Has THR influenced your firearms interests?

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Old Dog

Old Dog

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Has THR (or any other internet gun forum) at all influenced or changed your firearms interests since you started participating in the internet gun world?

For me, when I started back in the day of the internet BBS (yeah, I'm that old) and eventually the discussion forums on the WWW, I was strictly into military and law enforcement firearms. I'd come up a 1911 guy, transitioned to the M9, and had little interest in revolvers, even though I'd been issued one for my first job as a rookie deputy in 1979. If it wasn't a 1911, Beretta or SIG, I wasn't interested.

As far as long guns, I'd experienced the Winchester 94 and the Marlin 39 (now 336) as a youth, growing into a Winchester Model 70 in .30-06 and briefly a Ruger 77 in .270. I disdained the M-16 I used in the military, but maintained a life-long affection for the M-14, which was the first rifle I ever qualified on.

Early in the 2000s, as I became more active on this forum and a couple others, I got turned on to old S&W revolvers. Then the K-frame fans became enablers. Boy, did that open a can of worms.

Being issued an M-4 on my very last military deployment, I started to warm to the AR-15 platform. Then the AR-15 fanatics got me thinking... and I got more involved in building, buying and shooting these critters.

Then I hooked up with some civilian shooting buddies with esoteric tastes in rifles and really, really good optics -- boy, did that impact the savings (and get the wife concerned). I was back in the bolt-action game, even while I slowed down in the hunting arena. Also, I became a die-hard proponent of only buy quality glass.

Then came the lever-action love: this forum is an enabler for that, for sure. Suddenly, I had to have a lever-gun in every caliber.

As an adult, I'd poo-pooed the lowly .22 -- that's what kids shoot. But then I was exposed to folks all over the world posting pics and stories about their favorite .22s, both long guns and handguns (my first real gun experience was shooting my dad's Stevens single-shot and the first real gun of my own was an Ithaca-made Montgomery Wards Model 94 imitation in .22 LR). Now, I got back into the .22 world, just in time to work with my daughters, who were now old enough to shoot.

So does anyone else admit that this whole internet thing actually changed or influenced what they liked or got into as far as their gun interests go? Any other stories?
 
I would have to say at least a little.

Not so much in what I actually like but it definitely did influence how I assembled some of my AR's. All those cool pictures on Arfcom ya know. Of course I had to change some things over time since cool doesn't always equal useful.

I would say my father and friends had more influence on the guns I like and shoot. My dad by getting me into guns and shooting in the first place and my buddies by letting me shoot their cool toys!
 
YES!!!!! bunch of bloody enablers all y'all!!

I've learned more stuff about guns from Highroaders than anyone. Ive tried cartridges and guns I've never be interested in. Been saved from some bad ideas, and pushed head long into others. There never been a question that someone hasn't had a answer or suggestions for.....
There's no way my interests could have not been effected lol.
 
Good news and bad news. The good news is I've gone crazy buying guns and building guns due to the excitement of THR. The bad news is I feel terrible about selling off all my Lugers and other collectable guns just before I became a user here. I'm still trying to grow another joint in my leg so I can kick myself! :)
 
Firearms sites somehow led me to like one of the least popular rifle types, the pump action, and thoroughly make the most popular type, bolt actions, boring as heck.

So I suspect the answer to the question would be a general, no but that would be disingenuous. Internet forums of all walks have let me down plenty of times with suggestions on products. Even items with many positive accolades. For instance, I don’t like Vortex scopes. Many, many do though and that is why I tried a few and found out I don’t like them even in The face of what once was universal praise.

THR has been very good at making me spend money to find out what I like and don’t like by actually trying many different things out.
 
Affected me? Yeah, but the wrong way.
I can't just like what I see, I gotta want one.

Every time that someone like Nature Boy (or most any of you enablers) posts artfully staged photos of a
gun, I find myself going to sites looking for and trying to justify getting one like it.
Best that can be said is that it is like going to a high end gun show every day.

As my five year old nephew says (when hitting me up for something his parents won't get him), 'No is not an option'.

JT
 
Definitely! Let's see:

1) Purchasing decisions are influenced by existing owners' feedback
2) New things I haven't even heard of before...discovered here and then I want them!
3) More relevant to UK sites for me: upcoming legal and regulatory issues greatly affect whether a thing is purchased, modified, or sold
4) Whether a fix exists for a known issue, also influences whether a thing is bought or traded
 
Old Dog said:
For me, when I started back in the day of the internet BBS (yeah, I'm that old) and eventually the discussion forums on the WWW
Click to expand...
Does "internet BBS" mean the heyday of Usenet newsgroups in early 90's or the handful of newsgroup-polling, dial-in standalone BBS:s of the 80's? I mean, I come from radio amateur background all the way to X.25 packet radio and 300-baud V.21 acoustic modems.

