What motivates your purchase of a new rifle?

Last I knew this is 'Merica. Because I can. But like Picher I have a hard time resisting a Bargain. I bought a Walmart 700 in 243 with the idea that the grandkids could use it. I got a Youth Stock, a plastic DBM, and put a Leupold VX 2 I got on sale on it. I shoots sub MOA. Besides I had a couple old boxes of 243 to use up.

I am way more interested in cartridges than I am in rifles. I generally pick out a cartridge, or type of cartridge that I want to add to the collection, and then start searching for a rifle to go with it.

I know what ties all my gun purchase together.

THE HIGH ROAD MADE ME DO IT!!!!

Guns are like Harleys & women, you can never have too many . hdbiker

Golfanaticshooter said:

How about something in 375 H&H?

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Perfect! I've been hankerin' for "something in 375 H&H" for several years now. No, I don't actually need a 375 H&H, but the question the OP asked was, "What motivates your purchase of a new rifle?". And "hankerin' for" is usually all the motivation I need when it comes to buying a gun - I can always dream up a "need" for it if I try.

Dave DeLaurant said:

View attachment 951579 View attachment 951580 Welcome to the club brother! What cartridge is the new girl chambered for?

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She is a .223. Laminate thumbhole, Nikon 3x9bdc, good condition, I'm worried about the bore. It didn't look smooth and sharp....but hey, nobody's perfect.
It will be welcomed home by a .204, .30-06, 7mm-08, 12 ga full, 12 ga slug.

Right now there are only two candidates that I might fall for. I've told myself no more guns for a while. Of course, I might discover a "need" I didn't know I had. One of them is a .357 Magnum lever action, preferably with a shorter barrel. The other is a semi-auto that fires a fully rimmed cartridge - a Dragunov comes to mind but I doubt that will happen. Then there is the idea of a custom .358 Yeti something nagging at the back of my head....

I divide all guns into a mental framework of purpose that I call the Five Ends of Firearms Ownership. To wit: plinking and recreational shooting, target shooting, hunting, self-defense combat and war, and collecting (the guns I buy because they’re pretty, historically interesting, seem to have a fun mechanical action, are rare and therefore desirable, or otherwise appeal even if they’re not strictly practical.)

Because there are so many subcategories and specific use-cases within all these groupings, I can make a mental justification for just about any gun I’ve suddenly gotten it into my head that I need.

Of late almost every acquisition is either in the collecting niche, or a type of pistol I’ve not yet tried. But I definitely tend to buy the gun (or rather, buy into the gun mentally) and then worry about what it’s shooting. Which is why I am in the comical situation of needing to stock over two dozen calibers, most of which are not exactly common.

I have two gun safes. Sometimes I realize that there are more guns in one safe than the other. I hate that. So I buy enough guns to make sure each safe has the same number of guns.

hdbiker said:

Guns are like Harleys & women, you can never have too many . hdbiker

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I was gonna type something snarky about Harleys and women....but realize what I think is funny, other people try to hit me for....

BigSteve57 said:

I have two gun safes. Sometimes I realize that there are more guns in one safe than the other. I hate that. So I buy enough guns to make sure each safe has the same number of guns.

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Very feng shui! One must always maintain balance positive energy flow!

LoonWulf said:

I was gonna type something snarky about Harleys and women....but realize what I think is funny, other people try to hit me for....

Very feng shui! One must always maintain balance positive energy flow!

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Well I've been a bit flip in my posts. I should be a bit more serious. The OP posed an honest simple question.

Need of course partially motivates my purchases. Thing is, I think I have at least one of every firearm I need or maybe even want. I think I need a firearm or two for self/home defense. I "need" a few firearms for hunting. Can I argue I "need" to go hunting. Well yes, but my wife just rolls her eyes.

Where I'm at now is buying accessories for the guns I have - like optics, mounts & rings for the rifles and handguns I don't shoot well anymore due to my !@#$%^&*() old eyes which can no longer focus on a front or rear open sight.

