Gun Snobs lighten up!

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Some one remarked about my Colt 6920 'too rich for my blood' I felt confused... I'm no trustfunder; I had to make sacrifices to buy it. AR's have never been 'cheap'. I immediately said something like, "yeah and I saved up for two years to buy the dang thing..."

I kind of regret not buying a real Russian SKS when they were under $200. I've only fired an SKS a few times but it was certainly a 'fun' gun.
 
My experience with those who spend large dollar amounts for guns, or cameras, or any hobby that brings out passion is that, on some level, they almost have to believe their choice is superior to those who do not use the same brand or model. Ego gets tied in, and human nature as well. I would never claim my gun choices are better or worse than the guy's in the next lane, only that they were right for me. It's not how much you spend-it's what you can do with what you bought.
 
ArmedBear said:
Bull.

Put a staple gun in his hand, and you will see Jerry Miculek lose every match.
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Of course he will. He must have mousefart loaded his staple rounds. :neener:

But in all seriousness... do you really need a $7000 race gun to shoot a silhouette at 5 yards and get all alphas?

No... because I do, and my gun was $499 and is production with factory ball rounds. I know! SHOCKING! :eek: :D
 
But in all seriousness... do you really need a $7000 race gun to shoot a silhouette at 5 yards and get all alphas?
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Obviously not.

However, if you want to win a Bullseye match, your gun had better shoot 1/2" groups at 25 yards.

Our local pistol club has after-work matches during the colder months. I had an iron-sight 22/45, still my favorite plinking pistol, and I shot in the 450s. I got a Mark II Target and moved up to the low 480s. Had it filled with Volquartsen parts and 'smithed, and went to the high 480s. Switched to the optic that the top guys use, went to the low 490s. Put on a fancy Herrett target grip, and went to the high 490s. With a bit more practice, finally shot a 500 and brought home a 1st Place plaque.

Now this is not a high-end gun, but it cost me a pretty penny, now that it's done. And every penny I spent, added to my score. At this point, it's about a $1000 Ruger .22 pistol. Would I spend that for shooting cans? No. Would I spend that for competition? Yes -- if I want to win. Compared to some of the guns people use, it's cheap...

If someone has a lot of 25 patches in Skeet with a gun that is sub-optimal for Skeet, I'm betting he'd have 100 patches instead, with an ideal gun. That ideal gun would cost a lot more, and it might not be worth it to a casual shooter who practices for bird hunting, but to someone whose goal is to win at Registered Skeet, it would be "worth it."

Obviously, there are people who buy a fancy gun, and can't shoot. If they can afford it, that's fine. It doesn't make them good shots, and generally, accolades and awards come from good shooting.

And there are people who think their guns make them superior people. They are jerks. They are jerks whether they think that their cheap guns make them better, or their expensive ones.

But, there are plenty of people who shoot seriously, and buy the appropriate gun to win at their disciplines. If that gun is expensive, they save up, they suck it up, and they buy it.
 
If someone has a lot of 25 patches in Skeet with a gun that is sub-optimal for Skeet, I'm betting he'd have 100 patches instead, with an ideal gun. That ideal gun would cost a lot more, and it might not be worth it to a casual shooter who practices for bird hunting, but to someone whose goal is to win at Registered Skeet, it would be "worth it."
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Absolutely right. There are few things worse than seeing a shooter with loads of ability who is being held back because of his equipment choices. If you can afford it why not shoot the best gun you can? The gun itself isn't the be all and end all but a good shooter can be a better shooter with a better gun. Why struggle with crappy handling, heavy trigger pulls, poor dynamics and dubious reliability if you don't have to?
 
What somebody else owns and shoots has no bearing on my thoughts, there are many guns that I like and dis-like, if they work for others then go for it. Now if I showed up at a range with my POS Raven 25 I would deserve any grief that I got and most likely would hide my face under a paper bag......
 
"I think we'all would feel better if someone here could help you with your reading comprehension, because you have entirely missed the point of this thread. "

I was reading at the college level in 5th grade. No lie. I didn't miss a thing in this thread. Maybe, otoh, you need a humor transplant. :neener:

To quote the thread title, "...lighten up!"

John
 
"My experience with those who spend large dollar amounts for guns, or cameras, or any hobby that brings out passion is that, on some level, they almost have to believe their choice is superior to those who do not use the same brand or model."


If I offered to give you a $3000 firearm for free, would you take it and use it? Or would you decline the offer and insist that a $400 or $500 gun was just as good?

John
 
"My experience with those who spend large dollar amounts for guns, or cameras, or any hobby that brings out passion is that, on some level, they almost have to believe their choice is superior to those who do not use the same brand or model."

Is that a bad thing though? In many (not all) cases the expensive brands are better. Now that does not mean you have the skill set to utilize it properly to actually shoot better, but in the right hands, a lot of the expensive stuff does outperform cheaper. Does not demean the folks with the cheaper weapon, or mean they are any less passionate shooters, just means someone has the means to trade up and that IMO is cool.
 
