I've got a bunch of rifles, mainly rimfires, in the past few years, and looking them over, it's been about 8/3 in favor of decent wood and blued steel versus synthetic stocked rifles. Rarely has it been about price, though I got good value on the wood/blued guns, too. The stainless/synthetic guns were often a bit more, yet haven't provided any better performance than the blued "pretty" guns in any way.

I'm getting older and don't want to wait in the rain for a deer anyway, I don't take that kind of weather well nowadays. I might as well carry something I like, instead of just a tool.

You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.