First Shot, Right Barrel or Left?

[cal pappas]

I have been shooting the left barrel/rear trigger first of 25 years. It is a habit now. I began this as I have a better grip on the rifle with my hand tightly on the pistol grip and my trigger finger is more comfortable and not "reaching" for the front trigger. Of course in doign this I have never had a double double. It matters not as to accuracy of the double or anything else, just the choice of the shooter. The left barrel works for me.
Cal

 

[AZDAVE]

Phil that defiantly left a mark. My two observation are general but there are always exceptions to the what works for the shooter. You will find that guys that grew up shooting double shotguns will be most comfortable shooting front trigger then rear trigger, mostly due to how the shotguns are choked. Most guys that grew up shooting rifles and single trigger O/U shotguns are more comfortable shooting rear then front trigger. The only time I ever doubled anything was a SXS 10 ga while hunting geese, we had been pass shooting at 50-60 yards all day and I had a goose coming by 20 yards off the deck and my 14 year old brain got over excited and I strummed both triggers. Learned two things. 1. 4 oz of shot really swats a goose out of the air. 2. make sure that you always pull the front trigger to it's rear stop before you move to the back trigger. Since then may 10's of thousands of shotgun shells and thousand or so double rifle shots and my manual of arms is ingrained in my DNA and muscle memory. Practice allllot with which ever method works for you, so that when you are under stress on DG hunt you are concentrating on your shot placement rather than your mind worrying about which trigger to pull.

You might try and find an SxS double trigger shotgun and shot a bunch of trap with it; that would be much cheaper practice with.

 

[1dirthawker]

phil,

i too doubled a dg rifle. ironically, it was the same rifle velo dog spoke of earlier. cal pappas 450 no 2 at a double rifle shoot. i strummed the triggers after the recoil from the first shot. felt like someone punched me in the teeth! luckily, i was able to grab the rifle that was in a vertical position on the crook of my right arm, teetering.

would have been more than embarrassing to drop cal's $50,000 gun!!

the rifle did not double on me, i managed to stroke the trigger during the recoil pulse of the first shot.

so far, only time thats happened, once was enough!!!

 

[crs]

Redleg, this quote
"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there." L.P. Hartley
Is timely as I and about half way through a re-read of Jeff Cooper's Another Country. Just finished his Yukon hunting adventure!
And adventure is the only word for it.

 

[Philip Glass]

This seems a question that has been asked often. For the life of me I cannot figure in my head what advantage there is to firing the right barrel (front trigger) first. I say left barrel (rear trigger first). My shoulder screamed it on Saturday.......yah, I managed to double the double.

View attachment 250770

Oh wow. Hate it when that happens

 

[Philip Glass]

I find a glove on my trigger hand worrysome with double triggers so I just use a glove on my left hand. My Kgun as with any of these gets hot quick. As you may know the Kgun won’t double or I’d be inthe same boat for sure!
Philip

 

[CAustin]

This seems a question that has been asked often. For the life of me I cannot figure in my head what advantage there is to firing the right barrel (front trigger) first. I say left barrel (rear trigger first). My shoulder screamed it on Saturday.......yah, I managed to double the double.

View attachment 250770

Phil I have doubled the double once myself and feel for you. I am with you rear trigger first for me!

 

[superdutch]

I see the logic behind left/rear first, but I am of the right/front persuasion. My Merkel decided for me. The front trigger on my 450-400 breaks much cleaner than the rear, so I shoot it first for better accuracy.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Right barrel, front trigger first up for me.

 

[ve7poi]

I shoot right left but no reason other than I find for my partially amputated trigger finger this works fastest for my second shot.
Pick which one works for you shoot it lots and don’t worry about it..

 

[Thomas Rutledge]

Im new at this but the recoil of my .577 is different from each barrel. Triggers are different too. My left barrel recoils straight back where the rt barrel has a twisting moment. My rear trigger is heavier. I guess with folks having different ammo in each chamber that would drive the decision in a hunting situation.

