Top or bottom on a O/U

[JasonW77]

After alot of help and questions answer by everyone here I have decided and will be picking up my new O/U CZ - Woodcock shotgun this coming weekend. I held many guns over the last week or so and this one for the price and feel I think it will work great for me. Thanks for all the help everyone.

I do have one more question on the O/U style. Is there a reason to choose to shoot the top over the bottom or bottom over the top first??

[vzkennels]

Most choose to shoot the bottom barrel with the most open choke first.Think the switch the changes the barrel selection works best that way for right haned shooters anyway.

[Loke]

It all depends on how they're choked. Close shots, the more open barrel. Long shots, the tight one. Which ever they may be.

[Dave Quindt]

The standard is to use the bottom barrel as your first shot. Most O/Us with fixed chokes are set up with the bottom barrel being the more open-choked barrel. In some guns specifically built for driven birds, the bottom barrel will be the tighter-choked one if the gun is to be primarily used to shoot incoming game.

The bottom barrel is the center axis of the gun, and firing that barrel will produce less muzzle jump than the top one. It is also slightly more easy on the gun's action. Are these enough to make a huge difference for a recreational shooter? Not sure. But what I do know is that on some O/Us, subgage guns in particular, it is possible to crack the action open, pull the empty out (sometimes even the ejector will fire, depends on the gun) put in a new shell and close the action. The problem is you've never recocked the gun because it wasn't opened far enough.

In the end, in a gun like the Woodcock, which isn't built to be a heavy-volume shooter or a heirloom gun, it probably doesn't matter very much, other than some added muzzle flip when using the top barrel.

JMO,
Dave

[tenbearsviz]

I will probably mess up the technical terms so bare with me.

I use a Berreta 686 O/U. I fire the bottom barrel first. The reason is becaues the lower barrel is slightly angled up. If you could see the gap between barrels near the stock vs teh gap between at the end, you would see what I mean. I was told this was designed to help reduce the upward kick when the lower barrel is fired allowing for a faster sighting on the second/upper shot. Sort of like porting exhausting upward to help counter the upward force.

Follow me?

[brav302]

I always shot my top barrel first. I keep a tighter choke in the bottom.

[Southwind]

Higher end O/U's are desinged with the bottom barrel angled up a few degrees so that both barrels are dead on the rib bead at 15-20 yds. The top barrel is dead on the bead all the way out. But the bottom is only dead on at that range. Ususally in a hunting situation, the hunter's first shot is at that yardage. That's why you shoot the bottom first on game going away from the shooter.