This is probably the hardest thing for most of us to accomplish. We are always anticipating that next great find. The truth is that unless we are lucky enough to special order none of our guns is perfect. I always want to change something. And we get pretty snooty about what is an acceptable gun. Yes, I prefer a straight hand stock... but I shoot a half-hand just as well. My guns are double triggers, but I like a good single trigger well in the back of the guard. I prefer a low concave rib, but I don't own one. All of our great used finds are trade-offs. Yet, we would never pass up the ALMOST perfect gun.
I know that I spend too much time worrying about my guns, and not enough time hunting. When I become too anxious about all the guns I don't have and all the imperfections in the guns I do, I remember the horrid gun I started with... the gun that ruined my shooting. It took years to overcome the flaws created by that evil gun. But I was truly happy to have it, because I got to go hunting. And believe me, now I know how lucky I am to have even one gun that was actually designed to be a bird gun.
Two classes of people on this forum have it knocked. A few guys here shoot guns that are exactly the opposite of what most of us want. They clean up when that style double comes along. Then there are the dog men, who know that the gun is almost unimportant... that watching the dogs run is all that matters.
Double guns are becoming more expensive. There are going to be fewer guns to buy and discard. By necessity we are going to have to make a greater effort to come to terms with our near misses. Perhaps in the process we will find a charm in styles that we never knew worked so well. Perhaps, like the generations that have gone before us, we will reach for the well worn field grade that has killed so many birds. It is after all balance that makes a double kill a double. We are only along for the ride.
Steve
