What is the Origin of the Side by Side?

[L.A. Native]

I imagine they were developed for hunting but aside from Elmer Fudd I don't see them in that application much. Love the look and feel of coach guns and was just curious.
Would love to hear about what you guys know as far as it's history, development and philosophy of use.

I could google this info but you guys are more interesting

[Revoman]

I'm thinkin' that your eyes are side by side, so that's why the shotgun was made that way....otherwise your eyes would be superposed to match an over and under?

[SilentPea]

Completely wild assed guess follows:
Back in the days of (external) hammer - percussion cap or pinfire firearms, a side by side configuration was probably easier to imagine/manufacture than an over under.

Once things went to internal hammers & centerfire cartridges, the market gradually swung towards over under configurations as the preferred shotgun. Nowadays the majority of side by sides that I see are generally limited to cheap reproductions (the coach guns you see at big5 "I'm in the old west!") and high dollar custom guns (rich European hunters "because that's how my father's father did it")

[hermosabeach]

My fud logic

When black powder and Damascus barrels were made, food was out on the table with a shotgun.



Locking and unlocking an action was slow.


Single barrel did not give you a chance to keep a wounded bird from escaping
Or to shoot a double



So



Add a second barrel with a second trigger





Hunting birds and you spook a deer or pig out of its nest...


Well that is a drilling. Two barrels and a center rifle barrel.






The single barrel came back with the lever gun

Then the pump


Then ....

[NapalmCheese]

Lo and the musket begat the Fowler.
The Fowler begat the purpose built shotgun and yea, it was good.
One shot from a black powder shotgun, be it effective or not, may not be sufficient and so it was said: "Let there be two barrels!"
Was there an internal box lock on this earth? Nay, side lock hammer guns be thine only choice.
Whenceforth a side lock hammer gun must have the hammer on the side, the side by side hammer gun must follow; as the over under hammer gun would be an abomination of side lock work.

Years passed, external hammers turned to internal hammers, side locks gave way to box locks, and other shotgun actions were born. With the single barreled repeating shotguns providing people with a single sight plane, and the box lock shotguns providing a more compact action, the over under was born.

Side by side shotguns are not coach guns. Coach guns are sawed off side by side shotguns. A well made SxS is a thing of beauty to behold (be it old or new), as a well made O/U is as well. A cheap side by side might as well be a couple of steel pipes duct taped to a 2x4. Such is the same with the O/U.

Believe it or not the break action (specifically in a double gun) is difficult to make well, pumps are easier with looser tolerances and as such, an extremely nice pump gun can be made for less money than an extremely nice double gun, and thus the cost difference.

This is my general understanding of shotgun history.

[NapalmCheese]

Also, as to why a person would choose to hunt with a SxS instead of an O/U:

SxS shotguns feel more slender to me (especially older 'actually slender' shotguns) than O/U shotguns. O/U shotguns tend to have decidedly thick fore ends on them for some rason, vintage SxS shotguns barely had a piece of wood under the barrels.

The wide sight plane of the SxS, while a hindrance to some, doesn't bother me, and in fact I think promotes my not focusing on the bead. Since the two biggish barrels are so obvious in my peripheral vision, I don't search for a bead and more instinctively focus on the bird or clay, but this is a crutch and not a fix for my bad shotgunning.

Also, I feel posh and superior to my fellow shotgunners, so long as they don't see my shooting.