Ports don't do much for me. I just ignore them until it's time to waste a pipe cleaner getting the wad plastic out of the holes.

Lower barrel is closer to the centerline of the stock where it meets your shoulder. Therefore you should experience less muzzle flip than you will with the upper barrel. It's just the geometry of how the gun will rotate based on recoil.

 

Ports don't do much for me. I just ignore them until it's time to waste a pipe cleaner getting the wad plastic out of the holes.

I agree. These little holes are a pain to clean and it's just this extra thing I don't care for. I wish this trend would fade away. The thing that totally escapes me is, why one would put ports on a single barrel gun! Now that seems completely useless in any regard....

 

Often the bottom barrel is fired first as the recoil may be more direct into the shoulder with less muzzle rise than the top barrel.

Some will contend it doesn't matter and that may depend on the specific gun and shooter.

 

Often the bottom barrel is fired first as the recoil may be more direct into the shoulder with less muzzle rise than the top barrel.

Some will contend it doesn't matter and that may depend on the specific gun and shooter.

Even if the difference is only slight, doing everything that is likely to improve your scores will improve your mental game. Being confident that muzzle flip will be minimal will increase your preparedness for the second shot.

 

Ohhhh!!! Is that more direct recoil the reason why there are Unsingles? Jeeez, I can't believe that little detail escaped me until now. I was wondering why there are these two types of SBTs and I thought it's just a personal preference thing. I barely used that lower barrel yet, so I think I'll swap chokes and see how it feels using the other barrel on Singles!

 

It doesn't matter what barrel you use as much as the choke you have. If you have a fixed choke gun you use the most open barrel 1st. If you have screw in choke, you choose the barrel you prefer for whatever reason. I use the lower barrel because I was told by my mentor that there is less recoil with the " in line theory ". 40 years later I still haven't noticed the difference.

 

I use the under barrel, it's all personal preference as far as I'm concerned

 

I personally use the under barrel for the 1st shot in doubles. I use the top barrel in singles... No real reason why though

 

If you test both barrels for POI and one shoots higher than the other, use the higher one for first shot. If they shoot the same, use whichever you like.

 

Great idea! I must admit I only patterned the barrel I chose for Singles and it didn't even occur to be that there might be a difference. (Putting Pattern Board on top of the list for Saturday's shoot)

 

Agree with Broncofan. Shoot the barrel with the highest POI first.

 

This is the intelligent answer!

 

I use the top barrel for singles and handicap (I shoot a Carlson's Extra Full) and start with the bottom barrel on doubles (Carlson's Mod). This way I don't have to change chokes and just have to pick which barrel is selected.

 

It will never cease to amaze me what some people think about...

 

SO TRUE!

 

For doubles, I use bottom barrel with MOD choke.
Same for singles.
Top barrel with FULL choke for second shot in doubles.

 

If you use a different barrel for first shot of doubles and singles, there will be a time when your barrel selector will be set to the wrong barrel, and it may cost you a target. If you are OCD, and constantly check that your barrel selector is correct, you will be fine. Also, check your safety. I never set mine, but after letting someone else look at my gun, it sometimes gets handed back with the safety on.

 

I would suggest if you have not already to pattern both bls and see if they shoot to the same POI.

I have owned a couple of brownings and berettas where the top bl. has a higher poi than the bottom bl. so I would shoot the top bl. first and for me get better results. This is just a suggestion and not something that everyone should do but it is worth a try to esp. have the knowledge of the POI for each BL.
If you are shooting a lite 1 oz shell or even a 7/8 oz the recoil on the top bl. is minimal.

 

I'll find out tomorrow. I do use my own 1oz reloads over 15.6gr of Titegroup, so recoil is really not an issue but I am curious to see if the barrels differ in POI.

 

My fixed choke Ithaca is full/mod over/under , first shot obviously under barrel. I don't know that I've seen a fixed choke with a tighter choke on the top barrel.

 

I shoot a 725. Bottom barrel first, mod choke 7/8 oz 8.5s. Top barrel second full choke #8s.

 

bottom

 

So, I patterned my 725 this morning and I found the over to be shooting a bit higher than the under. I suppose I'll stick with my choice of the top barrel for Trap for now until I can find a KX-6S - then I won't have to worry about which barrel to choose anymore
Thanks everyone for their inputs! It's very much appreciated!

 

As imurhklberry pointed out, the bottom barrel would normally have the higher POI. As an example the C.G. O/U's have convergence built into the barrel alignment, namely the shotestring converges at about 30- 35 yards for both the top and bottom barrel. That means the bottom barrel has a slightly higher POI and the top barrel a slightly lower POI. When you go beyond 35 yards that top barrel should shoot quite a bit lower, hence I just use the o/u for doubles and the lower barrel for singles. Since I have a combo barrels, I prefer and only use the unsingle barrel for better accuracy, in-line recoil and reduce muzzle rise as has been mentioned.

 

well, without getting a gun out of the safe; i'm guessing the center of the bores of the bbls. is 1/2 to 5/8 inches apart. so if somebody tells me that they can tell the difference in recoil between the 2 bbls.; it's they're imagination. ok guys you can start to beat me up now

 

well, without getting a gun out of the safe; i'm guessing the center of the bores of the bbls. is 1/2 to 5/8 inches apart. ok guys you can start to beat me up now

It's more like 3/4 to 1 inch, but I agree: if that small difference can be noticed, it would only be noticed by a VERY sensitive shooter.

 

As soon as somebody tells you this is THE way to do it (and by it I mean anything in shotgun shooting), somebody else will tell you the opposite. Try both ways and see if you notice any difference. Then decide.

 

Do you use it for singles?
I would shoot the second bird with your singles tube.

 

Bottom

 

My daughter shoots the bottom barrel in singles and first in doubles on her 725. She experimented with top barrel until she experienced mirage on a two person squad. It was distracting and she missed more.

 

Excuse me for jumping in here. I wanted to point out that POI and Pattern are 2 different things.
Of course pattern is what your shotgun and choke produce at 35 to 45 yards and can indicate holes in your pattern etc.
POI or point of impact indicates where your gun will shoot in relation to the point where you lined up your beads, and is usually shot from 15 yds. Dead on is 50%, 1 inch high is 60/40, 2 inch high is 70/30, and 3 inch high is 80/40.
Source: Point-Of-Impact & Pattern Testing at 13 yards, by Neil Winston, Revised Feb 2011

http://www.chuckhawks.com/Point_of_Impact_and_Pattern_Testing_at_13_Yards.pdf

 

To Clarify, the 1 inch high, 2 inch high statement from my last post is not from Neil Winston's treatise. He quotes 13 YDS, I use 15 so I don't get spalttered by lead bouncing off of our steel pattern board.

 

Doubles is taught to use bottom barrel first due to less rise. BUT, my o/u has mod choke on top and full on the bottom. Since I am lazy it's easier to move the selector to upper versus switching the chokes from top to bottom. Now, 71/2 or 8s???? In which barrel? Just kidding. Have fun making noise.