Too Pretty to shoot? Collect it or hunt it....need your opinion!

Newsflash: Already received an offer to buy it from me for a nice premium to what I paid for it. That being said, this ain't about the money, so I won't sell it. I wouldn't 'invest' in firearms. I own them to enjoy them. This is the first one I've bought that I want to enjoy only with my eyes. Maybe its because I'm a Ruger fan, definitely because I'm a .358 enthusiast. Maybe I earmark this one for one of my boys as a gift for a special occasion. Of course they'd have to appreciate the awesomeness of the .358 Winchester caliber. :)
 
3macs1 said:
No the voice of not being old enough to look back and see many firearms we could have had for peanuts back in the day were better than any financial investment
Would love to have a truck load of those shytey 870 wingmasters that were everywhere for 50 to 100 bucks and look at what they bring now vs a life time of rrsp and watch 35% to 50% of it vanish overnight after 911

The challenge is knowing what to keep for future generations which is a real gamble in 2017

Cheers
Click to expand...

Problem here is I don't really see great guns undervalued, such as we can see in hindsight. We're are the inexpensive Garands, Swiss>>>someone will chime in telling me the end of surplus SKS will see them worth 300-500%. Irrelevant to me, would be like collecting Salvage Axis.

One would really need a crystal ball to avoid "investment" firearms like how people think DU dinner guns are to be bubble wrapped, or Win 94 commemoratives will become invaluable heirlooms.

A better investment would be to invest in another gun safe, to have enough shoulder room to not safe kiss. Shoot it, rotate it in and out, keep them pristine until it becomes a never sell. Resale is all about condition. This is also not the season here. Summer doldrums on CGN, a time to buy ....not sell.
 
Last edited:
DTM5 said:
...the awesomeness of the .358 Winchester caliber...
Click to expand...

Exactly. As for it being viewed as just a short range rifle needing iron sights, it shoots pretty flat out to 300 yards. Using a scope with a ballistic reticle would make accurate shot placement at longer ranges possible. ;)

36354279175_93d4766ed1_b.jpg
 
See below........
Not taking a rifle out hunting because it has lovely wood, fine checkering and well-executed metal work, is like refusing to marry and enjoy a gorgeous woman because she will get old and wrinkled.
Click to expand...

Fair enough - if you have one woman. What if you had a harem of, say, fifty women, all of which were pretty enough for you to have added them to your harem, one by one, over the years? You might well enjoy the company of the more mature and "experienced" ones -with whom you have happy memories, maybe some kids, - over a pretty little thing that has zero life experience... Should you let the young one "age", locked up in a room, hoping that she will become more valuable over time?

This may be imperfect metaphor, but we can always purchase a new (or "latest and greatest") rifle if that floats our boat. (We are not married to the things.) Some folks prefer the old classics - say, the Sophia Lorens or Raquel Welches of the gun world - to the newest mass-produced, CNC'd, laser-etched firearms.
To each his own, or, to quote the old dog: "Everyone has his own taste" (as he licked his nuts clean...)
 
Scratches and gouges will inevitably happen through use. Minor ones can be touched up. Not a concern when it happens to utilitarian-type rifles like this Hogue stock stainless Hawkeye.

The stock has a rough finish to begin with and now has plenty of scratches from use but that doesn't bother me one bit because the rifle is designed for rugged all-weather use and that's how I use it. I don't throw it around but I don't coddle it either. If I bang it against a tree or scratch it up going through brush or hunt with it in heavy rain it's no big deal.

Prolonged exposure to rain might be a bad thing for your pretty rifle (rust? stock swelling?). :eek:

35559126236_730fff6f68_b.jpg
 
3macs1 said:
No the voice of not being old enough to look back and see many firearms we could have had for peanuts back in the day were better than any financial investment
Would love to have a truck load of those shytey 870 wingmasters that were everywhere for 50 to 75 bucks back in the day and look at what they bring now vs a life time of rrsp and watch 35% to 50% of it vanish overnight after 911

The challenge is knowing what to keep for future generations which is a real gamble in 2017 especially anything with wood on it and bluing

Cheers
Click to expand...

Well, I have more than half a century under my belt, I once owned triple digits of firearms and downsized to useable pieces when I woke up to the pointlessness of stockpiling run of the mill, vanilla pieces, like ALL of the ones that you have mentioned... as far as "back in the day" valuation goes, there are many, many things that would put you far further ahead to have bought and stored... gold for example. Typical of collectors, you have the real world valuation of your pieces rabidly inflated in your mind.

I have some solid guns, and I shoot them all... I have no problem with collecting (anything for that matter), but guns are not going to make you rich, they don't represent a solid retirement strategy, and in the current political environment a good case could be made that they are a "high risk" investment.

