Everything I hate about plastic guns in one picture

[VertigoBE]

Surround yourself with good people everywhere you go, regardless of age differences that may occur.

Very, very true

 

[Mike70560]

I love most firearms, it can be plastic and stainless or wood and blued as long as the quality is good. And at almost 60 years old I feel no need to justify my taste.

 

[Ragman]

Holy crap, did somebody take a wizz in your Cornflakes this morning? Kind of lumped a lot of people and age groups into that "soulless" category including myself in my 50s and my stepson in his 20s. Up here where we pretty much can't even own military style rifles or handguns, a black rifle to me is a hunting rifle with a black plastic stock. They may not be as asthetically pleasing as a nice wood stock, but I think my Tikka looks pretty good. And I know it will shoot just as good or better than your fancy schmancy rifles which is all that matters. Yes a rifle with a beautiful wood stock is a joy to look at, but whenever I pick up my Ruger American I get a big smile on my face. But I guess I have no soul. By the way...ALL rifles are inanimate objects. Saying any of them have souls is just silly. Buy the guns that satisfy your personal tastes and budget. If plastic stocked rifles really get you worked up, that's fine. But to insult a large group of people like that reflects poorly on you. Luckily for me the most perfect and lovely rifle ever manufactured lives in my own gun safe...a 1970s Browning BLR. AND it has wood.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

@Ragman ... if I have never said it before, I have always admired your dedication to your BLR. Seems kinda like how I feel about my MXLR. Never owned a BLR but if I did I am thinking pistol grip, stainless (or whatever they call their finish/metal) and the light wood, maybe in 7mm RM? But I digress... this is somewhat off topic...

 

[Mike B. 216]

I agree with Rookhawk about most of the so called gunsmiths today can only replace parts on Ar-15. They have knowledge how to repair any other firearm.

 

[rookhawk]

I agree with Rookhawk about most of the so called gunsmiths today can only replace parts on Ar-15. They have knowledge how to repair any other firearm.

It chaps my hide a bit as we start to abuse terms as a society. Gunsmith (armorer), Expert (enthusiast), Craftsman (apprentice), Girl (Boy), Quality (adequate), Fancy (basic), Rich (comfortable).

Words are tools and we are really struggling as a culture with doublespeak. Once we debase the definitions to make them anything we want them to be, we can't even weigh or measure something as better or worse.

I met an FFL manufacturer the other day that got in front of a room of 200 people stating he is a master gunsmith. He does cerokote. He builds ARs. He doesn't own a mill nor a lathe. He has never used rust bluing salts. He cannot checker. He cannot head a stock to an action. He's been in business 3 years at most.

It's sort of similar to the kids at the car dealerships calling themselves master mechanics because they can read an OBDII display and install the module based on an error code. Can they build or restore a vehicle? No.

Word and skill inflation now runs so high we have to change titles because new hires find all our old titles so condescending. "Intern" is now "seasonal associate". Junior Salesperson is now "Sales Executive". Manager is now "Vice President". It may sound like being sidetracked, but it is the same as the "armorer" versus "Master gunsmith".

 

[IvW]

How much plastic in a R8????

 

[Vashper]

Something similar can be said about silicone

 

[Aaron N]

Here’s a seperate view on the disposable mindset that runs rampant in our consumer world.

Instead of blaming millennials for buying cheap disposable products (which consist of 90% of their available options to purchase), maybe we should be pointing our fingers at the boomers who directed and managed the industries to put profit over quality. And then the ones who own the ad agencies that have been paid to make everyone think that they need the latest and greatest.

You can’t place the blame on the marionette, when someone else is pulling the strings.

 

[VertigoBE]

It chaps my hide a bit as we start to abuse terms as a society. Gunsmith (armorer), Expert (enthusiast), Craftsman (apprentice), Girl (Boy), Quality (adequate), Fancy (basic), Rich (comfortable).

Words are tools and we are really struggling as a culture with doublespeak. Once we debase the definitions to make them anything we want them to be, we can't even weigh or measure something as better or worse.

I met an FFL manufacturer the other day that got in front of a room of 200 people stating he is a master gunsmith. He does cerokote. He builds ARs. He doesn't own a mill nor a lathe. He has never used rust bluing salts. He cannot checker. He cannot head a stock to an action. He's been in business 3 years at most.

