We’ve witnessed the revival of shotgun legends in recent years, but based on our field tests of the three new Veronas, none have combined the affordability, reliability and performance as these Italian workhorses.

The resurgence of cherished shotgun brands has been most active in the over $10,000 market.

In 1999 we saw a return of the glorious Holloway & Naughton marque, which brought the British legend that was started in the early 1890s back into circulation for some $90,000 in a bare-bones, in-the-white canvas of shotgun artisanship.

The stunning Victorian-era English Boswell was resurrected by writer, instructor and impresario, Chris Batha, with prices that begin in the neighborhood of $45,000.

And you could buy a reproduction of the legendary A.H. Fox shotgun with its entry-level price of $15,500. Or the same company, Connecticut Shotgun, will sell you a reproduction of another side-by-side great, the Winchester Model 21, also starting at $15,500.

When it comes to shotgun revivals you can’t escape the feeling that this is a club for trust-fund babies.

But Legacy Sports International has chosen a different path when it came to reintroducing the Verona pedigree to the American shotgun scene. The new Veronas now favor hunters and clays shooters who hanker after an Italian icon with a Main Street price tag.

Verona’s new over/under and side-by-sides embody the classical look-and-feel that have served generations of independent shotgun owners. The new Verona semi-automatics, meanwhile, pose a direct challenge to the inertia-driven shotguns from the other Italians, Benelli and Franchi

In short, the many qualities that made the first Veronas a go-to shotgun for thousands of American sportsmen have been inherited by the new Veronas.

The management team at Legacy Sports International jumped at the chance of resurrecting the beloved Italian brand that has quietly become a mainstay to thousands of American sportsmen.

“The original Veronas initially came into this country in the late 1990s and early in 2000,” explained Andy McCormick, the Vice President Marketing and Sales at Legacy Sports. “We discovered that the name was available again and when we trademarked it we decided to take the Verona back to its Italian roots. Everyone seemed to be happy that the Verona brand was coming back into the United States.”

Like their older siblings, the new Veronas are dependable shotguns for real people. They are fully capable of putting meat on the table year after year. This fine hunting tradition is in keeping with both the original Veronas and the folks at Legacy Sports who are serious hunters.

The new Verona over/unders come from the original factory in Italy operated by Fabbrica Armi Isidoro Rizzini, or F.A.I.R. as it’s known, in the Brescia region of Italy. Brescia is the cradle of the centuries-old, Italian gun industry.

Brescia is home to celebrated gunmakers such as Beretta, Perazzi, Fabbri, Fratelli Piottti, Rizzini and Abbiatico & Salvinelli.

It is here, in this exquisite valley, that F.A.I.R. got its start in 1971. F.A.I.R. now operates a 43,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art operation that houses everything from its own R&D group to CAD-CAM simulations to software-driven lathes that meet space-age tolerances.

The finishing can often end up in the skilled hands of a craftsman descended from the Medieval arms makers of the region.

Legacy Sports turned to another pillar of Brescia for the new semi-automatics. These guns are made by F. Lli Pietta. The company touts its expertise in making historical weapons such as Western-style revolvers, muzzleloaders and period rifles. It had an existing relationship with Legacy Sports, which clearly proved Pietta had the chops to make a modern semi-automatic with old-world TLC.

Legacy Sports turned to Fausti Stefano for its new side-by-side. The Brescia manufacturer has been in business since 1948 and sells shotguns all over the world. Its ultra-modern plant allows the company to produce quality shotguns at affordable prices with hand finishing by local artisans.

Although the Veronas are brand new shotguns, Legacy Sports has found a way to successfully mine a vein of expertise that stretches back hundreds of years.

In the spirit of continuity, Legacy Sports recruited Verona’s original gunsmith. As luck would have it, he had recently moved to Carson City, Nevada – a stone’s throw from Legacy Sports’ Reno operation.

“He was the Maytag repairman,” McCormick joked. “He did all the warranty work and maybe he’d get a cracked stock once in a while. That was about it.”

Having shot all three of the new Veronas, we can only surmise that not much will change for their gunsmith.

It was too early for bird season, but we did manage to get the guns out for skeet, 5 stand and sporting clays and they all felt rock-solid.

The Verona 401, 405 and 406 Semi-Autos

Verona’s inertia-operated semi-autos are available in 12 and 20 gauge, with either wood or synthetic stocks. The wood models come with 3-inch chambers while the synthetic models are also available with or 3½ inch chambers for 12-gauge only.

The wood versions will be available in three receiver finishes: blued, nickel and grey. We shot one in grey that had the traditional green Verona oval rendered in blue, and it was a handsome combination evocative of one of the most elegant and contemporary looking receivers in the shotgun universe, the Blaser F3.

Features:

¨      Chrome-lined barrel internally choked for steel shot

¨      12-gauge barrel length of 28 inches; 20-gauge barrel length of 26 inches

¨      Brass sight on standard model; fiber optic on deluxe model

¨      Pivoted head bolt with integral double-charging lever and sleeve

¨      Oil-finished walnut stock and forend with checkering

¨      Black nylon recoil pad

¨      Patented locking forend

¨      4 + 1 magazine capacity

¨      Length of pull 14¾ inches

The MSRP for the 12 gauge and 20-gauge Verona 401 varies between $1,199 and $1,250 depending on finish.

The Verona 405 is basically the Verona 401 with a black synthetic stock and forend and a blued receiver. The MSRP on the Verona will be forthcoming.

The Verona 406 is the model that handles 12-gauge, 3½ inch magnums. It’s finished with a black synthetic stock and forend and a blued receiver and has an MSRP of $1,199.

The Verona 501 and 702 Series Over/Unders

Named after the original over/under, the new Verona 501 Series field gun is distinguished by its nickel receiver. Standard features include:

¨      Enhanced walnut stocks with Scottish net-type checkering and oil finish

¨      Select fire single trigger

¨      Automatic ejectors

¨      Bottom locking bolt system on double trough

¨      Double sculptured receiver head

¨      Boxlock action

¨      Monobloc barrel construction

¨      5 flush-mounted chokes (F, IM, M, IC and SK) and a choke key

¨      28-inch chromed barrels with the X-CONE System (lengthened forcing cones) to reduce felt recoil

¨      Partially vented rib

¨      Fiber-optic front bead

¨      Solid lateral ribs

¨      Steel actions with automatic safety

¨      Ventilated rubber recoil pad

¨      Length of pull 14¾ inches

The Verona 501 Series is available with 28-inch barrels in 12, 20, 28 gauge and .410 models – all with an MSRP of $1,670.

A Verona 501 Series Combo set in 20/28 gauge has an MSRP of $2,599.

There is a higher grade Verona 702 Series, which is the one that we shot (more on that in a moment). It features more embellishment on the receiver, trigger guard and elsewhere on the gun. The Verona 702 Series has an MSRP of $1,780.

A great feature about both these guns is that they can handle 3-inch magnum loads, making them ideal for wingshooters with a flair for over/unders. The 12 gauge weighed in at seven pounds (with the smaller gauges getting progressively lighter), making it a nice compromise between basic heft for the recoil absorption of 3-inch magnums and easy lugability in the field.

