I'm surprised that there has been no mention of Gough Thomas whose writings I have much enjoyed, going down the doublegun yellow brick road.
My first was a 16-gauge Stevens 311. Many have followed since then.
Sadly, have to agree w/much of Ted's musings but do know a couple of young person's w/the interest and means... and above all, the passion who are already fine shots in their own right that will help to keep the doublegun sporting life alive and have made good acquaintances with several persons younger than I, who enjoy shooting doubleguns at sporty clays. My main hunting bud is now 90 and we still shoot doubleguns at sporty clays together at a couple of places with some frequency when the weather isn't too tough. And we are planning to enjoy some dove hunts here when the season opens that will involve doublegun shooting.
One of our small group of doublegun aficionados is an original Flatwater participant and I met several of the other's, years back.
We've a couple of 'open' doublegun only sporty clays events a year at DGC, thanks to Denny Iker, that see a reasonable turnout of 35~50 shooters, inclusive of out-of-town participants, and they are always good fun w/nice Lewis class awards afterwards tho the emphasis is on FUN and comradery.
Today, the Turks probably get the credit for bringing affordable and reliable doubleguns to the market, and I'm very glad that they are. Someone has to do that to make entry level participation possible. We could stand to have a well read and respected outdoor writer to be an advocate. Alas, none exists in the moment, that I am aware of. Good that there are places like this where diehards still hang out and opinions and knowledge are still shared. Contagion is a good thing... where doubleguns are concerned.
