doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com SDH and Shooting Sportsman

Good one.


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Don us now our �gay apparel� fa la la, fa la la, la la la la...

Being a gunsmith; school trained and operating a shop for 35+ years, I have always enjoyed Steve�s articles. His skill level is way beyond my capabilities as a generalist. Always enough technical detail to go with the other info on a particular gun to keep me interested every time. Steve is a great writer and I was sorry to see him gone from SSM.
As a side note on SSM; about 17 years ago, when I returned from a deployment to Bosnia, I wanted to write an article on the fantastic quail hunting there. I was lucky enough to be able to sneak away and hunt quail with the head of the sportsmen�s federation on the Federation side. We shot about 50 quail in an hour and a half. I watched the sportsmen�s federation president shoot 5 quail in the air with his Browning A5 and didn�t miss one. 5 birds with 5 shots and that included far lefts and far rights from the flush. Anyway. I submitted something to SSM and they declined telling me no readers would be interested in an article like that. I understand that I was a complete neophyte writer but to say no one would be interested in a quail hunting article is amazing.
I no longer subscribe to the DGJ and my sub to SSM is teetering on the edge of cancellation.
Several reasons.
Foremost because I have diminished interest in the whole show. I lost my buddy and bird hunting partner and collecting foil ( he loved Parkers, I am a Fox guy) that I bird hunted with for about 35 years together. Not having a close friend that shares the level of interest in Partridge hunting and double guns has left me with no like minded person to bullshit with, hunt with, share misses and phenomenally lucky shots with etc. The fun is just about gone. Although I try to make it work, it isn�t the same. Some of you who have had the buddy you hunted with a long time know what I mean.
Add the content being published now; fashion articles and modeling by editorial staff ( you wouldn�t catch me dead doing that shit!!!) and some of the most metrosexual and alternative lifestyle type layouts for clothes that 99% of the hunters in this world wouldn�t be caught in the their casket wearing them has gotten too much for me. I have never encountered the dandies depicted in the adds, especially from a couple of the establishments located in the south.
Add the dress up role players who go whole hog for the Edwardian look; complete with their womenfolk who still dress up and dream of being princesses and its just become over the top. I find it ironic that these types wax poetically for an era that no one would want to re-visit if you are looking at life expectancy, medical care, medical advancements, quality of life in general , life expectancy etc.. everyone pining for the �good old days�.
I understand that at the onset of the vintage gun revival it bred interest. But nowadays its no longer an attractant to the double gun world. Don�t get me wrong, they can play dress up and role play as weekend Edwardians all they want, just doesn�t interest me .

Again, my opinions and why I have diminished interest in the whole thing. I wish it was different. Hate to sound like a wet blanket but I call it as I see it. These two pubs have become no different than Guns and Ammo or the other gun rags that I refer to as comic books. They peddle wares of their advertisers and I get that. You have to make money. But the saturation point has been exceeded.

Don�t get me wrong, I am not going to sell off my collection of Foxes, pre 64 Model 70�s and English BPE double rifles just yet. But I have realigned my perspectives and have entered a sort of double gun malaise for the time being. Maybe there is a cure out there. If anyone knows one, PM me!!!

PS I still have my 2yr old Field Bred English Springer Mollie, who brings me untold joy so I am not completely gone!

I know exactly what you're going through. I lost all three within a year. I hunt alone now.

But it is what it is.

Brian, I could not agree more or understand any better your perspective. Plus, here in my little corner of Mississippi, there is virtually zero wingshooting anymore. No such thing as row crops and the native bobwhite quali that once were so common. Dove populations have plummeted to being so sparse as not worth preparing a "dove field" anymore. Not bothering with the time and effort to hunt big ducks 200 miles away in the Miss. Delta. Certainly don't brave beaver ponds full of blowdown and hidden logs underwater to scratch down two or three woodies either.

I used to look at certain doubles and think, "boy, that would make a great early season/late season/whatever season dove gun", but it's no longer the case. No longer fool with field guns anymore, just whatever I might use at Sporting Clays competition, which is all I shoot a shotgun for anymore.

My days pursuing shooting flying for blood are about done.

So these shiny magazines mean little to me anymore. I've read enough about fine guns to fill a boxcar, and now, when I do read the Parker, Fox, L. C. Smith, Lefever, Ithaca, Model 21, Charles Daly, Purdey, Holland and Holland, Westley Richards, et al article, I find it's the same stuff over and over, just rehashed.

I did enjoy the Dewey Vicknair custom Foxes article/pictorial recently. But nowadays, I just want to break a few targets at SC's and piss off a few Master-class shooters who think they should always outscore this marginal AA-class bumbler, lol.

Probably enjoy all my friends here's exploits afield, their stories related, and all the other great discussion and info I glean from my frequent visits.
JR

I got my DGJ the other day.

The little voice inside my head wanted to sit in my den and crack the magazine open.

I went hunting instead. It was 9 degrees outside and snowing. My I-phone told me I walked 4.3 miles.

I forgot all about the DGJ. Maybe I'll get to it soon, if I don't go hunting.

Great article in the new DGJ about a very successful high school trap league in Minnesota and the gentleman who got it started. We all ponder if the next generation will get involved in sport shooting. Obviously they will with some vision and encouragement from us. The DGJ is still the best of its kind out there - no articles on boots or what the well dressed sportsman is wearing this season.

�...- no articles on boots...�

Have a six page one here though.

Try golf. It�s sporting clays with a club and ball.


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Shouldn�t slag the �gay apparel� too much. I�ve seen some crazy shyte on the golf course.

I always enjoyed the fine gun making articles myself and it was one of the first columns I looked for. Sorry to hear it won't be in the magazine anymore.

The only thing I used to get regularly was Precision Shooting enjoying Michael Petrov articles when they appeared. Used to get Shooting Gazette and Sporting Gun on fairly consistent basis. When Precision Shooting went away regular magazine getting went away. I see corporate top executive compensation was mentioned above. Well, they just got huge gift from this administration. Anyone believing that corporate tax cuts will provide more jobs, pay or benefits to regular workers is either in delusional state or on rather intense regimen of psychedelic drugs.

Just like your bozo economist predicted the stock market will tank if Trump gets elected. What drugs was he on?