The Verona 662 Side-by-Side

The 12-gauge version of Verona’s new 662 side-by-side upland shotgun packs the wallop of 3-inch magnums like its over/under brethren. That means, not only can you take this gun anywhere, but you’ll raise some eyebrows when you make shots that most would think impossible with a side-by-side that shooters assume is maxed out with 2¾ inch loads. In the vernacular of a muscle car, this baby is a sleeper.

Standard features of the Verona 662 side-by-side include:

¨      Boxlock compound-steel action

¨      Single trigger

¨      Color case-hardened receiver with fine laser engraving

¨      Reliable Anson-type forend mechanism

¨      5 flush-mounted chokes (F, IM, M, IC and SK) and a choke key

¨      28-inch barrels with concave rib (26-inch barrels on the 28 gauge)

¨      Oil-finished English-style walnut stocks and semi-beavertail forends, both checkered.

¨      Rubber recoil pad

¨      Weight of 6 pounds, 4 ounces

¨      Length of pull 14½ inches

The 12 gauge and 20 gauge models of the Verona 662 share an MSRP of $2,187. The 28-gauge model has an MSRP of $2,800.

Shooting the New Veronas

We had the unique opportunity to evaluate each of the new Veronas for some hard-core shooting. Since there’s not much bird shooting in the middle of June, we instead took the shotguns out for several rounds of sporting clays, 5 stand and skeet.

We’ll get to the individual shotguns in a moment, but uniformly they shared a very solid feel. Nothing wobbled when you closed the over/under and side-by-side. The barrels met the frame with an authoritative thud.

On the semi-automatic, the forend tightened down firmly. The joints between the receiver, spacer and stock were also tight.

Overall, the wood-to-metal finish on the shotguns was very good.

Shooting Impressions of the Verona 401 Semi-Auto

When Verona departed from the gas-operated actions of the previous 401s, Legacy Sports decided to take on the inertia champs, Benelli and Franchi.

We loaded 1? ounce Estate shells into the chamber and once we started shooting our first impression was that the Verona 401 seemed a little quieter than the Benellis. For an inertia-operated shotgun with a conventional wood stock we were also surprised at the low recoil.

The Verona 401 was deadly accurate, the slim receiver giving you a clear runway view along the rib and beyond the fiber-optic sight straight at the target. We found that this played well into intuitive shooting in terms of easily following the target to the desired point of impact.

With a smooth recoil pad and 14¾ inches length of pull, the Verona 401 came up without a hitch.

However, the Verona 401 felt a little nose-heavy to us, but so many shooters prefer that dynamic to maintain their swing we can only chalk it up to our own little subjective quirk.

The scalloped checkering and forend shape contributed to a sold and controlled grip. Likewise, the pistol grip of the stock was the perfect diameter so that our middle finger and thumb could meet as we held the shotgun. It also placed the front joint of our trigger finger comfortably on the trigger. The trigger pull was short and crisp, we figured coming in at around four pounds. Basically, the ergonomics of the Verona 401 were excellent.

Speaking of ergonomics, our favorite feature was the placement of the breech bolt release button. Most semi-autos have it on the right hand side, under the ejection port. The placement of the button on the Verona 401 is on the left side. Initially, this struck us as odd until we discovered that your right forefinger naturally finds it. We liked that a lot.

Shooting Impressions of the Verona 501-702

The gun we received from Legacy Sports was the more decorative 702. It featured 80% coverage of the floral engraving with gold inlaid birds on both sides and the bottom of the receiver. The rounded half-sideplates and floral hinge pins created a classical fascia that complemented the Schnabel forend.

While the walnut was in keeping with a shotgun for this price range, ours had a rich, dark hue with a stratification of tan and chocolate grains. The oil-finished stock and forend were perfectly matched.

The shotgun’s center of gravity felt exactly where your left hand held the forend – directly ahead of the receiver. This was ideal for shooting low gun, since the weight in your left hand facilitated you drawing the gun straight up and out until the gun was properly mounted on your shoulder and face.

At the same time, the angle and diameter of the pistol grip helped prevent you from see-sawing the gun – meaning that you lift it by the stock and consequently drop the muzzle.

Ultimately, the gun came up every time consistently for a smooth shot and follow-through.

We found the auto-safety to be intrusive for clays shooting, but remember as a field gun it would be essential. The shotgun had a single selective trigger and automatic ejectors, which should really be expected for shotgun in this price range.

The gun shot flat and true with unremarkable recoil for our 1? ounce loads.

All we can say is that we wished we could’ve gotten this shotgun out in the field with a bunch of birds. It would’ve been a heck of a lot of fun to shoot.

Shooting Impressions of the Verona 662

We much prefer interchangeable chokes to double triggers in our side-by-sides and so we approached the Verona 662 already endeared to it. The semi-beavertail forend that helped prevent you from burning your hands was icing on the cake (and we think that deep down inside those guys who shoot vintage side-by-sides with those splinter forends that barbecue your fingers would really like to step forward and give us a big huzzah).

We keep hearing about effete Europeans who make these impossible wingshooting shots with their 28 gauge and feel compelled to admonish us Americans for overkill (as in big ammo, big cars and big food). For those of the European school of shooting we politely say, Go away. The Verona 662 is clearly a side-by-side for American sportsmen who relish overkill.

Despite its straight English stock and case-colored receiver with fine floral engraving, the Verona 662 loaded up with 3-inch shells is a shotgun that you want to use on big, stubborn birds. Pheasants come to mind, and if you’re a pigeon shooter with a penchant for side-by-sides you should buy the Verona 662 now.

We savored shooting the Verona 662 for the sheer, raw power it exuded. At the same time, the gun never ran away from you; the straight stock and broad forend worked together for an empowering and accurate shooting experience.

Our only gripe with the Verona 662 was the lack of a selective trigger. Like the Verona 702, it also had an auto-safety that proved inconvenient during clays shooting. But part of that problem was our own enthusiasm in really wanting to shoot the heck out of the Verona 662.

Wrap Up

With the Verona 401 coming in at about $400 under the Benelli Legacy and a similar price as the Franchi I-12 Upland Hunter, it merits serious consideration for wood-finished, inertia-driven semi-autos.

The Benelli Legacy has more engraving while the Franchi I-12 Upland Hunter has a look that we think is bit more stodgy. The Benelli and Franchi are certainly celebrated for their reliability, but Verona’s own track record as a manufacturer of shotguns that go the distance certainly speaks to it own quality.

When it comes to the Verona 501-702, the price, quality and dependability pretty much put the guns in a class of their own. But does that mean you should buy the Verona a 501-702 on price alone? Chances are you are familiar with the most popular new over/unders in the $2,000 - $3,000 category. We believe the Verona 501-702 stands up for its workhorse virtues and classical looks – plus it will handle 3-inch magnum shells. From our perspective, that makes for a compelling package.

The Verona 662 has also carved out its own niche in the under $3,000 side-by-side market. Obviously, the Verona 662 is not for the breeks set. But with its 3-inch-shell capability, straight stock, interchangeable chokes and single trigger it would be hard to find a side-by-side that delivers more pure fun.

