Does it bother anyone to see a nice firearm neglected?

ive learned just to turn my head and not look at the abused firearm. often i cant help myself and while pretending to examine it ill wipe it down with a oily rag. lots of guys bring guns over to my range before deer season to sight in. usually ill take them in the shop and wipe out the bore just for safetys sake. lots of times thats the only care they get

for me a gun is a investment and i want it to stay in about the same condition as when i got it but im not fanatical about it..if it gets a scratch on the stock i dont freak out.

lots of gun guys are not hunters just as lots of hunters are not gun guys.lots of us are both and have a hard time understanding those that are not.i understand that and have just learned to look the other way sometimes.

however what really makes me laugh is when these same guys bring me that same uncared for gun 10 yrs later to sell and they want what they gave for it in new condition!

This makes me very uncomftorable as well. I do not like it when firearms, cars or tools are mistreated and neglected. Coming from a person who will clean an AK or Glock after only shooting less than 10 rounds out of either of them, seeing rust, pitting or excessive carbon build-up really irks me.

A big part of the problem is that most younger people have no idea about anything mechanical. No idea how to fix anything. They understand computers and video games. If something breaks they toss it and get a new one. No idea how to check the oil in their cars or the air in the tires. Some of it is there are so many raised by single mothers with no decent man in their lives. Try to teach my son in law but he has little interest. His wife, my daughter, is better at fixing and taking care of things than he is. In a SHTF situation, God help this country.

A little off topic but I stopped to see a friend who owns a local gun shop last week. Jim the owner says "Ron, want to see something that will make you cry"? Sure, I always need a good cry. So he shows me this box for a Winchester Model 61. The box has a small stain and a hole in it, about the size of a quarter. Beyond that the box was mint.

A gentleman brought the box and gun in to be looked at. This gent is 70 years old or so. He was given the rifle as a birthday gift when he was 24 and never used it. The box was stored in an attic and apparently the roof, directly above the box developed a leak. Years of drips from rain, ice and snow finally ate through the box. Right above the receiver. The barrel was absolutely mint but the action was severely pitted and rusted. That rifle went in that attic around 1967. There it stayed brand new in the box and never fired. The rifle is still functional but not quite a $2,500 or more collectable. Even the original box was pristine with the exception of the area around that hole. Yeah, a crying shame.

Yeah, I hate to see a gun or any tool abused or neglected. However, when I had my shop those neglected and abused guns were a gold mine.

Ron

It bothers me to see ANYTHING nice neglected! But especially firearms. I started building my gun collection when I was young and didn't have a lot of "disposable" income.
I had to save carefully and sometimes for long periods to get the guns that I wanted and so I was proud of them and took good care of them.

I really don't understand people who will neglect a precision instrument and let it go to waste. That's not the way I was raised and it really irritates me. It's not that hard to clean or even just wipe down a firearm after handling.

I`m sure it carries over into other things in their lives as well. Once a slob, always a slob.

28 miles one way

to a free public outdoor range. Pleasant drive and it is by a lake and on public hunting ground.

Not my gun---not my problem

I'll take care of my stuff---you do whatever with yours.

Yall need to quit being such nosey, busy body, do gooders and just worry about yourself----such is the cost of freedom---the country wouldn't be this miserable, rights losing, massively in debt nanny state if everyone followed this simple premise.

Freedom means being able to be an idiot if you so choose

Dad won't let me shoot or clean any of his guns. I had to buy my own cause if he can't take apart a Ruger Mk2 right no one can even when I showed him the Ruger Video on how to do it on Youtube.



Poor .20 gauge Mossberg, S&W Model 10 .38 Special, and Marlin 60 that hold like 17 rounds.

I once bought a Walther g22 for like $150 because someone had traded it into a gun shop because it was "broken". Turns out it had never been cleaned and after taking it apart I can see why, that thing was a pain to put back together.

I m an old timer. Over the years I have worked to get some of the things I wonted but not needed. I grew up hunting, fishing, and camping and found that it has ben worth saving for better reliable quality equipment. But to keep it reliable the equipment must be cleaned after it is used be it a firearm, fishing reel, camp stove or what ever. From purchasing used things , I have found that well used quality equipment can be repaired where there are no parts available for cheep stuff. Some of my best buys were inaccurate pricer rifles which after giving a tune up shot small groups. So I like people that neglect there equipment, I give them pennies on the dollar for what they have paid. Then I have the fun of fixing it.

I worked with an older officer who had never cleaned his 2" revolver, just qualified with the 4".

I was cleaning my gun, and asked if he wanted his cleaned. Gun was almost cemented into a cracked leather holster, then I had a hard time opening the cylinder. Couldn't get the rounds to drop out of the cylinder, had to hammer them out with the cleaning rod. They were brass cases, and had tarnished and corroded to the point where they were almost solid verdigris, and welded into the cylinder.

Everything in the gun was almost immovable, solidly caked with pocket lint, etc. Had to take the side plate off and internally clean everything to get it to move.

I was skived out by this, asked him what was up with all that? Said he had never taken the gun out of the holster since he'd bought it almost 20 years earlier. The gun itself was severely rusted on the outside from sweat and no oil.

Last time I ever offered to clean anyone's gun.

I think it's common to feel a little pang when you see something you recognize the value of be mistreated at someone else's hands, whether it's a possession, an animal, or a person.

A few years ago during the "Cash for Clunkers" foolishness, this video came out of a beautiful Volvo S60 2.5T being destroyed by pouring abrasive into the engine and then redlining it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waj2KrKYTZo

At the time I was driving an old Buick with over 200,000 miles on it and could only dream at the time of owning a "clunker" as nice as that car being wantonly destroyed, so that video made me furious and sad at the same time.

Having said that, when it comes to other people failing to maintain their guns, a lot of times it is due to simple ignorance. Sitting them down, giving them a Boresnake or simple rod/patches and some foaming bore cleaner, and showing them how to clean the bore, then wipe things down with an oiled patch after, can sometimes result in a change for the better.

Oh dear yes I loath neglected firearms. A friend of mine thought the best way to prevent rust on his Chinese AK was to coat it in Vaseline. Works great for long term storage but not for a firearm you care to shoot now and then. Unfortunately he used so much one time it clogged his firing pin and bolt resulting in misfires every few rounds. Not a very firearm savvy owner he gives it to myself to diagnose the problem. Couple hours of cleaning and stern words of advice fixed that. I still joke with my brother about setting up a firearms protective services to rescue neglected or abused firearms.