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

When we decide to shoot a nice collectable gun it's always with some hesitation or concern, as even with the best of care things happen.
Just a few weeks ago I took an old 1892 Marlin out of the safe to give it a trip to the range. I've enjoyed occasionally shooting this gun over many years, even though it's in extremely nice condition, and sports many special order deluxe features.
All went well at the range, and I was as always careful, but when I got home and was cleaning it to return to the safe I noticed a major problem that made me feel pretty sick. There was a sliver of wood about 1/2" wide, and 1.5" long missing at the toe of the buttstock!
I knew I hadn't dropped it on the buttplate, or bumped into anything, so I guess it simply popped due to age. After a moment of silence and some disparaging words, I noticed something laying on the gun room floor. There at my feet was the missing piece!
Fortunately it was an easy fix, but it once again reminded me of the things that can and do happen when we decide to shoot something we really like.

For the same reason I prefer color case protected with oil based products such as Tru-Oil which gives a warm cast to the color rather than the acrylics coatings which let the cooler colors come through more vibrantly. Much like the difference between oil paintings and those done with acrylics paints.

Lots of good points, and another; I swear I put more little dings in stocks taking them in and out of the truck or safe than any other way.
Vall, sure glad you found that sliver. I've got a gold oval somewhere in the long grass at my buddies ranch range. It is now a truly Vacant oval!
My biggest fear is the responsibility that goes with loaner guns for photos or stories. I get some priceless guns and some merely valued at twice my total mortgage!

A lot of this is relative to our individual incomes, or assets, and what might be extremely valuable to me, could be an average gun to the next guy.(and vice versa!)
I think that's what makes this topic interesting, and also what makes gun collecting and shooting interesting.

I couldn't agree more. I watched a guy shoot his custom Winchester 21 duck gun till he shot it loose and wore most of the blue off it and cracked the stock. The repair bill was $675 in 1973 or 74 from Winchester to refinish/repair it.He never batted an eye, while I was watching how much use I gave my 90% condition model 10 Remington pump

No matter what level you play at there will always be more levels ;-). Last year at Reno I was sure that the man who bought, at auction, the Shelhamer-Kornbrath 52-Winchester for 58K had just walked up to the table. I ask if he had the rifle and was told that he had bought several rifles at that auction but was not sure if that was one of them or not.


This is the fun stuff that I can never write about.

Michael, there is no doubt you hunt rifles, like I hunt big bucks and bulls. You seem to have a bit more success, but the game is the same.

I too like hunting guns, though I am not quite in your class. I finally bagged my Lang after tracking and stalking it from Oklahoma to New York, to Florida, where I finally "bagged it" and dragged it back home to Iowa with me. Of course, it cost a lot more each time it jumped to a new location but I got'er just before she jumped out of my price range (a lot like rifle range actually). She dropped to my second shot and has been mine ever since. Nonetheless, she hunts.

Brent

I do not think I have shot more than one in ten, maybe one in twenty, of my rifles. As to pursuing a particular gun for years, I have done that a few times sucessfully ..... and a few times unsuccessfully.

A few years back I had some jingle in my pocket and thought I might take up hard hunting for a real honest Sharps. One that had been there, done that, and had the t-shirt. Anyway, it was a fun general hunt; much like going into a new timber for the first time after a big buck, not knowing specifically which one was out there at the time, but nonetheless being sure there was good game afoot.

Well, after jumping a few in their beds, I came to realize that a real honest Sharps, at a price range where I could reasonably expect to connect with a killing shot, was not in the sort of condition that would provide the level of accuracy and function that I really expect to have in my rifles.

While such rifles did exist, they were truly Big Buck rifles and I had a spike-buck only tag in my pocket book. So, I gave up the chase and instead settled for a real honest Ballard. Which is right on the edge of accurate and functional enough to suit me, yet within striking distance of a well placed shot. Well, I bagged her after a short stalk, and hunted with her exclusively though unsuccessfully for elk last fall in Wyoming.

Happy hunting for you that have the Big Buck tag. I'm pretty happy with my spike buck tags in the meantime

Brent

What do we do if we love caviar, but have bologna budgets? I'm really happy with what I do own, but can't help falling hopelessly in love with those gorgeous high end Ballards, like the 4 1/2 Mid Range, 7-A-1 Long Range, Rigby, etc.!
Brent, I too searched for a reasonably priced (in my budget) Sharps cartridge gun. Finally decided to settle on an affordable percussion Sharps, and then realised even a nice percussion was overpriced, so went on to looking for other things. But I'm still gonna find a decent real Sharps one of these days!
I went through the same thing on a few other gun "needs", and eventually some of them came around!