I've had my Browning BPS for about 20 years now, for almost 10 years it was my only gun, I have 4 different barrels for it, a 24" Upland, a 28" waterfowl/target, a rifled barrel for deer slugs and a iron sighted turkey barrel.
It has some bluing worn off in the right places, some scratches and chips in the wood, but themost obvious scratches is the blue are from my meathanded attempts early on mounting a B-Square side scope mount before I got the deer barrel.
My next two guns were also Brownings, a BLR in .308 and a A-Bolt 22. They all have that Browning high gloss finish which chips very easily and shows marks.
Once I got past that stage, most everything else I own was old when I got it, I try not to make them older. Some wood scratches, blue scrathes, etc. haven't dented a barrel yet.
Of course I bought some old shooters that were mechanically fine but looked their age. A Savage 99 that was badlt refinished but I shoot amazingly well comes to mind.
I agree, most of the bad stuff doesn't happen in the field.
Rob
