[RLC323]

I was just reading the latest issue of Shotgun Sports and editor Johnny Cantu's opinions on the current shortage. Johnny helps us all out by advising us to "do your part by planning ahead to make sure you and your club have enough ammo to provide good shooting for all events this summer and fall."

He also mentions in the previous paragraph that "there is a prevailing attitude, at least right now, that you can never have enough (ammo)."

Advice like his really does not help anyone in the current situation.

The best article on the shortage I have seen, was in the latest,(May) issue of the American Rifleman. Editor Mark Keefe explains why the behavior of those who perceive that there is a shortage and their buying decisons to stock up, hurts everyone in the long run. The reason there is an ammo shortage, is that someone bought it before you could. Shooters that purchase more than their usual amount of supplies just perpetuate the shortage.

 

[DoubleAuto]

What ever happened to Frank Kodl who was the big dog at Shotgun Sports?

 

[Trap2]

Johnny Cantu is not, in my opinion, the "trap friendly" editor Frank Kodl was. Frank was a trap shooter, and kept the magazine primarily trap related. Johnny Cantu, on the other hand is a skeet shooter, and leans more toward the skeet/sporting clays arena. Shotgun Sports has gone the way of most "commercial" magazines and sold out its contents to its advertisers. I dropped my subscription when the ads in the magazine outnumbered the articles. While I realize the magazine has to generate advertising income to survive, it's just no longer the way it was. I prefer Trapshooting USA which is dedicated to our sport. Let the skeeters and SC shooters have shotgun sports.... I no longer derive any enjoyment from reading it.... Just my opinion... Dan Thome (Trap2)

 

[Oregunner]

The shells are getting soaked up somewhere in the supply chain. My local big box store has quit reserving shelf space for shotgun shells, that they are no longer getting delivered. It would be one thing if they continued to get a supply that customers snatched up, but there is nothing to snatch. I haven't bought anything recently, as I have turned into a confirmed reloader, but I had to sell some of my factory shells to my gun club, so that we had shells to offer for sale to shooters. We now sell shells for on site use only. The current rumor from the LGS owner, is that they are discontinuing the sale of 8# jugs of powder. Everything will be in 1# bottles, and he had a good supply of Green Dot and Red Dot in 1# bottles. Maybe just a coincidence. Mark

 

[wireguy]

After a several year lay off I took a one year subscription to Shotgun Sports recently. It was nothing but a disappointment.
I am sure Johnny is a nice guy who has a genuine interest in getting new shooters into and comfortable in our sports, but my distinct impression is he writes and edits in a candy sweet manner that leaves me with a belly ache. I can remember the hard hitting articles of Shotgun Sports' yesteryear and how I benefited from those articles. I saw nothing but pablum in the year I read it under Mr. Cantu.
I think part of the problem is we lost so many awesome writers from the previous era of the magazine and the current editor does not appreciate the giants those people were and how much we need to replace them with current giants like Neil Winston.
Johnny Cantu gets an A from me for his manner with beginner shooters, but an F for his failure to provide meat and potatoes type food for his readers.

 

[AveragEd]

Mark hit the nail on the head - no one can "hoard" something that isn't available. If your dealer is like mine, he'll tell you that getting the stuff is the problem. No retail purchaser like you or me can affect that. We can, however, become hoarders when we see inventory on shelves and that is what Johnny was addressing.

As far as Shotgun Sports Magazine goes, it is a shotgunning magazine, meaning it caters to all shotgun sports, not just trapshooting. We have writers who cover all the shotgun activities including hunting, so it is not now and never was a trap-only publication. Yes, Frank was a trapshooter but when he recruited me in 2002, the magazine content was a lot like it is today. I try to emphasize trapshooting in my columns but for every trapshooter I make happy, I probably disappoint one skeet or sporting shooter.

Remember, when a magazine covers just one activity, it runs out of material quickly as there is only so much that can be said about any one thing. That's why most magazines that do cover one activity wind up with a lot of pages of shoot results.

That's okay if that is what their readers like but most of ours seem to prefer more diversity than that. Perhaps that means they are less dedicated to one activity than many registered trapshooters seem to be. I know there was a time when I didn't care about anything but shooting trap. Then when my eye problem made me cut back on competitive shooting almost 10 years ago, I discovered all the things in life that I was missing.

Ed

 

[LDAddi]

Yea, Yea Average Ed...

I agree with you that the title of the magazine doesn't imply it's all trapshooting. Remember the predecessor to SS, being "Shootin' Trap"? That tells it all, that you can only write so much about trap without stepping on your own toes. SS does exactly what it implies, presenting articles about all kinds of shotgun stuff. I continue to take it because anyone willing to publish data about all shotgun stuff should be supported. I'm certainly not interested in goose hunting in Saskatchewan, but I enjoy a lot of the stuff presented.

Johnny Cantu is like any other individual you'll meet in any game, he has his own ideas and makes them known, but not in an insolent manner. Comparing SS with TS-USA or CS-USA is like comparing the corner grocery store with Costco...not it the same universe.

Average Ed, I enjoy just about everything you present, including your occasional reference to your other "obsession', Sprint Car Racing. Now those guys have some gonads or are a little short on grey matter, but I love to watch them as well.

Everyone should just chill out and enjoy what's out there.
(What am I saying...I hate NBA)

Cheers

Larry

 

[DoubleAuto]

Why did Frank Kodl leave the magazine? Did something happen to him?

 

[spitter]

Frank and Freddie were divorced and Frank went his own way...

My one tidbit... after we reopened and became eco-friendly... Frank told me he hit his 1st 100 at Naperville...

When SS noticeably regurgitated content was when I went to Shooting Sportsman... fresh and timely...

Jay

 

[AveragEd]

I always liked Frank - he's the kind of guy who is hard to not like. He and I wound up together on wagons at the Grand at least once each year and I was only there for preliminary days, so he must have spent a lot of time riding those things. Every year, he offered me a job but I was as loyal to Trap & Field as I now am to Shotgun Sports.

In 2002, T&F and I parted ways. I thought it was dangerous for the magazine to have all of its eggs in the ATA's basket for if registered shooting ever hit a serious decline, the ATA and T&F had another falling-out or the ATA went belly-up, the magazine and its employees would be in a bad place. I had written some articles on league shooting that generated a HUGE amount of reader mail and was pushing Terry Heeg to start covering leagues, printing names (everyone loves seeing their name in print) and posting their end-of-season results, which eventually led to an adult difference of opinion. That afternoon, someone posted my departure on here; Frank called and 20 minutes later, I was a contributing editor for SSM.

We know our magazine is not perfect - few really are. And we know advertising is a lot of our content. Johnny and I have talked about that but with no "deep pocket" like Dr. SerVass to keep the boat afloat, it is a necessary evil.

As always, I encourage reader mail, especially mail that includes suggestions for future articles. We know success depends upon content that interests our readers and many of my columns and special articles had their origins in an email I received. So don't be bashful. If there is a topic you would like to read about or a product you'd like to see reviewed, my email address is above (drop the "x").

Ed