doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com To Shoot or Not to Shoot? That is the question.

The mini farky thread brought up this notion so I thought I'd start a new thread with some of my thoughts.
(Now I'm leaving for a week in Reno on Weds. so I won't get back to you for a while.)

Collecting/Shooting
I believe there is plenty of room for both the Must Shoot and the Wouldn't Shoot and the when it comes to custom rifles. About half of the guns I build are not shot and the other half are seriously shot and/or hunted. (I shoot them all testing both function and performance and keep targets from each. I don't think all custom gunmakers apply these same standards, but I sure wish they did.)

I often hear folks say things like, "I wouldn't own a gun I didn't shoot." And my answer is always, "You must not own very many guns?"

Now, I've shot my S&W Model 1 Second Issue (seven shot removable cylinder circa 1865) .22 with CB caps! For several season I duck hunted with an 1850's vintage 14 ga. percussion double shotgun floating the Willamette River in a canoe.

But if I couldn't own a gun I couldn't shoot that would leave out many of my vintage guns that I enjoy simply owning and if I seriously shot all the guns I own, I wouldn't have time to do much else.

If patrons of custom gunmaking didn't order guns they didn't shoot, these wonderful creations wouldn't happen at all.
There are two things I like to think of when I'm building a rifle not likely to be shot often: I am going to get a real kick out of shooting, testing and sighting in the rifle; and someday, somewhere, somebody at some time in the future is just going to have to shoot that rifle so it better work and shoot very well!

That Farky is a great example of the gunmaker's art and I hope whoever does shoot has a whale of a great time. Terry Wallace, the engraver, is no longer with us and the fact the his work graces that rifle is certainly enough reason for it's existance and I'm delighted we have photos of it to view here.

Here's a photo of a Maurice Ottmar rifle, I'm sure glad someone commissioned it! The current owner has never shot it! I sure would and he'd probably let me, if I had the time...

Now we have to wait a week for the question? just kidding. I believe the "won't own one, that I don't shoot" guys like me have little interest in safe queens. Not that I shoot all my guns all the time, but I would not hesitate to shoot any of them. I have owned guns that attained collector interest and was happy to pass them on to folks to fondle and oil.

Tom

Are they art are are they tools or something of both? I have shot every firearm I own or have owned but I haven't shot some in many years yet I still enjoy them. I would shoot the mini "Farkie" but I'd never take it to the woods and I wouldn't shoot it much. It is first and foremost ART. The Ottmar Mauser is also beautiful but it has the looks of a very fine tool that deserves to be used. One needs to be admired and preserved as art, much like a fine oil painting. The other admired and used. It would be like not taking your Labrador duck hunting. At least that's how I feel about it.

Jerry Liles

I am firmly in the shoot'em camp. A few years ago I purchased a William Evans super magnum paradox gun made for an Indian Raj.....unfired from every indication as even the breach face looked to have never seen a cartridge. Well Now I have loads for it and have shot it a fair bit.....regrets? NOPE! Here is a pic of the old gal drawing a some blood and feathers.

“I often hear folks say things like, "I wouldn't own a gun I didn't shoot." And my answer is always, "You must not own very many guns?"

I love it! I will have to remember that for the next time I get ragged on for not shooting something. We all look at this differently and the only right answer is what is right for you. After years of looking for a .400 Whelen I found one that had not been shot after G&H had build it, the very first thing I did was shoot it. Now I’m not about to drag it through the brush but I have shoot it. I once owned a 20 gauge D. Kirkwood the had damascus barrels (I’ve been shooting damascus my whole life) that weighed in at 4.5 pounds with barrel like new but very thin, I never shot that. I’ve not shot Townsend Whelen’s Wundhammer because of the cracked stock and have retired other rifles because of the historical nature of them. When you are responsible for pieces of history one might look at them a little different. I would have trouble living with myself if I did something wrong and say cracked the action on the Leopold-Mann-Niedner- Maynard-Creedmoor rifle. I will admit when I was younger I shot the heck out of it.

A good subject, thanks.

I suppose I should comment on truly historic arms. There are some firearms that just should not be shot and need to be preserved for their historic value. I would also feel very uncomfortable owning such a firearm as I would be worried about what would happen to it after I'm gone. If I came across such a weapon I would admire and fondle it and then do my best to see it into a proper collection where its future is more secure if, indeed there is a secure future for our weapons.

Jerry Liles

I can certainly understand both sides. I don't own a gun I can't shoot, nor do I own one I haven't shot, but some have just been fired a bit to enjoy, and then put away. Others have been nearly worn out from all the shooting I've enjoyed with them.
Almost all my guns are pre WWI era, and many tough to replace, but it's been more a case of condition that limits me shooting them, more than value. I don't shoot those guns that are really pristine nearly as much as those that have seen more use.

What Vall said. Regards, Joe

When I was a younger I did my research, traced guns all over the country, worked hard and bought a few nice rifles. At the time I thought they were mine to do with as I please. As I got older I learned that I’m merely the caretaker and have responsibilities to the next generation of collectors and shooters to preserve any history I’m entrusted with.

About 20 years ago I used to shoot a 1820's vintage English 11 ga. single shot, half-stock flintlock fowler in competition, a lot, maybe a thousand rounds over a few years(?). I won quite a few matches and some awards with it, truly a wonderful gun that taught me much about building guns for style and building guns to shoot. I paid $1000 for it in 1979, selling or traded many guns to acquire it. One day I had the lock out for meticulous cleaning and while looking at the temper blued mainspring, I imagined it breaking. I reassembled the gun and sold it to a collector friend. Today it remains in the same condition as when he bought it.

Several years ago, one of my very best clients brought a pair of light white cotton gloves (not shooting gloves) to the Guild Show, his Gun Room gloves. I laughed when I saw a hole worn in the trigger finger. He has several custom guns I know he has never shot, some with elaborate engraving, some rather plainly adorned. I've also bird hunted with him in North Dakota, Idaho and Texas where he shot a lot of birds with three different custom shotguns I built for him.
The hole in the trigger finger shows how much he enjoys them all. He has great judgement on both sides of the coin, which he can also afford.


I remember Terry sticking his neck out to purchase a high-grade Lefever that most (including myself) thought thoroughly un-restorable. He had a great cosmetic restoration performed, (beyond all our expectations!) and then mentioned sending it to Teague's for damascus sleeving. Not because he wanted to shoot it but so it could be shot! (Please correct me Terry?!?) But Terry is a remarkable man in many ways.

(P.S. Steve, I'm looking forward to meeting you at the show. Would you please learn how to crop and resize photos?.)