I think gun snobbery is just one more example of how ingrained into us the "class" system is in this country. Those that can afford a $7k race gun are in a different "class" than those that can merely afford a budget Smith and Wesson or Jimenez or Hi-Point or Taurus.

I see it every time I go to the gun show and someone mistakes me for an idiot because I carry a Sigma... They either try to sell me junk (honest to goodness junk, not just inexpensive) or talk smack about my pistol.

Then there are the guys that look down at your holster and see something costing less than $700 or so (arbitrary number chosen at random) and they turn up their nose and walk off.

This kind of activity really hurts the shooting community, especially here in Tallahassee.
 
I think we should wait to see how Justin's Hi-Point test goes. He's going to use the gun in competition. If it dies on him during practice and competition, then it is clearly a weapon not designed to compare to the likes of Glock, HK, SW, or Sig.

Then again, look at what the thing is. It's designed to be a cheap gun that sits in your nightstand drawer until the one in a million chance you need it. I'm sure they work well if you don't push them too hard. For what it's designed to be, it is more than adequate. I do expect the thing to die during a high round count training course though or after extensive use on the range, but the thing was never designed to run through 10,000 rounds a year.
 
1,400 dollar .45's

I am at a place in my life where I can buy pretty much whatever I want, within reason...my my "reason" may be different than yours. I dropped the cash to buy an AR clone...did not need it...but I bit the bullet.

It is the most expensive rifle I have ever bought. Oh, well...it's only money!

I really like .45 Colt 1911-type pistols...can't seem to get enough of them. But, when I pay more than $700 for one, it better be platinum plated! LOL!

I did pay $1,000 for a Kimber, ONCE! Nothing but problems, the usual BS, so I sold it. I have some service-grade models that are 100% reliable, that is all I need. YMMV!
 
JohnBT said:
"My experience with those who spend large dollar amounts for guns, or cameras, or any hobby that brings out passion is that, on some level, they almost have to believe their choice is superior to those who do not use the same brand or model."


If I offered to give you a $3000 firearm for free, would you take it and use it? Or would you decline the offer and insist that a $400 or $500 gun was just as good?

John
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I would surly take it. Use it for a week or so & then sell it & buy;

A Ruger GP100 & a 1000 rds of ammo

A Beretta 92fs & 1000 rds of ammo

A Smith & Wesson 1911 & 1000 rds of ammo

Ps - My bad on the reading comprehension post, I apologize
 
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...takes great courage and conviction, and responsibility to be a gun owner...
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Absolute nonsense. All it takes to be a gun owner is enough $ to buy a gun. Oh, and a clean criminal record.
Having a gun doesn't transform you in any way. At the gym I see lots of dorks with all manner of fierce tatoos. They think it makes them harcore. They preen a lot in front of the mirrors. Then they stare when I lift twice as much as they do for more rep's. Just like a tatoo all it takes is enough $ to pay someone to give a gun. Heck, when I took a CCW class I beat the other three guys (two Glocks and a 1911) with my little Makarov. They guy who'd been bragging about his just-released Glock 36 clammed up when it repeatedly jammed.

I'm not in any way against cool, expensive stuff.
But it's just stuff.


At one of my wife's work parties years ago there was one guy who made a comment about how his dad used to tell him how he could tell everything he needed to know about someone by looking at his shoes. His dad would spend half an hour every night shining his shoes before he went to bed. The same guy was always impecably dressed. That same guy was universaly considered the most worthless person at work. I've known guys who would pull the same routine about wristwatches, cars. etc...
It's nice stuff but it's still just stuff.
 
There's an old saying my father taught me - "Beware of the man who only owns one gun" There's a lot of different interpretations you can glean from that comment. Chances are, if you have a gun you like to shoot and you keep practicing with it, then you'll get pretty good shooting that gun.

The only time I have seen the need to step up from a cheaper gun to a more expensive gun is when the shooter decides to start competing at the higher echelons of competition.

But the bottom line is equipment, no matter how expensive, cannot buy you a good score. Only good instruction and a lot of practice will do that for you.
 
There's an old saying my father taught me - "Beware of the man who only owns one gun" There's a lot of different interpretations you can glean from that comment. Chances are, if you have a gun you like to shoot and you keep practicing with it, then you'll get pretty good shooting that gun.
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Very true, but personally I like "beware of the man with only a single shot scattergun; he probably knows how to use it". :D
 
But in all seriousness... do you really need a $7000 race gun to shoot a silhouette at 5 yards and get all alphas?

No... because I do, and my gun was $499 and is production with factory ball rounds. I know! SHOCKING!
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I'm unaware of any Open Class Race Guns that cost $7,000. From what I've seen, Open Class rigs cost between $2,000-$3,500.

