New verses old with our rifles.

[Texanjohn]

I'm 60, my mother is 82, she says the only thing golden about her golden years, is her pee! I'm truly blessed to have a safe full of old rifles, each with wonderful memories of hunts and days gone by, you can't get that from something new, but I'm also a hopelessly optimistic rifleman. As I write this I'm having a rifle built, a 300 Wsm ,something I hope to carry thru my last 10 or so years of hunting, hopefully making more memories, after all when I'm no longer able to hunt, memories will be all I have.

 

[stx]

I have my share of newer and custom rifles but I'm still "Old School" and love my older rifles and still use some of them as much as the newer ones!

Among the older ones:

1959 Belgium Browning 264 WM.....inherited from my Dad(don't shoot much)
Late 60s Remington 700 BDL 264WM.....still use as one of my guide rifles
Sako Finnbear Borfors 7RM.....mid 60s....first rifle I ever bought myself....used in 1968
Sako Vixen Borfors 222 Rem.....mid 60s.....sweeet shootin coyote rifle
Sako Finnbear, Garcia Import 25-06(early 70s)....use for hunting clients, family, friends
Remington 700 BDL....early 70s....converted from 25-06 to custom 6.5 CM long range rifle
Ruger 77...mid 70s....257 Roberts.....all time favorite rifle
Ruger 77...mid 70s....220 Swift....clover leafs all day/coyote wrecking machine
280AI on Belgium Mauser 98 action....one of my most accurate rifles
Remington 700 BDL....late 60s.....Bull bbl 222.....still puts them in the same hole

Love my customs but they just don't make 'em like they used to!!

 

[WildBillG]

I guess my oldest is probably my Rem 244Rem. Other then that most of my center fires are all from late 80's on. I have only had one rifle that won't shoot for me a Ruger#1 in 25-06. That rifle has me wanting to dump it and get a new Rem 700 LR in 25-06. I am kind of a horder and really don't like to get rid of a rifle. To me though the older or newer rifles have all been very dependable except that #1.

 

[Jr1972]

I'll take my carbon fiber stocks over anything else. Advances and availability in ammunition have changed the game also. Surprised no one mentioned the adjustability of todays rifles. I'm pretty tall and it's nice to be able to fit my rifles to my specs in a matter of seconds. Technology is also going crazy. Range finding scopes, ballistic apps, scope phones, GPS, etc.

 

[rogerstep]

I'm sticking with wood, 7 yrs ago had a 338 RUM BUILT. Accurate Innovation built the stock,
had a choice on how fancy I wanted the wood. I told Wess I wanted it nice looking but not
exceptional for it was a field gun, wish I could figure out how to post pictures I would love
to show her off. With the right trigger man her capabilities would really shine.
I may be off base but feel that powder and bullets have come a long ways.
Although my 7mag loved the original Trophy Bonded Bullets. Up close or across a Canyon
it tipped many a Muley over.

 

[Bruce Treloar]

I'll take my carbon fiber stocks over anything else. Advances and availability in ammunition have changed the game also. Surprised no one mentioned the adjustability of todays rifles. I'm pretty tall and it's nice to be able to fit my rifles to my specs in a matter of seconds. Technology is also going crazy. Range finding scopes, ballistic apps, scope phones, GPS, etc.

I'm an all carbon stock builder since the originators Lee Six, Chet Brown and before McMillan. When fox skins

 

[Bruce Treloar]

I'm an all carbon stock builder since the originators Lee Six, Chet Brown and before McMillan. When fox skins were $40 extra care was required to head shoot out to 250 yards. I had numerous reports these carbon stocked rifles could be shot all winter without needing scope adjustment. These 100% carbon stocks have no aluminium or wood inclusions with different expansion rates. Imagine having a rifle that never needs checking on a target before starting a hunt. That is great modern technology, even more amazing that it is made from a roll of cloth and a tin of resin/QUOTE]

 

[luv long range]

You can't deny that guns today are lighter and very capable of whatever money can buy. I'm just a sucker for wood and steel. I've never met a trigger that couldn't be polished to make it a little crisper if that is what you desire. Recoil and heavy triggers have never turned me away from a rifle. I have had the privilege of shooting a wide assortment of rifles and can appreciate the new and old. I just prefer the older ones but that's just me.