Irwin Greenstein is Publisher of Shotgun Life. You can reach him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Useful resources:

Legacy Sports International/Verona Shotguns

Davidson’s Gallery of Guns

Shooting 100 rounds of sporting clays with the new Caesar Guerini Apex is best summed up by how the gun performed on the last station: I crushed a pair of teals with a single shot.

Even my shooting partners, made up of Blaser F3 and Beretta owners, were impressed with the incredible target-crushing power of the Guerini Apex. Like so many other shooters who appreciate fine shotguns, they heard the advanced buzz over the Guerini Apex but never had the privilege of actually seeing one in action.

These highly coveted shotguns have been in short supply since their introduction at the 2009 Shot Show, held January 15-18 in Orlando, Florida. Recently, shipments of the new Guerini Apex have started trickling into the U.S. from the factory in Brescia, Italy.

I managed to get one of the few Guerini Apex Sporting Models on the sporting clays course thanks to Bart’s Sports World in Glen Burnie, Maryland. The three Bart brothers – Jack, Wayne and Roy – live close to Caesar Guerini’s U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, Maryland. In fact, one morning I called over there Wayne was making his usual rounds on behalf of his customers.

The Guerini Apex is a premium shotgun. It ranks under Guerini’s most expensive Forum in the Caesar Guerini lineup. Although the Guerini Apex is not the top model, it exudes a transcendental vibe unlike any Caesar Guerini I’ve ever shot.

A round of sporting clays with the Guerini Apex delivers an epiphany by defining the benchmark for a $7,500 shotgun. The Guerini Apex makes you feel like every target moves in slow motion and is simply there to be pulverized.

I put the Guerini Apex through its paces at Schrader's Bridgetown Manor, in Henderson, on Maryland’s fabled Eastern Shore. Schrader’s is known locally for its challenging course. The stations are in wooded surroundings, with mottled sunlight and plenty of natural obstacles. Schrader’s rabbit targets seem to be powered by afterburners and bounce like they are cam-shaped. Schrader’s outgoing targets tend to be slower than at other courses, but far more acrobatic and elusive as they seek the trees.

I shot 100 rounds with Roy Bart, Bart’s store manager, Al Koch and three of their shooting buddies. Wednesday mornings at Schrader’s is a weekly ritual for them, followed by lunch at the Batter Up in nearby Ridgely, and then perhaps a second round of sporting clays at Schrader’s.

The Guerini Apex I shot possessed every attribute that sets the gun apart from the other Caesar Guerini shotguns, except that for some odd reason this one had arrived from Italy with standard quality wood uncharacteristic of the figured, hand-rubbed walnut you should expect. So rather than upgrade the wood, it was turned into a demo gun. That said, it displayed a flawless wood-to-metal finish and everything about this particular Guerini Apex was a testament to quality craftsmanship.

The 32-inch over/under barrels and Prince of Wales-style forend all fit into place with no trauma or struggle. The two IC chokes screwed in effortlessly even though the threads had never been touched by oil. I then grabbed four boxes of Estate #8, 1-ounce loads and was ready to shoot.

Since Shotgun Life was the first publication to cover the Guerini Apex prior to its unveiling at the January 2009 Shot Show, it was nice to also be the first to write about actually using the gun.

In my visit to Caesar Guerini prior to the Shot Show, I had spent about two hours with Wes Lang, president of the company. Wes had filled me in about what to expect on the Guerini Apex, but no gun was available for me to handle.

Now, all of that has changed…

Although the Guerini Apex shares the actions, barrels and accessories with other Caesar Guerini shotguns, it benefits from new high-tech applications that we’ll probably see in future enhancements to the Caesar Guerini family.

The Guerini Apex combines laser, EDM (electrical discharge machine) hand engraving and other techniques to yield deep, elaborate patterns on the full sideplates. In the case of the Guerini Apex, the results are a stunning marriage of floral and scroll patterns with gold details on a polished coin finish. The full coverage of the engraving continues beyond the frame to the trigger guard, extended tang and forend hardware.

By using trunnions instead of hinge pins, and a “blind” sideplate mounting, Caesar Guerini receivers are free of the visible screws and hinges that can detract from the engraver’s art. That’s why the Guerini Apex can present a museum-quality sideplate on a shotgun that starts for under $10,000.

The integrity of design also extends to a trigger guard that eliminates screws, as it joins seamlessly with the elongated tang devoid of screws, which dovetails into a skeletal grip cap fastened by two screws. In effect, it’s a minimalist industrial rendition of an old-world, best gun approach.

The continuous ribbon of engraved metal from the trigger guard to grip cap creates an elegant line through the swept-back pistol grip. The stunning cosmetics are more than skin deep. As I discovered, the motif also gives the shooter a smooth, ergonomic grip that enhances the shotgun’s handling.

Mind you, the feel of the Guerini Apex won’t be mistaken for a round-body FAMARS Excalibur, but I will say that in a blind test the Guerini Apex would probably emerge as the most comfortable shotgun among its peers.

Out on the sporting clays course, one of my immediate reactions to shooting the Guerini Apex was how sturdy it felt. The Caesar Guerini boxlock actions are machined from solid billets of steel and alloys. This process provides both stronger actions and better recoil absorption. That’s one of the reasons why shooting 100 rounds of 1-ounce loads never bothered me.

The inertia trigger group on the Guerini Apex felt crisp enough that it contributed to a more aggressive and confident shooting style. Caesar Guerini’s triggers are designed for reduced friction. Marry that with the inspiring ergonomics of the Guerini Apex and the gun seemed hard-wired to my brain for nailing that critical point of impact in the more difficult presentations at Schrader’s.

One particular station featured a simo-pair consisting of a fast quartering away bird flying straight for the trees, followed by a much slower looper suddenly popping out from a bush about 15 feet in front of me before plunging into tall weeds.

Instinct dictates that you go after the fast quartering away bird, thinking that the slower looper would be the natural second shot. That wasn’t the case. It took a lot of patience and gun control to wait for that looper to finally appear, smash it first, then track the quartering away bird as it transitioned into a low, fast, 20-yard shot.

The new Prince of Wales-style forend on the Guerini Apex gave me the superior control in a shot that demanded a combination of nerve-wracking patience followed by a burst of speed.

Making its debut at Caesar Guerini, the Prince of Wales-style forend replaces the Schnabel forend on other Caesar Guerini models. In comparison to a Schnabel forend, the Prince of Wales-style forend tapers toward the muzzle and eliminates the lip on the leading edge of the forend to create a more organic contour.

Like forends on other Caesar Guerinis, the Guerini Apex features an Anson pushrod forend latch. It appears as a small button on the nose of the forend. It’s recognized for three significant benefits: By eliminating the big external latch used by most other gunmakers, the checkering can wrap completely around the forend for a more secure grip. In addition, it’s self-adjusting over time. Finally, there are fewer working parts to deteriorate.

The payoff of this beautiful forend is a steady left hand in waiting for a slow looper plus the effortless handling in establishing and crushing the second, faster quartering away bird.

As we made our way through the sporting clays course, it became increasingly obvious that the Guerini Apex was an extraordinary shotgun. My squad-mates repeatedly praised some of the more difficult shots I had made with it. But for me, it was a shot made by Al that truly opened my eyes to the gun’s superiority.

