Just interested how many have a gun thats too pretty to hunt? Myself I hunt all my guns and try to blood 2 each season if I can. I own some pretty ones but they fill the bag just fine.
........................Imo, before I would classify a rifle "too pretty to hunt with" it would depend on what stock protection process is used to treat the wood during the manufacturing process....Have a shooting bud who has owned a Winchester M70 super grade (tiger striped) maple that I have fired. Absolutely beautiful. He has gone on many hunts with it in all kinds of inclement weather and not one scratch, ding or dent on the stock...He does not baby this rifle.
In doing a little research, apparently the super grade maple stocks Winchester uses are thermally heat treated which makes the wood very hard and/ or very dense making the stocks far less resistant to surface scratches dings and dents. Does not mean that you can take this type of rifle and subject it to abuse such as swinging it like a baseball bat against bushes and trees. You will get some deep dings, dents and scratches.
But as he has told me. When waddling through the bush and brushing the rifle up against the brush etc, doing so does not affect the maple stock. And when he sets the rifle down on rocks, he does so reasonably gently without necessarily babying it.
Imo, the #1 grade satin and/or oil treated stocks like on the M70 sporters or the Browning X bolt hunters might be more susceptible to dings dents and scratching.
If I owned a M70 super grade maple, I would not hesitate taking it anywhere.......That thing is beautiful and a hunter.
