doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Reduced Value of British BoxLock Gameguns?

Yeah it's getting off the original topic but I feel it has steered to something equally important. I live in a very rural area where most kids have been around firearms but I still have had the opportunity to take a few under priveledged kids under my wing. One kid in particular will always stand out in my mind. This poor kid was only 12 years old when his father had both kidneys fail so he was on dialysis. Somehow with all of his Dad's medical bills the parents afforded a little .410 for the kid. I took him out to my range and started pitching arial targets. The kid was a horrible shot until I figured out that he didn't lead enough. Using my fingers I showed him about an inch and told him if it was going up at that range to shoot that much farther up. Same with side shots. I'll never forget the grin on the kids face when he busted his first target. The kid eventually went to college and took up law enforcement where he outshot all of his classmates. I've even pitched rolling hubcaps on the ground for kids to shoot. I call that one the running rabbit game to kids. I'll do almost anything for a kid who wants to learn shooting.

I have been shopping for a Spanish sxs and was amazaed at the relative pricing between the Spanish guns on the UK market and here. Even after factoring in exchange rates, importation fees, etc., there is a 20%+ discount for the same gun selling in the UK vs. in the US. Anyone looking for a reasonably priced Spanish sxs should check out the UK market. The only downside is a bit of a what to get the gun into the US.

It struck me as odd that the Brits discount these guns so much, given that many of the UK makers are importing Spanish guns under their their own labels now.

And, ALL of these classes are conducted using bargain priced British Box locks! (NE of course)

Actually, most states allow "mentored" hunting for kids too young to qualify for the hunter safety course. In fact, there's a move afoot--promoted by NSSF and maybe NRA as well--to make sure that can happen in all states. The hunter safety course is not supposed to take the place of going out with dad, older brother, uncle, whomever when you're 9 or 10. But we also have to face facts: if all the kids who learned from fathers etc had turned into safe hunters, we probably never would have had a need for hunter education. Some were excellent teachers, some were pretty lousy teachers.

For the most part, new hunters have always come from old hunters. Inherited tradition. Actually, in terms of hunting and shooting, we're doing a better job of recruiting "outsiders" now than we used to. BOW for the women, a group that includes a lot of single moms; SCTP to get the school kids interested in shotgun shooting. Of course those are offset by the increased urbanization of our society, distancing people from the land where their food is grown and their meat is either raised or can be hunted, and by a much smaller military which used to be a good introduction to guns for those who hadn't grown up around them.

In Pennsylvania there are a lot of exemptions from taking the hunter safety/firearm course. I asked a Game Warden why and he said that the State�s legislature assumed that people who were from the older generations were trained in firearm safety by their Father and the State could not do a better job.

As a side note we were up shooting at the State�s public trap range and I saw a Father roughly grab his son under his arm, and man did he ever grab him, and told him if he sweeps the line one more time with his barrel he�s going back to the car and he is going to take him back to his mother.
There are still some Fathers out there, fewer and fewer but still some out there.

I've never shot trap but "sweeping the line" must be a serious offense.???

Yes, it's considered unsporting to point your gun open or closed at other shooters. It should be second nature to not do that.

My favorites are the guys (many who have considerable experience and who should know better) who take a gun out of a rack, sweep it down right through me, and then open it.

How hard is it to lever a gun open while it's still pointing up and then maybe look around before pointing the barrels down so as not to present those two big holes to another's gaze.

This is just plain good manners, and is the first thing a new shooter should learn before all else.

By the look of pain on his young face after his Father grabbed him.....He learned it!!

p.s. Sorry guys I should have added that it was a pump he was incorrectly pointing.