New vs Old Guns

Back when I first started shooting and hunting, old guns were the only ones we had to use. They were alright but not exactly the most reliable or accurate of guns to be working with. Years later when I could afford to buy my own guns I preferred to buy new and still do to this day. Funny thing is now a lot of my guns are getting to be pretty old too!

I only have one rifle a .22lr, it dates back to 1955 so it’s 4 years older than me and I love to shoot it.

About half of my guns are older than I am. I've got a couple Smith & Wesson Double Actions that are right about 100 years older than I am. I make sure to take them out and shoot them at least once per year. The last 3 guns I bought are all made within the last 5 years, but prior to that was a nice Colt Officers Model in .38 Special from 1912.

Some old guns were road hard and put away wet, while others are more refined than anything that can be bought today i.e. that 1912 Officers Model.

Being born in the early 80's, almost a third of my collection is older than I am and yes they do tend to be my favorites. My Remington 510 Targetmaster comes to mind as one I love to take to the range more than any other.

But even among my "new" guns, just about all of them are designs older than I am like my 870, Mossberg 500, 1911, 75b, j-frames, 10/22 and Marlin 60.

I like certain old designs manufactured by certain new companies of what I consider quality pieces; I own an 1873 Winchester manufactured by Miroku that just reeks of quality (just excellent fit, finish and function), three USFA SAAs that are super quality pieces, a 1911 CQB by Wilson Combat and another 1911 by Les Baer (both of excellent quality), 1874 Sharps Hartford made by Shiloh Sharps (just a beautiful rifle). They are all repros of yesteryear; I suspect that they are all much better made than the originals - modern manufacturing of older proven designs.

Not necessarily older guns, but older designs absolutely. Wheelguns, leverguns, and break actions, occasionally pump. Unless it’s a gun I built myself which is also pretty fun. So far I have built 1 AR from a factory lower, 2 from 80% lowers, and have heavily customized a junk cap lock 50cal smokepole. I really want to try my hand at building a revolver but my skills have to greatly improve before that is realistic.

I much prefer steel and wood so I own older revolvers, a few older Marlin 336's, plenty of Milsurps, and "deer" rifles made before plastic, I mean polymer, became popular. I also own a bunch of plastic, I mean polymer, guns that tickled my fancy for one reason or another. My last rifle purchase was a Tika T3 Hunter in 6.5x55 with a wood stock. Brand new production and, other than the plastic magazine, an absolutely awesome firearm.

Deus Machina said:

I love shooting guns older than me. I love the work that went into them--often that had to go into them to make something that would last--and the careful fitting the designs of the time required.
I'm not one to think "they don't make them like they used to." While they may not get the same craftsmanship, the engineering the make up for it has evolved. And, face it, they made a whole lot of crap back then, too. The good stuff is just what is still around. Which is awesome. Or, conversely, if they didn't make junk, they had to make it carefully and expensively just so it wouldn't blow up.
Really, I like the current stuff, too, but it's getting harder to find nice affordable guns without polymers. And I always worry what time, exposure, and UV will do to some of them.

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This post is well worth addressing.

For the majority of guns I own, older is better because of the changes from hand work and hand fitting (expensive) to machine work and machine fitting (cheap) and even some changes from older methods to stampings, etc. All of which I detailed in an earlier post.

That said, the guns I have carried for self defense for the last 15+ years have all been more modern because of technology. I stopped carrying my "old school" Detonics Combat Master .45 for a Glock 30 and then exchanging the Glock 30 for a Glock 36 and then the Glock 36 for a SA XDs in .45ACP and am now considering a Bond Arms Bullpup which is what George Nonte was after when he designed the ASP many years ago.

Some things do change for the better. The ammo has certainly gotten better.

I have a sizeable collection of actual US military arms- rifles going back to the trap door, to the Garand. I also have an older Marlin 336, a vintage model 12, model 17 Remington, a nylon 66, etc. But for most shooting I do, I prefer modern firearms: M24, a couple of Larue rifles, my Ruger American or an AR for deer, my mossberg 930 for feathered critters, Glocks, etc.

I've got a 30's Fox 16 gauge s/s, but the oldest rifle I own is the first rifle I owned-mid 70's Winchester single shot .22. I do like old guns though.

I've only purchased one new gun and that was in 1982. Most of my guns are late 1800s to early 1900s, with a couple exceptions. There's nothing like holding a piece of history.

FL-NC said:

I have a sizeable collection of actual US military arms- rifles going back to the trap door, to the Garand. I also have an older Marlin 336, a vintage model 12, model 17 Remington, a nylon 66, etc. But for most shooting I do, I prefer modern firearms: M24, a couple of Larue rifles, my Ruger American or an AR for deer, my mossberg 930 for feathered critters, Glocks, etc.

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Nylon 66 Black Diamond - the first "black gun".

Rshooter said:

My AR's are new, built by myself. I also have a few new pistols. Other than that I prefer old guns, my marlin .30-30 has a hand stamped serial number. I also have various milsurp weapons preferring to buy wood and steel guns with deep blueing and parkerization. My shotgun collection are various Wingmasters bought when a good used one cost $250. Anyone else out there prefer shooting rifles older than you are?