One doesn't need an Open Class blaster to shoot alphas at 5 yards, but it would be ridiculous to claim that there's no competitive advantages to shooting a pistol with a 28 round magazine, massive compensator, and a red-dot scope on top.

Red dots are faster than iron sights. Compensated guns are much less jumpy and much easier to control. If you don't have to reload during a course of fire, or only need to reload once, you're going to save time over someone who has to reload every ten rounds.

The claim that it's the shooter, not the gear is only partially right. Gear impacts performance. If it didn't, there never would have been a need to create separate divisions for Open Class vs. Production Class vs. Limited vs. Limited Ten vs. Single Stack vs. Revolver.

If gear choice didn't impact performance, there would be no need to modify a gun with things like trigger jobs, after market sights, or stickier grips.
 
Snobs are snobs, period. Chances are that if you meet the same guy in the parking lot, he'll explain why his truck is a better choice than yours. I don’t think it even has anything to do with dollar value. Just last year I was working with a contractor. He left the job site early because he had to pick up his ccw permit. I struck up a conversation about guns. We were just bs’ing around and I mentioned I was waiting for my gen4 G17 to be shipped back when they were first hitting dealers. He just kind of laughed and in a rather snobbish manner said, “Yeah, that gun will never be the operator that my XD is.” Wow. I just ended the conversation because that one was going nowhere fast.

You will always bump into “that guy.” He’ll be the one who tells you that you paid too much for your Kimber or Springfield 1911 because it has too much MIM stuff. He’ll tell you that you paid too much for your mim-free colt because his glock can do everything your colt can do for half the price. He’ll tell you that you were silly to buy your glock because that rtf finish isn’t how gaston designed it. It never fails.

I try not to offer my opinion unless asked. If I don’t have anything nice to say, I’ll just say “nice gun” and go about my business. I love starting up conversations at the range, but not with those guys that always feel the need to “one-up” you in conversation or explain why his <insert product here> is the best choice.
 
No offense to any of the THR members but the whole i saw glocks, kimbers, wilson tacticals, etc jam up but my jimenez .25 beat em all argument is just bs. Im not knocking ANYBODIES guns and dont be offended but ive heard the whole old lady with hi point beat all the twentysumthin fools with glocks so much i want to throw up. I work at a gun shop and i try to be as fair as possible about guns. Truth is the most returned gun at my work is the newer taurus handguns (have had hi points come back but i fixed them with a simple swap of a new mag). I do recommend new shooters to either stick with quality .22s or try out some surplus guns (rifles and handguns) rather than newer production guns (like jimenez, jennings, hi point) due to the fact that those guns for the most part have proven track records. Ive shot hi points and dont like them, not because they didnt go bang but the whole limited ammo capacity, cheap parts, weighs two times or more than most other handguns in the same caliber thing gets me. I carry a glock 19 everywhere i go and the reason i do is because ive put 1000s of rounds through glock handguns since age 14 and i know that they are VERY reliable, accurate, and they are durable and ergonomically fine with me.
 
Oh yea - I can definitely relate to what you'd said. Way back when, my first gun was a Arminius revolver with 6" barrel in 22LR. I still have it and if it wasn't for it being less than $100 I probably would not have gotten into shooting. It's also funny that my favorite and best shooter is probably one of my most inexpensive pistols - a 5946 police trade. Holster wear like you can't imagine but I shoot 1" groups @ 12 yards off-hand with it.

BTW, I think my next gun will be a Hi-Point. :evil:

triplebike
Gun Snobs lighten up!
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had to laugh at this thread, especially the ones who rave about pulling out there 18" pump they bought for $70 back in 1980, used, abused, shooting it with only the choke it came with, and beating guys with Perazzis and Krieghoffs at skeet or sporting clays. :rolleyes: Gimme a freakin break. Go to a tournament and see how well you do.....As a previous poster asked, "where are these guys?" Another poster replied, perhaps the guys shooting cheap guns can't afford the tournament fees or take off from work. What a lame excuse!! If they are too "poor" to afford to enter a tournament, how are they affording to shoot clays/skeet in the first place?:scrutiny:

Winning tournaments/competitions give you some street credibility if you are going to brag about how you used your $70 pump to beat guys with $10,000 shotguns at a game of skeet or sporting clays.
 
i cant think of any gun i would right out say
I DONT WANT IT
but thanks anyway.

i have an old titian II in 380 and was in need of a mag. was told dont wast my money as the mag would cost more then the gun.

well i found 1 for $20 and that little knock off shoots just fine.


i also took a 18in shotgun to shoot some trap----:neener:----didnt hit any--:cuss:------just took it to check it out......:D
 
A snob is typically defined by the jealous or insecure. I like nice things; guns, scotch, beer, food, road bikes, etc. It doesn't make me a snob just because I appreciate quality. I have used lower end stuff and appreciate what high end quality has to offer. On the other side of the coin, I try to make it a point not to denegrate someone else based on their opinions, to each their own, for whatever reason.
 
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