We were at a station where rising outgoers were thrown from a hand trap: two reports followed by a simo pair. They were pretty much lay-ups, but for whatever reason Al missed one bird in the simo pair. After we had all shot, Al asked the trapper to throw him another simo. Al totally crushed the birds and I immediately thought, wow, I hadn’t seen Al hit targets that hard all morning. When Al turned around he raised the Guerini Apex in a triumphant thrust. Until that point, I had no idea he was using it for that shot.

What was it about the Guerini Apex that made it feel so special?

I will say that the Guerini Apex I used felt more balanced than the other 12-gauge Caesar Guerinis I’ve shot. It could have been the density of the wood or any combination of factors, but the gun performed as though all the incremental improvements made to the Caesar Guerini family of shotguns had been unified in the Guerini Apex. There’s a sense that the Guerini Apex is the culmination of the entire Caesar Guerini aesthetic and philosophy.

Its perfect center of gravity, clean elegance of the design and that touch of Italian magic gave the Guerini Apex the authority and poise rarely found in a production shotgun for under $10,000.

If you’re interested in a Guerini Apex, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $7,550. Standard options include $200 for a left-hand stock and $120 for an English Stock.

You can also consign your Guerini Apex to the company’s new Custom Shop for upgrades such as the D.T.S Kinetic Balancer, custom engraving, bespoke stocks, adjustable recoil pads or anything else a proud new owner could desire.

Irwin Greenstein is Publisher of Shotgun Life. You can contact him at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Useful resources:

http://www.gueriniusa.com

http://www.bartssports.com

http://www.schradershunting.com

Media Contact:
Ryan Holmes
Bernard + Associates
775-323-6828

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SHOTGUN LIFE IS FIRST PUBLISHER TO COUPLE PREMIUM ONLINE MAGAZINE WITH AUTHORITATIVE FORUMS FOR GREATEST ADVERTISER EXPOSURE

Shotgun Life Donates Forums to the National Skeet Shooting Association and

National Sporting Clays Association

PIKESVILLE, Md. – June 16, 2009 – Shotgun Life (www.shotgunlife.com) expanded its online franchise with new, authoritative forums – giving advertisers the most powerful integrated program for reaching customers and prospects on the Internet.

The Shotgun Life forums are intended to satisfy the unmet needs of both shotgun owners seeking accurate information and industry participants looking for a quality venue to establish productive relationships directly with shotgun owners.

The forums are fully integrated into the Shotgun Life format, giving forum members a seamless transition to the online magazine, which covers the best in wing and clays shooting.

“All too often people in our industry believe that the Internet is exclusively about banner-ad clicks,” said Irwin Greenstein, publisher of Shotgun Life. “While that’s certainly an important part of the equation, where the Internet really shines is in establishing a two-way conversation with the shooting community – to prove that you are a trustworthy authority whose brand name merits serious consideration.”

The Shotgun Life forums are located at http://www.shotgunlife.com/forum and are available immediately. The forums can also be located by going to http://www.shotgunlife.com and clicking the Forum tab.

In addition to launching its new forums, Shotgun Life has recognized the enormous strides that the National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA) and National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) have made to the shotgun community by donating the software, hardware and administration necessary for these organizations to start and maintain their own forums for members.

“We appreciate the generosity of the Shotgun Life organization,” said Don Snyder, Executive Director of the NSSA-NSCA. “By working closely with Shotgun Life, we can help establish an online community for reliable and unbiased information about skeet, sporting clays and good sportsmanship among our members.”

The Shotgun Life forums include:

• Shotguns – A general discussion
• Vintage Shotguns – American, British and European
• Clays Shooting
• Upland Shooting
• Ducking Shooting
• Goose Shooting
• Turkey Hunting
• Gun Dogs
• Conservation and Habitat
• Women in the Shotgun Sports
• Travel
• Sporting Art
• Politics

Advertisers interested in gaining a presence on the Shotgun Life forums should contact:

Jeff Thruston
Bernard + Associates
775-323-6828
jeff@This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Media Contact: Sherry Kerr
Outdoor Media Resources
Phone number: 256-831-7877
Email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

After More Than Two Years Offline, the NSSA/NSCA Continue Their Forums as Part of a Cooperative Agreement with Shotgun Life

SAN ANTONIO, Tex. – June 16, 2009 – The joint organization of the National Skeet Shooting Association-National Sporting Clays Association (NSSA/NSCA) announced today new online forums for members with the goal of sharing accurate and unbiased information about their sports while stimulating camaraderie worldwide.

The new NSSA/NSCA forums arose from an agreement between the NSSA/NSCA and Shotgun Life (www.shotgunlife.com), the first online magazine dedicated to the best in wing and clays shooting. Under the arrangement, Shotgun Life has donated all the software, hardware and technical support to resume the organizations’ forums, which have been dormant for over two years, as part of the 10 shotgun forums launched today by the online magazine.

The forums are available by visiting www.shotgunlife.com and clicking on the Forum tab at the top of the page. NSSA/NSCA members should see specific instructions distributed by the organizations for registering in the Forums.

“With the next generation of shooters becoming much more active in skeet and sporting clays tournaments, it was time to once again bring a meaningful exchange of information to our members around the world,” said Don Snyder, Executive Director of the NSSA/NSCA. “Shotgun Life came to us with a generous proposal that helped us accelerate our goals of using the Internet to help unite our members in an online global community.”

“It’s an honor to be underwriting the NSSA/NSCA forums,” said Irwin Greenstein, Publisher of Shotgun Life. “As a free, online magazine our intent is to break down the barriers of entry to participating in the shotgun sports. Our support of the NSSA/NSCA forums is in complete alignment with the goals of these two tremendous organizations that have enriched the lives of so many shotgun owners.”

Members of the NSSA/NSCA will be able to access the forums at URL after they receive login information for their respective organizations. They can start participating in the forums immediately.

The National Skeet Shooting Association

Founded in 1928 and headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, the National Skeet Shooting Association is a not-for-profit organization owned and operated by its members. With nearly 17,000 members, it is the largest organization in the world dedicated solely to the sport of skeet shooting and sporting clays shooting. Membership is represented by a Board of Directors and an Executive Committee which employs an Executive Director to manage NSSA/NSCA affairs.

The NSSA is dedicated to the development of the sport at all levels of participation and vows to create an atmosphere of healthy competition and meaningful fellowship within its membership. Shooters who want to compete can enter fun shoots and skeet shooting tournaments. The NSSA also offers the hunter a recreational target shooting sport that will strengthen hunting and gun safety skills and extend "hunting" seasons.

You can access the NSSA’s web site at www.mynssa.com.

The National Sporting Clays Association

Founded in March of 1989 by the National Skeet Shooting Association headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, the National Sporting Clays Association is a not-for-profit organization owned and operated by its members. With more than 20,000 members, NSCA is America's official premier sporting clays association. Membership is represented by an Executive Council which employs a Director to manage NSCA affairs. An Advisory Council and State Delegates provide members with an additional source of input.

