The 12th Annual Southern Side by Side Championship & Exhibition Spring Classic provided an extraordinary opportunity to shoot a round robin of highly coveted shotguns, of which Michael McIntosh’s AYA Nº 2 was certainly the most prominent.
Conceivably the best writer about fine shotguns of his generation, Mr. McIntosh forged a path of elegant and insightful books and magazine articles that made his readers gush with pride as fellow shotgun owners.
Since this column is titled “Confessions of an Average Clays Shooter” it’s time to make a confession:
I shoot in tournaments.
There, I said it. It’s out in the open.
Who but the taxing authority that devised it would ever consider a retroactive tax rate increase a good thing? Certainly not a conservative thinker like myself. But such a thing actually happened back when President Clinton retroactively increased federal income tax rates in 1993. As the president made law with the stroke of his pen, the leader of our household declared we would NOT pay additional taxes, but instead we would work less and vacation more. That sounded like a great plan to me, as the prior few years had seen very little vacationing for our family since the opening of our year-round hunting/shooting resort. Some quick calculations determined that a month of vacationing would net us the same tax burden as the old tax rates, so destinations became the next order of business.
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I was walking down the aisles at the 2007 Safari Club International Convention where the high grade guns and gunmakers were concentrated. I had just passed Hartmann & Weiss on my left, made a turn by the stunning Purdey exhibit to go up the aisle to my left. I said ‘hello’ to Steve Lamboy at Zoli, kibitzed with my long-time pals at William, Larkin & Moore’s extensive exhibit and began to amble toward the far wall to find my friend, Dale Tate, to view his exquisite custom hammer shotguns.
I recently accepted an assignment that would take me to the Phoenix area to cover a trapshooting event, and as always I try to determine points of interest that might make a good story or certainly some great or unusual photo opportunities.
The itinerary was ambitious – eight days, seven posh sporting clays venues, 13 flats of shells and eight bourbon distilleries. Porsche had loaned us a 2011 Cayenne S SUV powered by a 400-horsepower V8 behemoth, while Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co. supplied one of their marvelous A-10 American sidelock over/under shotguns. This is the final installment.
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