doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The Boomers are headed for the exits...

Many of these comments reinforce my belief in using and enjoying my double guns and not worrying about after-after.

I never understood keeping nice firearms pristine in their boxes, hidden away in a safe. Use and enjoy them. It makes no sense to me just to have the next guy say "Man, he sure took good care of it."

I have a glass candy jar that goes back to my great-grandmother, a cookie jar that was owned by my grandmother, my grandfather's watch, and my dad's jump knife. They mean a lot to me and when the time comes, they will each go to a grandkid who expresses the most interest.

What would you really rather have, a total stranger fawning over your NIB firearms or a grandkid fondly remembering or being told of the many times afield and hopefully caring for it just as well as you did?

I have a plan for my firearms, gear, decoys, and library, and my wife knows what to do and I have confidence that she will make sound decisions. In the meantime, I hope to enjoy many more trips to the woods, marsh, and blind. Take care of those firearms and they will maintain a value. If not monetary than sentimental.

In the movie "Wyatt Earp" Kevin Costner threatened to open up an unruly trail boss with his shotgun if he didn't want to comply with the new rules in town. Like he said - "It really won't matter what happens next, will it?"

Enjoy yourself and don't worry about such things.

Bad too in the U.K. Side by side 12 bore box lock non-ejectors hardly fetch anything anymore. Most youngsters going to a shooting school are given something like a Beretta 20 bore O/U to try and think that's the only gun. Suits me from a collecting point of view as I collect certain Makers' guns and early patents. As for split cane rods they go for peanuts too. I have a Hardy split cane rod picked up for £10 and only last week picked up a split cane rod, also for £10, in its bag marked Westley Richards; apparently they had them made by Hardy's. Next time I go to Alnwick in Northumberland I will go to the Hardy Museum there and see if I can find out anything more about it. Lagopus.....

Gen X, along with Gen Y and Gen Z, do seem to have less disposable income on average, compared to Baby Boomers. We hear that fewer of them can now afford to buy cars and homes, and that many are neck deep in high interest credit card debt. Many of them would like taxpayers to pay their student loan debt too. The question is whether they, as a large population segment, will have the political will to refrain from voting for the Democrats most responsible for hurting them economically. When every dollar you earn is worth less, and everything costs more due to inflation and higher interest, there are just going to be less young people who can afford to buy double shotguns, AR-15's, Four-Wheelers, or the newest I-Phone. Maybe they will learn. Or maybe they will continue to act like a battered woman who keeps falling for empty promises from her abuser, until he finally kills her.

On the brighter side, my 30-something nephew stopped by a couple years ago to show me his new gun. It was a 16 ga. Hunter Arms Fulton double. He had been riding his bike and noticed the barrels sticking up out of a box along the road on a bulk trash collection day. The gun was complete and in nice overall condition, and someone had put it out in the trash.

I told him what he had, roughly what it was worth, and told him a little about Hunter Arms Co. Then I grabbed a box of shells and we went out back with a Trius Trap and a box of clays, and tried it out. He really enjoyed that, and said he would be keeping the gun, and would want to take it small game hunting. He owns an AR-15, a Savage .270 Win. bolt action deer rifle, a Remington 870 pump shotgun, and several handguns. He is interested in buying more doubles too, but at this point in life, paying his mortgage and taking care of his young family takes precedence. Best of all, he frequently texts me memes that mock Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Obama, etc., so it appears his head is screwed on right.

As for the double shotgun market, I keep hearing that nobody wants them anymore, and field grade doubles are essentially worthless. I wish someone would finally post a link to a gun auction site where they are giving away these guns. I expected a big Fire Sale on doubles in 2008 when the Real Estate and Stock Market crashed, and unemployment spiked up. It didn't happen. Instead, prices actually increased. I thought prices might fall when the government imposed Covid19 lockdowns and unemployment went up again. It didn't happen.

Instead, the actual selling prices of field grade vintage American doubles on internet auctions I watch still seems to be holding up and at least generally tracking inflation. There have always been plenty of guns that never seem to sell because they have ridiculously high reserves. Many other old firearms are selling well too, and at prices that make me wish I had a time machine to go back and stock up on them. Common old lever action rifles are selling for very good money, and I'm particularly surprised at how much old military surplus guns sell for now. There is no question I would have been better off buying certain handguns or AR type rifles 30 years ago, if I was looking to make the highest profit. But I am not about to dump my doubles because some folks keep saying that the market for them is crashing.

Gun Makers were not making safe queens. They were making guns to be used. I do and it is funny how others respond. I hunt with a Winchester Model 42 Pigeon grade .410 which still looks like a 99% gun. I shoot game, Skeet, Trap and Sporting Clay with just about every gun I own, from DU guns, high grade guns, rare guns, field grade guns and a few that have been used hard and put up wet in their day. If I own a gun it is going to get shot unless it is unsafe to do so and then I try to improve it so it can be returned to service. I do not buy un-fired guns, to store in a safe for some later owner to do the same. To me that is like marring the most beautiful girl in the world and never sleeping with her. My guns deserve to be shot and I shoot them. If you want to hide your guns and never use them that is your right but if they end up in my hands I am going to shoot them enough for the both of us.

A gun, no matter how fine, serves its destiny only when shot.

Alexander Martin 12ga 26" IC/M 6,4lb with professionally installed pad $1395 @ Harrison Sporting Arms. That's not a bad shoty with Birmingham parts assembled and finished in Scotland. He will accept reasonable offers, too bad I don't need a shotgun.