Pulling front or back trigger first

[Doug Hamilton]

A double gun is designed to be fired right barrel (front trigger) and then left barrel (rear trigger). The triggers are designed to allow a natural flow front to rear. SxS shotguns are designed exactly the same way. A quality version of each will have the rear trigger a half pound or so heavier pull than the front. Apparently, some people have issues accidentally tripping the rear trigger while in recoil from the front trigger. They advocate firing rear first. But that is not how a double is designed to operate. Personally, I have never had that issue with any shotgun up through heavy pigeon or wildfowl loads, or any rifle up through .470 which is the heaviest recoiling that I own.

A double gun is designed to be fired right barrel (front trigger) and then left barrel (rear trigger). The triggers are designed to allow a natural flow front to rear. SxS shotguns are designed exactly the same way. A quality version of each will have the rear trigger a half pound or so heavier pull than the front. Apparently, some people have issues accidentally tripping the rear trigger while in recoil from the front trigger. They advocate firing rear first. But that is not how a double is designed to operate. Personally, I have never had that issue with any shotgun up through heavy pigeon or wildfowl loads, or any rifle up through .470 which is the heaviest recoiling that I own.

Absolutely! While I have never owned a DR, I have owned and shot many double shotguns. The front trigger (right barrel) is always the more open choke for rising birds on the flush, and the tighter choke on the left. I've shot these guns for so long that I think I would have a very hard time training myself to pull the rear trigger first.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

As said, front trigger then back trigger.

For novice shooters I only load one barrel at a time. For heavy recoiling guns without a articulated front trigger, I don't load the left barrel at all. No need to hurt someone new to double guns.

Quite a few ‘novices’ have fired my 450/400 double, which is relatively mild as you know. I have always instructed them rear trigger first because of the chance of strumming and my beautiful double hitting the ground, not to mention their own fate. But I like the single barrel loading even better.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Of course there is an exception with a double rifle if you load the one barrel with a soft and the other with a solid, probably intending to fire the soft first with the solid as a backup. A change of circumstances can occur and you need to swap first pull.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Of course there is an exception with a double rifle if you load the one barrel with a soft and the other with a solid, probably intending to fire the soft first with the solid as a backup. A change of circumstances can occur and you need to swap first pull.

I will add though that I only load softs, with solids kept in the belt. Expanding ‘softs’ are pretty versatile for buffalo. Of course if elephant is solids turf.

 

[WAB]

I’ve always been curious on the right barrel/forward trigger being the more open choke. We assume that this is due to a design consideration for rough shooting/flushing birds. However, the SxS design was perfected in the golden age of driven shooting, which would seem to indicate a need for quite the opposite.

 

[Red Leg]

I’ve always been curious on the right barrel/forward trigger being the more open choke. We assume that this is due to a design consideration for rough shooting/flushing birds. However, the SxS design was perfected in the golden age of driven shooting, which would seem to indicate a need for quite the opposite.

I have shot thousands of driven pheasants and few hundred driven grouse (I am not including tower birds). In my experience the typical first shot is closer than the second as one chases a miss or catches up on a second bird. If there is a pause after the first shot, I reload the barrel or hand off the gun. But you are correct, the choking is also perfect for rough shooting.

 

[Matthias5662]

I just happened to be sharing a lodge with a "celebrity" in SA who had been bow hunting and said that since he'd grown up shooting pheasants in South Dakota, he knew all about such things as double triggers. I was transiting out that afternoon but went to the range in the morning with him and his PH for his introduction to a double rifle (a 450/400). The celebrity ended up jamming both fingers in the tigger bow intending, I guess, to pull only one trigger at a time. The PH nor I did not see this before the fact. You can guess what happened. The celebrity went back to his bow with the video of the incident erased and the PH and I still laugh about it 11 years later.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Should you pull the front trigger or back trigger first when shooting a 458 win mag double rifle (o/u).

In a good quality double rifle, it shouldn’t matter. For many years, Merkel used to advise that their customers always pull the rear trigger first when firing their double rifles… otherwise they would risk a double discharge. And this is true. I’ve seen more than a few Merkel double rifles suffer from double discharging problems over the years.

