Purty guns for hunting?

[RugerDog]

OK, I read the flintlock forum, and lust over the beautiful long rifles pictured there. But, how practical are they?

Everytime I've taken my T/C Hawken hunting, it ends up with scratches on the stock. I'm coming to the conclusion that these great looking guns are not something you'd want to take in the woods for working thru brambles and climbing tree stands. My son had his T/C Omega with him last weekend when we hunted, and I thought how practical that was for the conditions (plus it poured rain for a couple of hours while we were out).

I've been thinking of a T/C Firestorm as a compromise hunting rifle, with it's synthetic stock. Would appreciate any input.

 

[jethro224]

Guns are made for hunting no matter how pretty they are to look at. A few scratches just add character. :thumbsup:
Is it practical to spend money on an ugly gun that you don't like to look at, and don't care anything about? :idunno: Not to me it isn't.

 

[Mattole]

I've been thinking about the same thing, and decided that after I build my "pretty" longrifle I will buy or make a lightweight canvas slip case that I will carry the gun in for hoisting into the tree stand, or scrambling up and down scree slopes and that sort of thing. The rest of the time it will be exposed to the elements, ready to gain some character. I'm not too worried however, as I tend to be pretty careful with my guns, and have managed to keep my centerfire rifles in pretty good shape through many hunting seasons.

 

[smokehouseman]

That's one that falls under the category of, "personal preference". For me adding "character" to my guns doesn't appeal much to me, but to each his own.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Flintlock in a tree stand?

Lord help them.

 

[RugerDog]

Flintlock in a tree stand?

Lord help them.

Should have been clearer - my Hawken is a percussion... But, the Firestorm would be a flinter - just goes to show, you're never too old to do dumb things...

 

[Vaino]

Couple of years ago I built a Hawken for a customer who insisted on a super-dooper premium grade of wood w/ a hand rubbed oil/varnish finish and when he first saw the completed rifle, he nearly "swooned". This was supposed to be his elk gun but he's never used it as such. He built "his baby" a padded, very fancy guncase and only shoots it in his backyard on sunny days. My Hawken w/ nearly as good a wood and finish has killed a few elk and 3 days ago my son shot a nice big doe w/ it. Normally he's probably the roughest guy w/ his equipment that's possible, but w/ this Hawken he certainly takes care of it, but some nicks, scratches and dents come sooner or later and this rifle has a few, but is far from being abused....Fred

 

[Little Wattsy]

Guns are made for hunting no matter how pretty they are to look at. A few scratches just add character. :thumbsup:
Is it practical to spend money on an ugly gun that you don't like to look at, and don't care anything about? :idunno: Not to me it isn't.

Used but not abused is my motto.... I dont count a gun "worthy" untill Ive harvested suitable game with it.

 

[Eric Krewson]

When I built my first rifle I thought it to be a thing of beauty(beauty in the eyes of the beholder but few others). I hunt at least 30 days a year with it and it didn't take long to start beating it up. At first the dings really bothered me but after putting 5 deer in the freezer with it in the last two years I realize why I made it in the first place, it sure wasn't to sit back and look at it.

I even had to change out the brass front sight for a steel one a few weeks ago because I was constantly bending the brass blade while fighting my way through the thick stuff I hunt.

This is why I built the rifle.

 

[RugerDog]

Thanks to all for your views. I just need to look at the scratches as battle wounds, and trade them off against the meat in the freezer, and the memories of the hunts.

Several of the replies remind me of a saying from my sailing days - "a boat may be safe in the harbor, but that's not what boats are built for."

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I see the same thing with custom built bamboo fly rods.

Guys will pay $3000 for a rod and never even cast it one time. What a waste.

The master maker didn't take 100 hours of love and care building it to have it sit in a tube all it's life.

No matter how pretty something is. Use it for what it was built for. The builder and your peers will respect you for it. :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

First, Don't Bust BRUSH.

Second, If you have to go through a narrow trail with bramble grabbing at you, Turn around and use your backside to move the brush, so it doesn't scratch your rifle!

Third. Use Game Trails when you move through woods. Deer are only waist high on the best of us, so they will go through places that you may need to crouch down to go through. However, Most of these Deer Trails are at least 4-6 inches wide- wide enough for your foot to fit on the trail. The deer's body does brush away a lot of the bramble that is sticking over these trails,and their sharp hooves cut a lot of underbrush away, too. I usually can fit through the tight spots by turning sideways, and protect my gun by having it behind my body. If I have my walking stick, I push that in front of me to brush aside branches that would scratch me, or my gun.

