Rise & Fall of American SxS's

[High Brass]

I have even seen hostility toward sxs shooters. At a springtime sxs shoot in PA a few years ago, a group of course 'regulars' were following our sxs group. They of course we're riding a very expensive 4 person buggy with metal flake paint and chrome wheels. We were walking. Their guns were painted wild colors and I think one of them had a chrome plated o/u. After a few stations one of them approached our group and asked if we used kerosene lamps and candles in our homes. Did we drive a horse and buggy to the course? If no to these questions then why were we shooting old fashioned guns? And he was actually angry. We simply told him we shoot the guns that we like. He also said we must not care about our score. We told him we cared about our shooting but our score on clays was not that big a deal. I will say that after following us around the course, they realized that we were shooting about as well as their group and they got a bit friendlier. The anger about our gun choice surprised me.

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by George Stanton

I have even seen hostility toward sxs shooters. At a springtime sxs shoot in PA a few years ago, a group of course 'regulars' were following our sxs group. They of course we're riding a very expensive 4 person buggy with metal flake paint and chrome wheels. We were walking. Their guns were painted wild colors and I think one of them had a chrome plated o/u. After a few stations one of them approached our group and asked if we used kerosene lamps and candles in our homes. Did we drive a horse and buggy to the course? If no to these questions then why were we shooting old fashioned guns? And he was actually angry. We simply told him we shoot the guns that we like. He also said we must not care about our score. We told him we cared about our shooting but our score on clays was not that big a deal. I will say that after following us around the course, they realized that we were shooting about as well as their group and they got a bit friendlier. The anger about our gun choice surprised me.

I don't know about hostility but I have observed people not taking shooters of classic doubles seriously. Five years ago eight of us went on a spring snow goose hunt in upstate NY. Five of us were shooting doubles including Frank Cronin with his 5 frame hammer ten. Our guide was not too impressed with our choice of guns as people are usually shooting semi autos with extended magazines. He was overheard talking to his boss on the phone after the first group of snows came in and we dropped a bunch of them that we knew what we were doing lol!