A general query about your guns...

tac foley

I've noticed, after a couple of years here, that most, if not all of you, have modern, up-to-date guns and equipment, apparently scorning the stuff that was made before the end of the last century.

It seems to be a regular thing to see a post about replacing a comparatively new gun with something newer, shinier, spiffier, complicateder or just plain more expensive.

As a poor person, and one who just can't go to any more guns - I'm on my limit here in my county anyhow - I'm rather stuck with what I have, unless, of course, I change a gun on a one-for-one basis.

Since my most modern rifle is almost 26 years old now, and still does what it says on the tin, do any of you ever consider an older gun? The quality of many older guns far exceeds the modern stamped-out by the thousand models - my opinion, of course - but looking at my 1912-built Mauser in 7x57 I know that to get a similar quality arm today would cost FAR more than I paid for it.

Any fans of the oldies out there?

tac

Cass

tac foley wrote: »

Any fans of the oldies out there?

tac

Personally i don't care for old firearms. I prefer the newer stuff from a performance and cosmetic point of view.

Others like the older stuff, hence the VCRAI, and while some may enjoy finding out about them they may hold no interest in owning them. To each their own on that.

Then there is the use. An Enfield from the turn of the century may be a nice rifle to own and use if its not within the persons needs then its pointless, and it falls back to legislation. With the hoops we have to go through to own any firearm very few can afford the luxury of owning a firearm simply because they want one.Either form a legal or financial point.

juice1304

i like the old stuff i'm going to have a look at a winchester 1894 next week.:D

FISMA

Tac,

Are you kidding? I love the auld guns, they are the best, back when things were built to last and people took pride in their workmanship - a reflection on their nationality.

Nowadays too many guns are made like commodities to be flogged off if you don't like something superficial.

I have an Ithaca sxs New Improved Double, old Mausers, and have had Enfields. The old guns were made to last. The only reason I traded the Enfield was because I want to get a new/unissued one.

I am not sure why people frown upon them. My Mauser, Enfield, S&B, and all other old war guns shot great out to 300ya. If it's shot for the pot, I would use any of these in the field. I would even use iron peep sights inside of 150ya. The groupings that my humble self have made at 100ya on paper with Iron sights is more than good enough for the field.

I have a WWII Mauser that was made during the War and captured by the commies who promptly rubbed the off markings.:mad: Anyhow, the fit and finish in this war gun rivals and beats most any firearm under $1000 these days.

I doubt anyone that has ever held an old Fox would turn their nose up to it.

I have owned a lot of guns. I have never had any problem with an old gun. The only guns that I have ever had problems that required the manufacturer to check them out were brand new guns made during peace time. Go figure.

Give me an old sxs with case coloring any day.

session savage

I just bought a side by side shotty older than myself but with regards to rifles I have two new ones and plan on keeping them until I win the lotto.

landkeeper

there isn't that much opportunity to look and handle older rifles here the impounding of anything larger than .22 here in the 70s took a lot of the older bigger centrefire rifles out of circulation

CJhaughey

Old stuff is great, but practically speaking Ireland is not well served either in choice of rifles or ammo availability.
Its hard to get popular calibre rounds like .243 in different loads sometimes let alone any exotic or older military calibres.
Where Ireland is now is a relatively new shooting scene for larger CF stuff which have only really been brought in to Ireland in the last 15 years or so.
I would like to have another older militaryrifle but with a 12G a .22lr and a.243 I can't get another without going to the next level in terms of security and that is a cost that I just can't justify ATM.

tac foley

landkeeper wrote: »

there isn't that much opportunity to look and handle older rifles here the impounding of anything larger than .22 here in the 70s took a lot of the older bigger centrefire rifles out of circulation

Now THAT's a good point.

I was thinking rather of the guns of the late 80's and 90's - the best SAKO's that ever were made, according to the SAKO Collectors' Association of the USA - and Husqvarna's beautiful guns, too. The Mausers and Blasers, the Weatherbys and Winchesters of that time were pretty good, too.

I'm glad that in spite of the assertion of one poster that old means hundred year old Enfields, that some of you are happy to put your money where your heart is.

