when shooting an over/under shotgun, which barrel should you shoot first, top or bottom?

Answer 1

I always use the bottom for my first shot. I use two different kind of shells. One is blue for birds that are close and the red one is a long range shell, in case I miss and he takes off flying. Which is rarely the case. My safety switch has a feature which allows me to move it left or right to choose from which barrel I want to shoot from so it's up to me.

Answer 2

That depends on the gun itself. Some O&U shotguns have only 1 trigger and shoot one barrel and then the other. While also some have switches next to the single trigger where you can choose top or bottom and rarely both barrels. Also some do have two triggers, one for each barrel. It is suggested that you never fire both barrels at ounce. Because if you do, you can damage the barrels due to heat generated, and the wave effect coming through both barrels at ounce can cause them to stress and crack. I have a Stoeger O&U with a single trigger. When I pull the trigger the first time it fires the bottom barrel and then when I pull it again it fires the top barrel. When I reload it automatically cocks itself and is ready again.

Answer 3

Depends on the choke of the barrels. Usually the top barrel will have less choke than the lower. If this is the case with your gun, when game is flushed you fire the top barrel. If you miss, the game is now farther away, so the choked barrel carries farther.
Knowing this, if game is flushed at a greater distance, it's better to use the choke barrel to reach out farther. Don't worry about the second shot because the game will be out of range anyway.

Answer 4

The bottom barrel 1st, this allows a quicker 2nd shot if needed from the top barrel.

Answer 5

Depends on the choke setting of each barrel.

Answer 6

the over barrel, always.

Answer 7

top. if you have good aim and don't hit it the first time, you need to re-sight your gun.