Place Your Barrels

Thinking of switching from a side-by-side to an over-and-under? Or perhaps the other way around? Steve Rawsthorne guides us through the key points of difference to consider

- Steve Rawsthorne

Now that the season is over, if you are considering switching from a side-by-side to an over-and-under (or even, lord forbid, vice-versa), this is a good time to do it. You will have time to get used to your new gun and, if necessary, have it fitted. Leave changing it until August or September and it will be too late – another season will have passed and all the gunsmiths will be madly busy with all the guns that should have been worked on this season.

I started shooting in 1968 when there were only side-by-sides around. I remember the first over-and-unders appearing in 1970: shortbarrelled Skeet guns from the States. There was much muttering about “cad’s guns” and how they made shooting too easy.

The truth was that the first O/U shooters were clay shots, who practised far more often than the average game shooter. If you learn good technique and practise regularly, you will be better than someone who only shoots three or four times a year. Today, that snobbery has gone and you can shoot anywhere with an over-and-under.

I left my previous career 25 years ago and started training and working in shooting instruction. I was an occasional shooter with a side-by-side (although I spent two years as a full-time gamekeeper when I first left school, before returning to education).

All the other instructors said, “you’ll switch to an over-and-under,” to which I always replied, “I’m happy with my side-by-side”.

A few months later, I secretly bought an O/U and only shot it when no one could see. When I was shooting competitively I had to ‘come out’ as, of course, everyone was shooting with an O/U.