A few days back i was invited to a partridge shoot by a friend.The other members consisted of retired diplomats,retired and serving generals,big landlords etc.in fact this was a "whos who" of our society.When the guns came out i noticed several H@H's,Purdees,Greeners,Webleys and what have you.There was not a single O/U nor a semi-auto.I felt rather odd with my Beretta O/U,i did get some funny looks and one gentleman even asked me " what is that".I thanked my stars i had'nt brought my semi as that probably would have earned me a place with the beaters.
The point is that even now the S/S is considered to be ,say a superior weapon or rather one with class(at least to the hunters of the old school)and O/U's or semis are looked down upon.