 

[GunHawk]

Personally I much prefer the older style of hunting rifles, l do not/won't own a hunting rifle without a good timber stock.
The New glass is streets ahead of the old, but I'm still not sold on stainless Steel barrels.
I run mainly anschutz and sako and have an old savage 110- 243 soon to be rebuilt into something with a bit more boondy up its tail.
The New ADI AR22 series of powders are fantastic (extremely temperature stable) and make shooting a pleasure along with the new projectiles coming out, although in Australia, we don't have anywhere near the selection that you do in the States ( would love to have a friend over there so l could buy some 222/243 sledge hammer projectiles.).
Turtle

I'm having a SAKO 85 built now. I don't like plastic furniture on rifles.

 

[Patton63]

I lean towards newer rifles, if for no other reason than there are significantly more (albeit, still very few) left handed options available. And, while I appreciate the beauty of figured wood and fine bluing, I prefer the stability of modern carbon/fiberglass stocks and the weather resistance that comes from a durakote or cerakote finish. Now, shotguns are a different story altogether ...

 

[GunHawk]

I lean towards newer rifles, if for no other reason than there are significantly more (albeit, still very few) left handed options available. And, while I appreciate the beauty of figured wood and fine bluing, I prefer the stability of modern carbon/fiberglass stocks and the weather resistance that comes from a durakote or cerakote finish. Now, shotguns are a different story altogether ...

I primarily use hammer shotguns, except my duck gun— a triggerplate action, but unfortunately not rounded like the true Scottish guns.

 

[Patton63]

I primarily use hammer shotguns, except my duck gun— a triggerplate action, but unfortunately not rounded like the true Scottish guns.

I go back and forth between an old LC Smith 12ga field gun, a Heym sxs 20 gauge, and a Damascus barreled Birmingham-made hammer gun.

 

[Alibiiv]

Sadly we have become a society of price over quality. Back then everything was made as best that it could be. Now its how cheap can we make it as to save a buck. Bean counters are to blame for this. Also today not many have pride in their work. I have a small remodeling business and tell my employees, do the job right and the best you can. I work to make my customer happy and be proud when I walk away from a job. Sure there are times that things dont go right, but still do the best we can. Today you take a new gun out of the box and chances are there's something wrong with it, we hear that daily here. Makes you wonder who is doing quality control and if they care. With that said, if I buy a Ruger American rifle and complain about fot and finish, shame on me. I buy a top of the line model, I expect to get what I am paying for.
I'll put away my soap box now....

"I'll put away my soap box now...." I'm not thinking that it's a soap box at all. What you have written in this post is what most of us, with history, feel. I can remember when there were true artisans, whether it was a stock makers, gunsmiths, carpenter or plumbers. There was a time where quality and service was strived for and people took pride in their abilities to provide good service and a good product. It seems today that the manufacturers and even the private businesses focus more upon profits than manufacturing or delivery a quality product.

I'm a tinkerer so like to make old rifles into something that is unique using both older rifles with new technology. I like the appearance and the feel of older rifles, and....usually an older rifle will bring back fun memories from past hunting trips and trips to the range. I like the older cartridges, and do not believe that the new cartridges are any better than the older stuff. Again bring new technology into focus, the older cartridges with the new powders really do perform. With the exception of some of the newer cartridges, what were the parent cartridges to begin with? Take away the 30-06 government or the .308 Winchester and the H&H cartridges, what other cartridges do you have for parent cartridges? You can blow them out, shorten them, neck size them up or down, change the shoulder angle, but.........at the end of the day the new cartridges still come from the basic parent cartridges.

 

[WildBillG]

Alibiv you are right in our rifles and cartridges not much has really changed. They both go back to a parent lieage that has been tweaked for an improvement of some kind. Fore the most part we are seeing no real product failures that ruin our hunts. Unlike how when I started this thread the newer hockey sticks are cuasing some real issues in important situations. That we riflemen can be very happy for. An example could be you line up to shoot your buck of a life time and when you fire your new synthetis stock blows to pieces. Missed deer and your action and barrel together fall to the ground. Some of us here are getting to long in the tooth to see art in the new rifles but the younger guys and gals like them. Me I'll take either as long as they shoot good.