Double guns are very much like beautiful women and sleek cars, they seem alive in the hands and are a feast to the eyes. Certainly, just as there are ugly cars and gauche women, there are doubles that are little more than clubs or jack handles, but good doubles are simply great shotguns.

Terminology

Before we get too far afield, let.s cover some double-gun basics and terminology. The twin tubes are laid side by side, and those that use them say that this is like a wide highway leading the eye to the target. On the inside, the double barrels offer two instantly available choices of choke. Before screw-in chokes, doubles came in two basic configurations, improved cylinder and modified for upland hunters and modified and full for waterfowling. The later was considered the more universal, especially in the days before shot-protecting plastic cups, buffering, etc. Now doubles come from the factory with screw-in choke tubes and few are the doubles that Briley Manufacturing Co. (1230 Lumpkin, Houston, TX 77043; phone: 800-331-5718) can.t outfit with screw-in tubes.

As far as the instant choice of chokes, the original double-trigger system is perhaps the best. Unless it was made to someone.s specification and reversed, the front trigger fires the right barrel and the rear trigger the left. Then, for an incoming duck or pheasant, it.s an easy matter to pull the rear trigger first firing the tighter barrel then the front trigger as the target nears. Double triggers are the most versatile, and can be quickly mastered by shooting a couple of rounds of skeet or sporting clays. The other method of selecting the barrel involves a barrel selector identical to those found on over/unders. It.s either a button on the trigger or is part of the safety. Although slower and not as positive as double triggers, those who are familiar with their barrel selector can choose their choke with ease.

There are two types of side by side actions, boxlocks and sidelocks. Sidelocks are the oldest of the two and are a carryover from the days of flint and percussion muzzleloaders. In the late 1700s, Joseph Manton built a side-by-side flintlock muzzloader that gave final form to the double gun, all that remained was the evolution of breechloading and bringing the hammers inside. As breechloaders took the helm the external hammers remained, and finally as hammerless shotguns overtook hammer guns, the sidelock design remained. The difference between a sidelock and boxlock action is that the sidelock carries the hammers, springs and sears on the two sideplates. The boxlock hinges the tumblers or hammers, sears and their springs within the action, and the back of the exterior of the action is square to the stock.

Sidelocks are said to have better trigger pulls, but since a shotgun.s trigger is slapped or stroked, variations in trigger pull between the two actions are moot. In all but the worst of doubles, the triggers are far better than those found on many semi-autos and pumps. The sidelock does have one decided advantage, interceptor, intercepting of second sears. In the event the gun is dropped and the impact causes the primary sear to release the hammer, the intercepting sear will grab the tumbler and not allow it to drop and strike the firing pin. Only when the trigger is consciously pulled does the intercepting sear allow the hammer to completely fall. Unfortunately, the sole American-made sidelock, the classic L. C. Smith, does not have an intercepting sear, but instead a very simple, unrefined sidelock. The other aspect of the sidelock is its exterior and the broad canvas it presents to the engraver. Boxloxks are often outfitted with false sideplates for engraving, but should not confused with a true sidelock. In all but one or two extremely expensive sidelock shotguns that have concealed pins, the ends of the screws or pins, as the British call them, that hold the internals parts and pivoting members of the locks can be seen on the exterior of the sidelock. False sideplates do not display the pin ends.

America's other classic doubles, Parker Bros., A. H. Fox, Lefever (some Lefevers appear to be sidelocks, but are not), Ithaca and Winchester are all boxlocks. Rugged and using coil rather than the traditional .V. springs of the sidelock, they leave little to be desired. .Uncle. Dan Lefever is reported to have built the first breechloading double in 1878, although Parker Brothers began making shotguns in 1867, the earliest of which were 14-gauge hammer guns that used surplus Civil War military rifle barrels. By the early 1880s, hammerless doubles were coming into use and by the turn of the 19th Century they were rapidly overtaking hammer guns. Although hammer guns hung on as special-order items until nearly 1920, they really dropped from the scene by World War One.

There is always the question in the mind of the neophyte double gunner regarding the forend. The classic forend is but a small sliver of wood that encloses the metal forend iron. Not intended to gripped, its purpose is to hold the gun together. When shooting, the barrels themselves lie where they belong right in the shooter.s leading hand. By having the barrels in the leading hand the tendency is to point them better and consequently be a better marksman in the field. Some doubles wear a beavertail forend, and in the case of trap guns, it.s almost a necessity in order to protect the shooter.s hand from the hot barrels. Still, in the case of a game gun, beavertail forfends seem a little out of place. Perhaps the best beavertailforend was that used on virtually all the Winchester Model 21s. Slim and unobtrusive, they filled the shooter.s hand, gave the gun an air or being American, and did not detract from the 21's pointability.