Most often, I have a large hole in thick brush, and I simply point the gun ahead of me through the hole. If my rather large body can fit through that hole, my gun certainly can. If brush is so thick that I can't see anyway through it, NO DEER went through it, either. Look for tracks, at the base of that " wall of brush". Typically, game trails skirt these walls, and following the game trail will take you around the impenetrable brush.

That does not mean you should not check out that deep wall of brush. Bucks have been seen to jump over 4 feet and higher brush to land in the middle of it to make a bed, where they lay up all day long, not worried about hunters at all. Again, it you are looking for Deer Tracks, the tracks of a Deer Jumping that high are simply so easy to recognize that you should be ashamed of yourself to miss them. Scouting these thick brush areas during the winter, when leaves are gone, and snow helps you see into the thickest brush can educate you on what possibilities there are for a deer to hide there, during hunting season. That's when a clump of mud, or rocks thrown into that thick spot to spook the buck into showing himself can pay off. Slingshots make a handy gadget to use to send rocks into all kinds of thickets. :hmm: :thumbsup:

If you are banging your gun on things, You are MOVING WAY TOO FAST. Slow down.

If you are not listening to the squirrels and birds, to see if your movement is alarming them, You are moving too fast, and making too much noise. Slow Down.

If you can't even see deer tracks because you are moving too fast, SLOW DOWN. :hatsoff:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Waist high??

Oh yeah. You have those little whitetails. :grin:

 

[Dave K]

Well, I can't say I haven't ever marked a gun. I know I did once with my 50 Beck, when I bumped the tailgate with the forearm, before sliding it in it's cover in the back of the truck. Yep, it upset me, ALLOT! But, when I got home, studied the dammit, got out the iron and water, raised the dent and rubbed in my Tru-Oil. It is gone, you won't find the dammit and I have hunted with this gun now for 9yrs. Shot it many days at the range. There will never be a gun too pretty to hunt with anymore than a girl to pretty to marry.

 

[Bob J]

As good as my custom Tennessee rifle looked the day it arrived, with it's super premium curly maple stock and iron hardware, it looks even better now after 4 1/2 years of shooting and hunting with it. I'm careful with it, of course, but it was meant to be carried in the woods!

 

[Bob J]

When I built my first rifle I thought it to be a thing of beauty(beauty in the eyes of the beholder but few others). I hunt at least 30 days a year with it and it didn't take long to start beating it up. At first the dings really bothered me but after putting 5 deer in the freezer with it in the last two years I realize why I made it in the first place, it sure wasn't to sit back and look at it.

I even had to change out the brass front sight for a steel one a few weeks ago because I was constantly bending the brass blade while fighting my way through the thick stuff I hunt.

This is why I built the rifle.

Eric, that is a beautiful rifle, and it is in its proper element (not collecting dust). :thumbsup:

 

[bowkill]

beleave me , after the first scratch or dent you will say a few choice words...but you will remember when and where it happened. I love all my guns....

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have killed enough deer in the last 40 years to overflow a 60' tractor trailer and have the hunting part pretty well figured out.

I hunt mostly out of tree stands and ground blinds, it is getting to my stands that is a challenge. Privet hedge in the swamps along the Tennessee river so thick you have to crawl under it just to get through, if you can get through. Cut over land that wasn't replanted and has grown up in saplings thick as hair on a dogs back is part of where I hunt. North Alabama land is that way, paper company land, public land, private land, it is all the same, very little open hardwoods.

When I am moving through this land it is before daylight and after dark half the time, prime time for adding a little abuse to one's rifle. If there is a little moonlight I seldom use a flashlight as I prefer to experience the woods without the harshness of and artificial light.

 

[hoochiepapa]

Right on, Dave!! I can't count the number of dings I've removed from friends' (mine included) guns with a torch, a screwdriver, and a wet piece of cloth.
And if you go to your local hardware store, you can find wax sticks almost any wood color to cover up those scratches. Just rub on, buff with a cloth, and voila! no more scratches! Be sure to remove the ding in those serious bump/scratches first.
My rifles were made to use, and use them I will.
My dad gave me a '73 Win. in 44-40, and got mad when I sold it. But I told him I don't want to look at it, I want to use it!
Nice rifle, Eric!!

 

[rabjr]

When I had my customs built I wanted them to look good and to hunt with. It bothered me at first but once you have the first dings on em, it's not so bad and they only add character to em anyway.