Double barrels

[Petrol & Powder]

The OP hasn't specified what the intended use will be. Are we're talking about a sporting gun (Trap, Skeet, upland birds, waterfowl, ?) or a home defense weapon ? Or something else ?

If we're talking sporting uses then it's going to be a challenge to find one shotgun that fits 4 different users. Male, female, left & right handed, right eye dominant or left eye dominant, big, little, etc.

If we're talking home defense, regulation of the barrels and choke tubes are probably not going to be a big issues.
I don't think an O/U is going to be an affordable choice for a home defense gun.

For a home defense weapon, a good pump action is hard to beat. You can leave the chamber empty, the safety off and the action unlocked. That gives you a safe gun with at least 4 rounds in the magazine (two more than a double barrel). You can put the gun into use by cycling the action and pulling the trigger, that will be equally as simple for left and right handed users.

A side by side can be used as a home defense weapon but I think it is inferior to a pump action for several reasons. If it has internal hammers it needs to be loaded, with the hammers cocked and the safety on - not a good condition to store a gun in.
External hammers at least allow you to store the gun with the hammers down but you still only have two rounds in the gun.

[pmer]

It would be for informal clay pigeons and hunting. Primarily for a 14 year old son, he's right handed but left eye dominant. My wife is the same and our 17 year old daughter is left handed / right eye dominant.

A 20 gauge would probably be a smarter bet as far recoil is concerned (for wife and kids) but the son would probably have more trigger time. He thinks over & unders are cool. He has shot the 870 12ga. right handed loaded for coyote with Burris fast fire on it.

I'm right hand/ right eyed and have a 870 and a Benelli semi auto.

[SuperBlazingSabots]

I have been reading and having fun at what all others have said.
I still recommend a 20 ga and from what I know now I wasted a lot of money on my 12 gauge guns when all I needed was a good solid 20 ga High Power Nitro Express ! !
Then start loading .575 RB loads for your family and hunting for some 20 cents a pop.
Please read my post #810 here:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Sabot!/page41

Regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

[Petrol & Powder]

It would be for informal clay pigeons and hunting. Primarily for a 14 year old son, he's right handed but left eye dominant. My wife is the same and our 17 year old daughter is left handed / right eye dominant.

A 20 gauge would probably be a smarter bet as far recoil is concerned (for wife and kids) but the son would probably have more trigger time. He thinks over & unders are cool. He has shot the 870 12ga. right handed loaded for coyote with Burris fast fire on it.

I'm right hand/ right eyed and have a 870 and a Benelli semi auto.

Thanks, that helps a lot.

[Petrol & Powder]

That's a tall order and I'm not certain a single gun is going to be able fill those roles.

I would suggest filling the need for your 14 year old son and avoid trying to find a compromise that fits everyone. Trying to find one gun that fits all will likely result in one gun that fails for all.

If your son shoots from his right shoulder then that left eye dominant thing will take some work.

An O/U with a short stock that can be lengthened with spacers as he grows may be a good option. A semi-auto with some adjustment available in the stock (like some of the Beretta's ) may also be a solid gun for him.
When it comes to shotguns, I'm a firm believer that you should never jump from one gun to another, to another, etc.
Find a gun that fits and dedicate yourself to that ONE gun. Don't change platforms !
Because that one gun needs to be durable so that the shooter can become extremely familiar with it over the years, it is worth spending a little more money up front.

As for you, your wife and your daughter, I think you will need to decide if your wife and daughter want a lot a of time with a shotgun or if they will be occasional shooters. And you probably know this already but you're on your own.

Trying to find a compromise shotgun for 4 very different people will result in a gun that works for none of those 4 people.

[Petander]

The idea of an O/U slug gun intrigues me because of the quick second shot available. However in practical use a Semi Auto will be just as fast since you can't fire a second shot while in recoil and expect to hit anything ...

.

When I choose a light load for the lower barrel and shoot it first, I can hit with the second one really,really fast with my 20 gauge Beretta 57 o/u. This is one of my reasons to prefer a 20. Magnums in 20 don't gain much at all anyway.

To the OP I'd recommend an o/u in 20 AND a pump slug gun.

