semi-auto vs O/U

Spunk84

would like to know your opinions on using a semi or a O/U for rough shooting.

Tackleberrywho

Spunk84 wrote: »

would like to know your opinions on using a semi or a O/U for rough shooting.

For Rough I personally prefer a semi.as most of them can take 3" cartridges which are good for duck etc

bunny shooter

I use a semi as I shoot better with it than an O/U

Spunk84

right now im using a Mossberg pump action shotgun and have no problem with hitting anything that gets up in front of me.....

but the problem i have is fences,ditches and hedge rows , not everytime but most times i have to unload the gun as im concerned of it firing maybe its me but id rather not take the chance of it getting caught on something and going off.

im concerned about the safety issues of a semi, i know for the O/U all u have to do is break it and your set.

i enjoy crow,pigeon and foxing with the shotgun and the semi gives you more cartridges to blast away

Tackleberrywho

Spunk84 wrote: »

right now im using a Mossberg pump action shotgun and have no problem with hitting anything that gets up in front of me.....

but the problem i have is fences,ditches and hedge rows , not everytime but most times i have to unload the gun as im concerned of it firing maybe its me but id rather not take the chance of it getting caught on something and going off.

im concerned about the safety issues of a semi, i know for the O/U all u have to do is break it and your set.

i enjoy crow,pigeon and foxing with the shotgun and the semi gives you more cartridges to blast away

Semi safety is remove cartridge and use hold open device to keep action rearward, and safe.
It's more important that you learn to work a semi properly as they are different and more complex as O/U or S/S

Semi's would not be most common. But for ROUGH shooting they are great

cavan shooter

I use a beretta 391 for rough shooting,

Its lighter and less recoil, Im not pushed on the 3rd shot

J.R.

I would use the semi for all my rough shooting.

I find it great when hide shooting....just slip a cartridge up the magazine....breaking the O/U in a hide to reload can have barrels caught in netting etc. Also when you fire one shot with O/U you often wonder will you break & reload or wait another second or so for another chance.....Murphy's Law...as soon as you break O/U to reload something comes in....don't have this problem with the semi.

The only advantage I find of the O/U over the semi is that you can have a tighter choke with a heavier load in the bottom barrel for the second shot.....if something rises some distance out (too far for lighter loaded first barrel) you still get a shot by firing the second barrel first (bottom barrel with heavier load & tighter choke)

Grizzly 45

Spunk84 wrote: »

right now im using a Mossberg pump action shotgun and have no problem with hitting anything that gets up in front of me.....

but the problem i have is fences,ditches and hedge rows , not everytime but most times i have to unload the gun as im concerned of it firing maybe its me but id rather not take the chance of it getting caught on something and going off.

im concerned about the safety issues of a semi, i know for the O/U all u have to do is break it and your set.

i enjoy crow,pigeon and foxing with the shotgun and the semi gives you more cartridges to blast away

You have one of the safest guns out there,and INMHO one of the best all rounders for their money.IF you know how it operates. To make a pump totally impossible to fire all you have to do is RACK BACK THE SLIDE and EJECT the Shell in the chamber.With the slide fully back ,the battery is jamming the hammer down,so even with the manual saftey off for some reason the gun is totaly incapable of firing as there is no shell in the chamber.This was for years the recommended way for the US police forces to carry the gun in a police cruiser. Slide locked open,so a quick feel into the chamber would tell the officer if there was a round on the lifter ready to go .
The only you will get a shell back into the chamber is to "double rack" the pump,or replace the removed shell into the chamber.Which you wont be doing while climbing a fence or ditch,will ya??Once you are over the obstruction,a simple ,check of the manual saftey which should be ON anyway,but it should be checked anyway,double rack ,or insert and rack ,and you are good to go.

