A few years back at a local gun show, next to my trade table, I had a display table with some fairly collectable Mannlicher-style carbines on it. A young guy, early 20s, was looking them over and seemed to be getting angrier by the second. He suddenly stared over at me and barked out, "Do you shoot these?" He was so agitated that I thought he was going to lay a beating on me. My "yes" seemed to calm him down a bit. In the following short conversation it turned out he was mad at anyone who owned rifles (especially the ones he wanted) that never got fired. He owned one rifle. I remember being similarly young and foolish and broke, and thinking that the only reason to own a rifle was for hunting. I still shoot most rifles I own and plan to get around to the rest of them sooner or later. However, over the years I have met many people who own rifles for other reasons: Target shooting of course, but others simply for pride of ownership and appreciation of technology. I was shocked when a few decades ago, I first met a gun collector who never shot any of his many guns, who didn't even own ammunition. Then I met a guy who collected only receivers. But with age comes some tolerance. I have come to accept people who never fire some of their guns. Usually most of them have plenty of other guns that they do fire, whether at game or at targets.
(My brother owns a vintage Ducati factory race bike with zero miles on it. He has no plans to ride it. But he also owns at least another dozen rare bikes, some of which rarely get fired up and others that are daily riders.)
(My brother owns a vintage Ducati factory race bike with zero miles on it. He has no plans to ride it. But he also owns at least another dozen rare bikes, some of which rarely get fired up and others that are daily riders.)
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