Every hobby has its malcontents

Critic's Corner

Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry.

For example this letter appeared in the March issue of Gun Tests magazine. Just substitute Musical Fidelity for some of the names below, and this letter may have appeared here on Critic's Corner or in Stereophile.
Some of your comments on competition shotguns might mislead people to think you know about clays competition. Actually, youâ€™re gun testers, not gun users. You are right about the Blaser F3; it is one of the ugliest guns Iâ€™ve ever seen. Two people at my club bought them when they first came out, and now they are for sale. They canâ€™t get rid of them.
We have a membership of 800, and all of the serious shooters use MX2000 Perrazis. My gang shoots sporting clays, trap, and skeet daily and consume 500 to 1000 rounds a day each.
When you compare quality shotguns you should test a Perrazi MX2000 Trap combo in an RS Oro persuasion. This is a nice looking gun. MSRP: $28,000. In Beretta, try a 687 EELL Diamond Pigeon. Now youâ€™re talking nice-looking guns. I have both in my arsenal of competition shotguns.
Now that I got that said, most of your tests are right on. What puzzles me is why you sometimes compare apples to oranges. Oh well, no oneâ€™s perfect.
Here is the editor's response.
Our test shooters for this particular feature have shot competitive sporting clays seriously for more than a decade, something we feel qualifies the opinions expressed in the test results. Beauty, of course, is strictly a matter of opinion, and really doesnâ€™t matter in the scheme of things if the gun puts more "Xs" on the score sheet; our tester has had ample positive feedback from new Blaser owners at several big shoots who are thrilled with the gun and their increased scores. We also never called it "ugly."
As for the "apples and oranges" comment, we specifically stated that this was a comparison of over/under 12-gauge shotguns designed for competitive sporting clays use and bearing price tags in the middle ground of the $5,000 range. Both met these parameters, whereas putting either the Beretta or the Blaser against your $28,000 Perazzi would have not.
The point is that we found much pleasure to be had in these two guns, and in a later followup with a Caesar Guerini, and find them to be good buys for those who canâ€™t afford or donâ€™t want to spend five figures on their competitive gun.
I'm sure that such examples can be found in every hobby, not just audio.

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Topic - Every hobby has its malcontents - pconr 10:32:16 03/10/07 (5)

It would appear the key ingredient is - Bruce Kendall 19:42:30 03/11/07 (3)

I bet you fart in church, too! ;-) (nt) - Bruce from DC 12:07:20 03/15/07 (1)

One has to be notorious for something, you know. -t - Bruce Kendall 18:59:43 03/15/07 (0)

The truth hurts..............................us - chris keating 13:26:50 03/12/07 (0)

"Two people at my club bought them when they first came out, and now they are for sale." Problems, problems... LOL! nt - clarkjohnsen 10:50:04 03/10/07 (0)

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