doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com "Gun Stories" TV Show

Caught a nice show by surprise last night on th Outdoor Channel titled "Gun Stories" hosted by Joe Mantegna. Topic was the 'American double barrel shotgun' and covered about what you would expect in 1/2 hour. What I liked was then interviews with recognizable folks like George Caswell & JJ Perodeau, Larry Potterfield, Lou Frutuoso, etc.. and the discussion of the place in history that makers such as Parker Bros., A.H. Fox, Lefever, and L.C. Smith made for themselves. There was however way too much filler for such a rich subject by constantly showing a man discharging a coach gun in super slow motion. Twice would have been enough but they did it about a dozen times throughout the show where that valuable time could have been used for more meaningful content. Having recently participated in the filming of an outdoor related TV show that included interviews with SME's and participants, I'm aware of how much footage never makes it to the final production so this somewhat understandable but did nothing to inform the viewer.

Any how, wondering if anyone else has seen the show and what you thought of it. Just happy to find the show.

jmc

I agree with you.I got real tired of watching the guy shoot the coach gun.I've delt with George & J.J. and you can't find better people. ARS.

The problem with these "reality" shows as I see it is they're designed for mass consumption. I guess the producers think a lot of "action" is necessary hence they are always shooting at exploding targets or otherwise blowing something up. The major issue I have is accuracy sufferes and my gut feeling is that the public in general upon seeing this thinks we're all goons out in the open shooting glass bottles and the like.
R Lee Ermey is no better as he spent a great deal of time on a machine gun show last nite fragmenting what look to be several dozen glass containers some of which were filled with paint.
I wish the producers would at least indicate this was being done for dramatic purposes and the glass was all cleaned up at the conclusion. Well this is my rant for the day.
Jim

Jim,

I agree with you wholeheartedly. The guy shooting jugs with the coach gun couldn't have been further from the guns intended use or manufacture - realizing that they can't demonstrate that with the particular gun used however, the coach gun makes up such a small percentage of the universe of double shotguns and the still chose it for the eyewash. They could easily shown a wing shot in slow motion from a sporting arm. I noticed right after the show an advertisement featuring several cast members of a deer huntig show describing the ethics of their content. I think one of them was Michael Waddel of Real Tree who's slogan is "Smoked 'Em"... Lot's of street vernacular making its way into this type of programming along with camo adapted for inner city bar hopping and, in my opinion, tends to overshadow the hunting and the tools of the trade. I think the industry is starting to realize this a bit as evidenced by that advertisement which seems to be a reaction to consumer feedback.

Gun Stories to my mind is one of the better firearms related shows along with Field & Stream's Gun Nuts. Last week's gun stories was on the S&W model 29....very interesting. Anyway, it is refreshing to see a Hollywood actor who is a shooter and gun collector willing to do a show such as this.

The really bad show is Sons of Guns.These clowns give responsible gun owners a really bad name. Even without the tattos,explosions/fire; the owners know next to nothing about guns.
Mike

Couldn't agree more. A lot of these shows are total jokes.

As far as the episode of Gun Stories, I have it recorded on the DVR. Time to see what it's about.

Adam