In regards to shotguns, game guns (typically choked modified in the left barrel & cylinder in the right and used for driven bird shooting) were always intended to be be fired right barrel (front trigger) first.

Wild fowling guns (esp. those made in the days of market hunting) were usually made with a fully choked left barrel and a modified choked right barrel (or even both barrels fully choked). They were typically intended to be fired rear trigger first, so that the fully choked left barrel would get a tight concentration of pellets into a flock of sitting waterfowl. Then, the modified choked right barrel would be fired by pulling the front trigger… So that the spread of pellets could secure a few more waterfowl as they were spreading their wings in an attempt to take flight.

I have hunted driven pheasant, partridge & grouse quite a few times over the years (till now). The first shot is taken at closer range.

This video is not perfect but it can give novices a rough idea of what driven bird shooting is like.

 

[Tanks]

Forward, then back trigger. Didn't need to think. Though I shot sporting clays for about 2 cases worth the week before the hunt with a SxS shotgun.

 

[WAB]

I have shot thousands of driven pheasants and few hundred driven grouse (I am not including tower birds). In my experience the typical first shot is closer than the second as one chases a miss or catches up on a second bird. If there is a pause after the first shot, I reload the barrel or hand off the gun. But you are correct, the choking is also perfect for rough shooting.

I have as well, truly the sport of kings. On my first shoot I was standing between Ken Davies and Roland Wild, two H&H instructors. It was truly a humbling experience for a young fellow who thought he knew his way around a shotgun.

These gents can take four birds from a group. That means the first two birds are killed in front, the first shot being a long way out there. In that case, the second shot was likely 20 yards closer. Obviously the reverse is true going away. I never reached their level of proficiency, but I can kill two in front, hence my question.

More just a curiosity than anything. I am just thankful that I have been able to be there and see truly the best shots at work.

 

[Red Leg]

I have as well, truly the sport of kings. On my first shoot I was standing between Ken Davies and Roland Wild, two H&H instructors. It was truly a humbling experience for a young fellow who thought he knew his way around a shotgun.

These gents can take four birds from a group. That means the first two birds are killed in front, the first shot being a long way out there. In that case, the second shot was likely 20 yards closer. Obviously the reverse is true going away. I never reached their level of proficiency, but I can kill two in front, hence my question.

More just a curiosity than anything. I am just thankful that I have been able to be there and see truly the best shots at work.

This was twenty years ago, but I was on my bi-annual trip to Saskatchewan for geese and ducks. A gentleman from H&H whose name I can not remember was in camp at the same time we were with a videographer (something of a novel thing in those days). He hunted with us two or three times while we were there. His gun was a 28 bore Royal with 32" tubes. It felt like a fly rod in the hand. I am pretty sure he killed every goose at which he shot claiming - and I believed him - he was taking head shots. It is humbling to be around such skill.

Did you ask the gents on the driven shoot which trigger and barrel they were firing first?

 

[Daniel Cary]

I was better at 14yrs old. Now, these single trigger SxS's.

The great thing about the Stoeger is it only works 50% of the time ;

 

[WAB]

This was twenty years ago, but I was on my bi-annual trip to Saskatchewan for geese and ducks. A gentleman from H&H whose name I can not remember was in camp at the same time we were with a videographer (something of a novel thing in those days). He hunted with us two or three times while we were there. His gun was a 28 bore Royal with 32" tubes. It felt like a fly rod in the hand. I am pretty sure he killed every goose at which he shot claiming - and I believed him - he was taking head shots. It is humbling to be around such skill.

Did you ask the gents on the driven shoot which trigger and barrel they were firing first?

I did not but that is an excellent point. I will drop them a line. A clear indication of an excellent driven shot on truly high birds is where the first bird lands. If it lands 20 yards to the front, you are dealing with someone who knows their business. That bird is meeting the shot pattern at least 40 yards out which means the gun was discharged when it was roughly 60 yards out.

Per your observation in Saskatchewan, one of the above gentlemen hunted with me in Wyoming and Nebraska. In a week of shooting we took an impressive bag of pheasant, quail, prairie chicken, duck and goose. He only used the second barrel once on the same bird, and every bird save one was stone dead. My dog ran down the one runner. They are capable shots.