The NSCA is dedicated to the development of the sport at all levels of participation and vows to create an atmosphere of healthy competition and meaningful fellowship within its membership. Shooters who wish to compete can enter sporting clays tournaments and be competitive immediately. The NSCA also offers the hunter a recreational target shooting sport that will strengthen hunting and gun safety skills and extend "hunting" seasons.

You can access the NSCA’s web site at www.mynsca.com.

Shotgun Life

Launched in January 2009, Shotgun Life is the first online magazine dedicated to the best in wing and clays shooting. In addition to covering all the major clays sports and waterfowl and upland shooting, Shotgun Life showcases the finest shotguns in the world, women shooters and features extensive background information about the equipment and sports to help encourage new shooters to participate. Shotgun Life is available free of charge. Shotgun Life also distributes a free weekly e-letter with clays shooting tips from some of the best instructors in the world.

You can access Shotgun Life at www.shotgunlife.com.

Anyone who shoots a 16-gauge shotgun should send Doug Oliver a big cigar.

As founder of the 16 Gauge Society, Doug has been keeper of the flame for a shotgun orphaned by the industry.

Over the years marketing decisions within the shotgun industry have relegated the 16 gauge from the second-most popular shotgun to an icon of perfection among a small band of bird shooters. They marketed the smaller 20-gauge rival, despite the superior ballistics of the 16 gauge. At the same time, the 12 gauge has been gentrified from its bruiser, meat-market heritage to a relatively comfortable, all-purpose shotgun.

The world of tournament shooting has also conspired against the 16 gauge. Simply put, there are no 16-gauge competitions in major clay-shooting events – depriving the 16 gauge of the credibility and high-profile marketing opportunities to sustain a thriving market.

Still, the perseverance of devoted 16-gauge shooters has kept the shotgun alive. And you could easily make the case that Doug has emerged as the voice of the 16-gauge shotgun community.

“If I were trapped on a desert island, I would want the 16 gauge, because it won’t beat you up and it kills birds without killing you,” Doug said.

Maybe it’s a confluence of happy circumstances that Doug, who owns a graphic-design firm in Bell Canyon, California, fell in love with 16-gauge shotguns to the extent that he started the 16 Gauge Society web site.

He fondly recalls shooting 16-gauge shotguns as a kid in Newton, Kansas with his father.

“From the age of 10, I started hitting birds, and I became joined at the hip during bird season with my father. We’d hunt quail, pheasant, doves…,” he said.

During that period, he started out with a .410, and passed through a 16 gauge on his way to a 12 gauge. He remembered liking the 16 gauge, although for the bigger part of his life he shot 12 and 20 gauge.

“The 16 gauge is absolutely the perfect shotgun,” he explains. “It has a perfect load for wingshooting. Plus a 16 gauge will typically be a pound lighter than a 12 gauge if you’re carrying it all day in the field. The 16 gauge shoots like a 12 gauge but carries like a 20 gauge. It’s a great gun.”

When Doug turned 50, for his midlife crisis instead of a Porsche he bought himself a shotgun. It was a 16-gauge F.A.I.R. Rizzini over/under. It was a better gun than he had known at that point.

On a flight from Los Angeles to New York, he had been reading an article in Double Gun Journal about dove hunting in Argentina. Until that point he had every intention of buying a 20 or 28 Beretta, but the article deflected him to the 16-gauge F.A.I.R. Razzing.

Doug found himself smitten by the lovely 16 gauge. In doing his “homework” for that 16-gauge F.A.I.R. Rizini he realized “that 16 gauge was a stepchild,” he explained. “Information at the time was so hard to dig out and that’s where the 16 Gauge Society web site came in. I though I’d just design and throw up 16 gauge web site and maybe sell a couple of hats. The project itself was fun and informative.”

After a few months of hard work, the 16 Gauge Society web site went up in 2002 at http://www.16ga.com.

It now has approximately 1,500 members of the 16 Gauge Society, plus another 2,400 people who frequent the site’s forum which serves as a clearing house of information for everything 16 gauge. Over 60,000 posts have been recorded on the site.

As Doug relates about the forum “You can throw a question out about a gun and 10 guys will answer you – civilly.”

There is a one-time, lifetime $25 membership to the 16 Gauge Society. But for Doug, the organization “is not a moneymaker. It’s a passion.”

Last autumn, one of the members of the 16 Gauge Society organized a pheasant shoot in North Dakota. A dozen or so members met for the first time there. “It was fun, everybody got pheasants,” he said. “A good time was had by all.”

In a way, that was a trip back to the good old days of 16-gauge hunting.

Doug is an active 16-gauge shooter. Of the 10 shotguns he currently owns, four of them are 16 gauge. He still has that F.A.I.R. Rizzini, in addition to a 1959 Beretta Silverhawk and two Browning Sweet 16 A-5s.

He recalled that when he began hunting there were a lot of 16-gauge shotguns on the market. Winchester Model 12s, Ithaca and Remington pumps, and the Browning Sweet 16 A-5s dominated the market, alongside a smattering of Fox, Parker and L.C. Smith doubles.

Although many a young hunter was started in the field with a 16 gauge, by the late 1950s and early 1960s, the 20 gauge, and later the 20-gauge 3-inch magnum, simply buried the 16 gauge shotgun in the U.S.

Doug now thinks that the 16 gauge is experiencing a renaissance. “After a 50-year decline in popularity, the sixteen is making a well-deserved comeback. And in a number of production lines, too.”

Today, although sometimes difficult to find, the industry still offers the standard and high-velocity lead and non-toxic loads from all major manufacturers. “Yet even though this situation has improved in the last few years, most serious 16-gauge shooters custom hand load their own shells. This is true of many shooters regardless of gauge,” Doug observed.

Affordable 16-gauge shotguns are available from a number of manufacturers including Griffin & Howe, Arietta, A. H. Fox, Browning, Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Company’s Model 21, Cortona, Arietta, Dean, Grulla, Stoeger and a handful of others.

And of course, there are also thousands of used 16-gauge shotguns in search of a new home.

Noe Roland is a frequent contributor to Shotgun Life. You can reach him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Useful resources:

http://www.16ga.com/

http://www.griffinhowe.com

http://www.arrietashotguns.com/

http://www.connecticutshotgun.com/ahfox1.html

http://www.connecticutshotgun.com/model21.html

http://www.browning.com/

http://www.cortonashotguns.com/

http://www.dhshotguns.com/

http://www.grullaarmas.com/es/

http://www.stoegerindustries.com/

www.douglasoliverdesign.com

Tony Galazan is an intense man. Tony Galazan is an obsessive man. I visited Tony at the Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Company facility in New Britain, Connecticut in mid-February, a few weeks after marveling at his vast exhibit at this year's Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nevada.

I will never forget the first time I saw one of my best friends take a shooting lesson...

The Safari Club International Convention, held this year in Reno, Nevada, is like the metaphoric pirate's treasure trove of the finest shooting and hunting equipment, guns, art and jewelry that the human spirit can generate. The cornucopia of shotguns dazzles the mind and spirit, for here are the most elegant, most elaborate and most technically advanced on the planet.

Media Contact:
Bernard + Associates
Ryan Holmes
(775) 323-6828
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.





March 10, 2009 - Pikesville, Maryland - Shotgun Life, the first online magazine dedicated to the best in wing and clays shooting, has expanded its Internet presence into live firearms auctions.

