Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Pre 64 African .458. Shoot or No Shoot?

I've had a lot of thoughts similar to Lauren as far as how the demographics will likely change in the not-too-distant future. A lot of guys who collect vintage guns come from a very different demographic. It used to be more people lived rural vs. in the cities. In the last 50 years that has flipped. While so many of us grew up hunting, fishing, shooting and so on; it's much more common for young people to have no connection to the outdoors. I also know some gun dealers complain that all the younger people are interested in is, "black guns." I've had these thoughts for years yet the best antique and vintage guns keep going up in price. Look at the prices Wes Adams guns fetched recently at the Julia auction. I predict one thing - most of those guys who were buying and bidding on Wes Adams guns won't be buying and bidding 20 years from now. And Lauren is right, some of this stuff is priced so high that it is very difficult for new collectors to break in.

When we start hearing things like, "Guns will never go down in value" that may be time to "pull the trigger".

I sat at home and looked through the Madis book when I was a kid.
It would be pretty tough to get a kid to look at that stuff today.

The whole video game/electronics/Dungeons and Dragons/Magic Cards and on and on has pulled a lot of young people away. I know plenty of young people (in their mid-20's) who are still into this stuff - heavy. Many are well employed - work hard at full time jobs - but evenings and weekends are not spent hunting or fishing or paging through the Madis book. It's funny how a lot of us are looking at partially funding our retirement with our guns. Well, if we all sell at about the same time - who is going to buy

Looks fade over time but if she can't cook and clean at least a little, well she would be gone. Especially if someone else is eager to pay more than she's worth.

To carry on the theme of the thread. There was a time I could have bought Rudy Etchens 28Ga Parker, which was an absolutely beautiful shotgun that would have been a queen of the Grouse woods. One season-and maybe one day-and it would have been worth considerably less. She just wasn't worth the price to just sit around and do nothing but look good.

Personally I would not shoot it, unless of course you were booked on a hunt for buffalo or elephant. If you were, then the 9K the gun is worth is just not a factor. If you are not going to shoot it and don't need the money then keep it as is.

I have often quoted Lauren's brother Jed: "You only need one shooter." I realize some of us hunt a variety of game and several shooters might make sense, but if you are going to own a lot of guns, why do they all need to be shooters? I have plenty of vintage/antique lever rifles and I shoot some of them. I tend to not shoot the high condition ones. I could and as they are not unfired, a trip to the range would be undectable (unless something really bad happened). Still, I don't take the nicest ones to the range, because I have plenty of other guns to bring It is not important to me that I have shot every gun in my collection.

guns like this would torment me too much

Ok..any decesions yet? OK,go shoot it,I got $5000 waiting...
That takes the pressure off....

This is what I would do.

It does the soul good to have a couple of special rifles....whether or not one chooses to shoot them is a different matter.

+1

You guys are much better men than me, i would be proud to honor those great craftsmen from long ago who built that fine rifle, and bust a Buffalo with it

Gunner

I don't know about bustin a buffalo but I think I'd bust a nut if I had it....Just sayin.

If you don't shoot it how would you know if it works?

If it's a pre 64 I'm willing to bet you it's going to work.... .....and like a slick willie in a oh never mind....

How do you know it is unfired?
Would a buyer be convinced.

If it really is unfired I would keep it that way.

Better yet, sell it and buy one that will not go down in value from shooting it.

I would take the trigger guard off and look at the little piece of wood between the magazine and the trigger cut out. If it's cracked it's a good bet that it's been shot. I've never taken a P64 in 458 apart but I've taken quite a few P64 375's and have yet to see one that hasn't been cracked there. Note that none of the 375's that I've examined were ever in question for being unfired. The crack doesn't hurt anything but there just wasn't enough wood there to take the recoil of the bigger calibers.

I'd trip it for as much as you can and go on a brown bear hunt.

Shoot.

As I have already said, all I am going on is the original owners word and it's appearance. There is no ring on the bolt face (photo on page 2) and the loading ramp is not scratched up.

If I shoot it, which I am leaning that way, how can it take the value down that much if any, really?