Traditional or not .

[Harnser]

I know that I am a traditional miserable old *** who knows nothing about shooting and the countryside ,but I do know what I like in guns and what guns should look like . In my opinion guns should be blued steel and polished walnut stocks .

 

I keep seeing pictures of guns with plastic or rubber stocks ,or what ever they are made from and I think how ugly these guns are,and guess what there are guns out there with cammo stocks . Why the hell would you want a cammo stock on a gun ?, if you lay it down in a hedge row you may never find it again . Can you imagine a best English gun with a rubber stock and finished in cammo ,a sacrilege . I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder . Sorry about this rant but being retired I have to much time on my hands and I have shot all the pigeons in my parish with out the need for rubber stocks and a gun that I would be frightened to lay down in case I couldn't find it .

 

Harnser .

[libs]

They are cheap to make and hard to break I guess?

 

I personally do not like them but my .22 is of the plastic variety and to be honest I don't think I'd choose a wooden rifle over a plastic one now. The amount of times I've bumped it and thought "if that was wooden I'd be looking at a dent."

 

But plastic shotguns? Not for me.

[northeastshooter]

like libs said They are cheap to make and hard to break I guess easyer to mass produces i fancy a plastic stock as you call the for my first shotgun as i dnt think i would mind as much if i scratched or knocked it as i would compaired to a nice walnut stock

[gixer1]

I love traditional look but wouldn't say that is always polished walnut, oiled non-glossy is far nicer in my opinion! and i guess real tradition would be Damascus barrels!

 

My shotgun is wood but my rifles are all composite as i can't be trusted not to damage it! (apart from my Winnie 94 as it would look silly in plastic, cowboy guns should all be wood! )

 

Regards,

 

Gixer

[Devon Fox]

I must admit that I own a few plastic guns, they are tough, I can skip the odd clean ,but I do agree that they are not pretty, just functional.

 

My game guns are more traditional (as much as an over'under can be)

[silver pigeon 3]

Totally agree, but i have a "plastic gun" for out on the foreshore as the salt air soon ruins the blueing on any gun.

Sometimes things need to be purely functional than pleasing to the eye.

[sitsinhedges]

The nicer a gun stock, the more it's appeal is diminshed with every knock. Personally a gun is a tool for a job in my opinion and I don't want to be afraid to use it because it's too pretty and I'm afraid of marking it.

Edited December 13, 2011 by sitsinhedges

[david hunter]

what i like about plastic stocks you can walk a lot further without getting tired.but i cant help admireing the old hammer guns.

[woodcock1]

In my opinion the Purdey/woodward style of o/u is the opitome of beauty.Unsure how to add the link www.purdey.com/guns/over-and-under/

Edited December 13, 2011 by woodcock1

[Scully]

Personally I like both;the more traditional guns I own don't do a lot of hard work;whereas my synthetic CZ and synthetic auto are 'real' tools,which get thrown about in the Landie,and generally cope with all sorts of abuse.

A friend has a very,very nice Sako Finnfire with exceptional wood.He's terrified of marking it,and as his HMR is banned from lamping sessions 'cos it frightens everything for acres around,we always end up taking my CZ.It's a good looking rifle,not a thing of beauty,but very practical.

[Beardo]

for me, it's the difference between a "tool" (my CZ .17hmr silhouette - black plastic stock) and a gun that's owned for it's beauty (my Charles Osbourne SxS etc.)

[magman]

All my shotguns have real wood

All but one of my rifles have synthetic stocks , as you can see i love my shotguns but my rifles are workhorses

[silpig5]

i try with tradition , xmas eve shoot will be my pretty sxs . dress as formal as will suit ect , but i must confess , the rifles are the new fangled plastic that wipe clean.

 

adi

[Clydebuilt]

Synthetic rifles and timber shotguns for me

 

My rifles get more abuse than the shotguns but it's horses for courses really

[anser2]

My three game guns and old AYA magnum are all wooden stocked guns and ideal for walked up game and pigeon shooting. However my main sport is coastal wildfowling and I use a \ 3.5inch chambered browning gold S\A with a plastic stock. Its not a pretty gun , but it does its job and does it well. I can fire 3.5 inch steel all day and not notice the recoil. It has camo barrels which has the advangage of being non shine in sunlight unlike a blued barrel gun that I can see flashing several hundreds off .

 

In an ideal world I would like a 3,5 inch s\s , but the few that are out there are very rough and ready guns and have to be very heavy because of the recoil. The browning handles like a dream , but its not a gun to take walking up game.

[Bloke]

I love my blue steel and wood Browning, I know what you mean that it has a "Traditional" feel, which I never get tired of. However, my Benelli is not just practical, it seems easier. I suffer a bit with arthritis/ pain in my joints, particularly in my arms and shoulders. If I am having a bad day, the Benelli's comfortec (plastic) stock system helps reduce the recoil shock, the lighter weight is easier on the arms, which at least seems to make it easier to shoot for longer. The plastic construction also makes it a good alternative to wood if it is raining. Despite regularly oiling the woodwork on the Browning, after one particularly ferocious rainstorm when we were halfway through a round of clays with a fiver on the outcome , and all of us too stubborn to take shelter, the forend of the gun swelled on the inner surfaces and took about a day to fully dry out before I could refit it easily, whereas the Benelli just needs a quick wipedown, clean and oil and then straight into the cabinet.

Horses for courses, I suppose, but on a nice (dry-ish) day, I will always reach for the Browning first.

[Gimlet]

Traditional for me. I bought my first rimfire 25 yrs ago. At that time if you had to buy secondhand there were a lot of 'synthetic' stocked American models about and they were basically plastic. They felt like toys with moulding seams running up them and a nasty thin brittle feel to them. Training guns for American kids I reckon. It put me off for life.

I like maintaining my woodwork and blued/wood guns age well, synthetics don't they just look rough.

I am a bit old fashioned mind. I'd do away with cars and electricity given half a chance.

I do like natural coloured laminates though. Best of both worlds perhaps.

[welshwarrior]

For me traditional wood and blacked steel and case hardening if possible looks the best.

 

But my 22 is blued with a plastic stock because it was cheaper.

[Dr_Scholl]

I love a nice wooden stock and bluing as much as the next guy. Only problem is it's a lot of up keep and gets damaged too easily.

[Mr_Logic]

My shotgun is a wooden stock, my rifles a mixture. Plastic stocks take wear much better than wood, but not all plastic stocks are created equal; the good ones are still costly, the cheap ones are still nasty.

 

What does hurt is if you ask GMK for a new tikka stock, it's in the hundreds. They are moulded rubbish, might cost a couple of quid to make but even that seems high!