Am I crazy?

[Freightman]

I had rather have a rifle that I have to work with to get accurate than one that is a sub MOA out of the box. The sub MOA rifles are great but boring and get left in the safe because their is no challenge to shooting with them.
I love old military rifles because it takes a lot of work just to get them to where they will get on paper , then it takes a lot of load development to get them to the 10 and X ring, but it sure is fun.
I ask again AM I CRAZY?

[jack19512]

I ask again AM I CRAZY?






If you have to ask total strangers on the Internet if you are crazy then yes, it is possible you are. :mrgreen: Just kidding.

Myself, I will take the good shooter straight out of the box and then try and make it a better shooter. :)

[jhalcott]

I'm with Jack on this. Frustration is NOT my favorite word.!!

[DLCTEX]

If I'm paying good money for a new rifle I want it to shoot right out of the box, it speaks to overall quality. However there is satisfaction in getting an older gun to perform. So I guess you could say I like guns in most flavors. DALE

[44man]

We are all crazy! [smilie=1: I don't shoot my BFR revolvers much anymore because I have all the boolits shooting the way I want. They hunt more now.
I have gone back to my .44 SBH for more new boolit work. Darn, is it pleasant to shoot! Never realized how light the recoil is. :mrgreen:
I have the Marlin .44 that NOTHING works in at 100 yd's and that is more disgusting to me.

[S.R.Custom]

Only accurate guns are interesting. Life is too short to fool with the junk; I challenge myself enough with difficult and/or long shots that I don't need my weapon adding to the handicap.

That said, I have made charity cases of a few guns over the years, but only because they offered some other benefit --collectibility, rare & desireable configuration, etc-- that made the effort worthwhile. But even then, if it doesn't shoot with a reasonable degree of work, out the door it goes.

[Freightman]

If I can't get it to shoot it goes but I do like military rifles, not sure that it isn't the history that I like the most.

[Larry Gibson]

Not "crazy" at all, it's the part of shooting that you enjoy. See, "crazy folk" can rationalize anything!

Larry Gibson

[pdawg_shooter]

Im with Supermag. If its new I expect it to shoot. If I buy used then I dont mind playing.

[405]

Probably the reason I'm here. Once in a while a new gun will shoot. Sometimes not- so usually a little tinkering to get to potential.

It got to be really boring and predictable to take a decent used action, put a match grade barrel on, blueprint the works, bed to a good stock, spend a little time working through some loads to get to one hole groups.

Now throw in some old questionable original guns 100 yrs old +/-, clean or repair if necessary, work up some cast or swaged loads, keep the pressures low so as not to shrapnelize the works and hope for the best! A little glimpse as to what shooters of the past dealt with.... a little history up close. Yep, we be crazy! :roll::???:

[cbrick]

I'm in agreement with others here that its not my intention to shell out the money for junk however I understand Freightman completely.

Tinkering, testing, exploring, great fun. No matter how well it may shoot its always the same questions, what if? Why not try? What makes it better? What makes it worse? Examing and comparing notes and realizing I haven't tried this yet.

If it just plain don't shoot and not worth fixing the cause its gone.

Yep, I understand Freightman completely.

Rick

[rhead]

It is the Journey not the destination. I have owned very few new guns in my life. Most used ones can be made to be adiquate and some become excellent.
As to being crazy. Sanity is a lot like virginity. Those who have either are proud of their posessions. Those who have lost it cannot remember what they did with it back when they did have it.

[jleneave]

I guess I ride the fence on this one. When I spring for a new rifle I expect it to shoot well and like Jack19512 said I like to see if I can get it to shoot even better. I do see what you are saying though, if I buy a used gun for a good deal then I don't mind working to get it to where it shoots sub MOA. If I can't get it there on my own then I call on a couple friends that are very knowledgeable (One of them builds rifles from the action up and if it won't shoot under and inch @ 100yds he will not sell the rifle to you and starts over with no cost to you) with rifles and see if they can help me get it shooting under an inch. If they couldn't get the rifle to shoot, which has not happened as of yet, then I would trade/sell it and try again.

[testhop]

FRIGHTMAN
if you are crazy i must be also cause once i get one shooting great i lose interest in it
time to move on to another problum

[mike in co]

yep...i'm in the middle.
when i pay good money i expect a good rifle and hopefully i can tune it a little better.
( say the ar-10(t) i bought new to replace a m14 clone, neihter rifle was inexpensive, but only the ar-10 could be made to shoot well, and neither did well with mag length ammo.)

when i pay 100-200 bucks for a milsurplus its an investment in my retirement and what little free time i have today. its seeing what i can make it do, often time with a cast boolit with help from by shooting buddies here on cast boolits.

mike in co

[Wicky]

New guns should shoot well, sadly that is not always the case. I prefer good shooters but have had my share of bad. Took 10 years to get my hornet shooting - didn't like pointy bullets and I did now it shoots roundnose ones real well.
Some can be fun to play with. I think my problem is I don't like getting rid of them and just keep banging my head against the wall, nice when it stops but!!
Must say never met a crazy shooter in my life, strange but never crazy.

[MikeH]

Yes! You're Crazy! I agree with Jack on this one. I do like to fiddle with loads to get the best accuracy, but with a limited budget, economics eventually comes into play.

[C1PNR]

I guess we're all a little nuts! :-D

I thoroughly enjoy working up a load to shoot like I think it should. Once I get to that point, it's time to load up some "proven" ammo. Then it's on to the next "problem child," and with milsurps, there's always another problem child needing some work.:coffee:

Huntin' is done with proven ammo. Shootin' is done with both test loads (on paper), and proven loads (at "targets of opportunity"). And when I miss a TOO, I want to be darn sure it's because of ME, not my firearm/load combination.

[Sherlok]

My goal in life was to work hard so some day I could spend all my time working up cast bullet loads in my rifles. At 62 1/2, I am about there now.

So, yes, we're all a little bit crazy.

Sherlok

[Freightman]

I have had a total of three new guns in my life and I will be 69 come June, that said I am a trader, I have some very nice guns which I set down and figured out what I had in all my guns and came up with a+ $2000 to the good that went into casting equipment and powder.
I have had fun wish I could do it over.

[DeanoBeanCounter]

Yes, you're crazy. But no more than people who restore or customize old cars or old houses or old anything for that matter. I've got an old Marlin 30-30 that I want to get back out on the range with (it's broke). So I'm in that boat too.
The good part is, you're keeping those guns and history around a little bit longer. I do agree that out of the box should shoot good without any working on. I say go ahead and be crazy and thanks for all that fun work on old guns.
Crazy? Yes! But it beats allot of other things that result in trouble. So keep up the good work..........I mean fun.
Now I've got to ask. Am I to sappy here?
Dean
[smilie=1: