Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ask John Barsness Questions About "THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION"

Sniggly,

Thanks for your comments!

One thing I noticed fairly recently about rifle loonies (which probably also applies to many other belief systems) is quite a few settle on the "perfect" rifle, cartridge, scope, bullet, etc. around age 35-40. This occurs after they've had enough experience to try a few things, and maybe (or maybe not) get over their older relatives' opinions on the subject. Sometime in their 40s--and especially in their 50s--they start talking about all the useless new rifles, cartridges, scopes, bullets, etc.--and often started buying essentially the same rifle over and over again.

Of course, other rifle loonies continue to expand their interests throughout their lifetime. Which might be another essential definition of at least a certain subspecies of rifle loony!

Loons can differ in so many ways. There’s rich loons that collect a specific type of firearm, from a specific maker. There’s loons who are also well healed in financial funds who buy whatever catches their eye, or is supposed to be the new hot thing.

Others like odd or relic type firearms that may appear as junk to some, but the history of the weapon is what fascinates the buyer.

There’s also the “Never let a good deal go bye-bye” loony who has a collection of mostly new in the box production model firearms that are purchased because the price point couldn’t be passed up.

And, then there’s the custom build lunatic who enjoys putting different parts together from several manufacturers in hope of creating the perfect firearm - of course, several custom builds are needed to fit each specific hunt, game animal, or stunt shooting situation.

The reasons for each loon might be different, but they all share the joy in the buying of firearms.

😎

Great article John, you know many of us very well!

My problem with the article is that by piercing the veil of artifice and contrived fact, compounded by a sense of logic, as well as a sprinkling of self-deprecating humor, JB has pretty much upended the rationale for my next project: a CRF 9.3X62. I may have to go PF.

Blu_Cs,

Now that's funny! (But I have known more than one African PH who used a PF rifle for backing up clients on dangerous game....)

Ou

Ouch! Another nail in the coffin of plan A!

Funny you mention such; my good bud’s PH in Zim packed a .416 Rem push feed M-70. He liked my friend’s big Ruger RMS .416 Rigby, just said he thought it was a bit heavy. Guess he figured he’d pack his rifle more than he’d shoot it.

Guess that PH wasn’t a Fire contributor, didn’t realize how uncool he really was.

DF

Africans often don't, despite the wonders of the Internet.....

I enjoyed the article as well, MD! Thanks.

The talk of push feed rifles used by PHs in Africa reminded me of my PH in Zim who used a PF M70 in .416 Rem as well. We were walking through the tall grass tracking buffalo, me right behind him. He had a sling on his rifle and was carrying it on his shoulder. I was thinking, "I sure hope we don't accidentally run into a buff while we're in this stuff." At just that moment, I start to see pieces of his rifle falling off as we're walking. I hollered for him to stop and we realized that the action screws in his rifle had fallen out and the floor plate then popped off with the cartridges tumbling out in turn. Fortunately for him, the rear action screw was still attached, so that is all he lost. We spent the next 15 minutes or so looking for his action screw on the ground. It showed me just how much he paid attention to his rifle, not realizing things were loose and ready to fall apart. We never did find that action screw. He swapped out that rifle for .458 that he had for the rest of the hunt. I sent him some action screws when I got back to the States.

I"m thinking, for large, ferocious Eastern Montana prairie dogs.....wait for it......the .29 Hornet. I'll put it up in a pre-64 M70 action so I have controlled round feed if charged.

That was a good read for this old grey haired guy MD, thanks for writing it. As I have stated before, all of my mediocre hunting career has taken place here in Alaska for about 55 years and most of that has been moose, caribou, and a few bears. After being brain washed by Keith and Hagel I had done almost all of my shooting with the .338 and 250 grain Partitions and the 30-06 and 200 grain Partitions. I recovered three of the 250 grain Partitions and none of the weighed over 179 grains, two of them were from moose and one from a black bear. I never recovered a 200 grain Partition from the 30-06, since both bullets killed so well I have to assume they all performed well.

