Double-Barrel Shotgun
In Civilian Weapons
Ammunition: 20 gauge
Capacity: 2 shells
Cost: $1200
Double-barrelled shotguns, often known as doubles, are almost universally break open actions, with the barrels tilting up at the rear to expose the breech ends of the barrels for unloading and reloading. Since there is no reciprocating action needed to eject and reload the shells, doubles are more compact than repeating designs such as pump action or semiautomatic shotguns. In most cases, shooters will choose a longer barrel length than they would for a repeating shotgun, to have a gun with a similar overall length.
When hammerless designs started to become common, the over under design was introduced, and most modern sporting doubles are over under designs.