Use hard or hardly use

ChazyKEJ · 03-03-2006, 05:09 PM

Been searching online, at gun shows, andstaring into my own gun cabinet now that hunting season is over. You see a lot of guns that are well used (abused?) kicking around. Just curious? Do most of you buy guns for heavy field use or to pamper, collect,and dare I say fondle? I look at my first gun, a 22 year old 10/22 and it looks like it fell out of an airplane. It is scuffed and scratched with little clear coat left and even some cosmetic rust, though still functions perfect and shoots awesome.Yet I've somehow managed to keep my Ithaca looking new (not enough use perhaps). It there a time period that guns quitbeing tools and started being possesions. Does anyone have old guns that have been treated "right" or even "wrong" if you are not afraid to admit it? Please share some experiences.

Thanks,

KEJ

James B · 03-03-2006, 06:12 PM

The only gun that I have that is used hard looking is a very old Winchester 22 bolt action rifle that belonged to my wifes dad. He kept the bore clean but never babyed it around. Some of my old Military rifles of course look like they have been through many battles.

Duckbutter48 · 03-03-2006, 07:01 PM

Im more of a pamperer and yes maybe a fondler but I do have a couple shotguns from when I was young and dumb, that should have gotten a little more oil here and there and now have rust that I fight to remove and blueing that looks like it has cancer. I used to use the barrel and stock to smack trees and rustle brush rabbit hunting back in the day. I think now that I pay for my own guns and they seem to cost about 10 times more then they used to I treat them pretty good.

saladin · 03-03-2006, 07:39 PM

i am a pamperer, too. in fact, i try to "retro" pamper. i have an old martini single shot that i bought last year, and am trying to bring back to former glory. take it from me, it's much better to keep them in good nick than to try turn back the hands of time. that's why, if i borrow a mates rifle ( currently have a BLR .270 living with me), it get's the full treatment. all firearms deserve to be maintained - if only for safety.

RedAllison · 03-03-2006, 08:13 PM

lol Chazy I can say you that you are one mentally sick individual and are prone too a life of misery. Why? Because you think an awful lot like I do!!!

As a kid and young adult I must admit that I thought of my guns more as tools/equipment than I do now as posessions and yes, I am guilty of FONDLING them much more than a grown man should! Condition wise they are all pretty well taken care of. Now I use them, don't get me wrong. But I am very careful with them. I also have "inclement weather" guns so if I know it is gonna be nasty outside the pretty stuff stays at home and the all weather guns get the callout. So that is probably why most of my guns look like new or near new.

I only really have one gun that looks like it was in Pearl Harbor. It is a special steel Browning Citori that my step-father gave me many years ago. LOL in all honesty the reason he gave it too me is because I had used it for a couple weeks of dove hunting and didn't take care of it so it got some rust and pitting on it and he said to hell with it and gave it too me for Christmas that year. Then one day I forgot it and left it standing on the bumper of my truck and drove off (gravel parking lot) naturally it fell off and scratchedand dinged it up pretty good! [:@]But it shoots like lightening has never failed me once.

I keep thinking about having it professionally restored, especially since my step-father passed away lastyear. Half of me thinks "restore because it would be such a beautiful gun" and another half thinks "leave it like it was because that is why he gave it too you". When he gave it too me it wasn't that bad, but the incident with the parking lot left several gouges and scratches that detract from an otherwise great firearm.

Every couple of weeks I go into my trophy room, open the safes up and FONDLE my collection!!! I figger what the heck? My wife doesn't care, she says that as long as she is the ONLY woman that I fondle she doesn't mind my guns, Harleys, boats, trucks and other "boys toys". I also like to show them too mysons (5 and 10yrs old) and they always ask a million questions and it's a good time to go over gunsafety and hunting with them.

Besides my own guns I have guns that belonged too my own grandfather and of course my step-father so I always think about them when those guns come out.My step-father alsoleft them several guns as well so they like to get them out when I have the safes open. LOL I guess you could say I am teaching my boys the fine art of "gun fondlin"...

There is MUCH worse things we boys (old and young alike) can be playin with than our firearms!!!

RA

JLmoore1956 · 03-03-2006, 09:30 PM

All my guns get used, cant see buying and just sitting... there is a nice one, Sig Sauer Model 202, and even it gets used. No reason to buy one and leave it sit, at least IMHO![8D]

Doe Dumper · 03-03-2006, 09:47 PM

Most of mine dont come out of cabinet except to clean. The rifles get shot occasionally but the only 2 that see real action are the 2 adl synthetics. The 270 has been beat to death but with the matte and synthetic you cant tell with a good coat of oil..lol. The 7-08 is still new but Im sure end up like the 270. I keep the insides and the barrels spotless on both but some mud and dings makes those look better..lol. Only shotgun I use much is an old 870 that I have been squirrel hunting with since I was about 8. I think it would be the last in the cabinet to ever leave. Still looks brand new despite being 40 years ld. When I start cleaning all these things it takes the better part of a week..lol.

jashoffa · 03-10-2006, 11:48 AM

All my guns get used but I do everything in my power to keep them from getting damaged in any way. I am careful where I set them and what I do with them even when I am hunting. I feel like taking care of my guns is a form of respect for them. I also feel like if I take care of them they will take care of me so to speak. some of my guns have scratches nics here and there. but overall they look pretty good...of course I am in my 20's and my first gun I have only had for about 6 years so few of them are very old.

Nothing wrong with banging your guns around....just don't do it to mine!

Solitary Man · 03-10-2006, 12:06 PM

I'm a pamperer, at least as much as possible.

PKnTX · 03-10-2006, 01:54 PM

I take care of my guns but would'nt call it pampering.
I love carrying them in the woods/field but seldom

take them out just to fondle.
I don't own a collectors piece or a keepsake.

If I did, maby I'd look at 'em different.

PK