Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors OT debate

My 24 year old son called me tonight and he wants me to help him buy a 300 Win Mag. I have a 300 Win Mag that I have dragged all over North America in the past 25 years and hope to live long enough to take it to Africa. It has never once let me down. So I am a big fan of the caliber for serious big game hunting. So I say OK, what exactly are you looking for?

First thing he seez is "Well nothing with wood or blued steel".

Him and his buddies love guns and are active shooters, but makes me wonder where the guns we all have now are going to be 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now?

I guess when I was 20 something I was interested in the latest greatest Wizz Bang POW's too, but I have always loved old guns.

These kids going to ever warm up to our old wood and blued steel guns as they get a little longer in the tooth, or are they a new generation of gun owners?

Troublemaker.

That's your answer?

First thing I would say in reply, "you're on your own then, kid!"

Hmmm. I guess things will change whether we want them to or not. At least there are kids interested in shooting, I guess. I bet there were old grey headed flintlock shooters dismayed by the revolutionary new percussion system, muzzleloader shooters who were aghast about cartridge guns, single shot and lever gun men who were leery of bolt guns, and they were all edgy about autoloaders. Yet, still there are devotees of flintlock and percussion muzzleloaders, single shots and lever guns- in an era when bolt guns and autoloaders rock. I betcha there will still be fans of walnut and blue steel far ahead down the road, at least enough to keep classic sensibilities alive.

As long the kids of today are still able to own and shoot firearms when they are retirement age I suppose that's all that really matters. Unless we keep the enemy from the gate it won't be possible for them, and they (the kids of today) also have to develop the resolve to maintain their freedoms or it all becomes a moot point in future decades.

Im guessing that the time will come when the "kids" will look back and say "that old gun dad had was really cool" and start looking for them again if they don't have the one you left them or taught them to shoot with. Until then...corporate marketing, youtube, friends, and social media will likely have more influence on what they think they ought to have and use.

Im with you 99, the old wood and beautifully blued guns are works of art. Even the worn and silver guns have a character and a soul that makes em special.

Composite stocks and stainless steel rifles have a lot going for them, easier maintenance, generally less expensive and you don't have to worry about weather conditions like a fine walnut stock.
You should be proud, He asked for your help which means He respects your opinion and He wants a 300 win mag like your go to rifle. Seems you did a good job of raising him.
If the younger generation will warm up to wood and blued steel is anyone's guess, after all I don't like the same music my Dad did, but everybody that knew my Dad can see the influence he had on me.

Lee

Some will warm up to the old stuff but I think most won’t. One of my concerns is that hunting, fishing and all such regalia will be fighting an increasingly uphill battle with succeeding generations who will come increasingly more comfortable with technologies that allow them to live virtual lives. I appreciate the functionality of plastic stocks and stainless actions and have found them to have certain aesthetic. After all, at its root a firearm is a tool and you really can’t fault such guns for being good representations of that. But some firearms also carry a certain sense of art and it remains to be seen if that quality will be appreciated by those who come behind us. The idealist in me hopes so but the realist says probably not. And that’s just the way it goes.

Damn you Lee.

Brought a tear to my eye...

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Damn you Lee.

Brought a tear to my eye...
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Glad I could help
Enjoy looking for that new rifle with your son!

Lee

Just went over to the Winchester Forum.

Same debate going on over there which I did not realize when I posted. Seems other guys "our age" have the same questions/concerns.

Check it out...

there are youngsters that have
restored my hope for the future

I don’t think it’s isolated to a single make and maybe not even to firearms, though I do appreciate my newer Ford going down the road many more miles than the 68 Fairlane I learned to drive on was capable of.

1. Why did you post this in the Savage forum, does he want it to be a Savage?
2. He's 24, him and his buddies "love guns and are active shooters", why does he need help from his old man? Does he want you to buy it for him?

He COULD get a Savage that fits his specs. Why he'd want to eludes me, too, unless he lives in coastal Alaska or the BC Rain Coast. Snuggling up to a plastic stock has all the appeal to me of a virtual date with a robot; that is to say, none.

Then again maybe the important thing here is a son who actually want’s the “old man’s” advice. There’s an often misquote from Mark Twain the goes something like “ when I was 15 I was amazed at how stupid my father was. When I was 21 I was amazed at how much he’d learned in 6-years.”

Maybe there’s an opportunity here for the kid to get one of each. He gets one plastic and stainless rifle and one walnut and blued one. That sounds like double the fun and, if he doesn’t like the latter, you could always take it off his hands.

But, in the long run, hopefully he gains an appreciation of blue steel and walnut by at least having the opportunity to be in the presence of at least one fine example of Americana. And the only thing better than buying one gun is buying two!

Well it sounds like his son already made the hard part of the decision, knowing what caliber he wants to shoot. Since his father has a 300 winmag, he's already paying attention to him. The rest is just picking what gun you want to shoot, that's the easy part at least to me. Just find one that is comfortable for you to pull up to the shoulder. Parental advice is the reason I have so many .270s, the .270 is my father's answer to about everything. He has taken more of variety of game than anyone I personally know, and he did it all with a .270. Granted he has never shot a Brownie or Grizzly. I'm not touting a .270, to each their own, although I do like them but after using one for 30 years or so, I think I'm going to use a .303S for whitetail this year or maybe a .300S if I can find one I like and want to spend the money on.

BTW, what is "serious big game hunting"? Does this imply that anyone not using a magnum round isn't serious?

My sons all shoot ARs. I still enjoy going to the range with them and hunting with them, though I carry old school firearms in blued/walnut. When it is rainy, I may carry (ah! the horrors!) a painted 99F. I'm just glad they like to shoot, they respect me, and they want me around. They are more precious than my guns.

To me guys of a certain age, especially if they are veterans or currently serving, are not unlike their cohorts from the past. I’m sure the doughboys from WWI got chastised by their dads and grandads for wanting those damn ugly 03s and other bolt guns and not giving one hoot about the lever guns of their day. Not too much unlike today with the AR platform.

It's an off topic debate as the title implies. Asking the members if they think our Savage's and other guns we collect are going to have any appeal to the younger generation(s).

You could have offered an opinion on the topic, like the rest of the guys, instead of trying to stir up a sheet storm.

If you have a son, I bet he thinks you are a dick.

If you are going to pick apart every word I type and turn it into something I didn't say, I'll thank you very much not to respond to any of my posts in the future.

And I will gladly extend you the same courtesy.