By the way, it sounds like you may have been shooting with Ken Davies. They did quite a few videos with him.

 

[Safari Dave]

A double gun is designed to be fired right barrel (front trigger) and then left barrel (rear trigger). The triggers are designed to allow a natural flow front to rear. SxS shotguns are designed exactly the same way. A quality version of each will have the rear trigger a half pound or so heavier pull than the front. Apparently, some people have issues accidentally tripping the rear trigger while in recoil from the front trigger. They advocate firing rear first. But that is not how a double is designed to operate. Personally, I have never had that issue with any shotgun up through heavy pigeon or wildfowl loads, or any rifle up through .470 which is the heaviest recoiling that I own.

Red Leg knows about that which he keys!

 

[Safari Dave]

So if someone commits the sin of shooting the rear trigger (left barrel) first, what's the downside short of now having to the trigger finger forward versus backward to prepare for the 2nd shot?

There is not much of a downside (my Heym's front trigger hinges foreword, to keep from cutting the trigger finger).

For an O/U, I would first use the trigger for the barrel that gives me the most accurate first shot.

Single trigger DR's make no sense, because you want the reliability of two, completely, separate actions.

There are situations where you might want to be able to select, at a moment's notice, a solid or an expanding bullet.

Knowing which barrel is holding what and which trigger operates which barrel is VERY important.

Practice
Practice
Practice

 

[Lyleedward]

So if someone commits the sin of shooting the rear trigger (left barrel) first, what's the downside short of now having to the trigger finger forward versus backward to prepare for the 2nd shot?

My 500 ne Merkel will double fire if u use back trigger first. It’s back at importers now ( has been for 18 months) to fix this. Pain in the bum if u have a solid in left barrel and need to shoot solid first. I have been told Merkel has made a block to stop this happening. U could just put a stronger spring on front trigger to be same as back. I have needed to use either barrel first so I find it odd that they recommend only shooting right first as an advantage of a double is to have a soft and solid choice.

 

[Puddle]

Many years ago, an old friend had brought out a collection of double rifles to shoot at the range. I was a couple benches down from him with a M70 .375 H&H. He looked at my H&H and asked did I want to try one of his doubles. Uh, YEAH!
So, he selected a rifle, opened the breach, and loaded the right barrel, and handed it to me. From growing up shooting my dad's double barrel 12 gauge, I naturally squeezed the front trigger, and it went bang.
Turns out it was a .450/.400 NE 3" and I've wanted one ever since.

 

[rigbymauser]

On my 10bore I pull the rear trigger first.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Blasphemy. The only time to pull the rear trigger first is if the bird is passing high overhead or out there at about 60 yards.

Gives me the willies.

 

[PCC600]

In a good quality double rifle, it shouldn’t matter. For many years, Merkel used to advise that their customers always pull the rear trigger first when firing their double rifles… otherwise they would risk a double discharge. And this is true. I’ve seen more than a few Merkel double rifles suffer from double discharging problems over the years.

In regards to shotguns, game guns (typically choked modified in the left barrel & cylinder in the right and used for driven bird shooting) were always intended to be be fired right barrel (front trigger) first.

Wild fowling guns (esp. those made in the days of market hunting) were usually made with a fully choked left barrel and a modified choked right barrel (or even both barrels fully choked). They were typically intended to be fired rear trigger first, so that the fully choked left barrel would get a tight concentration of pellets into a flock of sitting waterfowl. Then, the modified choked right barrel would be fired by pulling the front trigger… So that the spread of pellets could secure a few more waterfowl as they were spreading their wings in an attempt to take flight.

I have hunted driven pheasant, partridge & grouse quite a few times over the years (till now). The first shot is taken at closer range.

This video is not perfect but it can give novices a rough idea of what driven bird shooting is like.

Key words re double rifle from HH is “in a good quality rifle “.

I cannot conceive of a situation when shooting as to why anyone would shoot rear trigger first in a properly configured DR.

The whole idea is to shoot the right barrel first and slide back onto the rear trigger quickly . The stock is designed that way.

Crazy to do it otherwise “in a good quality rifle “ !