Need versus Want

Question:
This could have gone in anyone of the three caliber categories on here, Large/Medium/Small. So let's see what the actual "supposed" difference is.

Choices:
Do yo8u buy a new rifle because you need it or because some suggested it is ALL you need?
Do you buy a new rifle because you want it and don't care what the [B]"EXPERT'S"[/B] think or believe?

 

I had all the rifles I'll ever REALLY need when I was 18- a Winchester Model 70 in .30-06, a Remington 700 in .22-250, and a Savage MK II .22 LR.

The other 30 or so I've bought were purely because I wanted them. I don't recall ever buying a gun based on expert testimony on a TV show or in a gun magazine.

I buy a new rifle because I like it and really couldn't care less if other people care for it or not.

Sometimes I buy a new rifle regardless of what caliber it is and simply because I like things about the rifle itself and sometimes I buy it because it's a certain caliber I want to play with.

Because i like it.

I do sometimes take the opinion of more experienced people if its something i have no personal experience with. Many here have gone places and done things i have yet to do. But even then alot of personal preference regarding guns come into play so will sort of average out the gun choices and then choose from there.

But i have bought guns to scratch some itch for something unique regardless what the "experts" say. Thats just part of the fun too!

I hardly ever buy a NEW rifle I buy most of mine on the free market and then I buy what is available.

Caliber doesn't really matter to me if the price if right I buy it.

I prefer older, traditional chamberings that have history, even romance behind them. To hell with modern magnums.

I no longer buy guns for health and income (or the lack thereof) reasons, but I have all I really need. I bought my first new rifle, a Rem. 700 ADL deluxe in 30/06, because I needed it, but since then I have had many different rifles and calibers because I was addicted to the shooting/reloading hobby and wanted them.

I really like to tinker with a new rifle and develope a load that lets the rifle be "all that it can be". Once I've done that, I get kinda bored and start looking around for another rifle.

cause biebs made me do it

It was just another pointless poll, but I find it odd that some folks seem to cling to a concept that only certain calibers should be considered for various hunting situations or game.

If a person wants to believe in "One Caliber Fits All"and chooses to use that one caliber, that is great, but to claim that no one NEEDS and certain caliber, misses the entire concept of all of us being able to choose what WE want to use.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
I really like to tinker with a new rifle and develope a load that lets the rifle be "all that it can be". Once I've done that, I get kinda bored and start looking around for another rifle.

We do have some common ground after all

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
cause biebs made me do it

Biebs has made lots of us do it, because he offers something sexy and just teases us with them.

He really gets some nice stuff.

At this point, I'd buy because I like it. Kinda also because I like older, traditional chamberings.

Actually, at this point, I build for my own satisfaction just 'cause I can.

Code word to the wife is "tinkering"

I don't understand. What's "Need" have to do with it?

Jerry Liles with way too many rifles to worry about "Need."

I buy guns because I need to satisfy the gathering part of my "Hunter/Gatherer " instincts

It's like a controlled substance. When my pusher shows up I start shaking and just hafta have a fix.

Im a gun nut, have a number of guns..I only need one gun to hunt the 4 corners of the world and that would be my .338 Win. not ideal but it will get the job done..Some would opt for the .375 and they wouldn't be wrong..

Need is big word with not so many letters. I also feel the need for a 30-06, a 7x57, 338, my 308 Sav. for horseback use, my 222 for varmints, my 6x45 for coyotes and deer, antelope, a couple of pistols and a couple of shotguns, a double rifle in 450-400 and a 404 Jefferys..Maybe some more like two muzzle loaders I have a 54 and a 58. Then there is my 3 250-3000 rifles, pops Winchesters and colt .45, and a couple of more pistols.

However as I age my collection is shrinking by the month...I just don't "need" all those guns.

Where will it all sort out? as long as Im on this side of the dirt, I'll probably get rid of many of them, then turn around and use that money to buy something else I don't need. Its a never ending cycle.

Many Thanks to all those that voted and replied.

Thank God we live in a country where we are fairly FREE to obtain all the toys we want/think we need.

The only gun I ever really "needed" was an M16 but it was unreliable so I gladly opted to carry an M60. Since then, the guns I got were on a WANT basis.

"Need" ceased to be a requirement....40+ years ago. Interest drives my purchases. If it's post-1940 it's likely I have no interest in it. Between the wars causes my ears and eyes to perk up considerably. If it's pre-1914, German/Austrian/British and chambered for a cartridge nearly unknown or now obsolete and obscure my heart rate increases significantly.

