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Shotgun with two parallel barrels

A double barreled shotgun, also known as a double shotgun, is a break action shotgun with two parallel barrels, allowing two single shots that can be fired simultaneously or sequentially in quick succession.

Modern double barreled shotguns, often known as doubles, are almost universally break action, with the barrels hinge down at the rear to expose the breech ends 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, lever action, bolt action, or self loading shotguns.

The early doubles used two triggers, one for each barrel, located front to back inside the trigger guard. The index finger was used to pull either trigger, as having two fingers inside the trigger guard can cause a very undesirable recoil induced double discharge. Double trigger designs are typically set up for right handed users. The single selective trigger does not allow firing both barrels at once, since the single trigger must be pulled twice in order to fire both barrels. The change from one barrel to the other may be done by a clockwork type system, where a cam alternates between barrels, or by an inertial system where the recoil of firing the first barrel toggles the trigger to the next barrel. A double barreled shotgun with an inertial trigger works best with full power shotshells; shooting low recoil shotshells often will not reliably toggle the inertial trigger, causing an apparent failure to fire occasionally when attempting to depress the trigger a second time to fire the second barrel (this also can happen if the first shell fails to fire). Generally there is a method of selecting the order in which the barrels of a single selective trigger shotgun fire; commonly this is done through manipulation of the safety, pushing to one side to select top barrel first and the other side to select bottom barrel first. In the event that an inertial trigger does not toggle to the second barrel when firing low recoil shotshells, manually selecting the order to the second barrel will enable the second barrel to fire when the trigger is depressed again. One of the advantages of double barreled shotgun with double triggers or single selective trigger, is that the second shot can be taken almost immediately after the first with merely a second trigger pull, without needing to manually operate the action (which will inevitably destabilize the gun from the shoulder position and affect aim), and can utilize different chokes for the two shots (assuming, of course, that full power shotshells are fired, at least for a double barreled shotgun with an inertial type single selective trigger, as needed to toggle the inertial trigger). This can be noticeably faster than a pump action shotgun, which requires manually pumping the fore end to eject and reload for the second shot, and may be faster, or not slower, than a semi automatic shotgun (as there are no bolt movements to delay the rechambering of a second shell). Note, however, in neither the pump action or semi automatic will the second shot be a different choke pattern from the first shot, whereas for a double, the two shots are usually with different chokes. Thus, depending on the nature of the hunt, the appropriate choke for the shot is always at hand. For example, while field hunting flushing birds, the first shot is usually closer than the second because the bird flies away from the shooter; so, the more open choke (and barrel) would be better for the first shot, and if a second shot is needed, as the bird is flying away, the more closed (and thus longer distance of an effective shot pattern) choke (and barrel) is then appropriate. Conversely, on a driven hunt, where the birds are driven towards the shooter, the closed (longer effective distance) choke (and barrel) should be fired first, saving the open (closer effective distance) choke (and barrel) for the now closer incoming bird. None of this is possible with single barrel shotguns, only with a double, either a side by side (S×S) or over and under (O/U).

Regulation is a term used for multi barreled firearms (most commonly found in rifles and shotguns) that indicates how close to the same point of aim the barrels will shoot. A poorly regulated gun may hit consistently with one barrel, but miss consistently with the other, making the gun nearly useless for anything requiring two shots. However, the short ranges and spread of shot provide a significant overlap, so a small error in regulation in a double is often too small to be noticed. Generally the shotguns are regulated to hit the point of aim at a given distance, usually the maximum expected range since that is the range at which a full choke is used, and where precise regulation matters most. The regulation is usually more important in side by side, rather than in over and under shotguns, as felt recoil differs.