The Semis, are a bit more tricky to be using climbing ditches etc.But the principle of intrrupting the feed of ammo is the same. Apply saftey,which should be ON anyway..REMOVE the shell from the chamber,rack back and lock the battery rearwards,apply mag cutoff[if there is one].Reload by replacing the shell,and knocking off the mag cuttoff.
Both are safe guns once you understand totally how they function

meathstevie

You're right there Grizzly, there could be eight in the tube but I still have to see the first gun that can fire from an empty chamber and a bolt racked out of battery... .

ferrete

i rather the semi great allrond gun although they are heavier

Tackleberrywho

ferrete wrote: »

i rather the semi great allrond gun although they are heavier

Depends on what you buy, my Remington 105CTi is very light and nicely balanced.
Some O/U can be heavier.

Depends on who makes the semi and length of barrel etc

EPointer=Birdss

For tradition & sporting purposes I'd say on O/U for pheasant & woodcock.
12 bore for pheasant & 20 bore for woodcock is my preference.

There have been more times where I'd have made memories if I had a 3rd shot but then I think if I should of hit em with the 1st 2!
There have been instances where I dropped a pheasant only for a woodock to spring out of no where & fly across my nose as I either opened the gun or had used my 2 shots. All part of the sport I think.

Any single bird that gets away for you on 2 shots deserves to - makes you practice more IMO. Taking 3 cracks at a pheasant is something I'd expect to see on a youtube video in South Dakota!!

For a duck flight or pigeons I'd be all for a semi though...

Tackleberrywho

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

For tradition & sporting purposes I'd say on O/U for pheasant & woodcock.
12 bore for pheasant & 20 bore for woodcock is my preference.

There have been more times where I'd have made memories if I had a 3rd shot but then I think if I should of hit em with the 1st 2!
There have been instances where I dropped a pheasant only for a woodock to spring out of no where & fly across my nose as I either opened the gun or had used my 2 shots. All part of the sport I think.

Any single bird that gets away for you on 2 shots deserves to - makes you practice more IMO. Taking 3 cracks at a pheasant is something I'd expect to see on a youtube video in South Dakota!!

For a duck flight or pigeons I'd be all for a semi though...

Buy a semi and load 2 for pheasant and 3 for duck! Sorted

EPointer=Birdss

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Buy a semi and load 2 for pheasant and 3 for duck! Sorted

I can't argue with your logic. Makes a lot of sense.

I just like the tradition of a double barrell. Side by side 20 bore is great shooting up the cover after woodcock!

gunhappy_ie

Personally I perfer a semi. Very easy shoot and if you get a good 1 there reliable and will last forever.

Spunk84 wrote: »

maybe its me but id rather not take the chance of it getting caught on something and going off.

im concerned about the safety issues of a semi, i know for the O/U all u have to do is break it and your set.

Its you :P

The mossberg like all firearms generally have 2 types of safetys (minimun) and with the safety on you would have better chance of bending the trigger before the gun will fire.

You could also open the chamber a few millimeters if you concerned about crossing obstacles as the shotgun is designed not to fire unless the bolt is in most forward position.


But its good to hear that your on the right side of caution.

Grizzly 45

ferrete wrote: »

i rather the semi great allrond gun although they are heavier

I've a Franchi 48L.It's design is dated,yet it is lighter than some O/Us ive hefted at riven shoots.

Spunk84

Great insight lads thanks for the replys:)

Sandyman

I used a benelli semi auto for game last season. I found that semi's are visually easier to shoot with as there is only one barrell out there so you tend to spend more time looking at your quarry than down the side of your U/O barrells. One important thing to remember is that the barrel on a 30inch semi can be equivalent to a 34inch U/O barrel because of the lenght of the reciever and chamber)3.5" Chamber. For game hunting/clays 28" is plenty long enough even for wildfouling. 26" is also long enough for pheasant and woody. Still you cant beat breaking an U/O for safety. The benelli is incredibly light and easy to Clean and a little thumpy. I thought the Berettas/Brownings were a bit clunky and heavy.

Regards
Sman

CZ.

what type of benelli have you got have 1 my self and have to say its the best gun i ever used nice and slim like a o/u with less of a kick i have the 30inch barrel on mine and i would have to agree its long when putting it in the jeep and that but its fine when your out in the field

MRJ

I have a synthetic semi-auto for rough shooting its get dogs abuse and has never let me down yet.

elius

Hoping to collect my semi auto on friday. Might go for a few crack the weekend will let you know how i get on...

