Firing both barrels simultaneously?

huntandhook

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If I were to fire both barrels on my SxS shotgun at the same time would I damage anything? I don't plan to do it often, but I'd like to try it once for ####s and giggles.
 
I have only done it with a .410, but it's fun.
On here somewhere is an old story of about a 10 year old shooting a malfunctioning 10 gauge double because that was the one gun he wasn't supposed to touch. He wasn't supposed to touch it because one barrel would also set off the other.

He got #### kicked. Woke up confused. I'll try to find it.
 
So it won't hurt the gun at all? I never thought about the trigger slamming into my finger though. I think I'm dumb enough to try it once anyways. Thats a great idea to take some video. I always like to have a record of the stupid things I do.
 
Ugh... I did that a couple times with my old Ithica... Double triggers + 12 gauge = PAIN...

The recoil is what you'd expect, but damn did I ever pinch my fingers in that trigger guard. Turned to my roommate after, "Bet that wont happen again"....


...... It happened again....
 
I've done it before, the recoil will get your attention.

The weirdest thing was the sound, it was kinda.... hollow??? Can't really explain it, but when you do it you will understand what I mean.

Having said that, how about a 12 ga 3" SxS, say and IGA coachgun (supreme go with the supreme for the choke tubes) for turkeys. If you could shoot it half assed accurate, and somehow not flinch, you could send 4 oz. of shot at a turkey. Both barrels would have to have the same point of impact, with cheaper guns that isn't usually the case. Pretty sure that would be a good cure for a Magnum Man.
 
There are 3 ways to double fire these guns, one occurs when a single trigger gun has a malfunction, then there is harping the triggers, normally done unintentionally, and lastly you can fire both barrels simultaneously on purpose. When you harp the triggers your finger slips past the front trigger in recoil and fires the second barrel. This presents no hardship to the shooter, and although there is but a single "Bang!" and the muzzle rises higher in recoil but there is no greater recoil sensation because the two shots occur as separate events.

In the event that you intend to purposely double your gun, tape up your fingers and wear a glove, as they are sure to get hammered by both the trigger guard and the front trigger. Damage to the gun is unlikely, but a stock failure is not out of the question, particularly if the charge is heavy and the wrist of the stock slight. Such a stock failure at the wrist could result in a significant facial injury and an injury to the firing hand.

All in all I think it is a bad idea just from the stand point of purposely inflicting a massive flinch trigger to your subconcious, never mind the injury potential even without a stock failure. I recall an article Warren Page wrote in which he talked about the trauma he suffered when a single trigger 10 bore doubled on him. Page was a world class bench-rest and skeet competitor, a wildcatter, an international big game hunter, and a rifle crank of the most deprived type. He was not squeamish about recoil in the least, but that experience badly damaged his shoulder and required years, not months, of retraining to get beyond the flinch he developed as a result.
 
I did it once with my O/U with double triggers.

WHAMMMO!!! It hurts your shoulder like hell. If you're gonna do it - use 2 3/4" not 3" slugs.

Funny, I don't remember it hurting my trigger finger...
 
Could damage your shoulder but it won't affect the gun.

One of my wife's brother's in law has a father, an old Dutch immigrant farmer who survived the Nazis, immigrated to Canada, worked hard on his dairy farm all his life, and is now very comfortably retired, surrounded by grandkids, and doing chipmunk/groundhog patrol on his one-acre vegetable garden with an old 12-ga SXS.

He's also the biggest, scariest, 80-year-old you ever saw. In terms of sheer wrinkly leathery old-dude badassery he makes Clint Eastwood look like Lauren Hutton. The guy is inspirational, and when I get old and crotchedy I want to be just like him.

Anyhow, his SXS was having trigger issues a couple of years ago, so he gave it to a buddy who had delusions of gunsmithing skills to have a look at. I don't know the details of what the buddy did to the gun, but after he got it back he went out to defend his veggies from the rodents. Apparently he was holding the gun with the butt braced against his bicep, and took a snap shot at a chipmunk.

Both barrels fired, and the recoil severed his bicep. The upper half retreated most of the way to his shoulder and swelled up. His entire right arm swelled up and turned black, and it took three days before his wife could convince him to got see the doctor about it (the guy goes so far beyond tough he can't see tough from where he is).

He's fine now, happily, but I saw him a month or so after the accident, when I was shooting some clays with the wife's brother-in-law; he was still having mobility issues with that arm, and still had a wierdass bulge on his arm up near the shoulder. He didn't shoot with us (his wife probably would have murdered him), but he was pretty interested in my 870 for some reason :).

So in conclusion, make sure you have proper cheek and shoulder weld, and do put the results up on YouTube :).
 
This is one of those things like pistol grip only stocks on a pump gun that you need to get out of your system.

Use light loads. Have witnesses. Take a solid stance. Put your index finger on the front trigger, your middle finger on the rear. Just before you pull both yell out "Hey everybody, watch THIS!"

When everyone stops laughing and your shoulder stops throbbing you'll know why you won't want to do it more than once. :)
 
Did it once with an old Italian 12 gauge. The shotgun already kicks like a mule... I knew what to expect, but I couldn't resist :D

I didn't have any problem with my trigger finger... but I wouldn't do it two times in a row :redface:
 
Had an older Zabala 10g side by side double fire unintentionally on me once. Had to stop and make sure my nose wasn't bleeding - it jumped right up into my face. Not something I'd classify as "fun". :D
 
My mom did that years ago with a SxS in 12 gauge. She was knocked to the ground and had a bruised shoulder for a while.
 
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