As usual Simon sounds so confident about what he says and admittedly this sort of clip is for the casual observer. However, as usual there are unfortunately historical errors in what he says. The most egregious of these occurred early on when he confused WW Greener the father, who hated center-break guns, and his son. The two broke over the issue and did not speak for 10 years. This sort of thing unfortunately leads one to sort of want to move on to something more intellectual and accurate.
I watched it a few days ago. As usual with Simon and Jonny it’s pretty British-centric but I’m used to that from them. I think the key thing to remember is people like us aren’t the target customer. We know too much. I learned nothing of note in that 50 min video although it was somewhat entertaining. Now, the first 10 guys that come to mind that I shoot and hunt with, other than CJO, would likely learn a fair bit.
I was shooting at a private hunting club a couple weeks ago and the guides are all English and trained games keepers. Graduates of a two year course somewhere in the English north. And every time one of them handled one of my SxS, they would make some laudatory comment about the gun and by extension, often humorously, about the gun’s owner. They made no such comments about any one else’s guns…..invariably some O/U. My host, who happens to have been a very close friend of mine for the last 50 years, suggested we walk back to the clubhouse after the last shoot. He wanted to talk guns. Started by asking me why the guides always commented on my guns. That wasn’t the first time it’s happened. What my friend really wanted to know was WHY do they view my guns differently than most others.
My point being that there are a ton of guys who have hunted or shot lots, who have the cash to spend if they wanted to, but they didn’t get bitten by the bug we did. To our way of thinking, they know remarkably little on the subject of what guns they shoot. That’s who Jonny’s videos are made for. And Simon joins him to hype the next Holt’s auction. Lol