Barrel length is important, but keeping in mind that longer is better will solve many problems. While doubles with 26-inch and shorter barrels might seem good in a gun shop, they are very difficult to shoot well. Twenty-eight- and 30-inch barrels are perfect for any double. My AyA 28-gauge has 28-inch barrels that look a little long, but swing oh so well. Short barrels are easy to start swinging, but equally easy to stop.

When Winchester began selling its Model 1893 pump, quickly succeeded by the much stronger Model 1897, and John Browning introduced his Automatic-5 in 1905, the double began to fade. Practical-minded hunters, intent on feeding their families or being the first back to the dock with their limit of 50 or 100 ducks, embraced these repeaters. Why not? They held five to seven shells, and some quickly adapted the magazines of their Browning.s and the later Remington 11s with extensions that shot many more times without reloading. Even when the federal mandate limiting repeaters to three shells was executed, doubles remained in limbo. When I was boy, very few hunters I knew of in Freeport, Illinois, shot doubles. The Winchester Model 12 pump and Browning Auto-5 were the choice guns and doubles were considered to be on another, more aloof plane. But times change, and today there.s been a heavy resurgence in owning and shooting side by sides.

Sadly, all of the classic American doubles save the Winchester 21 and A. H. Fox that are both very, very pricy custom guns now manufacture by Tony Galazan.s Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co. (35 Woodland St., New Britain, CT 06051; 800-515-4867) have passed the way of the passenger pigeon. All succumbed to the effects of the Great Depression and the shift to wartime production of the 1940s. But like Tony Galazan, this renewed interest in doubles has stimulated Sturm Ruger to develop a side by side that they.re calling the Gold Label. I handled a prototype Gold Label displayed at the 2002 SHOT Show, and it seemed like a good solid journeyman shotgun. Wearing screw-in chokes, it appeared somewhat like Ruger.s highly successful Red Label over/under laid on its side. To have been in the stores by fall of 2002, that seems a false hope, and now expectations are that we.ll see them in dealer.s racks sometime in 2003.

Today's repeaters are often said to be backbored to better handle large shot, but long forcing cones, enlarged bores and other performance enhancing developments all go back to double guns made in the 1920s. Famed gun writer Colonel (then Major) Charles Askins and an inquiring Twin Falls, Idaho, attorney E. M. Sweeley sought to improve long-range shotgun performance. They engaged Philadelphia barrel-boring genius Bert Becker and A. H. Fox to make a number of barrels.mainly single barrels to cut costs.that Askins and Sweeley could test. Their summer.s testing discovered that a tightly tapered chamber linked to a long, gradually tapered forcing cone that flowed into a barrel bored to .740 inch as opposed to the tighter industry standard .729 gave them the tight patterns they sought. What resulted was the HE-Grade Super Fox, and a handful of Burt Becker-bored Foxes. The late Nash Buckingham, perhaps the premier outdoor writer of the first three quarters of the 20th Century, owned two Becker duck guns and an upland version, and his writing elevated Becker to near sainthood. I have a 1924-vintage Super Foxe.they only made about 300.and the patterns it shoots with the various nontoxic shots are wonderful.

All of this nostalgia aside, the renewed interest in doubles has resulted in a number of companies to catalog side by sides. Beretta.s (17601 Indian Head Hwy., Accokeek, MD 20607-2501; 301-283-6981) excellent 470 Silver Hawk offers the choice of automatic ejectors or with the flip of a small catch in the forend just the extractors so shooters need not chase their fired hulls. This year Weatherby (3100 El Camino Real, Atascadero, CA 93422; 805-466-1767) unveiled their Spanish-made side by side in two models using the same boxlock action. The Weatherby Orion features a semi pistol-grip stock and a small beavertail forend. The Athena has a straight-grip buttstock, false side plates and a splinter forend. Others such as GSI (P.O. Box 129, Trussville, AL 35173; 205-655-8299, import the impressive German-made Merkel line of doubles, and Fieldsport (3313 W. South Airport Rd., Traverse City, MI 49684; 231-933-0767) is an agent for the venerable Spanish gunmaker AyA. The august firm of Griffin & Howe (33 Claremont Rd., Bernardsville, NJ 07924; 908-766-2287) imports a classy double made by Arietta in Spain to G&H.s specifications that includes an two-inch-chambered gun that would be a grouse hunter.s dream. Closer to home, Ithaca Classic Doubles (The Old Station, #5 Railroad St., Victor, NY 14564;585-924-2710) is making reproductions of the original New Ithaca Double (NID) in field and high grades, including the Sousa Special, named for America.s March King, who was an ardent hunter and trap shot.

