Missing with bottom barrel

dodderangler

Folks everything I've shot since last year has all been on top barrel bar one or two. Rabbits and foxes are all one shot so I use back trigger ( top barrel) but with birds if I've missed with top barrel and take second shot I'm missing.
Gun is double barrel double trigger o/u baikel.
Is it because of the two trigger I'm missing. As in I'm missing with back trigger and I've to move to front one for bottom barrel and losing concentration or rushing the shot? Anyone have this problem?
Any tips

Tiercel Dave

Which barrel has the most open choke, shoot that one first. Why not get into the habit of using the front trigger first, I've a s/s but would always move to fire front trigger and only move to back one if bird got up wild or a bit further out than expected! Dave

useurowname

Impossible to give anywhere near a definitive answer to a query like that from reading the description of the actions and outcomes you have issue with. My advice is to get into a routine, practice your gun mount and stick to the same gun/trigger/cartridge/choke layout for as long as possible. I once read a line in a British shooting magazine "beware the man who has only one gun", I'd like to think it implies that the man with one gun has total fit and is competant and confident with that gun and can adapt it to any number of shot, be it sporting, walked up, driven or whatever. Case in point, look what happened Rory McIlroy when he first took up his new Nike clubs.

hathcock

dodderangler wrote: »

Folks everything I've shot since last year has all been on top barrel bar one or two. Rabbits and foxes are all one shot so I use back trigger ( top barrel) but with birds if I've missed with top barrel and take second shot I'm missing.
Gun is double barrel double trigger o/u baikel.
Is it because of the two trigger I'm missing. As in I'm missing with back trigger and I've to move to front one for bottom barrel and losing concentration or rushing the shot? Anyone have this problem?
Any tips

Fire the bottom barrel,front trigger first,if you're still missing at that stage get yourself a side by side.

shotie

always fire bottom barrel first if you miss then fire the top barrel.

cookimonster

The standard set up for most double barrel shotguns with double triggers is the front trigger discharges the barrel with the most open choke and the rear trigger for the tighter choked barrel.
If you firing the tighter choked barrel first (IMO you are) then on your follow-up shot you are using a choke set up usually used for closer targets on a target already out of range of most average shots.
Couple this with a unsuitable choice of cartridges and the shot pattern has holes big enough for a turkey to fly through and most likely poor energy.
Stick with the original set up of the gun, most Baikels have MOD and FULL choke set ups. The triggers are off set and the stock designed to accommodate ergonomic movement of the fingers from front to rear trigger for double shots.

grassroot1

In theory if you fire the bottom barrel first you experience less muzzle flip for your second shot

cookimonster

grassroot1 wrote: »

In theory if you fire the bottom barrel first you experience less muzzle flip for your second shot

Would be good only if you had interchangeable chokes.

By the way traditionally choked game guns for driven shoots are in theory choked the wrong way ie open 1st, restricted 2nd as the first shot with the first trigger is typically further out with the secound shot (tighter choke) taken closer to the peg.
Just thought I'd throw that head melter in ...........

Double Barrel

Shooting the bottom barrel (front trigger) first will cause less muzzle jump because the lower barrel of an O/U, being set lower in the receiver, is more in line with the center line of the gun and consequently the gun tends to recoil straight back allowing for a faster more accurate second shot.

The upper barrel, being higher above the axis of the gun, imparts more vertical movement (muzzle rise) to the gun on firing thus making a second accurate shot more difficult to achieve.

Also on a double trigger gun pulling the front trigger first lets your finger slide back and engage the rear trigger in a more natural movement IMO.