Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles why do hunters get talked into ........

[quote=284LUVR
I hpoe those of you that spent an above average amount of $$$$$$$$ on your rifle did so in the quest for accuracy rather than braggin' rights. [/quote]


Increased performance that's what it's all about......Sometimes an El Cheapo wil perform with the higher end products,but not often and not consistnetly.........

I cannot believe I let myself read this post in its entirety.

Everyone has different wants and needs. Just let it go at that. Does this site have its share of equipment sluts? Yes, and then some. But is also has more than its share of good natured people that will lend a hand and help a man out.

Hell sometimes a mans taste and methods will make it to where his system and wants are entirely different than someone else's. Like me for instance. I'll probably shoot under 20 shots from my hunting rifle this year. Not because I don't shoot a lot, but because I do almost all of my practice with a 22. Plus I've been smitten with the 'need' to improve my wing shooting skills, so my 1100 already has more shots through it than anything else will get the rest of the year.

I think we should can this thread and quit acting like a lot of jealous old women. Some people would look at my equipment and think "This guy has chosen some really top notch stuff" other would look at it and think "This stuff really isn't the kind of equipment I would want to hunt with"

Know why it doesn't matter to me? Because I bought EXACTLY what I wanted, and did so with an eye for quality and the long run. Do that and you'll never worry about what the other guy thinks of your stuff. Good or bad.

Will

Penquin,Great post.What I shoot some people would consider to be on the less than cutting edge.On opening day tradition dictates that my beat up old Model 70 goes into the woods with me.After that it's a 7600 pump gun.

"Everyone else's stuff is CRAP!" 'bout sums up this whole thread.

I dont think that is totally true, I think everyone just has their opinions, but basically whatever works for you and your budget is what is best for you.

Actually, the original post was "my crap is crap but its all you "need"...if you pay more for better crap 'you're crazy'!"

Or as George Carlin once said "My crap is stuff but your stuff is crap?"

WIll

It's the piss, leg and rain thing that gets to me...

I've hunted with plenty of "cheapies" and expensive rigs. Both will get it done if you've done your homework. Why do some drive Ferrari's when a Ford Escort will get you there? My wife's one vehicle costs more than twice my work van and pick-up put together.........but I've a few toys in the safe......

All you young guys arguing over you have to have this or have to have that, or don't have to have this or that will look back when you are getting to the end of your hunting career and realize it doesn't matter a hill of beans what you used. You will remember the hunts long after what you hunted with.

my cheap rigs may not help me shoot better ,but when i can shoot with anything i've seen without paying double ,then why should

its not that i can't afford to buy anything i want ,i just don't see the need. dead is dead . i hunt deer and bear with ,bow,crossbow,muzzleloadr and rifle and have know problems due to equipment. i hunt for 90 days every year ,with no work from october to thru december. i've had my own contracting business for 17yrs so i take time when i want.

jwp475, nice groups,nice lopes, but nothing that any nice rig can't do.

Define nice rig..........

Not to flame you, but I don't think you've seen much, then. And please quantify what "i can shoot with anything i've seen without paying double" means....'cause I surely can't fathom that kind of shooting.

What I do know for sure though, is this:

The odds of picking up a random, off the shelf, pure stock, low end Rem., Win.,Savage or whatever for something around $500 and having it shoot sub 1" is at best a 25-75 proposition. 1" is my go-no-go standard for a big game rifle.

Does it happen, yes. But I've picked up way too many that have poor triggers, barrels way up against one side of the barrel channel, bad crowns and the biggest 2 unknowns of all, a straightened or still crooked barrel and piss poor bedding.

With some tuning, some can be made to shoot; others just can't and never do. The best crafted ammo in the world won't make 'em shoot good either.

So, that means you might have to buy 4 guns to get 1 that shoots an inch. Now you're out way more than the original $500.

With a better (read that more expensive)gun, many of the above issues are non-existent and you can be assured of that when you buy it.

Just depends what you want and are happy with. Ditto for scopes & binoculars as well. One doesn't have to go to extreme high end as there's lots of good stuff at the mid-range price point.

I own some stock guns and all of then originally cost less than your $1500 figure and they shoot well enough to satisfy me....all the stock ones that didn't are long gone however, and that's quite a few.

I also own various levels of custom or semi-custom guns and ALL of them performed from the get-go, without exception, including the ones I've built form scratch.

Shootin' 7-10 deer in Va proves nothing as far a rifle accuracy
goes as most shots are probably fairly short; the advantages of a more accurate rifle become more apparent at longer ranges. For heavy timber, I use a 45-70 but it won't work when I need to shoot 500 yards.

Seems some famous guy once said "Only accurate rifles are interesting".

MM

MM,

I thought of that too...and that may be it...I did once have a fella tell me: "there weren't no way no rifle could put 2 or 3 or 4 bullets in one hole at a hunnerd yards...least not without it being pure blind luck...a good rifle will keep 'em on a paper plate at a hunnerd yards".

Either that or he's Mr Magoo! In fact if he can't discern the difference in $100 optics vs $400 or $1200 optics...then he'd have to be Mr Magoo.

280,

I've got a feeling the horse is dead, at least from the neck up, and beating it any more won't do a lick of good.

As for the Magoo deal, yep, some can't see any farther than the end of their nose.

MM

Is this what you mean?

Yep, that was exctly what I meant !!!!!!!!

MM

srwshooter:

I think you make some very good points, about those who are trying to buy success. I have to agree that shooting skill is very likely more important than gear.

I can identify with what you�re saying. One of the reasons that I don�t frequent the Optics Forum is that anyone who mentions one of the cheaper scopes runs the risk of an insult right off the bat.

I�m sure we would all like to own an expensive rifle, for example, if it were all we wanted it to be. I�m happy for those who can afford the more expensive gear, and I don�t mind them sharing there enthusiasm, but so often these same people talk as if anything less is virtually worthless.

We can get along fine and dandy with less expensive gear. We will try to make intelligent choices no matter what the price level we deem to be appropriate. There is a measure of satisfaction, in good economics too.

Beginning shooters and hunters needn�t be told that their choices are bad ones, because no-one knows that. That�s just speculation, based mostly on here say, or on limited personal experience. But, that is exactly what happens, and that�s the reason I tend to agree with you.

IMO, It�s just as valid to claim that expensive gear is over priced, as it is to claim the cheaper stuff is junk.

Smitty of the North