The new Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion"© is a service available to auction houses as a means of expanding their reach to bidders everywhere in the world who have a high-speed Internet connection.

The Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" lets bidders use the Internet to participate live in the auction-room action through the integration of streaming audio and video plus Instant Messaging. An encrypted, secure console allows the auction administrator to monitor the proceedings as they happen to ensure precise bidding.

Auctioneers need only a broadband connection and video cameras to get up and running quickly. The Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" does not require software downloads, long-term contracts or expensive computer devices. The service is available on an ad-hoc basis for individual auctions.

The system also collects and stores a record of all bids and transactions. This helps automatically compile an archive for historical pricing or dispute resolution.

In addition, The Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" collects contact information for all bidders, expediting all future marketing endeavors.

The Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" is a subscription-based service available on an ad-hoc basis - eliminating any software purchases. The only hardware requirements are consumer-quality video cameras, microphones and one or more PCs. A broadband Internet connection is necessary.

Benefits

The benefit to auction houses is a vast increase in the number of bidders at a negligible cost to all participants. Bidders can now log into a live auction and reap all the advantages of a front-row seat from their office, home or airport lounge - virtually anywhere they have an Internet connection.

That's because the Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" has been designed from the ground-up specifically for live auctions.

It is not an e-Bay style system where individual bids are submitted in time-delay mode to meet a pre-scheduled deadline. By comparison The Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" is live and in-the-moment - providing a level playing field for bidders who choose to take part remotely.

The system provides lively interaction. Instant Messaging can be exchanged between participants in a group and the administrator. Although the Instant Messaging is only viewable between members of a particular online conversation, the administrator can monitor all the Instant Messaging exchanges.

When the gavel comes down, the Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" includes secure links to all major credit cards, so that the winning bidder's account can be immediately charged.

The Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" is the most cost-effective and secure way for auction houses to increase the number of bidders and sell more fine guns at higher prices.

Features

The follow is a list of standard features in The Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion":

To arrange a demonstration or to have your questions answered please contact:

Irwin Greenstein
SGL Media
PO Box 5790
Pikesville, Maryland 21208 USA
Office phone: 410-484-2038
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Shotgun Life is the first online magazine devoted to the best in wing and clays shooting. For more information about Shotgun Life visit www.shotgunlife.com.

Shotgun Life "In-the-Room Live Connexion" © 2009 SGL Media
"In-the-Room Live Connexion" © 2009 SGL Media

The shotgun stood upright in a museum-quality case, halogen lamps kindling the mystique of the Prodigal Son.

The Browning Superposed in front of us was a one-of-a-kind called Golden Days. Belgian master engraver Dany Matagne had spent 300 painstaking hours detailing the doves, bobwhite quail and Gamble quail with gold, green gold, copper and palladium - the entire landscape study framed in a floral scroll. If ever there was a rendition of upland heaven, it was here on the receiver of this $80,000 Superposed.

There was a golden time in America when fresh-faced kids could routinely bring their guns to school, stash them in their locker with books and lunch boxes, and then after football practice all run out to a big field and shoot at rusty cans and elusive squirrels with their very own .22.

As a girl growing up on a ranch in Texas, those days are still a living memory for Judy Rhodes - and it's her mission in this God-given life to share that boundless joy with other women today.

Judy has been toting a gun since the age of four and she got her start hunting rats, pigeons "anything that was a nuisance" using her first Red Ryder BB gun. At 8, she got her first real gun, which was a .410 shotgun.

Judy recalls that during those days she was "a ringleader of organizing people to go out and shoot. Maybe 30 kids would go after a game... only two girls, and the rest were guys...it was a time when girls weren't encouraged to play sports."

But being a rancher's daughter, Judy said she didn't know there were any limitations for girls. "I was used to the call of the wild."

Little did Judy know at the time that those wonder years of her life would set the foundation for her to become one of the leading advocates for introducing women to the shooting sports and that very same call of the wild.



When she left home to attend Oklahoma University, her natural talents as a hunter and leader roped in some "Yankees" from the East Coast, where she demonstrated her early talent to get people involved in the kind of life that Judy loved.

She recalled how she had invited those East Coast guys back to her home in Texas. "It was my first time around Yankees who had never been exposed to the outdoors," she says, laughing.

Judy remembered how she would get them on a horse and to touch a cow - often the first time her new friends got that close to livestock - or any big animal. Then, at night, Judy introduced them to hunting as they stalked coyotes.

After college, Judy returned to Texas where she landed a job as an interior decorator working on high-profile projects such as the Ritz Carlton in Dallas. Back home now, she got right back into hunting, which turned out to bring her some business because there simply weren't that many women at the time who shared her passion for the sport.

One day, she was on the job and "a cowboy gets in the elevator. He'd just come back from hunting in Wyoming." What neither of them realized was that they both worked for the same company. In fact, as the vice president of finance, he signed her checks.

The stars were aligned, and they got married. For their honeymoon, they went hunting in Wyoming.

In 1999, Judy was recruited to the board of the Women's Shooting Sports Foundation -- an arm of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The charter of the WSSF was to get women more involved in the shooting sports and hunting, as well as function as sort of a lobbying group to influence manufacturers and retailers on the special needs of women shooters (and Judy has some strong opinions about that).

When the WSSF ultimately dissolved, she started the Texas Divas, which is short for Texas Women's Shooting Sports/DIVAS. It is now known as Women Outdoors Worldwide - Divas WOW - and remarkably is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

Today, DIVAS has members in 49 states and 15 foreign countries. Over the years, DIVAS has taught over 800 women how to shoot a shotgun. They don't call them chapters, they're called liaisons because it's a sisterhood - women who need encouragement to enjoy the outdoors.

Her motto is "Women Helping Women...Women Teaching Women...Women Supporting Women." Her leadership in shooting, hunting and civic organizations led to a major story with photograph (including shotgun) in the Today Section of USA Today in March 2006.

She has also been featured in stories promoting women's positive outdoor experiences throughout the world, including broadcasts on German Television and the United Kingdom BBC Television.

Maybe that's where she got the TV bug. She started Divas in the Outdoors Television Show for reaching women and families worldwide. The show taught simple techniques from professionals. Divas in the Outdoors was the number-two show on MOR (Men's Outdoors and Recreational) shown on Direct TV, DishNetwork, Comcast and Turner Media.

All the while, Judy has been to South Africa 18 times, in addition to Spain, Argentina, Scotland, England, Canada and Mexico, as well as all over the U.S.A.

Her leadership, enthusiasm and commitment have made Judy the voice of outdoor women within the industry. As you can appreciate, she has a word or two for shotgun makers.

"Make guns that fit us."

Judy believes that the Beretta 391 semi-automatic is probably the best-fitting full-size gun for women on the market. Otherwise, she recommends that smaller framed women get themselves a youth gun.

But knowing Judy, we can expect to see a lot more shotguns on the market tailored to women.

"When we conduct our clinics women are afraid and we tell them that women can't be afraid. They know what guns can do, but don't know how to use them. But once a woman hit her first target its amazing how they want to go out and be a marksman and buy their own guns," she observed.

