what do you guys think

hunt NH,

What I just read " i keep reading about all these realy nice guns you guys have and realy want somthing that makes me feel the same way about my guns that you guys do."

Its not the cost or the high end value that makes the guns precious to us. its the blessing of being able to posess them at all and having the oppertunity to choose the particular gun in the first place. I will admit, I am a sucker for Remmington this or Colt that. and I will probably never buy certain makes no matter the price. and I will probably never own a Weatherby because of the price. and I will admit that reading how someone else just bought a new bow or rifle etc makes me a little jeleous, and want to go out and buy something myself at times. but if you were happy with your purchase at the time, then thats all that really counts. Personally, I would keep them. but ultimately, let your choices be your choices, not the influence of others.

always remember #10 of the 10.

i would not say jeleous, just that i seteled for what i could aford. and i do know what makes a gun precious. i got a mossburg 500 that means the world to me. i bought it just after my 18th birthday, shot my first buck with it at the age of 18. i would not trade it for any gun in the world. ya ronn your right "never sell a gun" iv been told that more than once. pluss when i get a realy nice gun i wont want to let my son take it out hunting out of frear that he will damage it, or not clean it right. and the ones i got now would be perfect starter guns. gess ill just put it this way. ill start saving up and when i got a nice chunk of change together ill go up to skips, hold every gun in the store till i get the "thats the one" felling drop a real nice scope on it before it even leaves the store. then when my son gets old enuff to hunt. ill give him the guns i got now and keep the nice ones for my self. my boy can get them from my will.

Here's a little onehorse gun ownership history: Over the years, I've owned LOTS of different rifles, handguns and shotguns, but never anything extraordinarily expensive. If I wanted to try something new, I had to say goodbye to one of the older ones because I just couldn't afford to keep buying. The good part to that is I learned an awful lot about a lot of different guns; the bad part is that, right now, I'm sure sorry that I sold some of those guns, and I wish I still owned some of them. The other bad part is that every time you sell a gun, you loose some of your initial investment - unless the value goes up - which does happen, but is rare. My advice is buy what you can afford, and hang on to the ones that work well for you. Yes, the "feel" is important in trying to determine if you should buy the gun in the hopes that if it feels right, it will work right. But if the guns you already have work right, forget about the feel. You are already past that part of the process. A deer killed by a decent mid-range rifle is just as dead as one killed by a custom-made one. Having said that, man, would I like to buy a Sako or a Kimber, maybe one of those Christensen fiber-barrel rifles, or ...... Here we go!

as Ronn sead. high end is relitive. i dont need to get a $4000 custom made gun. but i am done going into it saying "i got $350 for gun and scope". i am going to keep the ones i got. nothing wrong with them, and as i sead above i can give them to my son when he is old enuff to hunt. no sence giving him a real expencive gun when he is first starting. as a teen i misstreaded a ithica deer slayer, and pitted the barel. i would much rather that happen to one of the guns i got now than one of the nicer guns i will be getting in the future. but i think i will be saving up $800 to $1000 and buying one of these guns i hear people reving about like the ruger M77 onehorse recomended, or the Tikka (or whatever its called) that you guys keep talking about, and putting a real nice scope, like a nikon, pantex, or Leupold on it insted of the cheepie wallmart specieals i have on my current guns.

I like many of you collect guns because I enjoy them for various reasons. I may want a flintlock for PA, or an in-line for Ohio, or a special purpose one. I too have sold many guns over the years and wished I'd kept a few. However, with that said, I would never hesitate to up-grade. If there is no setimental value or high collector value then I'd sell off some and get something really nice or something that fits your wants list. Buying and selling has some advantages especially when a great deal presents itself. I have several family guns that will never be sold. I always have a couple of traders on hand just for up-grade reasons. I have a real desire to add a few older rifles with collector value and will try over the next few years to get. My advice, sell off some and treat yourself to one that brings a smile whenever you look at it or shoot it. To start over I'd much rather have 8-10 really high dollar guns than 30-40 run of the mill ones. The problem is that back then I couldn't afford the ones I wanted so most became shooters and a few collectors.