9.3mauser:
Thank you sir!
I find, as I get longer in the tooth, that I am drawn more & more to the older offerings, perhaps because of their quality, or perhaps simply because of my imagination's wanderings as to their provenance and past deeds and simply no longer have any interest whatsoever in the newer stuff, unless patterned after the old stuff (think Mauser's or Rigby's new M98 offerings).
When I retired, I bought myself, among a number of other things, a CZ 550 in .416 Rigby, then procured a Safari Classics stock for it. It is now gone. Had a Whitworth Safari in .458; it is now gone (too bloody light!, notwithstanding 2 mercury recoil reducers & later being Magna-ported, firing it off-hand for more than 3 rounds resulted in a head-ache quite likely very similar to that which would develop after going a round with Ali or Frazier with the inevitable head-pounding that would entail). All of my Remingtons & Winchesters (except my Dad's 1946 made Model 94 carbine & my uncle's 1906 made Model 1894 rifle) are gone. My bolt actions are all based on either James Paris' or Peter Paul's designs, while my remaining singles are either of Daldhu's favourite son John's design, or Henry O's. Of my remaining shotguns, they are all of the side-by-each variety in 12 bore, albeit of both Anson & Deeley as well as the bar-action inside-hammer variety.
You know, now that I think about it, that probably makes me a Fudd's Fudd, as I haven't had any interest in semi-or fully-automatic weapons since shortly after I left the military a life-time ago (although I used to own an FAL, an ex- Royal Dutch Marine AR10, an FN-49, a Rashid & a couple of Swedish AG-42B's when I lived in Yellowknife); I lost my interest in military weapons of any kind 30 years ago (I used to have a collection of ~300 older military rifles, thanks to Tony's Century International Gun of the Month Club); lost my interest in handguns (I owned 8 various handguns over the years, from a Single Six to a .44 Mag. Llama Super Commanche with a Dirty Harry 8" barrel that my, at-the-time 8 year old son could shoot very well, to various pistols, from a Beretta .32 ACP to a quartet of Mister Jonathan's designs) about 25 years ago, and lost my interest in rifles or shotguns made after the Second World War about 15 years ago, about the same time I lost interest in benchrest shooting. I haven't lost my interest in firearms; my tastes have simply changed, as has, I daresay, my taste in adult beverages or vehicles, for that matter. From cheap home-made wine & beer to 12 year old Canadian rye with teeth-numbingly cold Canadian Shield lake water back & a nice malbec. From 2 wheeled to four (1962 Triumph Trophy slick-shift, 1970 Triumph Bonneville, 1972 H-D Electra-Glide with suicide-shift, 1974 H-D Decker to 1975 TLC FJ-40, 1981 BJ42, 1989 BJ75, 1990 HZXJ77, 1996 FZJ80).
However, since I was never one to bow to peer pressure; on the contrary, stubborn SOB that I am, it just solidifies my resolve, I just don't give a rat's a$$ what anybody else thinks, says or does unless it interferes with me.
BTDT. BTTS,GAT!
BTW, if you want to see pics of some more of my goodies, check out my posts (my handle there is old_rifle_nut) on NitroExpress.
