Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Designated Loaner Rifle

I don’t really hunt with anybody I wouldn’t loan a gun to.

I don’t loan them out long term but I have a river Hawkeye all weather 30-06 that has been chopped to 20” and is currently suppressed with a banish 30. That’s what I’d probably let a buddy take if he needed a gun.

What's the legality of loaning a suppressed firearm?

I don't like to loan guns out. And that's because a friend knew a guy who wanted to hunt but had no gun and he asked me if I could spare one. I loaned him an SMLE .303 British. After the season when I got it back it no longer had a cleaning cord in the buttstock trapdoor. My friend asked his buddy who replied that he didn't touch it or know anything about it.

When I was young I was deer hunting with a guy and I asked him why he had a single barrel shotgun. He said it was what he could borrow. He said "why own a gun when you can loan one"? That's exactly the type of guy I try not to enable

I have a Savage model 10 I bought used at a pawn shop cheap about 20 years ago. I swapped the barrel to a 308 and made it my ugly foul weather rifle. It has a decent scope and is accurate. Now it is my loaner rifle on a trip I go on each year in case someone's rifle goes down. I also loan it to kids with a really light cast bullet load that approximates a 30-30. If it happens to get dropped in the swamp and left I would not be too upset about it because I figure I have already got my money's worth out of this gun.

I would not loan another rifle.

About 10 years ago I was hunting pronghorn out west and had a scope problem. My buddy handed me his rifle and I killed my pronghorn. I think that's about the only time I've borrowed a rifle.

I learned long ago that loaning a rifle and expecting it to come back in the same condition isn't realistic.
People don't care for things the same as you, unless their own money is on the line. Some don't even care then....

I don't risk a friendship by loaning things I care about.

I have been known to give rifles to buddies that were broke but that's a different way to handle it..

I've loaned some different rifles to guys who had problems with their gear, who forgot to pack their ammo, and to a couple of kids.

My Father loaned guns to a few different people and didn't have any problems that I know of, so that was how I was brought up. Two of my better friends in high school came from large, lower income, families and didn't have their own deer rifles, so if they wanted to hunt, they had to borrow.

30-06 is a good choice.

If a person can afford a hunting license, they can afford a budget rifle/shotgun.

A rusty M721 in 06 with a early 90’s Vari-X. It shoots 180g Partitions quite accurately........

Same here.

Only to very immediate family. My brother once loaned his BAR to a "wounded warrior" whose scope was busted and could not get sighted in. His payback was a 3" scratch on the receiver and a gouge out of the stock and not even an apology. The gun was LNIB before the hunter got his hands on it.

Me too. Anyone who I would loan a gun to could use any gun I have.

Rem. 760 30-06, same guy borrows it every year, cept last hen I told him he had to buy his own ammunition

Have never needed to. Or needed to refuse.
Of the people I might loan a gun, none would likely need one.
Except possibly on a trip.

But, when I bought a 760 30-06 cheap, it got set up with 180gr loads
and is my backup trip gun. Simply because IDGAS about it, and
could lend it out.

Yep. Open safe - "pick one".

Just no cleaning glass with shirt tails or paper towel.

Bingo. Don’t touch the lenses, don’t get mud or water in the bore, and don’t store it in a damp case.

Mossberg ATR100 in .270 with a Weaver Grand Slam 4.75x fixed on top.

At ages 13-16 I was real appreciative to be able to borrow a M64 .30WCF, a pre-64 M70 .30-06 and a pre-64 M70 .300 WM from dad's gun guy buddy and got deer with all three before I could afford my own. Those got me started really well. I've loaned a M37 20 gauge and my M700 7mm RM and those both got deer too. There is a Savage '57 M99 .300 Savage in the gun safe at the cottage that could be loaned, but never has been. Almost though when one of the guys opened his gun case on opening day and found that the trigger lock was nicely attached, but the key was 80 miles back home.

Good post. I agree