Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Are classic rifles doomed?

That is far and away the trend. It's not wrong. It's evolution.

All this fuss about smokeless powder arms. Nothing classic about them.

The weight difference etc etc, Yes the Steyr Classic Mannlicher is about 1/2# heavier than the Tikka T3X 6.5CM. The real difference is in how they feel. The Tikka is OK, but I have to move around a bit to get the perfect sight picture. The Steyr is like a magic wand, perfect shotgun fit. Sight picture snapping to the shoulder is right now. I can put up with the weight difference.

Just a suggestion for those use old classic rifles. For keeping that wood stable and keeping it from getting ruined an pine tar treatment is excellent although unconventional. Strip the finish off and from there apply a mixture of pine tar , mineral spirits, and boiled linseed oil conncoction either on a really hot day or with heat gun. A couple of coats and the wood sheds weather like a duck. I treat my stocks on my Ruger rifles with this method and it darkens the stocks but its a better treatment for tough weather than traditional stock and furniture finishes, the heat sinks the pine tar intonthe wood and its impregnated. Good stuff. The vikings treated their boatsnwitb it and it preserves wood like notjing else.

Yeah, definitively estrogen, laced with cowardice. How many logins is that now Scott, three or four? Your posts, like you, are nothing but a pile of steamingdogshit. F uck off, Steelhead..

All right. .303 Boy, that’s just about enough.

I thought Canadians were supposed to be polite!😱

WARNING! Keep away from open flame!

Careful, threads about stock finishes get nasty in a hurry.

Yep. I'ma headed out right now to get a jar of pine tar.

(That's as far as I shall rise to that bait!)

I liken stainless/plastic rifles to Kindles. Oh so practical products of our age, but I can't conceive of curling up by the fire with a glass of whiskey and a Kindle any more than sitting under an oak tree as the sun goes down while contemplating the grace and beauty of a plastic rifle.

Give me a stock that came from a tree that stood rooted when history was being made, rather than a stock that started life in a vat of toxic soup.

I'm civil. I have had quite a few belly laughs throughout this thread.

I say this from time to time. We are products of our generations. And there have been a fair number of grumpy old men reply.

What would the subject of gun clubs/hunting conversations been in the 1920s or 1930s?

Smokeless powder won't last. It's a flash in the pan. Pun intended. Some fool is using birch for gun stocks! And hey, don't the manufacturers realize that firearms furniture must be made of brass? Steel rusts! What idiots!

What fool would mount a telescope on their rifle? Barrels must be a minimum of 30 inches in length! Some addle brained moron - probably a city boy - is reducing them to 24 or 26 inches! You might as well throw a rock!

The oldest members would pick up the sword. My father said that no good came of switching to percussion caps. As if flints were something to avoid! It's dubious that surrounding powder in a brass cup - as with cartridge rifles - is really necessary for hunting. Cartridge rifles are a rapid fire military weapon. They are totally unnecessary for deer!

They actually made the 30-30 to function using smokeless powder. What folly!

My uncle bought one of the first levers. A reckless idea. No need for that kind of firepower! You'll waste ammunition. Winchester missed the mark there!

Really, no positive things have come from the gun world in years. You won't catch me using expensive, less accurate jacketed bullets!

History repeats.

Many of you are grumpy old men! It's perspective. The classic rifles are rare and expensive. Few have been made in close to 100 years. Au bon marche!

Really, no positive things have come from the gun world in years. You won't catch me using expensive, less accurate jacketed bullets!

Or making them either, right?😜

Just lead. Lead is all you need. It's classic.

Theres no need to make fun of classic items or even lead. Who knows? We may all have to be mandated to use non lead projectiles in the not too distant future, maybe? Anyone look at the price of copper? It wont be going down.

Also there nothing wrong with change and progression but in truth most of our arms makers arent very accomidating. It used to be way before my time a fella could order a winchester rifle like an 1886 or Hi Wall the way you wanted it configured or at least there were many options. Today whole lines disappear and cheaper made junk is put in its place.