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I have two 30-40 krags two 03 Springfield (one with a Pedersen cutout receiver, the other Smith corona), a 1917 Enfield with a 25-06 medium bull barrell and 81 Remington in .300 savage. I love wood and the work of old time gunsmiths. This is part of what I have acquired over many years of walking gun shows. I picked up a .243 Mark x interarms two weeks ago with a 3 x 9 weaver. The rifle is in excellent condition and being age 72 I was around when they first were imported into the USA. I knew what it was and being that the gun store specialized in black guns I got the rifle for the price of two tires. Wanted it for my granddaughter as I don't trust her with older lever actions with hammer safety. I have two and she scares me when she attempts to load and put the hammer to safe position thus the purchase of the mark x mauser. The scope is clear and the rifle shoots 2" groups at 80 yds. I intend to shoot in some more as i shot only 10 rounds. It was 6" high and 2" left at the beginning. I did the 80 yd shoot in as being 72 I just got tired walking three times to the target. I just like old guns and old weaver scopes.

Until about 5 years ago, the newest rifle that I owned was a 1954 Hungarian M44, 17 years older than myself. Since then I've picked up a bunch of AR lowers, several that have been built into rifles, and a Savage 110 in 30-06 that will turn into something else. My current hunting rifles are a Rock Island 1903 in 30-06, Dominican Republic carbine in 7x57 (picked up as a donor action until I shot it), 257 Roberts built on a Yugo-captured K98k receiver, a Mexican small-ring 98 in 7x57, and a Spanish air-force M44 Mauser in 8x57 (7.92x57 for the pedantic out there. ). Along with building the Savage into something else, I have a 1909 Argentine action that will be getting turned into a 6mm Remington and an early WW1 GEW98 action that is destined to become a 6.5x55 Swede.

So when all is said and done, I'll have 8 non-AR hunting rifles, 7 of which have receivers that were made at least 20 years before I was born. None of them are in stock condition, but the receiver is the gun, right?

And the rest of the fun guns are in original-ish condition being a mixture of mostly mausers and mosins with a couple of others thrown in for flavor, the newest (not counting the ARs) still being the aforementioned Hungarian Mosin.

Matt

I own one real old Winchester in .300Magnum from 1950s. It's accurate, reliable and if it falls on a boulder it will break the boulder. Hard to ask for anything more except perhaps for less gun weight. It's the only rifle I own though I have been eyeing light weight double in 9,3x74mm (European caliber duplicating .375 rimmed Nitro Express ballistics) at LGS. Told salesman I might stop by next year and offer them good price for that gun.

For me it's not old or new gun as much as it is the caliber that I'm shooting. I have relatively new revolvers that are chambered for the old calibers that are still winners such as .45 Colt (1873), .38 Special (1898), .45 ACP (1905), 44 Special (1907) and .357 Magnum (1935). I think I have the dates correct if not throw me a correction!

PabloJ said:

I own one real old Winchester in .300Magnum from 1950s.

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Was the "old" Winchester rechambered? My "Cartridges of the World" book says the 300 Win Mag wasn't introduced until 1963.

Milt1 said:

For me it's not old or new gun as much as it is the caliber that I'm shooting.

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That’s pretty much the way I am. I love to shoot my .45-110 Sharps (chambered in the original Sharps rifles in the 1870s) but my Shiloh Sharps rifle was my 21st wedding anniversary gift from my wife in 1992. However, I didn’t actually get the rifle until our 23rd wedding anniversary (in 1994) because my wife ordered it right after “Quigley Down Under” came out, causing an almost immediate 2-year, back-order for Shiloh Sharps rifles. BTW – Mrs. .308 Norma and I will be celebrating our 47th wedding anniversary this year.

My oldest gun is a Remington #2 Rolling block. It was made shortly after the end of the Civil War. My newest is my Bushy AR-15. I'll be 70 this year and about half of my guns are older than myself. Plastic is for toys, and aluminum is for airplanes and beer cans. My Bushmaster is the only gun I own that that has aluminum and plastic in it's construction. Having said that, I grudgingly admit that both materials can be used in making some very fine guns.

But I prefer older guns made out of carbon steels and good ole' wood.

.308 Norma said:

Was the "old" Winchester rechambered? My "Cartridges of the World" book says the 300 Win Mag wasn't introduced until 1963.

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No dog in it but he didn't type 300 "Win" mag. Coulda been a 300 H&H

I don' really have a thing for guns older than myself. What I do like,are guns some would consider old I guess. Handguns and long guns built in the 60's, 70's and early 80's. They just seam to be a bit more on the quality side of things. Typically fit and finish is nicer than some of the newer stuff. Back when you could still buy a rifle off the rack that had beautiful wood. Handguns with slick actions and trigger pulls. Bluing that was just gorgeous.
This is in no way a slam on newer production guns, just my personal view and feelings.

mavracer said:

No dog in it but he didn't type 300 "Win" mag. Coulda been a 300 H&H

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Yes sir, it sure "coulda been a 300 H&H." I didn't mean to sound argumentative. I was just curious.
I too have a '50s Winchester rifle. In fact, it's a Model 70, and it was originally chambered in .270 Winchester. But I let a buddy, as well as the writings of good ol, uncle Elmer convince me I needed a .338 Win Mag to kill elk. So, about 25 years ago, I had my classic pre-64 Model 70 converted. I had a premium Douglas barrel screwed on, the bolt face opened up, and a beautiful laminated wood stock built for it. It's now a gorgeous (and expensive) powerful rifle that my buddies drool over when I take it out of my gunsafe. But the truth is, I don't shoot it nearly as well as I shot it when it was just a .270.

I don't own one used gun,all mine were bought new.