Do I have a problem?

[Edog537]

I noticed for the last few years I acquire a new to me “deer rifle” right after the season ends. I obsessively scour the internet for tips and upgrades for accuracy. Dwell on the scope and mount choice. Free float and even bed the rifles, Cut and Recrown barrels, do or have a trigger job done.Try out different loads for the rifle. Paint the stocks and on and on and on. Shoot the rifle all year and then go hunting. Here is the strange thing, as soon as I kill a deer or two I fall out of love with the rifle and it get’s stuck in the back of the safe, sold, or traded. Anyone else have this issue? It is an affliction.

 

[CAMSDADDY]

Its not a problem its a hobby. If it were necessity you could buy one and call it good. It dont take a lot to kill them.

 

[Gimmebackmybullets]

It's only a problem if you ask a shrink

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I try not to be a gear queer. Take what you've got-- any reasonable choice, even if less than perfect-- and learn to use it as best you can. Focus on your skill set, not the tool in your hands.

 

[Ruger34]

I have my toys that will never leave, then I have the ones that I play with then see what I can turn it into

 

[Kman]

Same!! Once you get everything perfect, the mission is accomplished and time for a new challenge. This applies to everything I do lol!

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I remember in the late 1980s or early 1990s reading an article by some famous gun writer -- Jan Libourel? Bob Mileck? Ross Seyfried? -- entitled "In Praise of the 2 MOA Rifle" or something like that.

His point was that he had a plain-Jane bolt action rifle in some non-magnum caliber that was unremarkable in any way, other than it was consistently a 2 MOA shooter, and if the crosshairs were in the right place when he broke the shot, he always got the game he was hunting. Even out to a few hundred yards. Rain or shine. At 50 feet above mean sea level, or on a mountain ridge at 11,000 feet altitude. Any popular brand of ammo, in any common bullet weight, shot to exactly the same point of impact out to 200 yards. Four-inch groups were fine. Even six inch groups at 300 yds. would let him fill his game tag.

Nobody who saw his rifle would think it was "his favorite" because he couldn't brag that it had a Krieghoff barrel, a second recoil lug, a 1.5 lb. trigger tuned by a gunsmith. The writer of this article had other guns that had such features, and cost 10X the price. The scope on "Old Reliable" wasn't a 6x-24x with a 50mm lens. It looked just like a pawn shop deer rifle, well used. But it felt comfortable to shoulder and swing on target. He knew that rifle like the back of his hand, and it always got the job done (when he, the shooter, did his part).

 

[Gimmebackmybullets]

I remember in the late 1980s or early 1990s reading an article by some famous gun writer -- Jan Libourel? Bob Mileck? Ross Seyfried? -- entitled "In Praise of the 2 MOA Rifle" or something like that.

His point was that he had a plain-Jane bolt action rifle in some non-magnum caliber that was unremarkable in any way, other than it was consistently a 2 MOA shooter, and if the crosshairs were in the right place when he broke the shot, he always got the game he was hunting. Even out to a few hundred yards. Rain or shine. At 50 feet above mean sea level, or on a mountain ridge at 11,000 feet altitude. Any popular brand of ammo, in any common bullet weight, shot to exactly the same point of impact out to 200 yards. Four-inch groups were fine. Even six inch groups at 300 yds. would let him fill his game tag.

Nobody who saw his rifle would think it was "his favorite" because he couldn't brag that it had a Krieghoff barrel, a second recoil lug, a 1.5 lb. trigger tuned by a gunsmith. The writer of this article had other guns that had such features, and cost 10X the price. The scope on "Old Reliable" wasn't a 6x-24x with a 50mm lens. It looked just like a pawn shop deer rifle, well used. But it felt comfortable to shoulder and swing on target. He knew that rifle like the back of his hand, and it always got the job done (when he, the shooter, did his part).

I have been hunting with a rifle like this for 32 years. I've bought others with intentions to use them that year. But I always end up with the same old tried and true, with the camo duct tape and 3x9. No miss. No tracking.One of the best investments of my life. My kid watched so many deer fall to that rifle, he had to have one just like it. Without the camo duct tape,of course

 

[GeauxLSU]

Haven't bought, or wanted, a new deer rifle in over 15 years. Only so many ways to kill 'em.

 

[UGA FAN]

No problem at all. I do pretty much the same thing. My excuse is, I have four sons.