It would be nice if companies would provide limited runs and announce it on their website. Runs for certain models, calibers, and features. They could do a pre purchase program for those interested and when the interest or funds became too littlenthen they could stip the run. Theres ways to do this in our internet age but theres really no focus on customer anymore and only market trend.

I suspose the limited runs Ruger does from outfits like Lipseys is aboit as close as we'll ever come to this.

What is this Steelhead business? Isnt he a decent guy?

That's true, but most of the people here only think that 20th century rifles can be classics. Wood is rarely used as a stock material with production rifles these days. Nicely blued steel is gone. It's progress. Noone said people would like it.



It's the bottom line. I have said many times that wood is more labour intensive and expensive to fashion into rifle stocks. That's why we see injection molded stocks on virtually every rifle these days. You have to pay a premium for limited production or custom shop rifles. I understand what you are saying, but profits have to be made. If you must have walnut, you will have to pay more for the privilege.



Companies do make special runs from time to time. Generally, they are more expensive than their regular line.

Lipseys firearms are often good buys. For example, they offered the 44 Special Ruger Blackhawk a few years back when 44 Specials of any kind were hard to find new.

Like many of us, you were used to going into a gun shop and seeing Model 70s, Rem 700s and others that had wood (often walnut) as standard. Those days are gone. There was a major transition to cheaper wood stocks, and then plastics, about 40 years ago. Companies like Remington made econo-rifles. They featured cheaper wood, metal stampings (like trigger guards), no iron sights, plastic butt pads, etc.

These things did not happen in one season. It was a gradual evolution. Cost cutting was the thing and it is always ongoing.

It's not wrong. It's just something that our generation did not grow up with. Your father, grandfather and great-grandfather all said the same thing. "What the heck are they doing?"

I love those kinda guns as well as the next guy, but like you, am hesitant to hunt them or take them where I'd take a synthetic, SS version.

I've traded or sold guns that I considered too fancy or too nice to hunt. Still have a few, but don't subject them to abuse.

Sometimes it's just nice to have one that shoots good, but not a problem dragging it thru a thicket.

Synthetic, SS rifles don't have to be ugly, they just not as pretty as classic, high end walnut and blued steel classics.

DF

So true, DF. We see attractive synth-oh stocks all around us. I think you are like me. We appreciate a beautiful, well made wooden stocks, but we're usually hesitant to take a fancy one afield.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and some can see the beauty in a well made synthetic stock. Unfortunately, cheap and easily (quickly) made stocks are de rigueur now. One must create a healthy bottom line. Beauty is for art galleries.

I should also add that I like laminates. They aren't walnut, but they are hardy and pleasing to my eyes.

As an example of what I just posted, this Champlin and Haskins Len Brownell 7RM was obtained used. It had been hunted, but not abused. I've posted it before.

I enjoy it, the wear and tear just adds character. One like this I don't mind using, just don't abuse it. It shoots greats, prefers lighter bullets and is easy on the eye. Pictures show some dings and wear, still in pretty good shape.

It's easier to use one like this. It's like a new pickup. It's that first ding or scratch that hurts the most. I drive my 2011 Z-71, don't worry about a scratch, ding to two. Same deal here. Plus I don't like all the electronic gadgets on the new trucks, gonna drive this one another 100K miles, it has just 111K now.

DF

I understand that some fellas don’t like to take classy walnut/blued steel guns into the field because they’re too pretty to hunt with. To me, that mindset is the same as thinking a classy gal is too pretty to take to bed.😁

Today’s new age is tomorrow’s classic.

What you say makes sense, Steve. But I don't have to like it!

I have a pile of rifles, many of which are "too nice to hunt with" but there are more setting beside them which aren't- more than I need for the amount of hunting I do anymore. I take pride in ownership and that's enough of an excuse to keep buying them. They all get a turn at the range now and then but mostly they sit and look pretty.