On the peg in Grandpa’s old trousers
There’s a certain prestige in using your grandfather’s or great-grandfather’s pair of Purdeys or Bosses, but how often do those lucky people shoot superbly? Not infrequently, I have older gentlemen come for a lesson and their shooting, in terms of their technique, is OK.
“But do you wear your grandad’s trousers much?” I often ask, midway through the lesson. They usually tell me they don’t, because he was “a huge fellow” or because he was only 5ft 6in tall. “Then why are you plugging away with his old guns that don’t fit you at all either?” is my next question.
Many of these people are from an era where gunfit wasn’t spoken about much. There was a feeling that if you had a nice gun and did a fair bit of shooting, you’d eventually become a fine shot. Interestingly, though, if you go back
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