It's sort of similar to the kids at the car dealerships calling themselves master mechanics because they can read an OBDII display and install the module based on an error code. Can they build or restore a vehicle? No.

Word and skill inflation now runs so high we have to change titles because new hires find all our old titles so condescending. "Intern" is now "seasonal associate". Junior Salesperson is now "Sales Executive". Manager is now "Vice President". It may sound like being sidetracked, but it is the same as the "armorer" versus "Master gunsmith".

View attachment 518845

That and the general touchiness of people. Whenever someone has something of value to say, it seems someone somewhere will get offended.

If you don't like what someone else has to say, ignore them and go your own way. But from my own (limited) experience, I have learned more from people who would on occasion say something I do not agree with or who might be less pleasant, than from people who always are agreeable.

(not directed at you @rookhawk)

 

[Doug Hamilton]

From the annals of the web:

View attachment 518786

This pretty much sums up society for me and its political ramifications. It’s why I detest plastic guns and their aficionados as it has so many underpinnings that are both irrational and contemptible. Some of the straw man arguments:

1.) I don’t want to scratch up a good gun. (As they buy a plastic gun that costs more)
2.) I can’t afford a hand finished gun. (As they spend a fortune on disposable items, have no ability to save, and cannot manage impulse control in their daily spending)
3.) The new technology is better. (As they buy the cheapest possible mass produced designs and then festoon it with hundreds of dollars in nonsense accessories)
4.) I want something for the end of the world as we know it. (While they are dying of COPD and imagine defending themselves in an environment where they cannot provide power/food/safety on their own land but they own a tactical armada believing that gun is all their gonna need to be king of the dystopia)
5.) Hand made things are old-timey and only boomers and X-ers care about anything of any long-term worth. (as they squander their life leasing and renting everything possible, then buying disposable items in the remainder)
6.) By buying cheaper guns I have more money left over for hunting. (As they book cull hunts, helicopter hunts, and any other hunt that focuses on mass slaughter with no aesthetic or challenge as a focus)
7.) The plastic guns are all I need to get my own food. (As they process and throw away countless game a year because they can’t cook or won’t eat anything not sold at burger world)
8.) My gunsmith says they are better. (As they talk to a kid that makes guns from parts in the mail with zero hours training, completely dismissing the masters of their craft that spent a lifetime building things of beauty and function)
9.) I only buy plastic guns because wood guns are uppity and upper class. (While they buck social hierarchies in all areas of their life and never attain any form of meaningful work, nor attract a woman of any social status)
10.) I can upgrade my plastic guns anytime I want whereas the wood ones do not assemble like legos. (While trying to do the same thing to disastrous results in all areas of their life such as upgrading their Jeep until it no longer runs, their glock until it no longer fires reliably, and their country until every agency is a socialist mess that is too big to fail)
11.) Fancy guns take too long to locate and research whereas my FN SCAR and HK556 is available at the local gunshop. (While they fund such impulses by selling off grandma’s holocaust ring and pawning the ancestral silverware at the cash-into-gold place in the stripmall impulsively)


Some of the many attributes of the plastic gun movement for your political amusement this morning.

Well said. Of the.many rifles and shotguns that I own, only two do not have blued steel in walnut. I found that Western Washington (The Great North Wet) was really hard on my rifles and bought Rem. Model 7 in stainless and synthetic. I also have an AR that I used to help train new correctional officers. I do not consider the AR platform to be a hunting weapon. It has another purpose. Plastic guns just have no soul!

 

[Ragman]

@Ragman ... if I have never said it before, I have always admired your dedication to your BLR. Seems kinda like how I feel about my MXLR. Never owned a BLR but if I did I am thinking pistol grip, stainless (or whatever they call their finish/metal) and the light wood, maybe in 7mm RM? But I digress... this is somewhat off topic...

Just call me the @Bob Nelson 35Whelen of the .308 Win and the Browning BLR! Haha. Your Marlin is a thing of beauty too!

 

[TheSayHeyKid]

Best quote of this thread..."I call these election guns". And a new term was born. I have a few that fit that description then. HAHA!

 

[cash_tx]

Although I'm a Gen-X'er and have a lifelong love for walnut and blued-steel, I did go through a phase of building one AR after another for a couple of years. I would certainly recommend every gun owner build at least one AR; it's a fantastic learning experience and really boosts your confidence in your rifle. Here is a funny project that I put together just to toy with my gun buddies. ;-)

 

[Hogpatrol]

I'm in Shane's viewpoint camp.