Tackleberrywho

elius wrote: »

Hoping to collect my semi auto on friday. Might go for a few crack the weekend will let you know how i get on...

I might try and make a vid like Dwighet did of his WSM;)

elius

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

WSM;)

lad;)

Tackleberrywho

elius wrote: »

lad;)

I mean firing my s/a shotty to show Audio and video of what it is like, get my mate to fire his o/u too and show recoil etc

jwshooter

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

I mean firing my s/a shotty to show Audio and video of what it is like, get my mate to fire his o/u too and show recoil etc

do , can you throw up 4 clays and shoot them off hip with your auto.

Tackleberrywho

jwshooter wrote: »

do , can you throw up 4 clays and shoot them off hip with your auto.

Blind folded standing on my head in a bucket of cow****e saying the rosary backwards in japanese

or just fire a shot with cam focused on muzzles of both to show recoil.

I'm no show off JW. I have no time for that sort of thing, I do have an interest in promoting science on it's own merits.

dwighet showed firing his rifle with/without break on, I thought I'd give a good comparison to OP as my mate and I have both O/U and I a semi.

WallysWorld

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Blind folded standing on my head in a bucket of cow****e saying the rosary backwards in japanese

or just fire a shot with cam focused on muzzles of both to show recoil.

I'm no show off JW. I have no time for that sort of thing, I do have an interest in promoting science on it's own merits.

dwighet showed firing his rifle with/without break on, I thought I'd give a good comparison to OP as my mate and I have both O/U and I a semi.

I can get the old shotty out for this Tack, throw a couple of 3" magnums in there for a proper thump, actualy might make quite an interesting video could be useful in showing the differences in aquiring the target again for a follow up shot when dealing with that level of recoil. It will prob show the almighty flinch I develop when I fire a rake of heavy cartridges in a row!!:eek:

Sandyman

HI CZ,
I have the Supersport Synthetic. Its v light however a little long for fast upland game. Class clay busting machine, however it has a couple of Faults, the trigger is far too heavy for serious competition and its a little thumpier that beretta's and brownings because of its lightweight. It also wont recycle 21g/24g loads and has trouble recycling Hull Pro 1's DTL 28g as they are a very smooth shell(Low Velocity) apart from those it never ever misses a beat. On the other hand its simple to take apart and a pleasure to clean as there's no gasses. Benelli in the USA in conjunction with Briley have an upgraded modle with backboring and a trigger job. I suspect that that would be one serious clay bysting machine. I would like to have the 26" SBE for game shooting.

Regards

cavan shooter

jwshooter wrote: »

do , can you throw up 4 clays and shoot them off hip with your auto.

I can throw 4 clays up and hit 3*:D







*The last one always its the ground first when I am reloading

Sandyman

Thats great shootin lads. I can religiously shoot the front nose of low skeet at the centre stake with a full choke thus breaking the clay into two distinct parts and then turn those two parts into dust before they hit the ground. I cannot shoot from my hip. If i did want to do that i would have bought a peacemaker.

Kind Regards
S man:D

Tackleberrywho

Sandyman wrote: »

Thats great shootin lads. I can religiously shoot the front nose of low skeet at the centre stake with a full choke thus breaking the clay into two distinct parts and then turn those two parts into dust before they hit the ground. I cannot shoot from my hip. If i did want to do that i would have bought a peacemaker.

Kind Regards
S man:D

I think JW was not being serious

Sandyman

So was I, but i did see a man that could:D

Tackleberrywho

Sandyman wrote: »

So was I, but i did see a man that could:D

There was a dude in the states that could hit 7 clays with a pump. He workede for Winchester I think.

Watched a doc on him on sky.
In this country that would be deemed UNSAFE

Spunk84

aaa the states were you can kill a deer with a 44 magnum handgun LOL

Dusty87

Cant do this with an O/U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpv0yZC3iMM

jwshooter

hand and eye coordination , i can also flick up and hit two aspirins or a coke can with air rifle .

Dusty87

Bit of a difference between aspirins and coke cans:p