Horizontal Renaissance - why more shots are choosing side-by-sides

Words by Lloyd Pattison

According to the 2023 Game Shooting Census data in the last year 22% of guns sold were side-by-sides, up from 17% in the previous year.  The Census also reveals that the proportion of game shots using a SxS as their main gun has been steadily growing for the last five years, up from one-in-four to almost one-in-three since 2018.  This seems almost absurd given the popularity of the O/U platform for at least the 30-some years that I have been shooting. What then is the reason for this resurgence?

To find out more, I spoke to Edward King, who with his team at A.S.I., imports fine Spanish and Italian guns from AYA and Rizzni, and with fellow contributor Simon Reinhold of Holt's Auctioneers, who was crowned English Open Side-by-Side Champion 2023 in May. 

When considering what a shooter is thinking when considering a purchase for the season, one must think first: what sets the side-by-side platform apart from the newer over-and-unders? Sleek, slender, fast, light, and stylish, a well fitted side-by-side shotgun is a very different animal. Designed for a style of shooting where the birds, like shooting stars, are fleeting, infrequent, and cherished.

The form factor is comfortable to use when walking, and the perfect thing for snap shooting, when one might encounter anything from a rabbit to a magpie startled from a hedgerow. The guns suit a shorter barrel than is the current vogue and as such, demand more of the shooter. 

Challenge and experience

I rather like the analogy of comparing the SxS to driving an old sports car. With a manual gearbox, less power, no ABS or Traction Control, driving safely and well demands a different driving style compared to something like a 4x4 hot hatch which one can chuck into any corner and rely upon the electronics to sort it all out for you. A side-by-side demands finesse and control but rewards the shooter with a profound sense of achievement. 

Recalibrating what prey to take and the expectation of success based on the choice of gun is key here. Simon and Edward agree that people who are choosing to shoot a SxS are setting their sights on an experience, measured in smiles, winks of appreciation for a shot well taken, versus the pure big bag performance of the easier to shoot O/U. 

Aesthetics

I can't help but admire the lines of a classic straight hand double trigger, even if I can't shoot one to save my life. The silhouette of a gentleman poised, arched back, gun sweeping back through a driven bird is practically hardwired into our psyche.

Photos of our forefathers shooting can't help but evoke a nostalgia that, I think, latches on to the same desire to partake in game shooting in the first p

lace. The tweeds might be GORETEX-lined, and the cartridges might be high performance steel shot with biodegradable wads, but the experience of a game day is pure and unadulterated nostalgia for a simpler time.

Many shooters inherit treasured guns from relatives, guns that are still perfectly usable after a hundred years or more if one chooses the right load and quarry, but for those that want something new that is bang up to date with high pressure tested barrels there are plenty of guns to choose from.

AYA, I am told, offer a bespoke service where one can have a classic gun “cloned” using modern materials, however I gather that this is declining in popularity, with more bespoke made-to-measure or off the shelf guns now being in preference. These new guns offer a surety of a warranty and the ability to eat loads that would be perilous to the user in a classic gun, while looking and feeling every bit as pretty as their forebears.

If you, like me, prefer something a little more forgiving, there are many makers who offer guns with pistol grips, single triggers, ejectors, and beavertail foreends. Sort of a halfway house with a foot in the past but facing the future. These guns may make the purists snort with derision but I rather like mine, and the joy I get from shooting it. 

There is of course plenty of choice still out there for a shooter looking for a new gun but this pales into insignificance in comparison to the vast array of used guns for discerning pockets. From works of art wrought in Damascus steel and walnut, to workmanlike pigeon guns that can be had for pennies, there are thousands of guns out there to be had if you don't mind investing the time to find something that suits. 

Simon, ever the advocate of the classic, put it to me that a side-by-side is “functional art”, and that an entry level O/U is designed to last the length of its warranty. SxS classic guns were built at the zenith of gun making, these guns were designed to last a lifetime, most have lasted 3 or more. Any issues are usually down to poor maintenance.

Novelty value

Not to be underestimated, one must consider the simple desire to try something different. A blend really of the aesthetic and challenge inherent in changing up one's style, I hear that many shooters are turned on to the SxS simply because it’s different. I’m often asked when shooting mine if “I could just have a quick go?” by curious shooters, and both Simon and Edward told me much the same story. We all enjoy variety, and shooting a SxS is as different to the palate as trying Thai food for the first time after a diet of roast beef and potatoes.

Enlivening one's interest when shooting is getting stale by repetition is a driving force behind many gun sales in my opinion. Buying so far outside the envelope as it were, really is trying something new, and makes one appreciate how good we have it shooting an O/U.

I believe that fundamentally it’s a combination of these factors that are driving this revival, it's a nod to tradition, a window to a simpler time when one aspired to be a sporting shot, to take on a challenge, and a change, and I, for one, am very much looking forward to my first pheasant with a side-by-side.