And bleeve me, jumping through hoops is a sport not confined to Ireland.

tac

CJhaughey

Forgot to mention that the inability to reload makes it harder still.

landkeeper

tac even in the late 80s .22 was still the limit and if you wanted a deer rifle you had to give up the rimfire , it took me nearly a year to get a hornet as well as the lr, i was told at the time i was the only lad in the state with 2 rifles now if that was true i don't know but there were several decades where centrefire importation was very limited.
now it's the other way round every tom dick and harry with a permission has a 223 or suchlike

tac foley

Thank you all for taking the trouble to respond to what I now see was a facile question.

Consider the subject closed from my POV.

Best

tac

Traumadoc

I suppose it is because it is so difficult to acquire firearm permits here.

Overseas it is so easy ( And cheap) to acquire an antique firearm, when I lived overseas I bought Mausers (Swedish and Israeli)because they were only 200 euro, kept for a few months and sold them back for say 150 euro to the shop, who sold them on for 200 euro again.

In Ireland the hassle of getting a license means you want to be sure what you buy shoots straight.

Cass

tac foley wrote: »

I'm glad that in spite of the assertion of one poster that old means hundred year old Enfields, that some of you are happy to put your money where your heart is.

It was not an assertion.

As i've said many times i know little to nothing of old firearms, and with your constant discussions of VCRAI type firearms, early 1900 firearms, etc i referenced the only old firearm i know the name off (other than Mauser) in the belief this is what you were refering to.

You asked why more people do not share your love of old firearms and i gave my opinion from my own personal point of view with reasons why others may or may not have such firearms.

Perhaps if you are not willing to listen to all sides and only want a pro vintage/old type firearm discussion you should specify this.

Grizzly 45

My first shotgun a single shot 410 is well over the 100 year mark,and I still shoot it occasionally.More out of respect for its old age than use.

All my hunting guns in Germany are well over 50 years old.Oldest being a Drilling in 16/7.62vom Hofe,which is also the most tempermental,as it was one of the 1st boxlock drillings made with the new metal ...Aluminium!!
Around the last decade of the 19th century!!2 world wars,civil strife and hiding and wear and tear has knocked the tolerances out on its aluminium frame so it will misfire occasionaly or discharge all three barrels at once!!:eek::eek:
Bar that problem,all mine are by todays standards ,ancient yokes.

I most certainly would love to get my hands on a Luger carbine or Mauser broomhandle pistol.Were we in not such a cluster f*uk country regarding handgun ownership.:( Dont get me started on the guns of the 1980s that I would like to have owned!!

DJandDeid

I'm not in the masses of guns league but I am fortunate to have three, a BRNO Model 2 .22lr bought new in 1975 (and I'll never sell it!), a Beretta A302 semi auto from around the early 80's, and a Bettinsoli Diamond O/U (2005). No synthetics, just nice traditional wood and lovely to look at. Lovely to shoot too. Nothing against the ultra modern, they just don't appeal to me.

tac foley

Dear Mr Ezridax - I refer you to post #11.

Thank you.

tac

Cass

I refer you once AGAIN to post #8.

tac foley wrote: »

I'm glad that in spite of the assertion of one poster that old means hundred year old Enfields,........

A simple clarification on the specifics, as i obviously misread your post, would have sufficed, however you decided to use the snide route.

Tackleberrywho

My first centrefire rifle was a 1911 Swedish Mauser.
Very accurate, but very heavy and awkward.
Shot plenty of deer and foxes with it all the same, traded it for a modern rifle and never looked back.

Kryten

I see it as being similar to cars. It's always nice to have a new car. Very comfortable, economic, quiet, all sorts of modern gismos. Heaven!! But if something goes wrong, your f***ed. Get the visa card out.

Unless you are at the pinnacle of competitive F Class, or benchrest or in the case of pistol, ISSF match (and with pistol the real skill is the shooter not the pistol), Older quality firearms are seriously up for consideration. In pistol I use a 1974 Walther GSP and have taken lots of scalps with it. Love it to bits. I recently aquired a BSA Martini MKIV ISU. I fires it last month from a front sandbag only at 50 meters with diopter sights at an NRA 50FT Pistol target and scored a 99/100. (can post scan of target if you wish) I could not do this with an anschutz with a scope. Maybe it's me?????

The rifle cost me just north of 100 euros and the Pistol, a little north of 400 euros. Great value I think. My 1942 longbranch enfield is really working well for me. Kicks ass at 300yds with open sights.

Sure, a SAKO or Remington would put them all in the one hole, but in my opinion, these modern rifles are a bit like modern cars, a bit samey samey.

