Dave,
I cannot and will not speak for the others that you have addressed in your post but I will speak for myself.
Personally, I felt that the entire "misguidance" issue over Skunk wasn't all that "cool". We're talking about his priorities here, and not too many of us could give a rock solid answer as to what they are.
Perhaps he truly is trying to figure out what works for him? Quite frankly, the only way to do that for some people is to try out different equipment and train. Equipment might include anything and everything under the sun from his carbon fiber oakleys to the Side Saddle on his shotgun. Skunk's also gone the distance to educate himself by attending gun "skul." Not saying that that is a feat in itself, but it's a far cry as to what most folk do (not on THR as most seem to continue their education, firearms wise) oustide of THR. Acquiring training and equipment that works for him, in my opinion is not misguidance.
I don't know about all of us, but I myself like to play with new gadgets. Do I hang them off of my shotgun or any other of my weapons? Nope. Nippy, as well as a few board members have seen my firearms and he'll be the second to say that I am not a gadget freak, myself being the first. I stick to the KISS principle. The only difference is that I decided to run a semiauto. The Win 1200 is for fun, but I keep the Benelli at the ready when I hit the sack. As to whether or not it's more effective than say, an 870 is moot. We can probably decide that with a coin toss, once the coin has landed standing straight up. However, I do know that most Remington stocks do not fit me and are too short in my opinion. I'm not a gorilla, in fact I'm just your average 5'11" (yes, I am 5'11" I just couldn't grow an extra inch...bummer), 170lb dude off the street.
Training/Software is important and I'm with you 150% on that one. In fact, it is mainly due to the now defunct TFL that inclined myself +2 coworkers to hunt for scattergun training. The class has long since passed, but I still continue to search for more training as well as improving my skills.
BA,BR,R. Couldn't agree with you more WITH the fundamentals that work, it's an asset. Shooting is not like riding a bike, it is a perishible skill.
I've been making it a habit to hit the range about once a week to work on improving my skills. Chamber loading, select-a-slug, shoot-then load, etc., even malfunction drills are done after work and after a hearty meal (Del Taco). Range time is reserved for the weekends.
The outcome to the scenario given is pretty clear cut. The cat with the most training AND the most range time will be the one I'd place money on. Pretty much a no-brainer.
This thread was intended to get people thinking about their choices and I have no problem with that. However, many have thought about those choices and are now ready to train with their decisions if they haven't done so already. That is something that they'll have to figure out on their own (find training, that is). For us to say what works and what doesn't work for any one individual is going out on a limb. The Benelli/Remington decision for me is one such example. The 14 3/8" LOP straight stock of the Benelli suits me better than the LOP on anything that the Big 3 (I say Big 3 as I haven't played with an Ithaca, yet) offer. Unfortunately, I couldn't just figure that out from a book or a discussion forum. I had to figure that out on my own, by trying different hardware. Once I narrowed it down to the Benelli as far as operator/hardware fit, the rest were luxury items. Maybe the way I sought training wasn't the way most people would have, but I found something that works for me then found training.
It might seem from my earlier post that I was calling you out and indeed, I was. Not to be a jerk, but just to say "that wasn't cool". Like you, I'm not here to dump on anyone. In fact, I dig dialogue, but I will call some of the chiding out if I feel like it.
Jim Tuey
Oh, I almost forgot. The trigger on my serious shotgun breaks at a raunchy 5.4 lbs according to Range Masters in San Luis Obispo when I picked her up nearly three years ago.