I'd be remiss if I didn.t pay homage to the British gun trade. Names like Holland & Holland, Purdey, Westley Richards, E. J. Churchill, William Evans and many others will set many a double-gun afficionado.s head to whirling. They are the standard against which all others are measured, and it.s an expensive measuring stick. Most run to five figures new or used, but are things of beauty. Understated and elegant, they are lighter and more facile than our American best, but in truth don.t shoot one bit better. Although some swoon at the mention of a .London Best,. many doubles wearing a British pedigree were made by the once bustling gun trade in Birmingham, England. It.s easy to check as both London and Birmingham.s proof houses use different proof marks, and a quick peek at the barrel flats will tell its origin: So too with shotguns of Spanish, German, Austrian, French and elsewhere.

Looking for a good double can be easy or tricky. I bought a lovely, beautifully refinished boxlock William Evans in a very reputable upstate New York gunshop for a song, but one needs to be wary. Any time you encounter a double you might wish to buy give it a good going over. Ask the owner to disassemble it. Hold the barrels by the lumps.the projections below the barrel at the breech end.and then flick both barrels with a finger. They should ring like a church bell. If they sound like a dull thump, thank the owner and move on, something is loose, and you.re courting trouble. If they ring nicely, attach the barrels to the action, then holding the barrels lightly bump the stock with your fist, do they feel loose, do they vibrate in your hand? Wiggle the action while holding the barrels, is there any side-to-side or up and down play? Reverse your hold and do the same while holding the stock. If all seems tight, then run your hands carefully along both barrels, carefully feel for any dents or bulges. Sometimes feeling a pair of barrels is even more revealing than looking through and at them. Finally, remove that barrels from the action and look carefully at the proof marks. If it.s an American-made double, there won.t be any, but guns made on other shores will have them. Somewhere there should be reflected the length of the chambers. Older British-made guns will be marked in inches, but more recently proofed shotguns and continental guns will be in millimeters. Those marked 50mm have 2-inch chambers, 65mm 2 1/2-inch and 70mm is the American-standard 2 3/4-inch. Most who deal in double guns will have chamber-length gauges, a barrel thickness gauge and a bore micrometer, and should willingly use them to verify the gun.s chokes, barrels and chamber lengths. And don.t assume that because a gun bears an American manufacturer.s name it is automatically chambered for 2 3/4-inch shells. There are numerous 12s around chambered for 2 5/8-inch ammo, ditto the 16 gauge and some 20s chambered for 1 1/2-inch cartridges.

Regardless of how you slice it, doubles have a mystique second to none, but unlike much that is wrapped in mystique, they also can produce. You could argue that a Model 12 points well, but a quality double will be better. They carry well in the field, and there.s just something magic about the click when the barrels are joined to the action, and the forend snaps into place. It tells of cool misty mornings, decoys, anxious dogs, the nip of fall and the joy of owning something really special.

The Vintagers - Pure Nostalgia

The mystique of the side by side is twofold, there are those who love shooting vintage guns and those who appreciate the handling qualities of them. In the 1990s an association was formed called The Vintagers (P.O. Box 31, Hawley, MA 01339) whose members revel in shooting side by sides while decked out in Edwardian shooting garb. Is it said that the golden age of shotgunning began in 1880, and its sun set with the outbreak of World War One in August 1914. It was during this period near the end of the reign of Queen Victoria and that of her son King Edward VII that the shooting party became one of the most important social functions of the year, replete with its own rules, etiquette and dress. Queen Victoria did not entrust nor share any of the responsibilities of the British throne to her son, the then Crown Prince of Wales, who, left to his own devices and fueled with enormous wealth, became addicted to shooting game. Around him grew a shooting culture of pairs and trios of shotguns, loaders, etiquette and dress that has been re-cultivated by the Vintagers who.s sporting clays and occasional game shoots are undertaken in jackets and ties, breeks and knee sox, all in fun and the spirit of the past.

Feeding Fine Doubles

While many doubles will digest any cartridge for which they are chambered, older side by sides should be treated with more care in the selection of ammunition. Lower pressure load with lighter payloads get the job done just as well as big thumpers, all the while being gentle on the action. At one time, ammunition for 12-gauge doubles chambered for two- and 2 1/2-inch shells was difficult to find. No longer. Kent-Gamebore Cartridge Co. (888-311-KENT), Bismuth Cartridge Co. (800-759-3333), Bascheri & Pegliari (972-726-9073), Polywad (800-998-0669) or RST (603-447-6770) all load 2 1/2-inch ammo and Kent-Gamebore and RST also have two-inch loads. These loads carry an ounce or a trifle more.7/8 ounce in the two-inch.and are loaded to velocities of about 1,000 to 1,150 ft./sec. and if the gun is pointed and swung well, will drop an in-range pheasant or duck with the best of them.