Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles expensive lessons---what have you learned

Seems to be where I am now, too. 260, 7mm-08, and 308 get carried a bunch. Funny, they all kill about the same...

Expensive lesson? My first Winchester shotgun cost $63 in the box, out the door. I was young, it was a M50 Featherweight and I knew it was all the gun I'd ever need. Little did I realize it was just the beginning.

One of my coworkers learned a hard lesson last weekend. He left a laser bore sighter in the end of his bore and fired the first shot. Brand new stainless savage 300wm barrel looked like a peeled banana.... Luckily he didn't get hurt.... I'm also glad I wasn't around....

Damn! You and your buddy were very lucky....Hb

High dollar scopes are a waist of money.....high dollar bino's are a necessity

Reloading is for recreation, not to save money

The meat you put on the table cost more than the cow or pig you could have bought from the farmer ☺

The next best fad in cartridges is money spent thinking your getting something that's never been done but was done 100 years ago



Trystan

Expensive lesson? Melvin Forbes makes one hell of a LW. And it was worth every penny.

That pretty much sums it up!!

What do you consider a "high dollar scope?" With the quality and accuracy of some factory rifles you can get for $600 these days, for shooting any distance the scope should probably cost more than the rifle.

I’ve learned that I always like a new rifle. It’s like getting a new girlfriend. Once the newness wears off, I want another new one.

Customs and semi-customs are almost always over priced and way over rated by many hobbyists and professionals.

Buy a Blaser, Tikka or Howa/Vanguard or something similar in 7mm, .30-06 or .300 with a good scope and steel Weaver style basis and quality rings, Talleys or Dual Dovetails. Then, get 500 pieces of brass, a few different powders and bullets. Work up an accurate load and wear the brass out hunting the world and shooting from field positions.

Alternatively, buy three new Ruger 77s in the cartridge of your choice and one scope. Mount the scope and switch it between rifles until you find the one that shoots. Sell the other two with an honest assessment of accuracy at a loss and keep the shooter and do the above.

I still have a M 50 - not ftwt - 30" & 26". I need a gun bearer!!


Jerry

Put a good amount of money into your hunting clothes and boots, you could have the most costly rifle ever and be uncomfortable as heck in cheap boots and clothing.

That last paragraph has really got me thinking...

What I've learned (so far...):

* "Best" is located right next to the pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow.

* All my shooting "stuff" can easily be replaced. Time in the field with good friends is priceless

* Quality matters most in: boots, binocs, clothing, rifle/scope (in that order)

* Excellent accuracy can make me overlook a whole lotta schidt I don't like about a particular rifle

FC

Very well said.

An accurate M77 MKII or Hawkeye is a great thing. I have had about 50/50 odds or a little better regarding accuracy with the newer Rugers and the ones that have shot have done really well. Mine have seemed to be either 3" guns or 3/4" or better. I have tried to turn a 3" Ruger into a 3/4" Ruger but so far have been unsuccessful.

I like this, and, wholeheartedly agree.





You got off easy.

Have to disagree on a couple points.

1. "High dollar scopes" have their place, especially for long range shooting. I used a $39 Burris 3-9x Sportview (that I probably paid too much for at the time) for 20+ years. It never failed me, although the optics were not very good. My most "expensive" scope is a used Leupold Vari-X III that has been refittted by Leupold with a vertical MOA knob and their 'Varmint Hunter' reticle for another $250 - so about $600 total. It sits on my favorite rifle, a 1989 Ruger M77 tanger that I bought in 2004 for $400. It came with Leupold M8-4x in the rings and I used $250 I got from selling a Savage .22-250 with a burned out barrel for $250. As i had purchased another M8-4x a month earlier for $100, one I am still using today, I figure the rifle cost me $50. ($400 - $250 - $100 = $50). I would love to have a scope with both vertical and horizontal knobs and great glass on my 6.5-06AI, which was purpose built for long range shooting.

2. Reloading can save you tons of money - or not. I got into shotgun reloading only to discover I was not shooting enough to justify the cost, time or space consumed in my reloading area. A case of shells at Wal-Mart before a dove hunt was a much better option so I sold all the reloading stuff and purchased a used stainless Ruger Blackhawk in .357 Mag. I currently reload for 15 rifle cartridges and 6 handgun cartridges. At any given time I have about $4,000 worth of reloaded ammo sitting on my shelves.

Replacing the reloaded ammo I have on the shelf plus all the brass, primers, powder, bullets and equipment I have would easily exceed $7,000 at today's prices - but I can easily reload ammo for about half the cost of factory ammo - often much less. Reloading has saved me many thousands of dollars over the years. (The other option, which was to shoot far less, was not acceptable.) Many of my handloads have no commercial equivalent - at any cost. Even when I only reloaded for my 7mm RM I was saving money.

Granted, reloading isn't for everyone.

No such thing as building the perfect rifle. Your opinion and preference will change over time.

The ABSOLUTE MOST EXPENSIVE LESSON is continuing to read this site and have a bunch of "enablers" convince others that they need this or that.

There are no cheap hookers. Just cheap penicillin.