If your main gun or guns is strictly a tool or a means to an end such as hunting or formal target shooting then we will call that a 1



If your main gun or guns is the main interest and shooting game simply provides the opportunity for you to use the guns and try out your ideas then we will call that a 10



What number out of 1 to 10 would describe you.



I am also going to put this post on the Big Game forum so if you answer here then I would ask that you don't answer on Big Game



Mike

Hey Mike -

I'm a 10 all the way. The caveat is that accuracy is important, so I do punch a lot of paper, but its really to test ideas.

1.5.

I do collect military rifles, to a degree, but I don't shoot them much.

Scott

Mike

Thanks for a great query.

The form and function of the firearm is, to me, paramount . The look of well turned out wood and metal, the smell of Hoppes #9 or Young's "303". The pure mechanics.....

On the other hand. The sensation of shooting is pure focus. The aim, the squeeze of the trigger, the buck of the recoil, the smell of the gun powder and the gratification of a well placed shot.......

Mark me down as a, as a...................Oh, yea. Paramount. I'm a 10.

Mike, I'm definently a "5". I am just as interested in my rifles, as I am in what, and how I hunt! I love to hunt anything from jack rabbits, to elephant, and with approiate rifle for the game. I also have every kind of rifle from black powder muzzle loader, to big bore double rifles. However, I love to simply go stump shooting, and shoot nothing but inanimate targets, simply to see if I can hit them! I'm a back pack camper as well, and enjoy being 100 miles from the nearest road, in Alaska, with nothing but a packframe, wind proof tent, and a good rifle! So, I guess you could say I'm right in the middle!

Hmmmm, that's a Hell of a question. I read about guns voluminously and, living in a major metro area, seldom get much chance to shoot . . . at anything. But, and this is a big "but", I absolutely live for hunting trips even when they are as much as three years apart. So put me down as wavering between 4 and 9. Now let the math teacher in me figure 9-4=5/2=2.5+4 . . . I guess that makes me a 6.5 which just happens to be one of the better bore diameters for general use worldwide!

I guess that, like Mac, I'm a "5."

All I know is that I love fine firearms and I love them as tools and as objets d'art. I like to take them afield and hunt hard with them.

It does make me a little sad when they get beat up, but not too sad--after all, it's inevitable and a few scars give a rifle character. Anyway, a rifle can always be refinished if need be.

I just try to take reasonably good care of them in the field. You know, keep them in soft cases, dust them off and wipe them down with light oil every evening.

What makes me cringe, though, is when I see someone flat out mistreat a nice rifle. A PH I met in Tanzania last year, for example, had a beautiful Win. Model 70, pre-War Super Grade .375 H&H Mag, with really nice wood, that looked like it had been used as a warclub.

He literally threw that piece around like a carpenter would throw a hammer. Never put it in a case. When we got back from the bush, he threw it on the luggage cart, then because it "had" to be cased when passing through the airport, threw a big box on top of it to camouflage it.

Ouch!!

I guess I am a 1. Although I own some fine pieces, all of my guns are for use. I appreciate fine firearms as much as anyone but in the end they are still just tools. Any work I have done is to improve the tool. The only exception is in fine wood. Dosnt really improve the performance but sure does look nice.

"1"

Like to hunt rather than BS about it.

Yes!!!! . . . . Oh, wait, this isn't a yes/no question? I guess I am a solid (1+10/2)-0.5=5.0. I would hunt even if I had to throw rocks at the game, and I love to mess with and read about fine guns. I don't have a desire to own a gun that I can not shoot, but life is too short to own an ugly gun. Does that make me schizo?

Dave