Can You Put A 12 Ga Barrel On A 410 Nef Break Action

Shotgun with two parallel barrels

A view of the break-activity of a typical side-by-side (SxS) double-barreled shotgun, with the Anson & Deeley boxlock activity open and the extractor visible. The lever and the safety catch can also be clearly seen.

A view of the break-action of a typical over-and-under (O/U) double-barreled shotgun, with action open and the ejectors visible.

A double-barreled shotgun is a interruption-action shotgun with 2 parallel barrels, allowing two unmarried shots to be fired in quick succession.

Construction [edit]

Modern double-barreled shotguns, frequently known every bit doubles, are virtually universally pause action, with the barrels hinge down at the rear to betrayal the breech ends for unloading and reloading. Since there is no reciprocating action needed to eject and reload the shells, doubles are more meaty than repeating designs such as pump action, lever activity, bolt activity, or self-loading shotguns.

Barrel configuration [edit]

Double-barreled shotguns come in 2 basic configurations:

side-past-side (Due south×S) — the two barrels are arranged horizontally;
over-and-nether (O/U) — the ii barrels are bundled vertically.

The original double-barreled guns were almost all Southward×South designs, which was a more practical design for muzzleloaders. Early cartridge-firing shotguns also used the South×S action, because they kept the exposed hammers of the earlier muzzleloading shotguns from which they evolved. When hammerless designs started to become common, the O/U design was introduced, and most modern sporting doubles are O/U designs.^[1]

Ane significant advantage that doubles accept over unmarried-butt repeating shotguns is the ability to accept more than than one choke at a time. Some shotgun shooting sports, such as skeet shooting, use crossing targets presented in a narrow range of distance, and but require one level of asphyxiate. Other sports, like sporting clays, give the shooter targets at differing ranges, and targets that might approach or recede from the shooter, and so must be engaged at differing ranges. Having two barrels lets the shooter utilise a more open choke for most targets, and a tighter choke for afar targets, providing the optimal shot pattern for each distance.

The disadvantage lies in the fact that the barrels of a double-barreled shotgun, whether O/U or S×South, are not parallel, but slightly angled,^{[ citation needed ]} so that shots from the barrels converge, ordinarily at "40 yards out". For the Southward×South configuration, the shotstring continues on its path to the opposite side of the rib after the converging point; for example, the left barrel's discharge travels on the left of the rib till it hits dead center at 40 yards out, after that, the discharge continues on to the right. In the O/U configuration with a parallel rib, both barrels' discharges volition go on to the dead eye, but the discharge from the "nether" butt will shoot higher than the discharge from the "over" barrel after xl yards. Thus, double-barreled shotguns are accurate but at practical shotgun ranges, though the range of their ammunition easily exceeds 4 to six times that altitude.

Southward×S shotguns are oftentimes more expensive, and may accept more practise to aim effectively than a O/U. The off-center nature of the recoil in a S×S gun may make shooting the body-side barrel slightly more painful by comparison to an O/U, unmarried-shot, or pump/lever activeness shotgun. Gas-operated, and to a bottom extent recoil-operated, designs will recoil less than either. More S×S than O/U guns have traditional "cast-off" stocks, where the end of the buttstock veers slightly to the correct, assuasive a right-handed user to bespeak the gun more than easily.^[one]

Double-barreled shotguns are also inherently more than safe, as whether the shotgun is loaded or can be fired tin can be ascertained by anyone present if the activeness is cleaved open, for example on a skeet, trap or hunting clays form when another shooter is firing; if the activeness is open, the gun cannot fire. Similarly, doubles are more easily examined to see if loaded than pump or semi-automatic shotguns, whose bolt must be opened and chamber closely examined or felt to brand certain it is unloaded; with a double gun (or a break-action unmarried gun), whether the gun is loaded, i.e., has cartridges in any bedchamber, is easily and immediately seen with a glance (and just as easily unloaded).^{[ commendation needed ]}

Trigger mechanism [edit]

