Action/Slide Bars on Shotguns

[Fat Boy]

I have read an occaisional article about pump shotguns that have one or two slide bars on the fore end. I am curious as to how much better a gun that has a slide bar on both sides is, as compared to one that has a single slide bar. (I hope that is the right term). For instance; the older Ithaca guns have only one yet they are well reputed. Does the 2nd slide bar really improve the quality/durability etc of the gun, or is it a bit of overkill?

Thanks for the responses!

 

[Z71]

I don't know, hard to answer. A lot of the old cheap pumpguns tended to break action bars from use and abuse. Dual bars were supposidly tougher to break, but I've seen them give up too.

I cannot honestly say I've seen an Ithaca 37 bust an action bar, but have seen 870 Remingtons let go. Mossberg 500's too. Early Mossberg/New Haven guns had one action bar I think. Somewhere down the line got updated.

Old Savage pumpguns broke, Nobles broke, High Standards broke, others too I'm sure.

Not too many pumps these days have single action bars. Breakage is likely a reason.

 

[Starter52]

IIRC, the classic Winchester Model 12 shotguns had a single bar, and nobody seems to think less of them.

 

[armedandsafe]

Starter52 beat me to it.

Pops

 

[Oldnamvet]

Some say that the dual bars gives a more balanced approach toward opening and closing the action -- less likely to bind.

 

[mugs79]

I've never used one with a single bar, but I'm going to have to agree with Oldnamvet on this one. I would imagine that without something on either side to keep everything straight, things would end up getting twisted and binding up.

 

[Pete409]

Theoretically, two actions bars should be better than one, but you have to wonder why many of the semi-auto shotguns (such as the Berettas) have only one action bar. If two action bars are necessary for reliability, why is it that most of the top sporting clays shooters who shoot autos shoot Berettas?