[megasupermagnum]

Other than a dedicated rifled slug gun, I am against the 20 gauge for most uses. A 7/8 oz load is common in 12 gauge, and you can buy 1 ounce loads anywhere. I assume you can find 3/4 oz 20 gauge, but most of what you see is 7/8 oz. In the case of the Mossberg 500, the 20 gauge is about half a pound lighter, a much bigger effect than the 1/8 oz of shot.

Personally I believe the perfect gun for what you want is the Mossberg 500 Flex #50121. You can change the stock without tools in about 10 seconds. How you shoot it is up to you, but I start new shooters off shooting on their dominant eye side. If they just can't pick it up, shooting with the dominant eye is overrated. I believe dominant side is the better way, but I'd bet 25% of the shooters out there today are shooting right handed while they are actually left eye dominant.

Find the stocks that work well enough, and change them at the range. Most of us started off with a short shock shotgun and later used that same gun with a slip on recoil pad. It's not ideal, but if you aren't made of money, you make due.

[Petrol & Powder]

While we could debate for hours over standard length shotshells and their normal payloads, the differences lay in the size of the guns more than the payloads of the shells.

The 2 3/4" 12 ga shells typically hold 1oz to 1 1/4" oz of shot and standard length 20 gauge shells typically have a 7/8oz payload. You can get reduced payload 12 gauge shells and drop that payload down below 1 oz. BUT you still have a 12 gauge sized gun. A 20 guage gun built on a smaller 20 gauge frame is dramatically different from a 12 ga gun.

The 12 ga is certainly more ubiquitous in America than the 20 ga. and there is no argument that a 12 ga can throw more pellets due to it heavier payload capability but the real advantage of the 20 ga. is that the guns themselves are handy and fun to carry.

The 20 ga is a great gun for clay targets and upland birds. It will force you to be a better shooter. The 20 ga is not a good choice for waterfowl.

I don't know if the OP's 14 year old is large for his age but most of the younger teens I encounter are better off with a smaller framed shotgun.
If you've ever seen a young shooter that is proficient with a 20 gauge shotgun and then hand them a 12 ga gun, it's amazing how well they can break targets. They are accustomed to breaking targets with 7/8 ounce of shot and a full choke; with an extra 1/4 oz. of shot in the shell and a modified choke they will consistently smoke close targets and break distant targets.

A gun that fits the shooter will be better than a big gun that the shooter needs to grow into.

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
We have a Fox B 12 gauge and a Fox B 20 gauge. They are two worlds difference when it comes to comparison.
The 20 gauge is possibly 2 pounds lighter and very fast getting on target.
But when I get serious about busting crows and other critters I take the 12.
Mike in LLama Land

[TNsailorman]

Eye dominance is an easy fix. A piece of tape on the safety glass lense of the dominant eye cuts down the dominance of the right eye of a left handed shooter or vice versa. A shotgun should be shot with both eyes open anyway, not sighted like a rifle with one eye closed. you point a shotgun and aim a rifle. As for the argument over a 20 or a 12, that has been going on for generations and it still is a simple answer; it depend on who and what the gun is intended. For women I have always recommended a gas operated 12 gauge as a beginning. Later they might want to go over/under but that can come later. It is no heavier than an over/under and the recoil is considerably reduced by the gas recoil system. The recoil of the 12 gauge gas operated auto actually feels less than a 20 in an over/under or side by side. The 12 also has more pellets in general than a 20 unless you go 3" magnum and now you are back to more recoil in a lighter gun. If a shooter is going to shoot trap or skeet, I would recommend a copy of Pachmayr's Trapshooting and also Pachmayr's Skeet Shooting, both with instructor Ken Robertson, an California and International Champion. It is the best "how to" presentation that I have ever found for the beginner or for someone who just wants to improve his or her game. I have been shooting trap and skeet for over 50 years and it is addictive once you learn how to shoot it correctly. my experience anyway, james

[longbow]

Personally I like side by's much better than O/U's but my understanding is that O/U's tend to be easier to get regulated. Not sure why that would be except maybe the way they are constructed? Either way it is unlikely you'll get a gun well enough regulated to shoot both barrels to same point of aim with slugs at any significant distance (much past 30 yards maybe). With shot it doesn't matter much if regulation is a bit off but of course with slugs having each barrel shoot maybe 6" off plus smoothbore lack of precision means pretty large groups. A sight for each barrel as Kodiak does might work but then you've got 2 sights on a gun you want to use for bird hunting too... not so good.

