Why the bottom barrel?

iwannausername

November 12, 2008 06:28

Gotten back into skeet/trap shooting lately, and now that I've got an O/U, I've been noticing something the other shooters are doing... Almost all of them, when using an O/U, on either trap or non-doubles skeet stations, shoot the bottom barrel. Even on the non-doubles skeet stations they will reload between the high and low tower shots. With screw in chokes and selective triggers this is obviously a conscious decision... but what is the rationale behind it?

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  Tailgunner1954

  November 12, 2008 08:04

  1, most don't set the safety between stations, and leave the selector set in one position.
  2, the straighter line between the bottom barrel and your shoulder will have less muzzle jump, leading to faster recovery for the second bird (if there is one).
  
  Now, as far as doing a reload on stations 3, 4, & 5, I personaly don't (I'll shoot high bird with the under barrel, and low bird with the upper), but I can see where some fields might require (for safety reasons) that you only load as many shells as are going to be launched on the call. Other than that, it sounds like a personal habbit.

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  Hawk Carse

  November 12, 2008 09:38

  No 2 is the usual reason I see.
  Recoil is on a lower line and causes less muzzle flip. My shoulder can stand the recoil, my cheek can't.
  It is also more directly into the lockup of the action and will theoretically cause less wear on the gun.
  
  I see a lot of Skeet shooters to just load both barrels for singles and call for High and Low house targets in pretty rapid succession, though.

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  grizzclaw

  November 12, 2008 13:36

  Yep, less muzzle jump from the bottom barrel.

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  iwannausername

  November 13, 2008 09:52

  Thanks guys!

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