Why do people care so much how others enjoy their firearms?

Ah yes Bachelor Party….Classic!!!!

 

That's not true. Where I live there's a gunsmith school and part of that school's requirement is to turn a an old mil surplus bolt into a bubba. So they buy here or elsewhere and do the work, get graded, and most end up selling it afterwards for whatever reason. Then later we get to see rage posts somewhere out there on the web about going in and seeing a bunch of bubbas. A bit situation awareness lacking, IMO.

 

It’s not a “these days” thing. In fact, I’d venture to say that the average firearms enthusiast today is generally safer than they once were. My father, uncles, friends of family etc that are boomer and earlier don’t seem to focus much on safety. They rarely check chambers, constantly flagging you and fingers are all over the trigger the second they put them in their hands. I’d be willing to bet the average Gen x and later is safer with a firearm than previous.

 

People try to justify their own choices by invalidating the ones they didn't choose...and by invalidating anyone who carries them.

Like quite a few people I think that having too many choices in calibers at hand becomes impractical. Currently I only shoot 38/357, 9x19 and 9x18. I really like 45 ACP and actually have a lot of rounds left but right now no gun to shoot it out of. For rifles I currently only shoot 308 and 7.62x39. I feel in no huge way limited by my choices. Based upon where I live, I really can only imagine getting a smaller caliber at this point...probably 22Mag or 22-250, to cover varminting and small game. Sometimes caliber choices are determined by what you already have, not by some ultimate and idealistic approach.

My first rifle was a 7.62x39 SKS. My first Handgun was a compact 45ACP. Now I have an AK and no SKS, and plan to pick up a CZ527 in that caliber someday too. As I said, I also have no 45ACP.... And while I would certainly enjoy one I don't feel the need to grab one unless I find a really good one for a song.

There are many guns I'd like to have, but I'd like to tailor my choices largely based on when I have already chosen up to this point, not just blowing 800 bucks on a new gun in a new caliber. I don't have the time or the funds for that much experimentation anymore. I also don't want a safe full of guns that rarely ever see the light of day. I mostly just want to have my bases covered.

 

Sheesh... Glad you made it. I wasnt necessarily comparing it to other generations. More like because there are so many new owners they dont really have a feel for what can happen if they get sloppy. Bullets can zip right through things and travel a loooong ways. Some people think its like the movies were a sheetrock wall will stop a bullet or if they miss the target a bullet just vaporizes before it hits something to stop it. I kinda blame video games and airsoft type stuff. I try to tell people to think about whats actually happening when they start yanking on the trigger.

My house growing up you simply did not handle loaded firearms. And you didnt load until you were at the range or out hunting. Chamber checks and safeties were the norm. And you better not dryfire! NO DRYFIREING!!!! Im pretty old school minded on firearms though. The notion of timing myself to see how fast I can pull a trigger never entered my mind growing up. I thought shotguns and Machine guns were for that type of stuff. Blame airguns... when you are a kid growing up with Crosman 760s you learn to take your time and be accurate because having to pump an airgun 10 times for "Maximum Power" is kind of a pain.

Not so sure about a lot of this new Generation thing... They seem to be on their phones nonstop when driving so I dont have as much faith in them as you do when it comes to safety and potential dangers. I get your point though. My hope is that people relax and slow down a bit..... Concentrate on being safe and accurate. Learn to walk properly before they start doing wind sprints with firearms. When I take my kids shooting I am constantly telling them to relax... take your time...breath etc. etc. They are pretty good shots with their youth rifles.

 

HaHa...My problem is I like everything! As for having too many guns.... there are far worse things you can spend money on. Guns are not really throw away consumables. Take care of them and they practically last forever. Then they get handed down hopefully to someone who can appreciate them. I sure wish I had some of my grandparents firearms. Nothing really valuable but it would have been nice to have something of theirs to give my kids someday

 

I caught a bit of grief from friends when I had a poly choke put on a 20 guage semi auto shotgun. I had a deer slayer barrel and a full choke small game barrel. So I took it to a gunsmith I knew and trusted and had a poly choke installed. I heard a lot of groaning as I was told I would diminish the value of the shotgun due to the poly choke. I didn't care as I knew I'd never sell the gun. That was in the early 70's and I still have it and have had a lot of fun hunting a variety of small game with it.

