What motivates your purchase of a new rifle?

Desire. Something that I recently saw on tv, read in a book/magazine, or saw people shamelessly flaunting on here.

I have an addiction. It doesn't take much to motivate me to buy a new gun. Money is the limiting factor. If I have money, I am probably spending it on a guns.

1st) Aesthetics
2nd) Condition
3rd) Caliber
4th) Price

I see it, I like/dislike it.

If it passes the like/dislike test we move to condition.

If it’s in good/great condition, we go to caliber.

If it’s a caliber I’m interested in (very few I’m not) we move to price.

Price is the most important to me because I don’t need any rifles. So in order for the acquisition to take place, it must be significantly less than I can find the same rifle other places.

This purchase model has paid off for me many times.

Let me stipulate that for me, new means any new acquisition rather than a brand new, fresh from the factory, I'm the first owner rifle. I don't buy very many of the latter.

Mostly my interest in a rifle starts with historical or design appeal, and then availability and price come into play. All three elements have to come together at the same time, and the last two are the tricky ones.

As much as I still want a pre-either-war Mannlicher-Schoenauer 1908 Carbine, I've yet to find one within my price range at the same time I've enough cash available. It took decades to find my first M1 Garand for the same reasons.

Legionnaire said:

I'm curious if there is a pattern to what drives one's wants.

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Makes me happy.? I sold off all my motorcycles, don't own a boat or RV, Don't like to gamble or hang out in bars and quit racing cars years ago, chasing women decades ago. Guns are about the only way I turn money into noise these days. Be it for looking at, machineguns to benchrest, there is a smile around every corner.

Legionnaire said:

Y'all are like a bad shotgun ... no pattern.

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least were consistent!

I like curiousity oddball rifles, like my fully engraved mosin nagant or my baikal sxs 30-06.

I dont buy used, I dont buy on sale unless it fits a role. If I need one we save and get at what the price is. Im thinking more and more of buying same make and model firearms so theres more parts interchangeability

Reading a thread like this. Now, what do I want? How about something in 375 H&H?

Arkansas Paul said:

I've always thought I was born 150 years too late and gravitate to things that were in use in the old west.
I love single action six guns and lever rifles. That's why I want the levergun in the .44 or .45 I reckon

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Except that, back then one typically didn’t have nearly the disposable income we enjoy today. You most likely had one or two guns and made do. At least, during the early 1900’s farmers in my area had a .22 and shotgun

When I was big into adding to my accumulation, I simply bought whatever tickled my fancy at the time. Rifle, pistol, shotgun. Didn’t matter

I’m not into duplicating calibers. There are too many to get multiples of any one IMO

.375 H&H....


Paul Jaeger over under i kinda wanted as a kid

Id take a #1 and change the pad and put a peep on it. Whop deer w it.

Saw on a social media site, fan page.....guy put a peep on rhe quarter rib, 26" B model, and added a front sight. Man that was cool.
Dunno what chambering. Just different

Something new I have never tried before that is affordable.

I signed papers today on Handi-rifle #4.

I used to buy one every July 4

I'll have to admit, buying a new varmint barreled .223 bolt for $79, was good incentive. Finding out there was a $50 rebate on top of that was icing on the cake. Getting the debit card in the mail today was priceless.

It's rule of cool / fun for me. My last purchase was a Keltec Sub 2000. I didn't need a 9mm rifle, I didn't even need a gun that folds in half, I just wanted a PCC for fun and the Keltec was way cooler than a HiPoint for only $100 more.

If I only bought guns I "needed", I would have probably stopped at 2 rifles and a handgun.

Mood. Definitely mood.
If I'm in a bad mood it's because something bad has happened (e.g. a score I don't like in a shooting competition, a broken appliance etc...) so I buy guns to cheer me up. If I'm in a good mood it's because something good has happened (e.g.a score I do like in a shooting competition, or seeing pretty flowers etc...) so I buy guns to celebrate. It just depends.

EDIT: sometimes it's ego but that can be rolled into mood I suppose. For example, my best friend bought a .460 S&W Magnum Performance Center handgun. So, when I happened to be in a local gun shop that happened to have a .500 S&W Magnum Performance Center "Bone Collector" I had to have it. BECAUSE: mine just had to be bigger.

Generally speaking, it must have a legit purpose. At this point, it is pretty hard to legitimize any new rifles for me.

Bargain! That's what motivated me to buy a 700 ADL, .223. It was N.I.B. for $140 and was screaming to me to take it home. I heard and obeyed! I didn't really need it, having two other .223s, but figured it would be a good "lending rifle". It has been. Since then, I've put a good scope/mounts on it, replaced the trigger, and bought/installed a new H.S. Precision stock. It's no longer a bargain, but a great varmint carry-rifle nontheless. Since then, I've given one of my other .223s to my son, for a standby varmint rifle for the critters that tend to visit his country houselot. It's a magazine-fed Tikka that can be stored safely in his home-office, but quickly readied for action to pick off a coyote or trash-invader raccoon.

I have been a gun trader; for decades. Always looking for a perfect all around rifle and the perfect rifle for this specific situation or game type. Then there is the new hobby guns (range, ak,ar, ext..). The never had one let's try it guns. And the that's a great deal guns.

The truth is one rifle will cover my hunting needs (my 7mm rem mag). The others are just for the fun of it.
Anyone have a 8mm Remington Magnum ?
I think I need one!!!
The 375 Ruger or HH look like they would be great all around rifles!

Armored farmer said:

I signed papers today on Handi-rifle #4.

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Welcome to the club brother! What cartridge is the new girl chambered for?

Right now whats motivating my next purchase is finding a more suitable rifle for pronghorn hunting. Certainly my R700 308 or 30-06 mauser will do the job, but they're hardly ideal. I'd like something a little lighter to heft in the desert heat and a little flatter shooting.

Somewhere between a 243Win to a 7mag. Right now I think a 280ai would be just the ticket. Good balance of power, recoil, trajectory and ease and economy of loading.