Working Rifle

[R.M.C.]

I've got a "truck gun" so that's probably a "working rifle" lol

 

[Red Leg]

@Red Leg I have to ask., are the Armadilo a pest.? I've seen pictures I guess I assumed they are not that common and look harmless. I understand why you won't want skunks around.
All of our wildlife is protected so the only thing we might shoot close by with a .22 is rabbits , for or a feral cat.
We have Echidnas might be the closest to an Armadillo.a spiky little critter who's only defence is putting up an all over wall of short spikes and digging down. Foxes and Dingos eat them but really they are a harmless little critter and my wife loves them.

They are the spawn of Satan. They will destroy a lawn or a flowerbed overnight looking for grubs and worms. They are considered a pest species with no protections (just like a coyote or a skunk). As an added special attribute, they are a carrier of the leprosy bacteria. A scoped .22 with attached light is the perfect armament.

They also have IQ's approximating that of primitive plant life.

 

[rookhawk]

Standard walnut vs. AAA fancy walnut. Nitride or Cerrocoat vs. ultra lustrous blueing. Maybe even Krylon! I just have no interest in doing a pretty gun myself. Don't want to take that thrill from someone else - just not my gig. I suspect it is from playing Army for 21 years - anything shiny gets one killed - here it spooks the game. YMMV.

I've seen many 100 year old rifles used in Africa that were and are the finest money could buy. Today are they priceless? No, not after a century of use. Were they services regularly and 100% reliable for a professional? Absolutely.

Will all these modern "Economy" rifles or even the technological polymer based rifles be "working rifles" in 20-30 years? I doubt it. We don't even know the half-life of this stuff yet as synthetics break down and the new methods of parts begin to erode over time.

What we do know is that some pretty basic equipment can keep a 50-100 year old rifle working very well. Gun oil. Bore cleaner. Stock Oil and Paste Wax. A bit of bronze wool and cotton patches. This stuff works just fine on $200,000 Purdys and $1000 CZs.

 

[WAB]

Americans have a strange disease when it comes to fine firearms. There is a desire to maintain the original finish even if it is worn to 25%. The brits, Germans et al built these fine firearms to be used. It was normal practice to send a gun or rifle to the maker at the end of the season to be ‘gone over’. This meant stripping, cleaning, routine maintenance, and yes blacking or wood finishing as needed. Why, on this side of the pond, we consider this sacrilege is absolutely beyond me.

As for me personally, every firearm I own is a working gun. Custom rifles, British guns, German guns, it doesn’t matter. I grab the right tool for the job and use it. If it gets a battle scar, so be it. If necessary, I will send it in to be dealt with.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hello ,

Agree, of course. Samples of working rifles would be: an original Sporting Mauser, a Mannlicher-Schoenauer, a BRNO 21/22, ZG47, early ZKK, FN Sporting, Husqvarna, Winchester 70 pre 64.
Of course, plain (if plain fit there...) Rigby, Westley Richards, H&H and Purdey Mausers, are more than enough.

Best!

CF

 

[Newboomer]

All my rifles (and handguns) are workers and tools of the trade. The only distinction among any of them is that I pick the one for the job at hand. I'm not one for fancy expensive pieces. My most expensive and highest quality one is my MRC American Legend 30-06 at about $1700. They all get used and if one picks up a scratch or ding it's a battle scar with a story.

 

[rookhawk]

Americans have a strange disease when it comes to fine firearms. There is a desire to maintain the original finish even if it is worn to 25%. The brits, Germans et al built these fine firearms to be used. It was normal practice to send a gun or rifle to the maker at the end of the season to be ‘gone over’. This meant stripping, cleaning, routine maintenance, and yes blacking or wood finishing as needed. Why, on this side of the pond, we consider this sacrilege is absolutely beyond me.

As for me personally, every firearm I own is a working gun. Custom rifles, British guns, German guns, it doesn’t matter. I grab the right tool for the job and use it. If it gets a battle scar, so be it. If necessary, I will send it in to be dealt with.

amen. Has anyone seen something more beautiful than a well looked after European arm? Every bump and ding adding character, but properly cleaned and put back into service perhaps hundreds of times? Honest wear.

The secret in all of this is caring for a traditional gun is quite easy, it’s just that no one at a sporting gun store knows how to do it.

My 9 year old shot his Churchill shotgun in an 8 hour downpour yesterday. Guess what he did last night? Dowsed it in oil. Guess what he is doing today? Carding off the micro rust with a bit of bronze wool and Kroil. Guess what he is doing tomorrow? He’s putting some paste wax on the stock to keep it water repellant for the next downpour. Guns are meant to be used and loved. They are also meant to be looked after. That is the case whether you paid $300 or $300,000. A good rifle is functional art. If it’s too good in someone’s mind to use in the rain, it’s not functional. If it’s made out of plastic and cerrokote, it’s not art.

They get better with age. It’s sort of bragging rights that it looks that good after that long, just like a baseball glove that is rebuilt season after season.

