One Man, One Rifle

[Hookeye]

I got rid of stuff.
Just kept what ill hunt with.
Which oddly is close to what I started with years ago.
Aint fancy, works good.

Im too practical to be a collector.
Am just a lowly bambi and groundhog shooter. Sometimes.

 

[T-DOGG]

Being a minimalist gun owner is easier if you are generally a minimalist. .

I am a minimalist and when I look in my safe, I have too many. But I can't bring myself to thin anymore.

I justify having two .22 rifles so that if I want to shoot with someone, we can each have a rifle.

I'm probably closer to being a minimalist than I realize. I try to keep my life organized and try to make practical/logical purchases. My possessions, especially my guns, need to have purpose for me. A role if you will. I view them more as tools than toys, but I can still have fun with them too. I'm not wealthy, but my bills are paid and I have a little extra every month to dabble around with.

 

[Old Dog]

100 guns, 100 different situations. Safety off is up, or is it down, or right, or left? Does it slide forward or backwards. Does it even have a safety, or three? " I don't what it is, but it goes on here like thisss"

I can't remember if this scope is a 2X or a 25,000X. By the way, where is the on switch for the built-in laser?

Crap, I brought the wrong ammo today.

Have fun guys!

 

[T-DOGG]

100 guns, 100 different situations. Safety off is up, or is it down, or right, or left? Does it slide forward or backwards. Does it even have a safety, or three? " I don't what it is, but it goes on here like thisss"

I can't remember if this scope is a 2X or a 25,000X. By the way, where is the on switch for the built-in laser?

Crap, I brought the wrong ammo today.

Have fun guys!

Funny and I think you make a good point.

I have tried to standardize most of my stuff over the past year. The majority of our rifles are AR's so my family can pretty much pick up any one of them and they operate the same. Our handguns are all striker fired without manual thumb safeties (Glocks, Sigs). And all of my high powered scopes are in MRAD and have similar-ish reticles.

 

[Colt556]

100 guns, 100 different situations. Safety off is up, or is it down, or right, or left? Does it slide forward or backwards. Does it even have a safety, or three? " I don't what it is, but it goes on here like thisss"

I can't remember if this scope is a 2X or a 25,000X. By the way, where is the on switch for the built-in laser?

Crap, I brought the wrong ammo today.

Have fun guys!

Oddly enough I’ve never had an issue switching from 1911 to CZ to P7 to G20 to K Frame in handguns or M1A to M1 to AR or scoped CZ or 700 in rifles. The manual of arms part has always come naturally for me. The hard part is deciding which trigger I want to squeeze on any given day. 90% of the time anymore though it’s a CZ.

 

[Bill2905]

I have way more guns than I will ever need and finally had to admit to myself that I have become a small time collector. Too many to be proficient with all of them so I focus on a few favorites. I have considered parting with some of them. But then I figure the new found cash would burn a hole in my pocket and I would end up at the LGS again buying something new that I have never experienced before.

 

[Hulberr]

I collect older walnut and steel and I love to shoot all of them. But I shake like a frigging leaf on a windy day, and the only way I get any thing that even remotely resembles accuracy is when I'm on the bench. So it really doesn't matter how much I "train" the area critters can rest easy.

 

[teddy12b]

Pretty much my thoughts and the reason for the thread. I'm getting more interested in long range and precision shooting, but I'm having an internal conflict about bolt guns vs AR's. I'm more versed in AR's, but the bolt guns do interest me and the general consensus seems to be that bolt guns are inherently more accurate. So now I feel like I'm at a crossroads and not sure what to do. I don't like the thought of trying to practice with an assortment of rifles all at once, but here I am doing just that. I really like the idea of becoming very proficient with one rifle, but it may just be a pipe dream at this point.

I think the issue we all struggle with in this hobby/sport/way of life is that there aren't always a way to "test drive" anything before you buy. There aren't too many gun stores around where people can really weigh the pro's and con's of multiple options with those options both being on the shelf at that time. The other issue is that what we do with our guns changes.

The last couple of years I've been going to PRS matches and the more I go the fewer AR rifles I see. Everything has it's place, and AR's can absolutely shoot far, but there's a reason why most of the competitors are running a bolt.