There was something else Judy discovered about women involved in the shotgun sports.

"Women enjoy the smell of gunpowder." She went as far as to say that women considered the smell of gunpowder a turn on.

Does that mean there's a new women's fragrance in Judy's future? Not really, but she is exploring the possibility of returning to TV this September.

"It will involve a lot of women and the outdoors," she said.

Judy honestly feels that she has been chosen by a higher power to get women involved in hunting, shooting and the great outdoors. "It's a sisterhood, a bonding, to make sure we have that next generation of women shooters. This is a mission I believe that I have in life."

Irwin Greenstein is Publisher of Shotgun Life. Please send your comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


Helpful resources:

http://www.txdiva.com/index.html

http://www.nssf.org

https://www.shopberetta.com/Default.aspx

Pikesville, Maryland, January 15, 2009 -- Shotgun Life (www.shotgunlife.com) opened the door to a new, digital era in the "Best Gun" category as the first online magazine devoted to wing and clays shooting.

In addition to the digital format, Shotgun Life breaks new ground as the only publication with comprehensive, quality editorial of both wing and clays shooting, and a section devoted to the rapidly expanding audience of women who participate in the shotgun sports.

By being online, Shotgun Life lets advertisers, for the first time, adopt a complete "cradle-to-grave" strategy that begins by reaching a new generation of Internet-savvy professionals and retain their loyalty through a lifetime of upgrades to higher quality shotguns, accessories and shooting venues. At the same time, Shotgun Life appeals to the established audience of affluent shooters who use the Internet in their daily lives.

Moreover, Shotgun Life lets advertisers reach readers in places that were previously off limits, such as the workplace.

In addition to the free online magazine, Shotgun Life publishes a free weekly e-letter whose mission is to help shooters improve their skills with tips from world-class instructors. In less than four months, the Shotgun Life e-letter has garnered nearly 700 subscribers who signed up for it. As another new marketing tool, the Shotgun Life e-letter is the first online, direct-response vehicle for the shotgun industry.

"We have been beta-testing Shotgun Life since the middle of September 2008, and now it is clear that the industry recognizes that the need for a robust online venue is long overdue," said Publisher, Irwin Greenstein.

We anticipated an extraordinary weekend of shooting and dining, since we also had dinner reservations at another great American institution, the Culinary Institute of America in nearby Hyde Park.

It's an autumn afternoon in southern New Jersey and I'm in a luxurious tent browsing the best shotguns, when something different, beautiful, stunning catches my attention.

First the black lab shows up at the door, then the gunsmith, who escorts me through the utilitarian building into a workshop where the president of shotgun maker Caesar Guerini, Wes Lang, has a file in hand working on a customer's barrel.

It started in a pizza and sandwich shop in South Philadelphia, and eventually led to one of the great finds in the world of big-bore collectors.

Today, Bernie Liberati can legitimately claim he is the only man to own two consecutively numbered L.C. Smith 8-gauge shotguns -- a highly coveted find given that only 35 total were ever made.

The achievement is a far cry from the kid who delivered pizzas and sandwiches in South Philly. Delivering food in that neighborhood may not sound glamorous, but it opened the door into the world of big-bore shotguns for Bernie...

After working there for a while, the shop owner had taken Bernie out hunting one night.

"We didn't get anything, but I had fun," he said.

The Boy's First Shotgun

Afterwards, his boss suggested that Bernie may want to buy a shotgun. Bernie didn't own a shotgun (or any other kind of gun for that matter). The man offered to get one for Bernie, and soon the delivery boy entrusted his boss with the cash to buy his first shotgun.

It turned out to be a 12-gauge Daiwa, made by Singer Nikko in Japan.

"It was beautiful," Bernie recalled.

So beautiful, in fact, the man offered Bernie $175 -- a full $25 more than what the boy paid for it. Did Bernie bite? No way. But it was his first introduction into the value of shotguns -- planting a seed that would grow into a fascination with the thunderous big bores.

Telling Dad About the Shotgun

In the meantime, though, Bernie had to contend with his father. You see, when he came home that night with a shiny new shotgun in a cardboard box, he father reprimanded: "You can't bring that in the house."

I said "I have no place to put it."

Dad: "That's your problem."

As the sun went down, young Bernie was relegated to the porch. Wearing only a t-shirt, it was like sitting in a refrigerator out there -- until his mother intervened.

"My mother was inside, complaining, ‘How could you let my son sit out in the cold?'" Finally, his father let the boy in...along with his brand new shotgun.

Bernie and his friends loved to take his new Daiwa out to a field near the Philadelphia airport. "We'd set up a skeet machine and no one would bother us. The police would come by to make sure we weren't doing anything wrong, that we weren't drinking."

Yes, those were the good old days.

Fast forward to 1992...

Bernie's father, now 78, wanted to retire from the customs house broker company he owned since 1963, Morris Friedman and Co. So rather than sell the business to a stranger, he gave it to Bernie.

A Fateful Meeting With Jim Stahl

One day, Bernie was hard at work in the office, when one of his regular contacts from U.S. Customs stopped by -- a guy named Jim Stahl. He suggested to Bernie they go trap shooting one night. (As fate would have it, Jim would become active in the L.C. Smith Collectors Association.)

They had such a good time they thought it would be a good idea to make it a regular Wednesday night ritual.

After a few times out trap shooting, Jim invited Bernie to go hunting... and they had a great time doing that too.

As their friendship grew, Jim introduced Bernie to side-by-side shotguns. Bernie was bowled over when he discovered that Jim's collection actually reached 25 side-by-sides.

"That's unbelievable," Bernie told Jim, laughing about it today and given the size of his own collection.

Bernie's Shotgun Education

In conjunction with the side-by-side collection, Jim was an avid collector of books related to vintage and big-bore shotguns.

Thanks to Jim, Bernie embarked on his shotgun education.

But Bernie was about to get hooked.

One Saturday afternoon, Jim took Bernie to visit Hollowell's Gun Shop in Connecticut.

"We're walking around and Jim says what kind of gun do you want?"

Bernie's wasn't exactly sure what he wanted, but he knew what he didn't want: a 12-gauge.

"Everybody has a 12 gauge," Bernie remembers telling Jim.

As they wandered the around the store, Bernie thought he would go for a .410.

"But there was this 10-gauge Remington. It was cheap and unique," Bernie said.

Out of the Corner His Eye...

Then lightning struck...

Out of the corner of his eye, Bernie spotted an 8-gauge J.P. Clabrough "in the middle of the table. It was the first 8-gauge I'd ever seen." After negotiating about 90 minutes, Bernie brought home the first two big bores of what would become an extensive collection.

"And that's how I started. I was fortunate in that people were not that enthusiastic about buying them, and the prices were pretty affordable," he said.

After years of collecting 4-, 8- and 10-gauge vintage beauties, Bernie was finally able to put it together: his prized consecutively numbered 8-gauge L.C. Smith Grade 2 shotguns.

The first one he purchased was number 46291. As fate would have it, Bernie bought it on Valentine's Day 2006.

Only three weeks later, another 8-gauge L.C. Smith Grade 2 became available.

