doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Will a new generation discover SXSs?

I am wondering if the influx of lower cost English boxlocks will result in more younger shooters give the SxSs a try?

Lately it seems like GunBroker and Cabelas are awash in good quality lower cost shotguns coming to the USA after the lead ban in the UK. If prices are more approachable, will some younger shooters give them a go?

Great question.

I hope so.

Some will get scared away by 2 1/2" shells, others because they can't imagine a 6 1/2 lb. 12 gauge, still others by their older friends and relatives, and poorly informed internet experts telling them they aren't safe.

The one who push though all that have got some fine guns to choose from.

Questionable. I doubt kids will embrace them either. They seem like they want camo, black plastic or whatever they think will be cool. SxS are nostalgic, not anything they are interested in. And price does not matter to them. Too many are not paying it any ways.

My father told me when he was a kid it was 50% SxS, 30% pumps and 20% autos and no O/U. When I was a kid, I would see SxS maybe 20%, pumps about 40%, Autos 35% and O/U 5%. Now it is 30% O/U, 60% autos and 5% SxS and pumps. Pumps are just about a lost cause like SxS. I don't either making much of a comeback.

I agree that low cost doubles are here. I have bought too many myself. I have imported many good shooter, for $400-500.00 in total, in large groups of 15-25. I even scored on a 11/87, for $260.00 total, imported, that was listed for parts and a simple $25.00 part fixed it into a 95% gun. Bargains do come if you watch and get lucky. If you bump that price range to $1,000.00, you can find guns which ten years ago you could not touch for $1,500-2,000.00. The market is soft and shows no sign of getting better. I expect the seal bid auctions at Holt's will have twice as many SxS as they currently have with prices getting even lower. I even see a very soft O/U market right now on the auctions.

An interesting discussion, but unless something changes over here it will be difficult.

1) Availability of appropriate ammo for British 2.5” guns.
2) Most people find the modern O/U easier to shoot and they are accustomed to using pocket rockets in the semiautos
3) There are areas requiring nontoxic shot (even in SD) making appropriate bismuth ammo expensive for the vintage guns.

It would be great to see a resurgence in the vintage guns.

Ken

Only if they can fit a plastic stock on it

No.
JR

Nothing wrong with a SxS that a 21st Century stock wouldn't cure. So long as the new guns have flintlock inspired stocks the market will stay in the toilet.



And "new blood" ? It seems to me that the current political/economic/social climate is unlikely to attract any interest in joining whatever segment of the shooting community. And assigning the cause for that to some imaginary boogeyman will solve nothing.
JMO of course, but just look around.

Have a nice day

Depends on what game you're playing, for clays you may very well be spot on. If you happen to enjoy walking up wild upland birds, and I do, I believe the Brits perfected stock design over a century ago.

YMMV

One way to look at it might be, the SxS was the camo and black plastic of the day. Everyone starts somewhere. A shooter of anything might be more likely to get into an antique or classic, if they weren't discouraged early on.

There are way more shooters today, for a relatively fixed number of SxS's. There's bound to be a niche market, even if it's not the appreciating investment that some seem to hope for. Even today with high supply, some sellers are able to find markets, and there will be people saying that they are so glad to have bought at 2020's prices.

The US has a better chance of future appreciation for fine SxS's, than the next generation in the UK. It's a real time lesson in how to discourage a population, primarily by pricing something out of reach.

Maybe if you weren't so immersed in the Californica way of life you would know that there are many thousands of new shotgunners each year, thanks to school programs encouraging participation.

There are immensely more opportunities that encourage youth to participate in shooting sports than there was 60 years ago when I was an adolescent/teenager.

All good points here but... I believe it all boils down to opportunity.

Very few folks (not just kids) are near to decent hunting grounds anymore and as the population density and the demographics of this country continues to change, that will become even harder to reverse.

The cities continue to grow and the rural areas seem to empty out. You' would think that would lead to better outcomes but... the politics and then the economics of it all do not seem to support that end.

Hunting is a cultural thing, not just a pastime, and it's values and social constructs are not being passed on in volumes that are substantial enough to sustain it IMHO.

It will linger in some regions (and in some families) but the opportunity to walk afield with a fine gun will become more rare with each passing generation. The wealthy will be the last to do it.

A diminishment of the liberties we were all promised at our birth here but that we have failed to maintain for the last 30 years or so.

More's the pity.

Stan, I agree with you, but holy smokes, how old are you ?

Dirty Harry

Most - if not all - of the schools around here have at least a trap team, many of them have 30+ kids on them.

Old enough to know better….Young enough to do it again.

Best,
Ted

Well, read my post closely and you should be able to get pretty close. Sixty years plus adolescent or early teenage years would be what? 74?

Probably not, it's going to remain a niche market that grows smaller & smaller every year

Without a doubt the British box locks are better guns compared the Stoegers out of Brazil or the various Turkish guns, but you don't see, at least here in CT, British box locks on the racks of the guns stores.

Who is going to introduce them to a SxS? It's great that high schools and universities have skeet & trap teams, but what guns are they using, almost certainly O/U or semi auto.

I shoot skeet and scap (wobble trap from the skeet stations) almost every Sunday and almost always with a British hammer gun or side lock for skeet. My friends think the guns are interesting and appreciate them, but they aren't going to spend the money for one and here are some of the reasons:

Cost of the gun, cost of ammo for the 2.5" shell, cost to repair when they break (not counting finding a qualified gunsmith to fix the gun that doesn't have a significant backlog) double triggers, lack of interchangeable chokes.

If you're young and a new shotgun user, why spend $1000+ for a used, perhaps tired looking British box lock when you can by a CZ for under $700 that comes in a hard plastic case and with 5 chokes?

I guess what I left unspoken earlier here is this: side by sides are primarily hunting tools and it then follows that... if nobody is hunting, they won't be properly appreciated, even if they are wonderfully hand-made and balanced works of art.

Even the recent lower cost of entry won't save them and for all the reasons mentioned above here (odd/scarce ammo, lack of talented repair/modification options, etc.).

If you're not swinging a good one on a bird, you'll never know what you're missing.

What TransGomer Joff neglects to mention is the millions of dollars the NRA Foundation has donated, and continues to donate, to fund and support these High School Shooting Sports teams and clubs. These grants help to supply guns, ammunition, targets, equipment, safety training, coaching, etc. They insure that young kids will be exposed to and become interested in the shooting sports.

Instead, Joff chooses to spread Democrat lies and propaganda in order to denigrate the NRA. Closet Democrat Gun Owners like Joff are worse than having Chinese spies working in the Pentagon.

The first service in the Sistine Chaple after the upgrade, might have had people saying, nice paint job. Many classic muscle cars aren't driven, and their value seems down recently. I think many folks here, have collections that are important in and of themselves, without much shooting for any reason. Watches, antique tractors, hand carved dekes, I'd doubt any serve their original purpose, nor are they headed for a bon fire.