Ever Purchased a rifle for a specific purpose and never used it?

93r17 btvs, bought it for shooting little critters, and ended up shooting plastic, clays, and paper Moving can really suck.

A few years ago I bought a 470 Nitro Express Double rifle. I haven't taken it to Africa yet, but eventually....

Will

I have owned a couple lightweight survival rifles that were kept in the plane (s) but were never actually used for their intended purpose. Thank goodness.

I also have owned a couple rifles that I originally bought for long range competition which did not work out so great. Most because they were not accurate enough so they were eventually sold.

And a couple of cowboy competition shooters that became obsolete when I moved past reasonable distance to a cowboy shooting club.

I have never owned a Fantasy Apocalypse Rifle "*tactical", (FAR*T)

Uncle Sam having sent me to over 43+ countries over the years, has issued me enough weapons while I watched the real thing occurring.

I bought a Winchester 70 in 300 win mag for an elk trip that never happened. Ended up giving it to my brother when he got an elk tag. He still has it and the elk.

My 338 Lapua.

Wonderful rifle and I love to shoot it but finding places to use it to its potential are few and far between...and I have A LOT tied up in that stick.

For example, the place I had to shoot in has been off limits for the past month or two as a jerk that lives next to the range complains every time we go out there. So it sits.....

Not rifle specific (sorry), but purchased my Mossberg 500 tactical for home protection and as stated "Thank GOD" I have never had to use it for it's intended (specific) purpose...

Outdoorsman1

I have a Winchester 62A .22 I bought to leave in the barn and use on feral cats but decided it was a bit too nice to shoot at them with. Use an old beater .22 instead.

Well, almost all of 'em, pistols included. They are all defense/combat/fighting weapons, most tweaked for accuracy. They would all be fine weapons, I was an SDM and one of the original SDM instructors in the army, and I have a BIG interest in SDM rifles (since I helped design some of the first ones). I never was able to get away from it, accurizing battle and assault rifles to near bolt gun grade accuracy is FUN (and challenging sometimes). It is also funny to see the look on folk's faces when they see me print a 1-2MOA group with an FAL no problem (although I still get these unaccounted for fliers now and again...).

But fact is, I'm disabled now. I like to think under stress that I can throw on the gear and get it done, but I know that I'd get a half mile down the road and end up stuck in bed for two weeks. So I know these rifles will never be used for anything else but range work. And I hope it stays that way, I like it that way.

In a way, I guess I knew all this prior, so all my current SDM gear IS just range gear --therefore it WAS purchased for the intended use, the range. I guess they just "look" like SDM rifles, truth be told.

Hard question, thought I knew the answer, but by the time I wrote it I came full circle. I also have a Mossberg Breacher, I know I'll never use that. I don't even have breaching rounds (well, I guess I do, in the army we used slugs). I USED to have my old SDM upper that I DID use in the army, but after I wore out the barrel, I rebarreled it and later sold the whole rifle, so the last of my "real" gear is gone...

I wish the anti's could understand this. Just because my rifles LOOK like they were designed in Hell, doesn't mean they are evil. They are a lot of fun though. To me, shooting is like golf, but more fun.

AR15 for a zombie apocalypse. Hope I never have to use it.

*edit* aaand...i didn't see your last sentence. D'oh!!!

SXS 30.06 for Texas deer and hogs. Traded away for my 458WM.

I don't, but my grandpa did. He bought a Sako Finnbear 375 H&H for a Kodiak Island bear hunt. It has a great 2x Leupold on it and 8 bullets down the barrel. The trip fell through and the rifle sits in the safe to this day.

I cannot lie, I have purchased firearms for specific purposes and not used them for said purpose...too many to list

Sounds like we just need to lower our expectations!

When collecting and shooting are the only goals everything else is just a bonus.

I bought a Remington 700 to build a precision/long range rig with, but that project is still on the drawing board. The rifle is still sitting in the box, 5 years after I bought it. It's never seen the light of day.

I bought my first rifle with the intent of it being my "deer" gun. That was almost a decade ago and I haven't killed a deer with it yet. Killed plenty of targets, steel, and random range junk, but no deer. One of these days though, I will see what my "deer" rifle will do to a real deer.

Built my AR15 for SHTF---haven't needed it for that--yet.

It has been sighted in and shot through.

I, too, have a 375 H&H in Colorado. I keep telling myself I would use it on elk, but I have other, lighter things that are appropriate that don't kick quite as much.

However, there are always the hypothetical African and Alaskan hunting trips...

And, I must say that the Model 70 375 H&H is accurate beyond all reasonable expectation...

bought a savage 516 .308 to handgun hunt deer. I did take it out a few times as a backup gun but never killed with it. Sold it to buy an Ar-10.

Yeah. Especially since getting my C&R license.

I buy a new hog or deer hunting gun a couple times a year yet still always go out with my bow or old hog gun (an m1a scout).

bought a 300win mag 15 years to take on an elk hunting trip out west.still havent made it out there. until i do it is a very adiquite coyote and woodchuck gun.lol.

Nothing fancy, but I bought an old tang-safety Ruger M77 in .243 as my 'open field deer/coyote rifle'
Never made it out of the back yard in 3 years.

I have a Saiga 12 gauge. For the last three years I have been changing up the magazine loads. All slugs- alternating between slugs and buck shot. Load up a mag of no.6. Never ever shot it.