As Bernie tells it, "There was a fellow who was member of the L.C. Smith Collector's Association. Unfortunately, he was going through some rough times." The man needed to liquidate his collection, and the dealer who got it immediately gave Bernie a call.

When Bernie got it, he realized it was numbered 46290.

Bingo.

Well, from the kid sitting out on the porch that one chilly night with his first shotgun, Bernie now owns about 50 big bores.

"I like the fact that they're unique, and have a history behind them," Bernie said.

But these stunning shotguns aren't mere museum pieces for him.

"I shoot them at least twice a year." 

 

Bernie Liberati today with his son, Bernie. 

Useful resources:

http://www.10gauge.com/

http://www.lcsmith.org/

http://www.vintagers.org/

A new tradition started in the fabled chronicles of the shotgun sports.

The first Southern Side by Side Fall Classic took place over three days at the Back Woods Quail Club in Georgetown, South Carolina -- with a spectacular pheasant tower shoot as the day-before opener.

At the helm of the new event was the steady hand of Bill Kempffer, the guiding force behind the Southern Side by Side Spring Classic held the past nine years every April at his Deep River Sporting Clays and Shooting School in Sanford, North Carolina.

In the back lots of Hollywood, when you say Jack, everyone knows you mean Jack Nicholson. In the shotgun industry, when you say Jack, everyone knows you're talking about Jack Muety.

If you ever owned a Beretta, Benelli, Franchi, Stoeger or Blaser, Jack Muety has helped you find the right shotgun -- and made sure you enjoyed it.

You would be hard-pressed to find another person with more insight into the American shotgun market than Jack. So when he says change is imminent in the shotgun sports, you have to take notice. He has the experience, stats and instincts to know what's coming down the pike -- and how it directly affects you.

He served as CEO and President of Blaser USA for 18 months before retiring in January 2008. While at the helm of Blaser USA, he introduced the company's F3 shotgun to American shooters. With Jack's marketing savvy, the F3's rave reviews served as a springboard for its continuing success.

Jack was an easy choice for the Blaser USA corner office.

Before joining Blaser, he held the position of Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Beretta USA. The Beretta spot was Jack's hard-earned reward after six years as the Vice President of Sales & Strategic Markets for Benelli USA, where he created the most successful brand of semi-automatics in America. He also applied the same ingenuity and experience to increase the popularity of Benelli's extended family of shotguns which includes Franchi and Stoeger.

Reaching the Top the Old-Fashioned Way

Jack's achievements came the old-fashioned way -- from spending quality time with customers. He's been recognized for his countless hours of volunteer service with Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, Ruffled Grouse Society, National Wild Turkey Federation, Safari Club International and the National Rifle Association. He serves as a volunteer coach of the trap and skeet team at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Now that Jack is retired, he spends his days sailing, hunting and hanging out at his beach house with his wife and friends. And even though he no longer reports to work, he still lives and breathes guns.

We First Met Jack Pheasant Shooting

We first met Jack at a pheasant shoot on Maryland's Eastern Shore. We began talking and discovered that we shared many ideas about the shotgun industry.

Since then the economy has changed fast. Suddenly, we were hearing people we shot with bring up the prices of gas and shells in our conversations. These are the same people who only bought premium shotguns, who never hesitated to drive hours for wingshooting and sporting clays, and who spend just about every weekend enjoying the shotgun sports.

Of course we knew gas and ammo prices were skyrocketing, but when you start to hear it from investment bankers, advertising executives and software developers you realize how deeply the problem has crept into the psyche of the shotgun community.

We thought it would be a good time to give Jack a call to get his big-picture take on what was going on.

We caught up with Jack at the Fador Irish Pub in Annapolis.

"Right now, in the current market, there are several influencing factors," he said. He went down the list: the upcoming election, a sour economy, a drop-off in new shotgun sales and the decline of the dollar against the Euro.

The New Regionalism

Jack saw a potential convergence of political and economic forces that could give rise to what we call a New Regionalism in the American shotgun sports. Shooters would stay closer to home for their clays and wingshooting. The local gunsmith would see a growth in business as people put off new-gun purchases. And the corner shotgun dealer would have a better inventory of used shotguns.

In a way, it was a return to the fundamentals -- forsaking the bling and getting back into the heart and soul of the American shotgun sports. New Regionalism could be a homecoming to simpler days.

"The [shotgun] market is in transition right now driven by the national economy," he said.

Whether you shoot a Holland & Holland, a Beretta or a Benelli, the rising prices of shotgun shells, gas and airfare is a point of conversation that comes up. For some shotgun owners, the higher cost of shooting has absolutely no impact. They shoot the same number of rounds, travel to the same wonderful destinations and buy the best guns available. Other shooters, meanwhile, feel the pinch and they comprise the majority of the market who will embrace the New Regionalism.

What Louise Terry Wrote

You can already see it happening. In the June 2008 issue of Skeet Shooting Review, the National Skeet Shooting Association President, Louise Terry, wrote how the "economic conditions" are forcing shooters to "curtail their shooting plans, and they may not be able to participate in as many shoots as usual this year."

She laid the resolution squarely on the shoulders of the local clubs to consider new alternatives for line-ups that could cut-down on driving. In effect, it's a national problem with a regional solution.

Even Jack talked about how he and his shooting buddies have started car pooling for their annual wingshooting trip to New England.

And then of course there are the escalating prices of shotgun shells. The culprits are the war in Iraq and the surging prices of lead and copper.

For the majority of shooters, higher gas and shell prices are an economic reality. But the decline of the dollar is also taking its toll.

Here in the U.S., the most popular shotgun makers are British and European. People were always willing to pay a higher price for those guns because they are "perceived as being better than guns made in the U.S., Turkey or Asia," Jack said.

For U.S. shotguns, the perception is not just about quality; it's about a company's commitment to its loyal customers. For example, Jack talked about how Wall Street investment bankers like Cerberus Capital Management bought Remington -- after it acquired Bushmaster. The Cerebus portfolio also included Marlin and DPMS Panther Arms. Jack believed that when speculators come into a shotgun company, shooters began to question management's commitment to quality and customer service.

The long shadow of private equity in the shotgun industry is, in some ways, heresy to grass-roots shotgun owners. Fiercely independent, there could be a gathering of sorts around the home fires -- the gospel of New Regionalism.

From Jack's perspective this also presents a unique opportunity for shotgun makers. It gives them a chance to get back to basics. While their sales slip, the biggest shotgun makers should place greater emphasis on customer satisfaction. "They just can't count on volume alone," he said. "They have to take the approach ‘How can I help?'"

Well, we thought that sounded downright neighborly. And after all, that is the foundation for New Regionalism.

Useful links:

http://www.berettausa.com/

http://www.benelliusa.com/

http://www.franchiusa.com/

http://www.stoegerindustries.com/

http://www.blaser-usa.com/Shotguns.42.0.html

http://www.hollandandholland.com/brochure/guns/introduction.htm

http://www.remington.com/

http://www.bushmaster.com/

http://www.safariclub.org/

http://www.nra.org/

http://www.nssa-nsca.com/

http://www.ducks.org/

http://www.qu.org/

http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/

http://www.nwtf.org/

To advertise with Shotgun Life, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (410) 484-2038.