Recently I tried thinning the herd down going from quantity to quality. I sold several good rifles to have one custom highest quality bolt gun made. Now that rifle has been awesome, but enough time has gone by that if I had to do it over again I'd tweak a few things. For example, I took that rifle to the Mammoth Sniper Challenge at Fort Gordon in the tough man division and that rifle with sling & bipod was just shy of 17# all setup. That's awesome for a PRS match where you slowly move from stage to stage, but for a rucking event or a backcountry hunting trip that's horrible. I'm going to to sign up for the next mammoth and my by buddy and I are both taking ar-15's because we can cut almost 10 pounds off our total weight by doing that.

 

[1nderbeard]

I told myself at the beginning of this year I was going to be proficient with just one platform and then start to sell all my other stuff.

Then I bought more stuff...

 

[Gabriel]

I told myself at the beginning of this year I was going to be proficient with just one platform and then start to sell all my other stuff.

Then I bought more stuff...

Yeah, I have those moments where I decide I'm going to simplify my guns/gear and get rid of the excess. That's usually before I decide I need new guns and/or gear.

 

[Colt556]

I told myself at the beginning of this year I was going to be proficient with just one platform and then start to sell all my other stuff.

Then I bought more stuff...

Yup, I’m getting ready to make a 4 hour round trip drive to get a 22 rifle to go with the 12-13 I already have. It’s a sickness man......

 

[T-DOGG]

Well....at least I know I'm not alone I guess.

Maybe we should start a support group on Thursday nights?

 

[mcapo]

Well....at least I know I'm not alone I guess.

Maybe we should start a support group on Thursday nights?

Guessing I am not invited?

 

[teddy12b]

Well....at least I know I'm not alone I guess.

Maybe we should start a support group on Thursday nights?

I can show the new TPS M6 scout 22lr/410 I just bought despite all my rambling in this thread about having too many guns.

 

[Leo]

When I was free to compete all I wanted, I had a suitable firearm for each type of competition. I also had been buying things simply for collecting. The collection got fairly significant over 25 plus years.

I sold almost everything when funding another chapter in my life. I made money on every gun in those safes. I even made money selling the safes. At the same time Merrill Lynch turned $270K into $40K (and no, it did NOT come back) I wish I had spent the $270K on firearms.

Quality hardware will always have intrinsic value, never feel a good firearm is "wasting money" sitting in the safe.

 

[Tombs]

I know what I need to get the job done.

I guess it's distracting if you don't know what you need yet. But when you do it's just a bunch of nonsense with a few things here and there that are legitimate quality of life improvements.

 

[marvin02]

Well....at least I know I'm not alone I guess.

Maybe we should start a support group on Thursday nights?

Can we move that to Friday? I'm meeting a guy on Thursday to complete a deal.

 

[BigRed]

For those of you who have invested a heavy amount of time practicing/shooting with only one rifle, how are you able to focus with all of the distractions in the gun industry these days?

It seems like every day, there is a new latest/greatest something coming out. How do you avoid the temptations of trying out new things all the time and "suffer" through the monotony of frequent practice with just one gun?

I know we have some serious, long time competition rifle shooters in here and I look forward to their insight on this.

I only have one gun....need it for squirrels and such.

 

[BigRed]

My issue is when my eyes were good and I worked under microscopes, I had a very light touch. Which was a plus for my shooting. Could shoot good without much effort. Aim small miss small. Well that and having shot for decades.

Now w bifocals, arthritis just losing focus in brain.....i have to pay attention and concentrate more just to be close to what I was.

Definitely more effort to fight the decline, that's going to win soon enough.

Saw my dad go through it. Buy better stuff and still not shoot as well as used to.

I aint gonna drop the coin or hours to win Z class. Great if folks want to do that.

Me....no prob accepting what is going on. Dont like it one damn bit. But fighting it would just be futile and im not gonna spend a fortune making myself more upset .

I gave up 3d and indoor archery due to injury. And wont take it up again because i simply dont have what it takes visually or mentally.

The only good thing about getting older is not caring too much.

Now is that by design?

Shotty and punji and such

 

[Usmccookie]

Hmmm. Lots of good comments.

I am honest with myself. I am equal parts a collector and shooter. This post year I have tried to focus more on training. When I go to the range it's the same ar ive been depending on for years, until recently i updated and upgraded.

I always take my edc, and my "duty/shtf" handgun.

I am in my second iteration of these 3 guns since I've started shooting seriously.

When I go to the range, I always take a "fun gun" one of my safe queens. All my guns get used. 90% of my rounds are through one of my 3 primaries. The fun gun just let's me collect guns and enjoy the hobby aspect.