In the late 80's I did what many do, I read an article by a gun writer and switched to the Barnes X bullets in the .338 and 30-06 and have not used a Partition since then. I aslo went from a 250 grain X to a 225 grain TTSX in the .338 and 175 grain LRX and 168 grain TTSX bullets in my two 30-06 rifles. Every thing falls over dead, like they did long ago with the wonderful Partitions that my Dad used in his old Mod. 70 .264 Win. Mag. and many of the old Alaskan guides I talked to used.

I never saw a need to use other cartridges for my hunting or any rifle that was not some variation or close relative of a Mauser. But when I put my "dream rifle" together about 25 years ago it was based on a Bansner's stocked Mod. 70 "Stainless Classic" .338 Win. and it is still my "go to" rifle, or my old Mod. 70 Featherweight 30-06. Other then the .338 I have been a blue steel and walnut guy.

A couple of years ago I broke down and bought a Tikka T3X Superlite in 6.5 Creedmoor. My justification was a rifle for the grand kids to use on moose, caribou and bears. I put a SWFA 3-9 HD on it and told them they should learn the mil system, even though I never used it for any of my hunting. LOL I have grown fond of the rifle and the caliber and I remember that my Dad only used the .264 Winny and 140 grain Partitions for all of his Alaskan hunting and his western hunting prior to moving to Alaska in 1965. Before the .264 he used his Mod. 99 in .300 Savage.

Now I find my self wanting to hunt with my lever action rifles and peep sights. My latest project is a .348 Improved on a new Mirkoru Winchester 71, hopefully the gun smith will have it done soon. If I can shoot a moose or big brown bear with it or my Marlin 45-70, I will have finally reached the pinnacle of my hunting career. LOL

What do I want for now, a Tikka T3X Superlite in .223 and a long slide Dan wesson 10mm, then I will finally be happy and content and can work on my wife's "honey do list".

Good and rational analysis John, thanks!

One minor suggestion? Be looking for the .10 Hornet. A.I. It runs circles around its big bore cousins.

Loony Dan

It will be Ackley improved and dubbed the. 10 murder hornet.

If its Ackley improved it should be dubbed the. 10 murder hornet.

There was a guy on one of the forums it might have been this one where someone had a sig line that said have you cycled your push feed upside down lately? One day he posted that he'd cycled one of his push feed rifles upside down and it didn't miss a beat. Personally I've never needed to do that.

Great one, John! We're lucky to have you here dishing out common sense. You help keep us loonies "grounded".

Didn't Finn Aagaard use a push feed .458? I'll never hunt Africa, but that woukd be good enough for me, were I to go.

Finn may have, I think he would of been fine with a single shot rife with a broken extractor and a pocket knife. I believe Harry Selby went to a push feed Mod. 70 in .458 while waiting fo a barrel job on his .416 Rigby to be completed. I think it worked so well for him he stayed with it. But, this is all stuff I believe I read so who knows, right?

1Akshooter,

You're correct about Finn and Selby--both used PF .458s for a while. Finn's major comment is it worked fine as long as he remembered to keep the face of the bolt clean, and he didn't have to be as careful with his Mauser-actioned .458. Of course, the 98 Mauser action was designed for battlefield use, the reason it's so tolerant of some extra grime--and why so many hunters still prefer 98s for serious hunting.

John your article reminds me of the Vince Lombardi quote.....”Gentlemen we will chase perfection and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all along that we will never attain it but along the way we will catch excellence” (something like that anyway) - which indeed you have done!

For myself I have always wondered if I only would have stayed with my Remington Model 700 ADL in .270 Winchester (influenced by Mr. O’Connor) that I received as a Christmas gift in 1973 at the ripe old age of 10.......because I was relentless in hounding my widowed mother that I had to have a centerfire rifle (that I couldn’t use legally to hunt deer for another 2 years🥴 - God bless that woman!) how many more hunts I could have taken??! - or my Remington 541S .22 or my Ithaca Model 37 .12 gauge.

However, in the “pursuit of perfection” I like to think that I learned a lot along the way......and that way has exposed me to some of the greatest gun artisans, gun makers, competitive shooters, writers and just all around gun loonies (many right here at the Campfire) in existence. I have accumulated way to many firearms but my fascination of firearms and their form and function have lead me down a path that I have no regrets of and will likely continue until the final day.

Thanks for the great writing - it’s always a pleasure to read your thoughts on many topics!

PennDog