doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Great Northern SXS Classic

Got home late last night and am doing this instead of unpacking. Once again a truly great time was had by all. The folks at Medford are great hosts. This years driven shooting was a new hit. The new sponsor this year was MEC, we all know their loaders are great, check out the traps they are coming up with. RST is a class act. Hugh Lomas, Steven Cobb, Kirby Hoyt, Jon Hosford, Mark's Born Again Bird Guns, and other vendors were great to talk with and check out their products. We were even given lessons in shooting from the hip, by two masters. Money was raised for the Honor Flight program, and the banquet had the usual great food. In many ways this shoot is a family reunion as much as anything else. I'll be there next year, and hope Mr. Lewis is kinder to me.

Sounds like a great weekend.

I went and enjoyed the shoot. It was my first time for a SxS shoot. Some of the games were neat. The pigeon ring was especially innovative (and difficult). The sporting clays and super sporting were not long targets and all were breakable. There were a high percentage of dropping targets which is what made the course fairly tough. I was ignorant in regards to what a SxS shoot was all about prior to going to this shoot. I had the idea most people would be shooting 100 year old vintage guns......WRONGO. There was some of that, and even some hammer guns in use; however, the people who were there to win had spruced up target guns (e.g., Vent rib Model 21's with choke tubes and LOTS of Browning BSS guns that were converted to target guns with adjustable combs, choke tubes, etc.). I had lots of fun, but it was eye opening for me. Also, I was a bit surprised that NO scores were posted, even though this was a competition, of sorts, albeit not registered NSCA. It was a cool event overall, and I could tell a lot of work went into organizing this thing (thanks Mark Beasland), and I'm glad I went to the shoot.

Buzz,
Thanks for the update. I was unable to attend this year, but am looking forward to next year. I've been to a few SXS shoots and I like to do well in the scoring department as much as anyone. I attend with the intention of a celebration of doubleguns, including dressing in period attire. Surprisingly, my score is sometimes higher because of it!
Karl

Buzz, you are right, some of the guys have tricked out guns and others like us were shooting 1890 Parkers on up. The great thing about this shoot is it is scored on Lewis class so everyone has a chance(except for me as I was at the very, and I mean very bottom of the scores......never shot so bad in my life, head wasn't into it )Scores are posted by shooter number on their website I think.
The people who run this shoot and the volunteers are just such great people to interact with. What a fun shoot. The two new side games, "driven pheasant and covey shoot" were great. A really nice five stand can't think of much more you could want. Just a great weekend and now another year to wait....!

Eis,
Are you planning to make it to the Hillsdale shoot on the 2nd of July, or possibly the Tunnel of Trees shoot in September?
Karl

Can't do Hillsdale forth of July weekend (family stuff) I would really like to make the Tunnel of Trees shoot but that will be determined by how well I have recovered from ankle surgery. We'll see.

Eis,
I fully understand the family stuff, the reason I couldn't make the Northern. Having had foot surgery last year, I can tell you from experience that there will be a loooooong recovery. Hope to see you at Lapeer as we planned.
Karl

Given the combination of main event plus side events, the presence of numerous vendors with plenty of nice sxs to ogle, and the great job the Medford guys do in running the shoot, it is without doubt the best sxs shoot in the Midwest. Only improvement this year would have been a bit cooler weather. Not even many ticks!

Re scores, they will eventually be posted on the Great Northern website, by shooter number.

Larry: re posting scores, I would think at a 'competition' where there is an entry fee and a prize is distributed to the winner (in this case, the pick of the litter of the prize guns) and Lewis class from there, then the scores should be posted at the time of the shoot, for all competitors to see. That is of course, unless this is a good 'ole boy shoot, where the winners are good 'ole boys. I wasn't in the running as a winner, and so the scores don't matter much to me, but had I been close to the winner's circle, I would have wanted to see the scores. I'm sure the management could care less what I think, but this is the first competitive shoot I have been to where scores were NOT posted after each competitive event. Odd, for sure.