The early doubles used ii triggers, i for each barrel, located front end to back inside the trigger guard. The index finger was used to pull either trigger, as having 2 fingers inside the trigger baby-sit tin can cause a very undesirable recoil-induced double-discharge. Double-trigger designs are typically set upward for correct-handed users.^[1] In double-trigger designs, it is oft possible to pull both triggers at one time, firing both barrels simultaneously, though this is generally not recommended as it doubles the recoil, battering both shotgun and shooter, particularly if it was unanticipated or unintended. Discharging both barrels at the same time has long been a hunting flim-flam employed past hunters using eight gauge "elephant" shotguns, firing the two 2-ounce slugs for sheer stopping power at close range.^{[ citation needed ]}

After models use a single trigger that alternately fires both barrels, called a single selective trigger or SST. The SST does not allow firing both barrels at once, since the single trigger must exist pulled twice in order to burn down both barrels. The change from one barrel to the other may be done by a clockwork blazon arrangement, where a cam alternates between barrels, or by an inertial arrangement where the recoil of firing the first barrel toggles the trigger to the adjacent butt. A double-barreled shotgun with an inertial trigger works best with total ability shotshells; shooting low recoil shotshells ofttimes volition not reliably toggle the inertial trigger, causing an apparent failure to fire occasionally when attempting to depress the trigger a second fourth dimension to fire the 2nd barrel (this also can happen if the first shell fails to burn). More often than not there is a method of selecting the guild in which the barrels of an SST shotgun burn down; commonly this is done through manipulation of the safety, pushing to one side to select top barrel first and the other side to select lesser barrel first. In the event that an inertial trigger does not toggle to the second barrel when firing low recoil shotshells, manually selecting the order to the second barrel will enable the 2nd barrel to fire when the trigger is depressed once again.

One of the advantages of double-barreled shotgun with double triggers or SST, is that the second shot can exist taken almost immediately later on the first with merely a 2nd trigger pull, without needing to manually operate the action (which will inevitably destabilize the gun from the shoulder position and affect aim), and can utilize different chokes for the ii shots (assuming, of class, that full power shotshells are fired, at least for a double-barreled shotgun with an inertial type SST, as needed to toggle the inertial trigger). This can be noticeably faster than a pump shotgun, which requires manually pumping the fore-terminate to eject and reload for the second shot, and may exist faster, or not slower, than a semi-automatic shotgun (every bit there are no bolt movements to delay the rechambering of a second crush). Annotation, however, in neither the pump or semi-automatic will the second shot be a different choke blueprint from the first shot, whereas for a double, the 2 shots are usually with different chokes. Thus, depending on the nature of the hunt, the advisable choke for the shot is ever at manus. For example, while field hunting flushing birds, the kickoff shot is commonly closer than the second because the bird flies abroad from the shooter; so, the more open up choke (and barrel) would exist better for the first shot, and if a second shot is needed, as the bird is flying away, the more airtight (and thus longer distance of an effective shot pattern) choke (and barrel) is then appropriate. Conversely, on a driven hunt, where the birds are driven towards the shooter, the airtight (longer effective distance) asphyxiate (and butt) should be fired get-go, saving the open (closer effective distance) choke (and butt) for the now-closer incoming bird. None of this is possible with single-barrel shotguns, just with a double, whether South×Due south or O/U.

Regulation [edit]

Regulation is a term used for multi-barreled firearms that indicates how shut to the same bespeak of aim the barrels will shoot. A poorly regulated gun may striking consistently with one barrel, but miss consistently with the other, making the gun nearly useless for annihilation requiring 2 shots. However, the brusque ranges and spread of shot provide a meaning overlap, and then a pocket-sized error in regulation in a double is often too small to be noticed. Generally the shotguns are regulated to hit the bespeak of aim at a given distance, unremarkably the maximum expected range since that is the range at which a total choke is used, and where precise regulation matters most. The regulation is ordinarily more important in SxS shotguns, as felt recoil differs.

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c John Barsness (July 2010), "Twin barrel myths: side-by-side vs. over-under", Guns Mag, archived from the original on 2022-12-29