Although having said that, I would love to try a Blieker 6mm BR at 300 meters for the crack, and if I liked it, who knows. Bloody hypocrite arent I :):D:D

Croppy Boy

My shotgun was made by Charles Lancaster in 1867. The barrels were replaced with modern steel ones at some stage. I had Nigel Teague install chokes a few years ago, he then sent it to Birmingham for re proofing. She's a pleasure to shoot and a lot more graceful looking than modern guns.

cruisedub1

I much prefer an older gun to a newer one . I only buy used but well looked after rifles as I consider them more appealing than new mass produced rifles . I hunt with a Husqvarna .270 made in the early 1950's which I bought for $275 with scope attached , the material's ,fit and finish on it are second to none and if I were to buy a modern rifle of similar quality I reckon it would cost me well over a thousand dollars without scope . I also own a Swedish Mauser Model m38 made in 1941 and it's a tack driver . The oldest rifle I own is a sporterised Enfield model 1917 in 30.06 , all in all I much prefer an older firearm due to the quality of materials and workmanship that went into them when they were made .

rowa

Croppy Boy wrote: »

My shotgun was made by Charles Lancaster in 1867. The barrels were replaced with modern steel ones at some stage. I had Nigel Teague install chokes a few years ago, he then sent it to Birmingham for re proofing. She's a pleasure to shoot and a lot more graceful looking than modern guns.

Pictures please croppy.

Witcher

Nothing like the oldies, my club has an old pump .22 rifle that's about 70+ years old, great craic to fire and still in grand condition. If it was a case of just buying it or one like it I would just for the fun of it but as others have said the licencing rigmarole takes some of the enjoyment out of it. I'd love a SMLE, preferably with a good bit of history behind it:)

Glensman

My dad has a Churchill XXV. He doesn't shoot it.
The problem with these guns is they are worth too much to take out in the field... Nice to look at, and would shoot great if you were willing to take the risk.

I was in an antiques store in New Orleans. They had an original fenian rifle used in the abortive invasion of Canada. If I hada had the funds I could have walked out of the store with it that very day.

One of my shooting buddies has an original Volunteer .303 landed at Howth (de-act).

For actual shooting, A Remmy 700 is about as classic as i'm willing to go!

Vizzy

My oldest gun is a Westley Richards Boxlock ejector made in 1895.
Next oldest is a Webley & Scott 700 which I reckon was made in late 1940's or early 1950's
And the baby of the bunch( which was my first gun) is a Gorosabel Silver Sabel made in 1978.

Hibrion

I would love the cash for an old sxs.

I do like older guns. My oldest is a 1961 winchester 1894 in 30/30. The gun is absolutely mint and beautiful to look at. If all goes well with it this season I'm considering getting rid of the 308 rem my and just using this as my stalking rifle.

Time will tell.

I would love to shoot some of the older military rifles but being a lefty basically makes this impossible.

I always fancied an old winchester model 70 as a stalking rifle, since they make lefty versions.

Sparks

Nothing against old firearms myself, it's just that they're not competitive for the kind of shooting I do, at least not most of the time. I'd happily recommend a second-hand deal on something like an old vickers for someone just starting off in the sport allright, and I shoot a 1970/80s design of air pistol myself, but those are edge cases from my point of view. If I broke my air rifle tonight, I'd be buying a modern one tomorrow, not a vintage model. In my humble opinion, smallbore rifles (apart from their stocks) didn't advance enormously between the 1980s and the early 2000s (the last five years have seen some big advances though - the Bleiker and other new smallbore makes show that); but air rifles made large strides in that timeframe, and still do today. They really are measurably better than the older rifles, and while character is all fine if you just like to own your firearm, I own mine to let me compete - so it's function over form. If we determined that I'd gain ten points by moving from my current Anschutz 2002CA to a Steyr LG110, I'd change over immediately and wouldn't look back.

The Great Unwashed

User banned. Re-regging to get around forum and site ban

Glensman

The Great Unwashed wrote: »

Strange, seen as they landed German rifles at Howth.

I think they were chambered in .303?

I could be wrong...

The Great Unwashed

User banned. Re-regging to get around forum and site ban

Tackleberrywho

The Great Unwashed wrote: »

You are completely

They were ......... Mauser M1871 in 11 mm

Never knew they were 11mm x6But Wiki backs you up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_Model_1871