I don't want to be an alarmist, but....

[King Cobb]

Regarding interest in shooting.... at least in my small part of the world, with a county population of less than 15k, we have a 4-H Trap and 22 teams that each have between 20 and 30 members paricipating. Ranging in age from 8-18.

[OH Osthaus]

i thought the 35% was to items that were made in the USA and were moved out of the country-

in that case Purdys and H&Hs would not be affected, nor would CZs or Spanish guns

I doubt new gun prices ever have much affect on vintage gun sales anyway, a different group of buyers

[Bill Murphy]

I must mention that the lack of financial knowledge is rampant among young people today. They don't have any money because they spend what they have on crap and pay interest on every purchase, skewing the sale price. In 1969,I came out of the Army after making from $78.00 to $214.00 a month for two years. I left a pair of Model 21s and a couple of Parkers at home while I was gone. I bought a two year old Chevrolet and a Westley Richards shotgun the month I got out of the service. I was poor, raising kids, going to school, and trying to start a career. However, I never stopped buying guns, whether they were in decline or going up in price. That is what you are supposed to do, whether it is your 401K or your stock portfolio. Maybe a little education on the use of the dollar would help to get younger people into our hobby.

[King Cobb]

But that is what a lot of those in my generation are doing Mr. Murphy. We saw our parents get caught unprepared for retirement and rather then spending money on guns we are paying off our homes, avoiding debt on cars, and investing heavily in our retirement. Sure, there are plenty my age who are loose with their money, just as there were when you were this age, but those were never the people who would invest in classic guns anyway.

[Kirk Potter]

I was watching a gun control debate not long ago and the person arguing in favor of tougher laws was lamenting the fact that although gun ownership is down among young people, support for tougher gun control was about the same as other generations.. In fact, in some cases people aged 50+ were more likely to support new regulations.

[Eric Johanen]

Just about every time I'm out on the clays course, someone asks me what I'm shooting. Always a side by side and a box lock, side lock or hammer gun. Smokeless or black powder loads. I shoot all of them about the same for score and explain to them what it is and some of the finer points of each. I offer them a opportunity to shoot a pair or more and many take me up on the offer. They are interested in the gun and loads and are a bit surprised at how well the black powder loads perform on the targets. It offers them an appreciation for what went before and is still useful in the field and on the course. I believe I'm seeing a few more doubles on the course in the last year or so. LC's, Parkers and a occasional Fox. Not too many English or Continental guns fielded but I'm covering that category. Some times it's a new purchase of a family gun pulled out of the closet and shot for the first time. Our Sport/Hobby is never going to be gangbusters but it has the potential of growing is we all do our bit one at a time.

[Sam Ogle]

We can all tell a story: I was hunting Pheasant in South Dakota some years ago, and was in a group of Minneapolis business men who all had autoloaders of some kind. One guy asked me what that gun I had was: I said "It's a Parker." His reply: "Oh, I never heard of one." At the end of the day, another guy said "Let me see that gun of yours; you were really killing birds with that little popgun." (A 16 gauge) These weren't stupid guys; they just were of the next generation.

[Phil Yearout]

We have to acknowledge that nostalgia plays a part in it; todays youth - unless they were raised with a bunch of old guys like us - didn't grow up with double guns, or even pumps...for most of them - if they grew up hunting at all - it was autoloaders and everything was higher, farther, faster, and more of it.

Take a look at the hook 'n' bullet magazines and websites; except for those catering to the hobby aspects of outdoor sports, you won't find many articles or ads about vintage guns or guys with bamboo rods and brook trout. Mostly it's pictures of guys (and gals) in camo with painted faces who'd look more at home in a military skirmish than a bird cover, and ads for rods that will make anybody cast a mile with giant fish and slogans like "fear no fish!"

It's hard for a guy with two shots in his gun who comes home wet, tired, and happy to have one bird in his bag to compete with a video game where you can shoot a hundred of something anytime you want to from the comfort of your armchair. I few will get it, but not many.

[Bindlestiff]

Maybe we should submit some double gun articals to popular magazines to promote ourselves? Dual submit to Parker Pages and XYZ. Who knows, maybe they would print it and give some unknowing shooter/hunter some insight to what we kike to do.

[Phil Yearout]

Originally Posted by Robin Lewis

Maybe we should submit some double gun articals to popular magazines to promote ourselves? Dual submit to Parker Pages and XYZ. Who knows, maybe they would print it and give some unknowing shooter/hunter some insight to what we kike to do.

Not to discourage anyone from doing just that, I'd suggest that if you do it, you write it from the technical side, or from some perspective other than trying to tell people how cool it is to shoot old shotguns. I had the editor of a prominent shooting magazine tell me that space was "too precious for human interest pieces", and that they aren't what anybody wants to read anyway. And as the publisher of a mag I used to work for told me, "magazines don't make money selling subscriptions, they make it selling advertising."