I don’t have an answer…

[jakharath]

My wife told me I shouldn't by any guns that I can't reload for. The workaround for that is to buy the reloading stuff first!

[Scrounge]

My wife told me to sell that old 1968 Chevelle I have ... I wouldn't have to keep monkeying around with it ...
Wives just don't understand our love for older things and our need to monkey around ... gives us a sense of purpose ... I rather enjoy monkey business and old muscle cars with big V-8's and Cherry Bomb glass packs and 'Classic " old school revolvers .

There's No Business Like Monkey Business !
Gary

My wife says I have enough guns, but she does allow me to fix up and add to my workshop. She went so far, a couple of years ago, as to buy me a South Bend Heavy 10L toolroom lathe restoration project for Christmas. I don't think I'm getting another one until this one is running, though.

Bill

[Scrounge]

My wife is not into shooting or guns as I am. But, years ago I had (and have) a SIG 236 - a light gun. She had fired it in .40. I had a LeMat delivered and opened the box. My wife picked it up and exclaimed "Now that's how a gun OUGHT to be built!"

She has good taste in guns. Around here, SWMBO is perfectly happy with her Charter Arms alloy frame Pink Lady .38 Sp. She hasn't shot it yet. I don't think she'll like it as much after that. I find it a little too snappy, myself, and until I got old and arthritic, was pretty insensitive to recoil.

Bill

[Scrounge]

So after considering her question most of today, I realize that in those 3 revolvers I have collectively burned up about 600 primers diagnosing, tweaking, adjusting, firing for function, firing for a baseline, checking accuracy improvement etc…. Then throw in a few hundred dollars in reamers, hones and parts, plus a few pounds of lead and half a pound of powder, a Standard Manufacturing SA ready to run out of the box really isn’t ridiculous at all.

So do you still have the reamers and such? Or are they expended too? Comparing apples to oranges here to some extent, but when the bearing welded on the front axel of my 77 Plymouth Volare Wagon a couple of decades ago, I priced having it fixed, and fixing it myself. About a grand at the shop, and $800 for parts and tools I didn't have, including an air compressor and air tools. She asked if I'd still be able to use the air tools and compressor, after it was fixed, and she said that was the way to go. I still have the air compressor, and some of the air tools. Some got stolen. I figure even with the many hours I put in fixing the car in inclement weather (that being all we have here in the OKC metro) I got my money's worth!

I don't think it's fair to charge the durable tools against the cost of the gun. YMMV, of course, but I will be using the reamers and such I've bought for gunsmithing again, and again... and have yet to buy all I wish to have. I may never make a dime doing it, but that isn't why I bought them in the first place.

Though if you don't really like working on stuff, no reason to do so. Different strokes, as they say. I find working on guns as much fun, at least, as shooting them. If that isn't the case for you, and all you want to do it shoot, there isn't a thing wrong with that.

[Butzbach]

She has good taste in guns. Around here, SWMBO is perfectly happy with her Charter Arms alloy frame Pink Lady .38 Sp. She hasn't shot it yet. I don't think she'll like it as much after that. I find it a little too snappy, myself, and until I got old and arthritic, was pretty insensitive to recoil.

Bill

For me it’s my left thumb where it joins the hand. My halcyon day’s of shooting my model 29 left handed with one hand are far in the rear view mirror. I fear many of us are destined to be found on judgment day in ground stands clutching .410 shotguns with .32s in our pockets.

[Butzbach]

After a breakfast of blueberry muffins and bacon, my wife and I were planning the day over the last half cup of coffee. I had some tooling and parts arrive yesterday, so I mentioned I needed to fix a couple of issues on two of my Rugers and a Smith.

She made notice of it being a common occurrence that I had some gun “mechanicing” to do. Then she asked the fundamental question. “Why don’t you just buy better guns?”

Let me be the first to admit she clearly has the higher ground here.

Your vignette reminds me of those dark days in 2008 when post political expediency clearly recommended an end to my 15 year hiatus from center fire rifle ownership. The wife unit and I were perusing the offerings of a south Florida gun shop. At least we knew we wanted a .308. A paratroop version of a PTR-91 was on display. I looked it over and handed it to her to shoulder. She wasn’t impressed by the “coat hanger” shoulder stock. She said “what about that one?” pointing to a black rifle hanging on the other side of the shop. I said “Babe, that’s a Springfield SOCOM 16. It’s $700 more than this.” “Is it any good?” she asked. “All that stuff on the front needs to go but it’s the same rifle I had (and field stripped weekly) at VMI.”

“WHY DON’T WE JUST GET THAT?”

Yes dear if you insist . . .