OP, that rifle won't make you rich, and it won't make you poor... go ahead and shoot it.
 
hoytcanon said:
Well, I have more than half a century under my belt, I once owned triple digits of firearms and downsized to useable pieces when I woke up to the pointlessness of stockpiling run of the mill, vanilla pieces, like ALL of the ones that you have mentioned... as far as "back in the day" valuation goes, there are many, many things that would put you far further ahead to have bought and stored... gold for example. Typical of collectors, you have the real world valuation of your pieces rabidly inflated in your mind.

I have some solid guns, and I shoot them all... I have no problem with collecting (anything for that matter), but guns are not going to make you rich, they don't represent a solid retirement strategy, and in the current political environment a good case could be made that they are a "high risk" investment.

OP, that rifle won't make you rich, and it won't make you poor... go ahead and shoot it.
Click to expand...

Some guys have 50 years experience under their belts some have one year 50 times.


F'k gold . I have been a horder/ collector of everything from muscle cars, antiques etc since a teenager and still own my first new gun , first car and even first woman. LOL

Comfortably retired some years back at age 46 so must have stashed something right :)

Cheers
 
Last edited:
SuperCub said:
True ....... But you don't have two wives. He does own two 358s. One working model and one beauty.
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter that he has a beauty........

I am in line with the folks telling him to hunt the all weather in crappy conditions and this one in fair weather... a rifle, to me, is only worth the memories you create with it.......

As much as I am a Ruger fan, I hardly see this as being collectable...... true collectable rifles are in weird desirable barrel lengths etc.......

It's a nice rifle if you like the .358 and basket weave....... but it's no "Mona Lisa"......

Hunt it and enjoy it.....

I have rugers thatvare way more rare and I have, or will, hunt them all......
 
Slimbo said:
Too pretty to hunt with? I might argue that it's too ugly to hunt with...:)
Click to expand...

Best qualify that... beauty is in the eye of the beholder.......

The basket weave is not my thing, which is why I passed and bought an older m77 .358 in a different configuration at a much higher price...

But, like clay said, they are flying off the shelf and people like them..... to each their own.....
 
Superbrad said:
As much as I am a Ruger fan, I hardly see this as being collectable...... true collectable rifles are in weird desirable barrel lengths etc.......
Click to expand...
I have a NIB Ruger#1A in 275 Rigby. Came with a 24" bbl, express sights and a red pad. Does that count?
 
BigUglyMan said:
My Dad hunted in that Granisle country of Northern BC with this custom rifle for years. Hand polished, rust blued, hand-rubbed walnut, commissioned when he was 23 years old...no factor. Now that he has passed I was lucky enough to have received the rifle as mine forever and sure, it has a few marks, but all of them fairly earned under honest use. To my mind, a rifle like that is more valuable than a NIB rifle, no matter the rarity. It's my "grab in case of evacuation" rifle because, even if I could source the same parts I could never get that rifle duplicated.
kDGYHgl.jpg

S00Jm8S.jpg

b4c69ll.jpg

Yi2yWoP.jpg

0Pnsj6P.jpg

GfTOExc.jpg
Click to expand...

That's a rifle I would take out hunting once or twice a year, mostly on nice days, to remember the original owner.
 
DTM5 said:
OK, the folks at Prophet river have made me very happy. I managed to obtain a Ruger m77 hawkeye with gorgeous walnut - With old school basketweave checkering - in the awesome .358 Winchester caliber.....One of only 150 made. Every bit of this beauty wants to hunt. But I have a stainless / synthetic M77 .358 that I use in the field.

So....I'm not a collector. I like to shoot what I own. But this one has me flummoxed. Do I take her out and risk a scratch or two, or do I wipe her down, gun sock her and put her away for many years in the future.

What say you?

Here are some pics, that do not do her justice.

ImCZra8.jpg

753ELjv.jpg

xUHrbnz.jpg
Click to expand...


It's just a rifle. It's a nice rifle, but just a rifle.

If you bought it, you must have wanted to use it, so go use it. Give it basic care but there isn't any need to baby it, the rifle isn't worth more than a car.
 
BigUglyMan said:
My Dad hunted in that Granisle country of Northern BC with this custom rifle for years. Hand polished, rust blued, hand-rubbed walnut, commissioned when he was 23 years old...no factor. Now that he has passed I was lucky enough to have received the rifle as mine forever and sure, it has a few marks, but all of them fairly earned under honest use. To my mind, a rifle like that is more valuable than a NIB rifle, no matter the rarity. It's my "grab in case of evacuation" rifle because, even if I could source the same parts I could never get that rifle duplicated.
kDGYHgl.jpg

S00Jm8S.jpg

b4c69ll.jpg

Yi2yWoP.jpg

0Pnsj6P.jpg

GfTOExc.jpg
Click to expand...

Is that a BSA action?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom