Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What makes a "loaner" rifle???

a 700

Loaner extra rifle taken to camp in case of a malfuction of anyones primary rifle. Also available to a new hunter thats buget strapped and must be a friend.Current loaner is a Winchester Ultimate Shadow in 06 with a Burris C4 3x9x40 ontop. Remington 721 in 270 is out of commision at the moment needing a trigger replacement.
Shot gun if upland game they can shoot my semi auto. No one shoots my doubles.

Most of us dont get to excited with a Savage 110, but it is a good rifle and if mine broke I would be pleased to have someone give me one to finish a hunt. I have a package gun in 270 that i bought for $200. If someone is too good to borrow that they can KMA.

Other than my 45-70, the only Elk capable "cheap" rifles I own are a old 760 in 30-06 and a Mauser converted to 30-338 which shoots OK but needs some time with a gunsmith. I've sold or given away all the others.
Everything else is rifles I've had built or at least modified at some expense, so when I loan it's something good.
I've never felt the need to worry about them.
I'm clumsy enough that I manage to fall with a rifle at least a couple of times per season myself and consider minor damage just a part of normal use

A loaner gun is something that you must be willing to have left in a damp soft case for a month with obvious effects, to have the front sight smashed flat, to have the bore gouged by someone who really should know better trying to remove a stuck brass brush by tapping a sheet metal screw down the bore, and to have it returned to you with a live round in the chamber and the cheery advice, "don't worry, I unloaded it".

If it meets those criteria then it's a loaner.



Polonius advised his son Laertes "neither a borrower nor a lender be", I think I originally gave Polonius that advice.

Savage Axis 243 with a Pentax scope shoots factory 100 grain corelokts very well, it has killed a first deer for one novice hunter so far. Looking forward to the 1st grandson getting his first with it. Scratches won't bother me on that one at all -rust is just unnecessary anytime.

Yeah the loner thing doesn't really compute for me if a friend or guest needed to borrow a rifle they'd have a few to choose from. Truck gun I get that for me its a stainless rifle that lives in the truck for weeks to months on end during hunting season in this wet god forsaken place. Something that doesn't need much of any care doesn't rust or if it does a bit I don't care muchy and if someone steals the truck I'm not going to cry. Surprised that's an issue in places not here providing you keep the vehicle locked and the gun out of sight when not attended. Just like one always there for when a little spare time shows it self in and around working. If its a real hunt day I'll probably take something nicer along.

I have three dedicated loaners; a Mossberg 472 in 30-30, a Savage 11 in 223, and a Savage 170 in 30-30. While I don't have much $$ into any of them, I expect the borrower to take reasonable care of whichever rifle he choose to use. The Savage 11 is a youth model and the 170 has had the stock shortened, so they work well for kids.

I once loaned a nice rifle to the DCE at our church, so that he'd have a rifle to shoot when I took him on a local deer hunt, and I had a heck of a time getting it back from him. He seemed to have the idea that a loan was the same as a gift and expressed surprise when I kept nagging him about returning it. Needless to say, I wasn't as receptive the next time he asked me to take him deer hunting, nor did I shed a tear when he moved to Missouri.

I have a very old 700 in .243 that's in a synthetic stock that I've loaned lots of times. It's light and easy to shoot. It has good luck. The last time I loaned it an acquaintance from work and his wife wanted to try deer hunting for the first time. He bought a cheap Savage package from Cabela's in .30-06 for them to share. I took them shooting and the guy had such a bad flinch after a few rounds he couldn't hit anything. The wife shot pretty well until she got scoped. I offered them the .243 but the guy thought he was doing fine with his rifle. The wife shot it and decided to borrow it. When I took them hunting I put them about 150 yards apart but they could still see each other. The guy shot at 2 or 3 deer several times each. No success. Finally a deer showed up on the wife's side. One shot = deer in the freezer. I take it along as a backup gun if a buddy or I have problems with primary gun or ammo.
As far as a truck gun, that's whatever gun I'm tinkering with at the time. I always have a handgun with me and rarely leave a rifle in the truck when I get home. It's usually wearing a suppressor and I don't leave them in the truck.

Bob

Loaner guns -
In general, guns that are rugged, reliable and functional but not particularly valuable. That said, there are some people to whom I would loan any gun I have, others who I wouldn't even allow in my house. Lots of ground in-between. For example, son-in-law gets anything he wants because I know he'll take care of it. Accidents happen and I know any gun I might loan to him might come back with new "character marks", but it won't be due to gross neglect. By contrast, if I loaded a gun to his dad I would expect it to be neglected - which is why I wouldn't loan him anything.

Truck guns -
Also rugged, reliable and functional with very limited monetary or sentimental value. If they get stolen out of the truck I wouldn't be happy but not terribly surprised, particularly if they were carried in a rear window rack.


YMMV

Exactly what I have. It is the epitome of "cheap"

Pawnshop Savage 110, Ramline synthetic stock, Cheap weaver rings, and a Redfield Revolution 3-9X40.

I paid more for the scope than everything else put together. But I wasn't going to saddle it with inferior optics. Cheap, but not inferior.

Even the 50 rounds I have loaded for it are on the cheap. KA-headstamped cases I had been using in my Garand, on it's last loading, loaded with 150 speer spitzer flatbases to 2700 fps.

The thing is a tack-driver. Seriously ugly and low-budget, but accurate.

I don't have a "truck gun". That doesn't mean that if I'm in my truck, I don't have a gun. It means that if I'm not in my truck, neither is my gun. I tend to take what ever I am planning on shooting out of the safe and then put it back when I'm done.

I have used several different rifles as loaners. Usually it is a friend of one of my sons that is going hunting for the first time and doesn't have a firearm of his or her own. Or is visiting and didn't bring a gun to hunt with. Several have killed their first deer with one of my rifles. One wanted to buy the Marlin 336 Texan 30/30 I loaned him. I had bought it in an act of frustration while looking for a Texan in 35 Remington. I sold it to him and less than a week later I came across one in 35 Remington. That one is not a loaner… Loaners are guns that you are willing to put at risk.

I had need for a loaner rifle last fall but didn't have one on hand. Also wanted to try out a RAR so I bought a used one in 30/06. Weaver Classic 4x to top it off. $500 total $$ spent.

Come hunting season there are usually around 5 ready to hunt.

If by chance a good friend needs one they can take their pick. I don't expect them to come back trashed, but a ding that happens from serious hunting wouldn't bother me.

I can't imagine not willingly loaning any rifle I own to a friend.

None of my close friends are hunters/shooters, so it would be unsafe to loan any of them a firearm of any sort without providing adult supervision.

I don't have friends that don't share like interests.

I have a lot of different interests, but don't think of shooting as a social activity.

EDIT: Actually, come to think of it, some of my friends are skeet and trap shooter and waterfowl hunter. But they all have high grade skeet and trap guns and I can't think of a single scenario where I would loan them my only skeet gun, a Remington 3200 with a Briley tube set. I don't shoot skeet, trap, or birds because each of them is a social activity.

I never said it was a social activity, I just stated that I don't have friends that don't have like interests. If a man doesn't hunt/shoot/fish, I really have no desire to be 'friends' with him.

WTF, talk about men fashion and Merlot?

Carhartt versus Dickies.


Merlot was that wizard on King Arthur.