[shooting on a shoestring]

Though if you don't really like working on stuff, no reason to do so. Different strokes, as they say. I find working on guns as much fun, at least, as shooting them. If that isn't the case for you, and all you want to do it shoot, there isn't a thing wrong with that.

Scrounge, you’re right.
I do enjoy casting and reloading. I see them as creative activities. They’re each a hobby. I’ve been known to go shooting just to empty brass so I can try my next idea. I enjoy reloading as an extension of having fun with guns and casting as an extension of having fun reloading.

Working on guns is not fun for me. It’s an aggregation to fix what someone else screwed up. I suppose it links back to my young days working in Dad’s machine shop. It was a thrill to run a turret lathe or punch press making buckets or barrels of new parts. Then some local farmer, rancher or mechanic who knew Dad would bring in a chunk of a 350 Chevy or maybe Mercury boat motor with a stud they twisted off…. Dad would take the work knowing we’d lose money saying “it goes with the territory”. Then I’d spend an hour or two pulling a setup off of a mill and jigging up to get a straight pilot hole in what was probably a hard stud in a soft metal. Then a corse of penetrating oil, torch and quench, EZ-outs (totally mis-named), maybe a trip back to the mill, chisel and pick until there were either useable threads or an insert was installed. Then it was time to set up the mill back to whatever it was running prior to the nuisance job.

Dad was a fiddler and I grew up playing guitar behind his fiddle. One night after playing a show a fellow came up with an ugly fiddle he proudly claimed to have made from barn wood and fence posts. Dad politely dodged a few times but the fellow insisted Dad play it. Dad tried a piece of a tune on it and handed it back saying “Yep it sounds like you made it out of barn wood and fence posts”. On the road home Dad told me the world would have been better off if that guy had spent his time learning to play a fiddle instead of wasting it building such a silly thing.

I often use that thought as my yard stick in deciding whether I should go practice my shooting with a good gun or spend my time working on a bad one.

[Geezer in NH]

So after considering her question most of today, I realize that in those 3 revolvers I have collectively burned up about 600 primers diagnosing, tweaking, adjusting, firing for function, firing for a baseline, checking accuracy improvement etc…. Then throw in a few hundred dollars in reamers, hones and parts, plus a few pounds of lead and half a pound of powder, a Standard Manufacturing SA ready to run out of the box really isn’t ridiculous at all.

600 primers big deal think of the fun and satisfaction you received. If not find a new hobby as that is as good as it can get IMHO

[smithnframe]

If I want a gun I buy it or trade for it and…………I don’t sneak it into the house!

[tazman]

Yesterday, my wife asked me "Isn't it about time for another gun run?"
The reference is to the 200 mile round trip I sometimes make to stop at several gun stores and see what they have and maybe trade for a gun that I want. She knows I have a couple of rifles I don't like and am planning to trade off. She didn't even flinch when I told her how much money I would probably spend.
She does like going for rides in the car.
There have been a few times when she came very near going shooting with me but at the last moment backed out for some reason.
I may get her shooting yet. Who knows?

[Old Caster]

I don't ask if I can buy another gun and she doesn't tell me to or not to and I have around 75 of them. Since I am 77 I should get two more but have no desire at this time. We both believe in the phrase in the Bible, wives submit to your husbands. She has shot in Bullseye leagues with me but I think it is more about just getting out than the actual shooting. Both of my granddaughters and my grandson love to shoot but the girls are more into it than the boy is. Even expensive guns need tinkering especially if you are after utmost accuracy.

[alamogunr]

I enjoy casting, reloading, shooting, etc. I don't try to tinker with my guns for fear of breaking something that can't be fixed. At 79, I evaluate what to acquire with the consideration that my guns, reloading equipment, casting stuff will go to sons and grandsons. I don't get carried away and dip into $$ that are intended to be passed on to them also. I make sure that if I go before she does, she will be well taken care of financially.

[shooting on a shoestring]

“Why don’t you just buy better guns?”

And then……I showed her a picture of this ugly, worn Old Model Super Blackhawk on Cabela’s website for giggles. She thought it had great patina and an authentic look. She really liked it. I was teasing and she was serious. It was cheap enough at $400. So….this week I picked it up.


That’s not glare on the left side of the barrel. It’s worn bare metal to match the cylinder.
I shot 39 rounds through it at an indoor range on the way home.
17 yards two hand standing slow fire I was getting 2” groups which is a good day for me.
But, it’s got a couple of tight chambers and a couple that aren’t very round.
The chamber reamer will be here in a couple of weeks.
Throats are 0.433” to 0.434” and the groove diameter is 0.432”. Going to leave the throats alone.

I gotta learn my lesson and only show her pretty, pristine revolvers. Maybe she’ll like pics of a new Standard Manufacturing or Freedom Arms.