So what really motivates and has motivated my purchase for a firearm? In no particular order.

• Need. This perhaps includes replacing something's that's worn out, not worth repairing or taking up a new competition like trap.
  
  • Hunting - covered above
  • I could make the true safety need case for one of those survival .22's as we often hike & camp. But I don't care for the quality of the ones I've seen on the market. So I haven't bought one - yet.
    
  • If I want to shoot trap I need a trap gun. Right? See hunting.
• Uniqueness. Sometimes I see a firearm that's very different and I just want to learn and maybe master it. That's the case for my service rifles going from AR-15 to my '03A3 Springfield. I wanted to go around saying I could compete with and at least competently shoot every US rifle going back 100 years. Why? Just cuz. Think you can handle a Garand because you're great with an AR-15? Well for me the two rifles were very different. I also think this approach made me a better rifleman. Which was really the point.
  
• Collectibility/coolness. That's REALLY why I bought that S&W .500 Bone Collector. Plus the price was reasonable.

I think I've rambled on long enough.

As I get older I’ve turned away from big boomers and have learned to appreciate the .22 LR.

Lever actions have become my favorite to collect but I do have a pump, bolt and semi-auto just to make sure not to get too set in my ways.

So far I have a Winchester 9422, Uberti Silverboy and a Henry Golden Boy. Still need a Marlin 39M and Browning BL-22 to have what I consider the best levers.

I pursue needs most of the time, like the need for one of everything... That may be a joke but I'm not convinced.
I like to buy guns for jobs though. I hunt less than I used to, but that is just a time thing. I like to have a few deer rifles in different configurations due the the terrain and weather diversity of where I hunt.

I also get caught up on certain cartridges or cartridge families, and I want to be able to reload and, if possible, cast bullets for whatever I'm shooting.

Lately, my first son (almost 9) has gotten really interested in shooting, so I also get to buy guns with him in mind as well as the other three.

I also have started getting a little past need for JUST a tool, and have picked up a few rifles for their aesthetic value. I love blued and fine wood, always have, but function usually comes first for me except for a few nicer rifles.

I also like to build guns, and sometimes a project just screams too loud and I have to take it home. Most of the time these get sold or traded once fixed up, but not always... I do keep all the guns in one safe, but it is getting REALLY tight in there....

Condition, condition, condition

Something cool that goes BANG, it’s all it takes.

But in all seriousness, I'm very much like the following:

someguy2800 said:

I am way more interested in cartridges than I am in rifles. I generally pick out a cartridge, or type of cartridge that I want to add to the collection, and then start searching for a rifle to go with it.

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I gotta dump a couple rifles...to make room for possibly a Ruger #1 stainless .450 B
Or a Steyr CLII .308.
Would like to try a Merkel Helix in .243 or .308.
Of course a .257 wm Mark V would be cool.
Dont need any of em.
But those are the only rifles im interested in

Handguns......Anschutz Exemplar .22lr, maybe a new Python for deer hunting, and an HK VP9.

Shotguns? 870 Special Field 20 ga and Im done.

Hookeye said:

I gotta dump a couple rifles...to make room for possibly a Ruger #1 stainless .450 B

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450BM is a peach of a cartridge and in a Ruger #1, sweet.

1) Want new rifle.

2) Have cash on hand for new rifle.

3) Buy new rifle.

That simple.

Most of my current purchases either add to my collection or appeal to my aesthetics. Something about the combination of blued steel and good selection of wood is unresistible. The cartridge involved is quite alluring as well.

I have a burning curiosity about all manner of guns. I get on a roll with, say, 17HMR. I've bought 3 and would love to buy another....a Cooper maybe. Same with shotguns. I've owned about a dozen different 12 gauge guns. .22s? Yep, I've owned a bunch and still want to try some others. In the last 3 years, I bought a Bergara BXR, a Savage 110 Desert Tactical 6.5 Creedmore, a custom AR15 .223, a Marlin 39A.......as you can see, all very different... Love trying different guns.