Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The rifle market sucks…

Part of the problem is, as indicated by many posts within this thread, there are so many personal preferences that just can't cost effectively be addressed by manufacturers. Note, I don't say it's the only problem; but, that it is part of the problem. For the most part, we on this forum are rifle snobs. However, even as we are generally more informed than most, even we can't agree, most of the time. Just look at all of the genuine debates with respect to cartridge, barrel length, barrel contour, push feed vs crf, stainless vs blued, wood vs synthetic, which synthetic (?), overall weight, dbm/bdl/endlcosed mag box, ad infinitum. Heck, I would think a manufacturer or two might do well to sell only barreled actions and let we consumers choose our trigger and stock to fit our personal preferences. Who knows. The cost of production to meet all legitimate preferences is staggering.

I think the above is why the inexpensive rifle has become so popular. Add to that the fact that manufacturers are now more able than ever to bring very accurate rifles to the market in a cost-effective manner and many of our personal preferences are ignored. Heck, the most recent new rifle I bought was a Ruger American Predator 6MM Creedmoor. I actually wanted not a high-end but a higher-end rifle than that; but, I couldn't find one, new or used. Yes, I know if I was patient I would have found one. My thoughts were, after owning several RAPs that the chances were very high I was going to get a very accurate and very functional rifle. I was right. I was only out $450 and it was money well spent.

Like it or not, in my opinion, we on this forum are not the target market for rifle manufacturers. It is easy to argue that we should be; but, that is not the case, once again, in my opinion. It's like someone above mentioned; $700 is a lot of money for "most" hunters looking for a new rifle.

Having said all of that, I share the concerns of most in this thread.