 

[MTA]

As an X-er the age gap between us is probably very small. The differences in societal values between the generations have never been broader in the history of generations.

If you want to be happy, wealthy, and successful, surround yourself with boomers and Gen-Xers and do everything they have done to accumulate wealth. Listen to stories of the "greatest generation" and raise your family exactly that way to be happy.

While my gun preferences above are meant to be humorous as they are hyperbolic, Pay attention to the implied vices I mention whether you own plastic guns or not.

The real world is going to swallow the Y and Z generation and spit out the bones due to their overwhelming moral and ethical shortcomings. That is, unless they vote for totalitarianism to "make things fair" which is to say "destroy all values since having them yourself is unreasonable, therefore lets eat the laudable".

Glad you're here. Surround yourself with good people everywhere you go, regardless of age differences that may occur.

I appreciate the advice. My old man disciplined me and my siblings via belt growing up so I make for a piss poor example of a typical millennial

Very glad to be here and appreciative for the font of knowledge this site and the members have been for my first safari in May

 

[rookhawk]

I'm in Shane's viewpoint camp.

Indeed, a gun is just a tool, says Shane.

He says that while holding the finest revolver ever made, a Colt SAA that cost nearly a half year's wages in its date of production, holstered in a handmade leather holster with enough Sterling Conchos to pay off my first, second, and third cars in scrap weight.

But yes, its just a tool.

 

[MTA]

Although I'm a Gen-X'er and have a lifelong love for walnut and blued-steel, I did go through a phase of building one AR after another for a couple of years. I would certainly recommend every gun owner build at least one AR; it's a fantastic learning experience and really boosts your confidence in your rifle. Here is a funny project that I put together just to toy with my gun buddies. ;-)

View attachment 518853

Got the ole Andre the Giant sized trigger guard there hahaha

 

[Dewald]

I had a good laugh at your post and agree with your sentiments 100%. Thanks for a good bit of tongue in cheek humour, with a lot of truth in it Rookhawk.

The two scenarios where I’m happy to shoot a plastic and stainless rifle is when culling at night. As in commercial culling of 2000 springbuck and blesbuck for the export market, where a barrel lasts a season. Id much rather do that to a Tikka Super Varmint .243, than a commercial FN Mauser in .250 Savage. The Tikka, HiLift Jack, and the wheel spanner fall in the same category. Pictures below.

The second scenario is following up wounded game in the rain and mud, this time of year in northern Natal, when 200mm in 48h is not unheard of. The thorn scrubs are now at their thickests as well, and here I enjoy my .375 Ruger and especially my .416 Ruger.

Lastly baiting bushpig at night in the sugar cane. More often than not the night has a fine drizzle and a gun gets soaked. Here I enjoy my Tikka CTR .308 with a thermal. The name of the game is super selective shooting, and you want to leave your mature sow to bring in new boars. The thermal is of great help for accurate target identification.

 

[VertigoBE]

I had a good laugh at your post and agree with your sentiments 100%. Thanks for a good bit of tongue in cheek humour, with a lot of truth in it Rookhawk.

The two scenarios where I’m happy to shoot a plastic and stainless rifle is when culling at night. As in commercial culling of 2000 springbuck and blesbuck for the export market, where a barrel lasts a season. Id much rather do that to a Tikka Super Varmint .243, than a commercial FN Mauser in .250 Savage. The Tikka, HiLift Jack, and the wheel spanner fall in the same category. Pictures below.

View attachment 518856
View attachment 518857

The second scenario is following up wounded game in the rain and mud, this time of year in northern Natal, when 200mm in 48h is not unheard of. The thorn scrubs are now at there thickests as well, and here I enjoy my .375 Ruger and especially my .416 Ruger.

View attachment 518858

Lastly baiting bushpig at night in the sugarcane. More often than not the night has a fine drizzle and a gun gets soaked. Here I enjoy my Tikka CTR .308 with a thermal. The name of the game is super selective shooting, and you want to leave your mature sow to bring in new boars. The thermal is of great help for accurate target identification.

View attachment 518862

small question for you @Dewald and off topic, but you mention commercial culling of springbok and blesbok for the export market. I suppose this is for the meat? Or is it the skins that are the main goal? In case of the former, is this for export to neighbouring African countries, or rather outside of Africa?