Ive owned guns since i was a teenager in the 1970s. I didn't buy a double until I was in my mid 40s, in 2005. A Browning Citori. Bought my next gun later that year....a vintage SxS. I've bought about 35 vintage doubles since.
It was a number of factors that combined to touch things off but a few were.......
Where I lived and hunted in Manitoba, no one hunted with doubles......it was semis or pumps. I'd never seen a vintage SxS used in the field until I used one. OU were quite rare. The Canadian prairies were dominated by pumps, with semis rising in popularity.
Compared to my 20s and 30s I had lots of disposable income to throw at guns, if I felt like it. And for some reason, starting around 2005, I felt like it.
After 25 years of mostly waterfowl hunting with upland being an occasional diversion, I got a setter and changed my hunting focus to upland. Might have been influenced by Hunting with Hank as I was a recent llewellin owner when that show came out. The more i looked at upland hunting with a dog, the more hunting with a vintage SxS seemed to fit.
The blood lust diminished. After 25 years of being focused on "getting my limit" I started to enjoy other aspects of hunting. The place, the dog working, the other things you see afield. I was no longer looking to see how many things I could shoot......I was looking to see how perfectly enjoyable the shots I took were. Vintage SxS seemed to better fit that approach.
While I think Lloyd is correct in that other thread about the following generations not being as "into" the collectible things boomers love, I still think there will be many who like me, discover the joys and value of vintage SxS. As Brent is trying to demonstrate, sometimes, under the right influences...sometimes it just clicks.
Last edited by canvasback; 08/04/24 08:43 AM.
