reasonably well at 16 yards with my cylinder bore Westly Richards using black powder loads with 1 1/8 Oz of shot and at a skeet using 7/8 or 1 Oz of shot .
Many years ago I quit blaming Misses on chokes or shot size or gauge !
One of my avorite sayings of my dearly departed father's is " shut up and just shoot the dammed gun, Kid":cool:
Cat
 
On the topic of chokes... I never change them. My TM has factory first gen chokes. When I sent the gun to Chris Dawe to be restored the IM choke was rusted in and he had to remove it. That was not my neglect but the previous owner. Chris removed it and cleaned it up. It's been back in the gun since and has stayed there except to remove for cleaning and lubing. I shoot it at 16 and my assigned handicap of 25.5yds. We have a couple guys at our club who seem to think I'm doing myself a disservice by using it at 16 but I like seeing those boiling black clouds when I am on my game. It gives you confidence. As for my hunting gun(20 gauge SX3), same thing. The IC choke never leaves the barrel.....
 
The silly things we do while at the range.
- I often used too much choke, for no other reason than I liked the clay pigeon to go "puff" instead of just breaking them

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and for the record, I guess I'd qualify as a very-occasional-trap shooter. More often than not, my clay-pigeon shooting will be a box of clay thrown from my old Allen machine early in the fall to get back in the swing of things :p
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iron cat said:
All this talk about double triggers, single triggers, selective/non selective makes me laugh.
here is a true story that shows that it is reaally a problem that never existed.
I once sold a gorgeous Fausti Dea to a person ( whom is now a good friend)
The Dea was POW stocked, box lock with non selective single trigger with screw in chokes.
it's in 28 and I had two, the other was a completely custom ordered Ugartechea.
The Ugguie was English stocked, side locks with articulating front trigger and fixed IC/MOD chokes, IC on the left side because I like to use the back trigger first.
I preferred the Ugartechea soo sold the Dea to my friend.

We were talking about his new gun and how well he shot it. He told me between the club shoots, his own released birds, Sharp tails and wild roosters he had killed 194 birds with it that season.
Upon glancing at his barrels after he made a pretty long shot with the second barrel, I realized that the chokes were set backwards because before I sold it I had been shooting skeet with it so the first barrel was the MOD barrel and the second barrel was actually more open, at IC!
He had shot 194 birds with the chokes reversed, shooting the tighter choke first!
We switched the chokes and although I have watched him kill many birds since that first day, the birds don't die any quicker with the IC choke first.:p
Cat
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Thank you. And that is just one of many similar stories I have heard and witnessed. Wing shooting is a lot simpler than some would like to have us think.
 
Big Bad said:
You pretentious boys clearly have never hunted wary ruffed grouse, or any small game in heavy cover, or if you have not very much and you aren't any good at it.
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How did we end up here ? I do not see how it relates to anything said in either post.

And my reply was only directed at the unknown “common sense” shooter you quoted. If you thought otherwise, please accept my apology.
 
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Westward1 said:
How did we end up here ? I do not see how it relates to anything said in either post.

And my reply was only directed at the unknown “common sense” shooter you quoted. If you thought otherwise, please accept my apology.
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Hey, the word 'pretentious' was used on me and I tossed it right back. No point in getting into a lecture on the fine meaning of English words under these circumstances, this is not a philologist's forum.
 
Big Bad said:
Me, no I have between 5 and 6 decades of experience hunting ruffed grouse and that keeps you humble as humble pie and constantly wishing your modern shotgun had double triggers.
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You must realize however that many of us have as much or close to the same amount of time chasing ruffies and such as you do and some of us burn pounds of powder on actual birds every season .
I shot my first ruffed grouse in 1967 and prefer double triggers and hammers with black powder just because. Not because I think they are better , and I dare say that my good friend down south can shoot a single trigger selective gun as fast as and accurately as double triggers and hammers , because I have seen him do it on fast flushing roosters and Sharptails .
Catpl
 
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I shot my first Ruffed Grouse in 1963, with a C. Crawford Birmingham Hammer double, that was found in the attic when my adoptive "Grandpa" died. I lived the glory days of Grouse hunting on Vancouver Island, in the 60s and 70s.
I am not a big game shooter these days.Two Sharptails, two Snow geese and one Canada Goose is my season total. But like others on this forum, I have seen a lot of hunting seasons in my life.
My opinions are conditioned by my experiences. When you post on an open forum, you have to expect different opinions.
 
I've probably been at it for less than 40 years... so this makes me kid on this thread w:h:

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The discussion is met to be all fun and games! And as much as I prefer double-triggers on a double-barreled gun. I'm ok with using a single-trigger gun if that's available

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By the way ... I have 5 decades of experience in ballroom dancing! Does that count towards anything? How often do I practice .... you ask? Ahhhhhhhh .... well .... hmmmmm .... maybe every 10 years I give it a try .... But I do prefer double triggers ....
 
And to add another touch to this single vs double trigger discussion .... if I am honest ... and if we are talking grouse hunting .... I prefer the challenge of the three finger release (Split finger) .... :)


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iron cat said:
You must realize however that many of us have as much or close to the same amount of time chasing ruffies and such as you do and some of us burn pounds of powder on actual birds every season .
I shot my first ruffed grouse in 1967 and prefer double triggers and hammers with black powder just because. Not because I think they are better , and I dare say that my good friend down south can shoot a single trigger selective gun as fast as and accurately as double triggers and hammers , because I have seen him do it on fast flushing roosters and Sharptails .
Catpl
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You burn pounds of powder on ruffed grouse every season? Wish I lived there, unless it's in a place where they sit on a branch and look at you.
 
Big Bad said:
You burn pounds of powder on ruffed grouse every season? Wish I lived there, unless it's in a place where they sit on a branch and look at you.
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if you missed it, I said " and such"
Not just on ruffed grouse, but on danged near every type of upland and waterfowl that flies - with SxS's and hammers!:dancingbanana:
Oh, and I can assure you, I am not that bad a shot!:p
Cat
 
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