Mr Mann...I couldn't agree with you more...this is the lowest the BBS has been in recent history...a young collector turns up with what is perhaps 1 of 4 known "Marks" grade Smith trap guns (maybe rarer than the Whippet)...the rarest of all Smiths (Hunter Arms ok babies), and the regular windbags can not or will not just HONESTLY tell him what he has...His gun is so rare that there is no record of them remaining at Marlin. If fishinghole turns up and says another BBS member already sharked him, I won't be shocked...No one would tell him that his gun is too rare to shoot, and that he should probably put it away and find something else to shoot
In case you can't see what I am trying to do, I will spell it out for you... I am going to raise the bar...I am going to offer REAL data about double shotguns...I am going offer material that can be saved for future cross referencing...when the read only members arrive, I want them to bolster their files with files and photos that can't be found in most libraries...I am going to point out model variations and internal mechanisms 'til their files begin to split into new catagories...If a young collector shows up with a Smith that has the only known set of Hurst ejectors, I plan to see to it that he knows...take a look at the carefully constructed posts by Miller or researcher or eightbore and many others, do you think that kind of data came FREE to these guys...they're giving blood, and you're giving pigeon poop right along side of them..do you really think the readers come here for your latent lonely hearts club chatter?...They are here for the nuggets of information they can get from RELIABLE sources like the members listed above...well I plan to give the readers what they want...accurate history...honest technical answers...vast references on hundreds European makers..complete patent evolutions of the American and European doubles...never before seen photos of the insides of LC Smith, Ithaca, Fox, and Baker...So you just keep on, while I bring my body of reference to bear, we'll see if the readers want immediatly downloadable reference material for their records or lonely hearts club chatter...
With all the time you have spent at this bullitin system, I ask you, (self appointed) Mr. Extaordinary, what can you tell fishinghole about his rarest grade of trap shotgun? The readers are waiting, Mr.Extraordinary