Public perception is a difficult thing to change, especially when its multi-generational. For years manufacturers told people not to shoot their ammo in old "dangerous" damascus or twist doubles. We also had tons of cheap, poorly built doubles imported into the US which hurt the double perception over the years because of their lack of quality. An example of this - my grandfather in law displayed a few JABC hammer guns on his insurance office walls for the last 50 years. This type of antique display, which occurs all over the US in peoples homes, stores, etc, skews perceptions and has for generations. People have been trained that when they see pattern on barrels or external hammers to automatically assume the gun is an antique/dangerous to shoot. Manufacturers sold a ton of the latest and greatest semi autos and pumps this way.
If you did the math I bet you would find the numbers are just not in our favor. There are probably far more JABCs imports than there are quality made composite barrel guns floating around for the general public, or even shooting public, to see.
The vast majority of gun club clay shooters also arent reading double gun forums, DGJ and Shooting Sportsman articles that explain or debunk the old myth. Unless somebody published a number of detailed yet easily understood articles for years in common magazines like Guns & Ammo or Field & Stream, I dont think we will ever see the myth disappear.
Last edited by CMWill; 09/26/13 11:40 AM.
