Holland and Holland's O/U Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask

[Big Bad]

Love that ammo box.

Sometimes the wood, brass and leather accessories can be as attractive as the guns.

 

[Big Bad]

Discovered the o/u design? The British invented it and have "taken to it" since 1909.

https://bossguns.com/guns-and-rifles/over-and-under/

Yes, they existed all right and as this gentleman says '“Essex drainpipe”, “bank-job special” and “claybuster’s fence-post” were among the politer descriptions.'


https://www.thefield.co.uk/shooting/over-and-under-or-side-by-side-31856

 

[sillymike]

I used to live in the UK. Don't for a minute think that shooting sports there and here are the same.

Yeah, different world...

I'd love to go on a peg shoot, with a pair of best doubles, and a loader... But the $1,200 for a loader's bag would take a bite out of my shooting budget

 

[Westward1]

Yes, they existed all right and as this gentleman says '“Essex drainpipe”, “bank-job special” and “claybuster’s fence-post” were among the politer descriptions.'


https://www.thefield.co.uk/shooting/over-and-under-or-side-by-side-31856

And the rest of the article goes on to explain away that outdated thinking. To each his own. Like the endless debates over gauges, shooting methods, square loads, choke, shot size, etc,etc,etc, shotgunning will always be a subject long on opinion and short on fact. Just the way we seem to like it.

 

[jjohnwm]

And the rest of the article goes on to explain away that outdated thinking...shotgunning will always be a subject long on opinion and short on fact. Just the way we seem to like it.

Absolutely!

I'm not huge into shotgunning in general, and pick a pump or semi for the bulk of the small amount of "serious" shotgun hunting I do. Using a double is...for me...a novelty, a treat, something special. Therefore, I don't care about the real or imagined benefits of SxS vs O/U. I want what I want. I have a couple of decidedly pedestrian SxS guns that I admire and enjoy, and to me the SxS configuration is and will always be the way a shotgun should be.

Disclaimer: I have a single O/U as well...but it has 14-inch barrels so I'm pretty sure it's disqualified from polite British society.

 

[Big Bad]

Absolutely!

I'm not huge into shotgunning in general, and pick a pump or semi for the bulk of the small amount of "serious" shotgun hunting I do. Using a double is...for me...a novelty, a treat, something special. Therefore, I don't care about the real or imagined benefits of SxS vs O/U. I want what I want. I have a couple of decidedly pedestrian SxS guns that I admire and enjoy, and to me the SxS configuration is and will always be the way a shotgun should be.

Disclaimer: I have a single O/U as well...but it has 14-inch barrels so I'm pretty sure it's disqualified from polite British society.

Happens I'm a SxS snob myself but yes you've got to stay hep.

Polite English society. You should see and feel the polite reaction to a 'black' category pump gun. You could bring ice cream into the room and it would never melt while the gun was there, lol.

 

[Stephen Nash]

Polite English society. You should see and feel the polite reaction to a 'black' category pump gun. You could bring ice cream into the room and it would never melt while the gun was there, lol.

No kidding. My first experience of that was 44 years ago, when doing specimen collecting in the UK for scientific research, using an Ithaca Model 37 pump in 16 gauge. I suffered every ridicule and snide comment, for using such a mechanical abomination (which they had only really seen in American movies). Of course, after a moment of quiet, they all wanted to try it...