 

[Longwalker]

I shoot right then left on all my doubles, whether shotguns or rifles. Unless in some rare instance where the other barrel is chosen first for tighter choke or different bullet. Never had a single trigger pull fire both barrels.

 

[matt85]

there is no hard and fast rule on what barrel to fire first. plenty of PH's will load a soft in one barrel and a solid in the other barrel, then use the appropriate barrel for the situation.

I almost always shoot the right barrel first largely because my gun was built to be shot that way (front trigger is lighter then the rear trigger). however when someone is new to shooting doubles I recommend they shoot left barrel first to avoid strumming the triggers. I had a young man at Cal's last shoot double my 500 by strumming the triggers. an experience im sure he wont soon forget! to his credit he was willing to try again to get it right .

-matt

 

[BRICKBURN]

Is there any difference in recoil recovery with the choices?
ie. Right handed shooter using right barrel first experiencing slightly more "right" movement than using the left barrel first.
(I realize this is a theoretical idea that just popped into my head. It's not like the barrels are three inches apart)

 

[zephyr]

I shoot right then left on all my doubles, whether shotguns or rifles. Unless in some rare instance where the other barrel is chosen first for tighter choke or different bullet. Never had a single trigger pull fire both barrels.

+1 with Longwalker

 

[rnovi]

My Merkel 141 9.3x74r has a set-trigger ability on the right. And the instruction manual very specifically states "right barrel first". The 141 has some very slender barrels and the discussion is that the barrels heat up so quickly it affects regulation even with the first shot. I'm not sure I agree but 4 shots (2 + 2) gets those barrels dang hot fast.

And Yeah, I doubled my 8# 141 and bloodied my noggin' proper. 570 effective grains of bullet at 2250 fps freaking hurt. Really makes me question the hair trigger in the first place!

 

[Lars Dahlén]

I do know that this is an old post I am further more not a africa Hunter but I am one of those european hunter that use double rifle on driven hunts.
The thing is that Steel expands when it gets warm so when you fire rigth barrel it press the end of the left barrel to the left.
When you regulate a double rifle you compensate for that.
You regulate it for shoot rigth,left,rigth and left within secunds.
If you shoot the barrels in an other order than they are regulated for you lose the regulation.
Probebly does not mather on short distans but ..

 

[Deleted member 46122]

Totally agree with you Phil,

Watched a fellow double one of Cal’s .450 No2 SxS rifle’s, by “strumming” the triggers during recoil, at a local rifle range many years back.
So with rifles, I always carried my soft in the left barrel / rear trigger, presuming my first shot would call for the soft nose bullet.

For buffalo, I always presume a solid is almost never preferred for the first shot.
(Seems like solids are becoming less popular in general for Buffalo these days anyway).
I’ve only taken one buffalo but it was with a left and a right / a soft and a solid.
There was little to no chance of my bumping the second trigger during recoil from the first barrel.

I however have taken multiple non-dangerous animals with two different double rifles over the Safaris I’ve been blessed with.
Hypothetically, I can see where a solid might be preferred on a very small critter, to save the meat for eating and / or the skin for taxidermy.
However, such is presumably not the typical opportunity, compared to most chances at non-dangerous game.

Cheers,
Paul.

I actually had Cal’s 450 Number 2 double on me. Probably my fault. It was a valuable lesson. Now, when given the opportunity, it’s left barrel first. Ouch is an understatement

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I won't argue with the right barrel first due to it being regulated that way. My knowledge of double rifles in spite of owning one would fit on the head of a pin. Inside of 100 yards however, I'm not sure how much it matters.

What I do know is that I told Mr. Searcy about my experience doubling the rifle with the intent of asking him if shooting the left barrel first would be an issue. Before I had a chance to ask, this is what he told me to do and is what he does.

 

[kidogo]

Grew up with a s x s shotgun. Agree with others that unless I needed a tighter choke, always shot right barrel first. Same with a double rifle. Unless they are loaded differently, softs vs. solids, I'll always shoot the right barrel first, left second. Seems to be what all the old hunters did if you look at the wear on the right and left barrels of old rifles. I've never had a double even on a rifle without intercepting sears.

Not saying it's not possible.