Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Can a hunting gun be too nice?

An Addendum :

I'd cherish a known rifle owned by many of our 'mentors', including J B.

ATST (at the same time), I'd drool over a rifle owned by JOC, JRS,
even fragments from Bob Hagel.



Really there are toooo many guys that I respect in that category AND one of our own here on the 'fire'...

BobinNH !


Jerry

JMHO,

If one was to buy a brand spakin' new Ford F-350 King Ranch edition, would he, just for schitz n' giggles, drive it onto the beach and far enough into the water to cover the roof of the cab. I don't think so.

I'm not a golfer, but if one was to buy a $500 club, would he go out and wrap the shaft around a light pole. I don't think so.




yesterday, on my 66th birthday it was dry.



the day before, it was dry also!

A couple weeks ago when I was afield it was wet..........



and when it is wet,



I choose the appropriate instrument!






I've heard it said that common sense ain't very common these days!


ya!


GWB

Are you FREAKIN serious ?

Then I would certainly 'offend' you about TWO of mine and more that others own ! !

S M H !!!!


Jerry

Very Good & Very Nice GW.

Well put.


Jerry

I’m probably the odd man out here but honest wear on a blue walnut gun isn’t that objectionable to me and often adds character to a gun. Edge wear in the blue as well as finish wear fon the stock from handling is fine On the other hand rust and gouges from neglect and stupidity really bothers me.i have a friend that will put his gun in the rack on his 4 wheeler and take off bouncing across his farms w/o a thought. His other wise nice guns are a wreck. He is also one of-those that evidently doesn’t own a cleaning rod, he will also lean a gun against a wire fence w/o hesitation yet can’t figure out where all the scratches come from. Drives me nuts. Wear is ok, neglect is not.

Gee nails it again.

I should add, I don't take a classic to war either. There be a place and time for everything.

I don't become offended when someone mentions how nice looking a S/S and plastic rifle is but, I've never seen one that was remotely "nice looking". Cold, impersonal and classless are what I see. Only a fool would argue with their effectiveness, stability and stark functionality but, I ain't gonna own one. 'Course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there's no accounting for taste.

These discussions always bring to mind the first-quality guns the Brits used to drag all over the world. Even with serious use, they often remain in great shape because they received proper care after the hunt (having "people" for that chore is a help, no doubt). I think it comes down to what you're willing (and can afford) to risk. I don't have anything super-fancy, but I do have a few nice pieces with decent walnut. I hunt them, but would probably take something else if I knew there was going to be heavy rain. The exception would be my A5, which is my only serious shotgun, and while it's pretty nice, it can handle weather as long as I clean it up afterward, which its design makes a simple chore. They were designed largely for waterfowl hunting after all (which I don't do).

Having a gun that's too fancy to hunt with is like having a woman that's too pretty to well, you know.... cook!

As far as I'm concerned, the companies built them to use. Use, not abuse. I try to take care of my wood/blued guns, and the others, too.

I did recently buy an RAR .22 Mag. in stainless, to keep in the truck, for whatever needs. I keep them cased, even on truck rides. As long as I don't ABuse them, I have no regrets. They were made to use, after all.

No, no queens reside here.

I don’t own any rifles that aren’t nice..........all are stainless and synthetic.

Same here.
And there are no "safe" marks on any of them. All the marks on mine have been earned.

I posted that thinking of a friends reaction to one of my AR's. He commented on how nice it looked, I assumed he was being nice. I have more attractive wrenches and hammer! But it is a decent AR.

Wife bought me a Browning BLR White Gold Medallion this year . Beautiful rifle! guess what? I took it deer hunting .

Way back there Skeeter Skelton said pertaining to handguns....

"There's nothing more practical than SS & Rubber grips."

The principle is the same for rifles.


Jerry

SS and Krylon'd synthetic stocks when possible. I don't abuse my rifles but there are times when they get used, and are out in the weather--backpack and horse pack hunting are good examples.

I have 6-7 nice wood stocks in the closet labeled for which rifle they go on and have been replaced with synthetic stocks........

Both of my primary hunting rifles have nice gouges in their synthetic stocks from various "incidents" over the years..........

I do have a few guns that I don't hunt with, mostly because they are a bit heavy. And one that only wakes up when there is an open season on idiots.The former weigh in the 16-25# range, the latter just over 5# as I recall. They are walnut and steel. Water doesn't hurt the M1.

Although I don't own any 'Safe Queens" if its raining out the blued wood stocked guns stay home and the stainless go out to play. I wish I could afford a rifle that in MY OPINION would be to nice to take hunting.

I still own a few that I hesitate to hunt with.

Three are pre-64 model 70s. One is a 300 H&H Magnumj, the second is a .338 Win Mag and lastly, a .358 Win FWT. I have never shot any of these.

I also have a few custom rifles that I don't use. One is a Flaig's 240 PSP, the second is an FN Police Special in 6.5x284, and thirdly, a Don Allen Custom in 9.3X62 that shoots "lights out".

I have shot all of the custom rifles and they are all very accurate, but they tend to be field heavy.

donsm70