doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com To shoot or not to shoot (high condition)

There was a thread where a fellow(I believe his name was 12brd)asked for a vote of which gun to shoot. His LC Smith FW 12ga won the contest. He took it out and got his limit of birds the following morning and posted the results. Sorta cool little deal. But I noticed that the Smith was a VERY nice old gun near 100% in the box with the origional papers. 12brd even says he would have taken it out in an all day rain, "it just would have gotten wet for the day". I feel there is so many shooter grade LC's....Or am I just an old guy that wants to over protect my origional condition guns?

My question to all y'all is:

1) Would you have shot this gun?

2) If so, would you have shot it in the rain?

Nope!! There are not a lot of NIB field grade anything. It is his gun and his value to loose but it is a bit more then 'his'. IMHO, it is a national treasure(assuming it is in untouched as it left the factory) and needs to remain that way. A very rare item. Plenty of used field grades to use. I don't take any of my fine guns out in the rain. In fact I try not to go out in the rain at all.

I don't deserve to have to do the dirt on a time-capsule gun and fortunately haven't been blessed with the means to do so. Better to get a ninety yr. old man who's never been anyplace, never done anything, and have him do it. A slightly crow-footed Geo. Clooneydroid would be about right for the job. Certainly real issues here. Effect on market value, effect on finite supply of "museum quality" examples complete with packaging, hangtag, and all that other collector in situ detritus.

Triggers meant to be pulled; cylinders turned, slides slid. Still some things which have survived the human touch probably should be encouraged to continue doing so. If I'm not mistaken, there're probably some real nice high-dollar guns in current production that are good for initial show and longterm go. Large part of the artifactual past has been consumed already; no need for the time-traveling consumer to finish the job.

jack

But in the end all of these guns were made to be hunted with.
How many auctions have we all been to that divied up a lifetimes collection of (insert items here) of some gentleman that would be crying if he were still alive.
How many of us will this happen to in the future?
Some one some day, beit 200 years in the future may purchase one of the most prized guns in your inventory and take it hunting and possibly leave it in the bed of a truck and get lost on some dusty road. A gun worth $25,000 on the open market may be treated like a $100 gun to you and me buy some people. I for one am glad that he decided to hunt with it as it is only going to be in his possesion for a short time on this earth, and afterall it is his to use as he sees fit for this moment in time.

He paid for it, he can do what he wants with it.

What-EVER gives him the most pleasure. Period. His life, his gun to enjoy to the fullest.

Sort of like saying that it is fine to paint a room that has Rufus Porter murals on the walls. It's his house and he paid for it.
Best,
John

Shoot it.

I once ruined the original stock finish on a high condition 16 gauge Damascus GHE Parker by hunting grouse in the rain. Water encroached under the buttplate and other areas. A thick coat of Johnson's Paste Wax over the wood and wood to metal surfaces would have prevented the damage. I still have the gun but now know that the damage could have been prevented and I still could have carried it on the hunt and others.

I have a mint Parker DH 16ga damascus gun made in 1897. Unless it was the only gun that I had left, I can't see any reason that I would want to take it out to shoot, especially in the rain. I actually get nervous taking it from the safe to the shelf for fear it will get some sort of nick or fingerprint on it.