 

Ok, millennial! (Or Gen X'er)
Of course, being born in '63 barely puts me in with the boomers, so I'm as much inclined to agree as be offend by your remark. I've seen a lot of the Man-bun pew pew crowd that doesn't know which end of their overladen ARs to shoulder either.

 

As far as I am concerned all gun enthusiests are boomers. I dont even know what all this slang talk means. You gents are a confusing bunch. I am not even sure what category I fit in with all this talk. People my own age I call MAN (to remind them). Older folks I still say Sir and Mam (again to remind them). Younger I say "Kid". My children I mostly say QUIET DOWN!! Wife..... I just keep my mouth shut and dont say anything.

 

Ha! Fair enough. I’m a Gen-x’r, but grew up around all my father’s boomer friends and a lot of WWII veterans in the shooting hobby. Amongst one of the most colorful was an old WWII P-47 fighter pilot. One day when I was about 12 and was shooting cans with an old WWII era 1911 he came over and bet my a soda that he could hit can in the first shot, shooting from the hip. Sure enough, I soon owed him a soda. He hit 2 out of 3 cans from the hip. He then told me the story of how when they were fogged in in France after Normandy, they would spend the morning shooting at cans with their 1911 sides arms, betting each other. Apparently he got pretty good at it.

A lot of great guys and absolutely more knowledge about most things in their pinky finger than many people today have in their entire body, but truthfully I just never saw very good gun safety coming out of that group. Many of them learned gun safety watching John Wayne movies.

 

Ouch!


Not from what I observe at my local ranges... And consciousness of The Four Rules occurred as the boomers were establishing themselves in law enforcement, the military, while Hunter Safety courses became mandatory in most states during the '70, and during the early days of commercial firearms training schools. But, I will agree that my father's generation was absolutely horrible with regard to observing the four rules...And Grandpa, great hunter that he was, couldn't keep his finger of the trigger of any gun he ever handled.

 

Unfortunately, there are a lot of offenders of all the generations I suppose. I haven’t seen the discipline with the older Gen that I hang out with but then again much of the younger gens I hang out with are true enthusiasts or prior service so, it could be my biased sample group.

 

Tp rephrase an earlier comments.

People usually don't care what a specific person does, but in the bigger picture, many of us have been so disappointed that most "milsurps" we have seen at gun shows were sporterized.

We simply wanted to see at least one Enfield or Mauser etc which was in the original configuration. This became very rare.

 

Wouldn't it make sense to have them put a barrel on rem 700 upper, or something that might require a little more work than torquing and checking headspace?

I've got a lot of questions, and I'm not liking the little bit you said.

 

You're talking to the messenger.

 

I'm not knocking you. I'm knocking the program. That's terrifying they're teaching bubba'ing in 2022.

 

As long as it's done decently, I don't really care all that much. But when they hacksaw off a couple inches of barrel, or like on one gun I was looking to buy, badly engraved someone's entire name and SS# on the frame of an otherwise very nice S&W 29-2. When I say entire name, I meant it! It was like:

William
Lucas
Simmons
XXX-XXX-XXXX

Not the actual name on the gun.
But I think about people who care about what someone does to something like a Glock kind of like those people who worry about how done you like your steak.

 

I thought it was a perfect fit, Hay man checkout your car, its beautiful.....well I am sure there is someone somewhere that thinks it is an improvement, but for the rest of the planet......well.

 

But wait, there's more! Vang Comp used to be here so if out looking for a used shotgun that hasn't been besmirched, it's not going to go well for you with shotguns either, heh.

 

Well you better come to Houston and humiliate me then. I got a Springfield Ronin 1911 in 10mm a few months back.

Thank gosh it has front cocking serration or I would never have been able to get the slide back in the beginning.

It was like the Sword in the Stone for anyone visiting my house for a bit: think you can rack the slide on this 1911 for me?