In my 69yrs.of hunting and shooting I have "needed" a firearm twice.
At 9 I needed a single-shot so that I could shoot birds with my granddad. At 20 I needed a 30/06 so that I could hunt whitetails with my buds.
Since that time all of my firearms purchases have been ones I WANTED. I am currently looking for my next one.

I buy guns very occasionally these days but recently I traded into a 721 Remington in 300 H&H. I need it like a hole in the head as I have a custom 300 WM and 2 30-06's. I've just always wanted a 721 300 H&H so now I have one.

Mark

You left out the option for people who buy ammo/brass first to force the "need" to buy/build the gun to go with it.

My latest rifle will be 6.5 Creedmoor. I traded for a Rem 700 VTR in .308 and had problems loading for it and getting it to group. The gunsmith stated that 6.5 would shoot factory ammo as well as you can reload it, to a certain degree, and I followed his suggestion. He did say it would be all I would "need" for anything in NA, not counting dangerous game.

That Hornady ELD X hunter load looks very impressive on specs. I don't think I would want to hunt bears, however if I did, and this gun works as "advertised", I would.

Do not have rifle yet so cannot report. I am the one vote for this catagory!

I am a whore for nice wood. That influences my opinion, and I like of the less common stuff as well, like 22 PPC, 20 VT, etc. Those are not safari guns of course, but they have a good use.

quote:

You left out the option for people who buy ammo/brass first to force the "need" to buy/build the gun to go with it.

Sorry, I didn't think about that.

I buy for all the reasons I just got a set of dies for a 44-40 guess what my next rifle will be.
I can imagine setting on a rock 10,000 years ago over looking at herd of mammoth, looking at my spear and thinking "you know I am going to need a bigger spear."

quote:

Originally posted by jlabreck7316:
You left out the option for people who buy ammo/brass first to force the "need" to buy/build the gun to go with it.

Too true. Over time at a public range in Memphis, I picked up a couple of thousand .223 cases. One day I told my wife, "I've got so much .223 bras, I'[m gonna have to buy a .223." She gave me "that look" and went in the other room.

quote:

Originally posted by jlabreck7316:
You left out the option for people who buy ammo/brass first to force the "need" to buy/build the gun to go with it.

Several years ago I had a M70 rebarreled to 375RUM; then suddenly there was no brass to be had anywhere; but I found a close-out on 404 Jeffery brass. I figured I could run the 404 brass through the 375 die, fireform, and be set. several collapsed shoulders and the grand finale was the extractor breaking due to the wider rim. About that time I came across a bunch of 375 RUM brass, so didn't need to change the 404 brass- so there I sat with all that 404 brass- What was I to do?? It's a very nice M70.

I'm fortunate that need hasn't been a real factor. Unless the desire to experiment, and experience using different things is a need. Sure feels like it. The collection hovers around 100.

quote:

Originally posted by Ray B:

quote:

Originally posted by jlabreck7316:
You left out the option for people who buy ammo/brass first to force the "need" to buy/build the gun to go with it.

Several years ago I had a M70 rebarreled to 375RUM; then suddenly there was no brass to be had anywhere; but I found a close-out on 404 Jeffery brass. I figured I could run the 404 brass through the 375 die, fireform, and be set. several collapsed shoulders and the grand finale was the extractor breaking due to the wider rim. About that time I came across a bunch of 375 RUM brass, so didn't need to change the 404 brass- so there I sat with all that 404 brass- What was I to do?? It's a very nice M70.

I like the way you think!

quote:

It was just another pointless poll, but I find it odd that some folks seem to cling to a concept that only certain calibers should be considered for various hunting situations or game.

This is a separate issue from the poll question. I voted with 'because I want it' crowd, but that doesn't make a .22 Hornet a viable bean field rifle.

Go get hot with whatever rifle tickles you, but if used for hunting, please be responsible in choosing one in a reasonable caliber and chambering for your intended quarry.

I have a number of rifles in several calibers but I think I NEED my 8- 308's. In my mind anyway.

I am a one gun hunter!!!!! So, all the others....... I wanted them! memtb

But Mark, your gonna love that old 721 in 300 H&H...I shot the 721 and a pre war mod. 90 in 300 H&H, you can really make that girl dance with special handloads. Only the 300 Wby will best it and not by much at all or maybe I was just afraid to go hotter!!!