It's my shotgun of choice in the uplands. Let's just say I have more than a dozen...Purdey, WC Scott, Merkel, Arietta, RBL, etc....and it's like choosing a beautiful Blonde over a Beautiful Redhead or Brunette..it's a matter of mood and taste.
IMHO they are the English Setter of shotguns, they are the Waxed Cotton jacket vs. Gore-Tex...the Bamboo Fly Rod over graphite...they have a soul. :)

I have shot a SXS all my life and [maybe it's habit] but I will not shoot an O/U by choice. I just love the lines, fit and tradition of a double. That's just an old guy's choice, no offense to the youngsters.

I've shot SxS and O/U's in the Uplands I never noticed much difference in the sight picture in the field. Probably cause I'm focused on the bird. Also, I've yet to shoot under hunting conditions a SxS that wasn't a 50-year old design, not the 100-year old doubles, but Winchester 23's, Fox-Steven models types made in the 1950-60's. Cheap guns, but seemed well stocked.

Since I was very young, I've always loved doubles.My dad and uncles started using autos only when they really jumped into deer and waterfowl hunting, though their father stuck with his Parker and L.C. I think some people wrongly have it stuck in their heads they won't shoot well with a double.I also had high hopes when Mr. Ruger set out to make a American sxs at a reachable cost. There were very few (I saw one) available in my area. Mark-1, I still see a few of those 23's around, one fellow deer hunts with his.Good post, Mr. Phil.

I think I now know why I tend to shoot over with a double.

After many many years of shooting single barrel or O/U s i find that taking out one of my old doubles comes with a problem at least for me that is. when i look down that airplane runway wide set of barrels, I see the right side barrel (I shoot left handed with both eyes open) have you or anyone else expirienced this and is there a way to correct it???

I grew up shooting SXS shotguns once I graduated beyond my first single shot and my dad was reasonably sure I could be trusted to return his doubles in unchewed condition. Since the ones I was shooting were already about half a century old the stocks weren't as straight although the drop was not extreme. I don't know whether it's just familiarity, nostalgia, or reality, but to me nothing handles as well or points so naturally at rising birds as a well-balanced SXS. You do feel like you're shooting with your hands and your eyes rather than the gun. I'm also a traditionalist in most things, and it always struck me that quail and pheasants should be shot with a SXS because they merit it. Better, they should be shot behind a good dog by someone with a SXS who's wearing tweed and toting a leather shell bag.

It's a naustalgia thing rather than a practical approach to better shooting. There is a contention being that the eyes, and the hands move as one, and the fact that a double has a "splinter" forearm where the very thin forearm places the hand right at the barrels, and moves with the sight plane making for more accurate shooting, but in reality the old, straight stocks with little drop don't fit most gunner's eye. My contention is that the very wide barrel plane can cause the eye to sight down the barrels rather than focus on the target. If it were such a good accurate way to place the barrels you'd see them used in trap, and especially sporting clays open competitions...you see virtually NONE but you do see a lot of )/U's being used.

"This is in part because theoretically a side by side shoots slightly lower than does an O/U. Doubles are stocked straighter to compensate, with the result being, when you mount a double you see more rib and, of course, you see that wide expanse of barrels."
I don't understand how a side by side shoots any higher than any other gun.
I was under the impression that most sxs were touched a bit high because the brits used them for driven shoots, and that gave the high incoming birds a bit more built in lead.

I usually hunt pheasants with a parker s/s and a 28ga. o/u. I usually hit what I'm aiming at, but i do miss on occasion. The main reason I miss is because I pull my head of the gun and try to watch the bird fold, not because of the different sighting plain.

For most you need to put a Morgan Adujstable Pad on the butt of those straight stocked buns so you can bring the gun to cheek, and have your eye over the barrel.