All this talk about ways to get the public to move toward S x Ss by having top shooters start using them, or having some TV personalities shoot them, is ignoring the obvious. Top clays shooters will never abandon the O/U for the S x S because ......... their scores will go down. It's a fact. You can deny it all you want, but if you abandon emotion and sentimentality, the O/U wins on points.
I've been a competitive sporting clays shooter for so many years I am beginning to have a problem remembering when I started. I grew up shooting a S x S, so there's no shortage of sentimental attachment to them, for me. I hunt with them most of the time, and shoot them well enough at game that I don't need to switch to something a hair better. I love competing against other S x Ss with mine, and do so in S x S events. I have several that are suited to the sporting game, probably the best suited is the 30" BSS. But, I cannot shoot as high a score with it as I can my MX8 Perazzi. I tried, Lord knows I did. I wanted to be the man who took a S x S and beat the rest with their O/U guns. But I can't, and most others can't, either.
Get out of denial and admit what the rest of the world knows. The O/U is the king of the sporting, and most of the other, clays games. Because it works better for them. It is much easier to shoot in the 90s on a tough sporting course with a good O/U than it is with a good S x S. I know what many will holler ....... "Well, that's just because nobody builds a specialty S x S for sporting clays." Hogwash, anybody can put one together that wants to badly enough, and there are some out there that are already pretty specialized for target work. If you had rather shoot a good round of clays with a S x S than shoot a great score with an O/U I've got no beef with you. My hat's off to you actually. But don't try to pee on my leg and tell me it's raining, that a S x S can go head to head with an O/U and come out on top. It may once in a blue moon, but the odds are stacked against it.
The handwriting's on the wall ...... read it and weep. Beretta and the rest of the brilliant Italian makers read it, and acted on it. And ...... they're doing quite well and positioned for the future. My hat's off to them.
Just because you'd rather live in the past does not make it good business.
SRH