Nevertheless, all this has had some influence in my choices of firearms over the years, or more like decades. In mid-80's I bought my first pistol, then-new and recently revised Ruger Mark II, based on lengthy discussions on a fairly popular dial-in BBS.

I still hold a minor grudge against the people who talked me out of buying a S&W model 41 instead. If anything, that taught me to think more about what I really want and not just following the current, loudest consensus of what's being recommended on discussion forums. Not that they were and still are a fantastic source for information. Personally I liked the Usenet prior to September 1993 and AOL's infamous choice to open up the access to non-academic individuals commercially.

And I don't really feel old at all. More like 21 still, with decades of experience. :)
 
As my interest in competitive shooting has waned, these boards, especially this one, have helped me to stay interested in rifles and handguns. My interest in shotguns is primarily for bird hunting, and I've purchased a new O/U in the past few years, thanks to a dealer buddy who was selling a 28 year old N.I.B 20 gauge Beretta. I recently purchased a Rem Stainless 1911 that shoots great. I was looking for a non-rusting piece to have in the truck, in case a vehicle-damaged animal needs to be dispatched, etc. Earlier, Rimfirecentral.com was also helpful as I was very involved in Rimfire Benchrest and informal matches, like turkey shoots.
 
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"Influenced" or "changed" my interests?? ... Mmmmmm ... maybe a little on the margins. Insomuch as the knowledge and experience of the many smarter, better informed and more experienced members here have served as inputs into informing me and helping me define, detail and further already existing interests, then ... absolutely - YES.

Then ... there's also the entertainment value. And especially the pics members post of their firearms.
 
Maybe not so much as changed my interests as refined them. I’ve never been an AR guy, though I own one. I enjoy the threads about ARs, but they haven’t influenced me to buy or build more. I did buy a 1911 based on the forum’s encouragement that “no collection is complete without one,” only to sell it a year later when it didn’t float my boat.

My first interest was hunting, and I still view the world through that lens, although my interests have expanded into concealed carry/training and accurate rifles in general. It’s probably with regard to the last category that THR has been most influential. I have learned a lot about hand loading here, and have spent a lot on equipment I didn’t know about before hanging out in the Reloading forum. And some here (you know who you are) have influenced my decisions to experiment with new rifle cartridges: 22-250AI, 280AI, and 375 Ruger to name a few.

So I’ll say again, probably hasn’t really changed my interests as much as helped refine them.
 
I was into firearms and reloading long, long before even computers were a thing. Think computing on a slide rule! Being on this forum in particular is more for my educational enrichment as well as being able to help others at times for me. Think things like driftwoods pictures and finding out about gunnys mosin closet! The thing is others actually had more firearms than I had. That helped me see that I was not all that abnormal after all. Also like going to a gunshow I was exposed to things and guns I was previously un aware of. I would in a nutshell say yes.
 
I started following gun/hunting related forums in the early 2000's. I didn't join and start posting until several years later in 2007. But I've learned a lot by others 1st hand experience. I probably had more shooting experience than most prior to that, but within a fairly narrow field of interests.

I think the most important lesson has been that a lot of things I assumed to be fact prior, simply weren't.
 
No. I like THR a lot, but it (y’all) have not influenced my gun buying. I figured out from experience and local police that I was going to carry Glocks. I’ve had good luck with Ruger revolvers so I stick with them.

I get tons of info from THR, especially the reloading forum and I like to read what everyone is thinking. Lots of good people here but I know what I like and what my limitations are.
 
Dudedog said:
but I never realized all the reloading equipment I needed until I came here
Click to expand...

I was going to make that point meself... I have to admit, the primary reason I come here is for the reloading knowledge.

THR really hasn't influenced my firearm choices over the years, but one forum has... one dedicated primarily to lever-actions and single-shots. That forum has sent me down the bunny-hole of loading cast rifle bullets, heavy and slow bullets, tang sights, and... ultimately, with a single-shot 1885 Pedersoli in .45-70, and a few 'extra' lever-actions I might not have wound up with otherwise. I've also traveled to places like Cheyenne, WY and Lubbock, TX to shoot with some of them, and I am not typically a social shooter.
 
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