The first shot is the more iffy

I dunno. It can be perty rough to get off a good shot if you're dead.

My fave dueling story was about the duel between the New Orleans dandy and the whaling captain. The whaling captain had the choice of weapons. He chose harpoons. The dandy made it to the "field of honor" and lasted until the captain said to his second (his first mate), "Stand ready to reel the lubber in!"