A pump gun is probably the best bet. You can get a birdshot barrel and slug barrel. I'm in agreement with msm on the BPS. I have one and it is a nice gun but... I don't like bottom eject/bottom load only and something I find only with this gun is that I find it easy to short stroke and not chamber a round when operating it. I don't have that issue with any other pump I have tried, just my BPS. So, while it is a well made gun and looks great I wouldn't buy another one.

I haven't used it nearly enough but so far I am very happy with the Mossberg 500 Slugster I bought a while ago. It functions very well and is really smooth to operate (no short stroke issue there!).

Yes the 12/20 argument goes on. I am a die hard 12 ga. guy mainly because 12 ga. is "universal"... ammunition is available in about every flavour and everywhere, plus 12 ga. is better with buckshot. Depends on your wants and needs but for me, I don't want or need a 20 ga. I had a 20 ga. Remington 870 Wingmaster but got rid of it. Different strokes!

Longbow

[richhodg66]

The idea of an O/U slug gun intrigues me because of the quick second shot available. However in practical use a Semi Auto will be just as fast since you can't fire a second shot while in recoil and expect to hit anything and that give any Autoloader more than enough time to cycle. And you can learn how to run a pump guns nearly as fast and they are much cheaper than any O/U I've seen.

As far as the inexpensive Alternative of a Stevens 311 I have to say do your self a favor and stay away. I have reworked two of them and both were pure junk inside. They didn't even deburr any of the internal parts and nothing ran well. They also don't retract the Firing Pins very well if even slightly dirty which makes it almost impossible to open the gun without literally breaking it over your knee.

I sold the one I built as a Slug Gun after cutting the barrels to 20" they shot in different zip codes. The other one was a redo and clean up for a friend and it was worse inside than the first one and newer to Boot.

Stoeger makes decent relatively inexpensive SxS's with either Hammers or not adn they work great right out of the box. Regulation for slugs is always going to be a crap shoot.

Randy

Never heard that about the Stevens 311s, they have a reputation for being crude but rugged. I had one for a while and never had any problems. I have a 16 gauge Savage/Stevens double I bought about a year ago and haven't shot yet, I don't think it's a 311 but similar. Maybe I ought to get that out this weekend and shoot it.

[pmer]

One thing I noticed on the used Stoeggers upstairs at that GS was that the safeties weren't very consistent in switching back and fourth from fire to safe. (O&U)

Man, I looked at post 810 on Super Blazing Sabot's link... there sure isn't any grass growing under those numbers!

I appreciate the advice from all the posters.

[tudor8055]

Be careful with o/u for left handers as most will have a cast off stock. A left hander will not be able to shoot an o/u cast off, the gun will not
come up right. I am left handed and left eye dominant I shoot sporting clays with a Browning o/u that I purchased with a cast on stock (hard to find). I hunt birds with 16 & 12ga model 37s that I converted to left handed safeties the guns are cast neutural as are most pumps.
If you are left handed research stock cast in shotguns. If a lefty buys a cast off gun he will not be able to shoot it well and may not know why. Most o/u are cast off, some sxs guns are also, most pumps and semi autos are neutral.
I tried to shoot right handed for about a year. I mastered the physical aspect of it but could not change my eye dominance.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Never heard that about the Stevens 311s, they have a reputation for being crude but rugged. I had one for a while and never had any problems. I have a 16 gauge Savage/Stevens double I bought about a year ago and haven't shot yet, I don't think it's a 311 but similar. Maybe I ought to get that out this weekend and shoot it.

All you've got to do is take the stock off and you can see how rough the internal parts are. They deburred nothing! All they had to do to improve the quality big time was to put all those rough parts in a Tumbler for an hour or so and they would have had all the sharp edges and burrs knocked off and the results would have been night and day different. It would have cost them exactly nothing to do!!!

I was really disappointed in what I found. Pure junk !!!,,, and I will never even pick one up again.

Randy