Only in America do we have this tendency to buy disposable or low quality goods. Only in America do we buy high quality goods and then consider them too good to use. This is why there are Winchester model 70s from 1950 still in their cardboard box and why there are so many plastic guns of low quality at used gun shops. Neither achieved its mission for a life of proper use.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Excelent, rookhawk!!! Very well said! Agree in toto!

 

[deewayne2003]

100% agree is Redlegs description of Armadillos & rookhawk too!

Now having said that, as someone that used to guide whitetail deer hunts - if your actual vocation includes the use of a gun your going to need "working gun" and I define that as meeting as many of the following tasks at hand.....

1. Guiding clients and or especially people who have never hunted before; if their handling your gun you can bet it will get bumps and dings - not just once in a while, but every single hunt.

2. It's not an emotional episode if it's stolen or lost during travel.

3. Ever have a ranch owner loan your rifle to 2 Chinese nationals that are business investors with ZERO hunting experience and allow them to take it hog hunting at night in a 4 wheeler while you are sleeping?.... its really a joy to wake up to at 4:30am - Those Chinese guys ended up being good friends of mine but that .300wby was never the same.

4. Cost effective ammo .... I like to take kids and new hunters out; even if they don't shoot an animal I always make sure they get to shoot and let them target practice as much as they care to.

 

[Dwight Beagle]

I own a grand total of seven centerfire rifles, three wood stocked and four synthetic. They are all “working rifles”. Maybe if I owned more some of them wouldn’t be. I too like some posters don’t really know what a working rifle is. I also don’t understand what a “truck gun” is.

 

[Nkawu]

Jim Corbett’s .275 Rigby might be a good example to discuss. Used heavily but well looked after, and probably still just as good as the day he got it. It started out as a fancy gift from a governor, but quickly proved itself an indispensable working tool.

 

[Graham Hunter]

Truck gun is what most of us Country Boys carry in our trucks. Used for Varmits, Predators and pests. Not a gun that makes you cry if it gets banged or scratched.

I own a grand total of seven centerfire rifles, three wood stocked and four synthetic. They are all “working rifles”. Maybe if I owned more some of them wouldn’t be. I too like some posters don’t really know what a working rifle is. I also don’t understand what a “truck gun” is.

 

[Roller]

If I don’t shoot it, I don’t keep it. Hence, I suppose all mine are “working rifles”.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Agree, Roller. And what Dwight says. I have 6 big game rifles, all working rifles. From older to newer:
1- Original Sporting DWM 1893 Mauser 7x57
2- Mauser 1935 7x57
3- Winchester 70 pre 64 (1954) .375 H&H
4- FN -AKAH Mauser .30-06 -1965
5- BRNO ZKK 600 9,3x62 -1967, peep sight
6- BRNO ZKK 601 .308 W 1977, peep sight
Anyway, TODAY, from all of them my main working rifle, the one I get first without thinking, is the ZKK 600 9,3x62.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Its an alien concept in my neck of the woods I think. A rifle can take anything up to a year to import and end up costing perhaps twice what it costs in the USA or Europe. For me anyway I treasure the few I have and really look after them, sort of OTT! I was really cross with my carelessness when my Ruger No1 picked up a scratch on the recent hunt, Of course it is bound to happen, and wont stop me using them plenty, but carefully!

 

[rookhawk]

Agree, Roller. And what Dwight says. I have 6 big game rifles, all working rifles. From older to newer:
1- Original Sporting DWM 1893 Mauser 7x57
2- Mauser 1935 7x57
3- Winchester 70 pre 64 (1954) .375 H&H
4- FN -AKAH Mauser .30-06 -1965
5- BRNO ZKK 600 9,3x62 -1967, peep sight
6- BRNO ZKK 601 .308 W 1977, peep sight
Anyway, TODAY, from all of them my main working rifle, the one I get first without thinking, is the ZKK 600 9,3x62.

I would bet my life on any of these rifles in good working order whether they are worth $500 or $5000 as collectibles.

All are the right tools for the jobs at hand, all are highly repairable. All have proven track records for reliability, feed, and accuracy with a wide variety of ammunition. All have ample spare parts in existence and all of them can have custom replacement parts made by a wide swath of gunsmiths. All of them when completely and utterly destroyed can be recrafted into a $100,000 custom rifle if you wanted to because their actions are "bespoke rifle grade" as donors.

I don't see a downside to any of these. So for whatever variety of reasons regardless of monetary value, these seem like "working rifles" in the complimentary sense of the word to me.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Me to, rookhawk. They are made to be used, not fancy but compleately reliable and foolproof in every way.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

The phrase "working rifle" is used by many people. What exactly does one classify as a working rifle? Its something i cant get my head around. I tend to treat all my rifles the same, as in i use them all and don't baby them. Thats not too say that i abuse them. I still value them as they still all came at a cost. So what do you fellas class as working rifles?

@Buffhunter
Like yourself all my rifles are used but not abused. To me my working rifle is the one I reach for when I don't know what I will come across on a hunt.
In my case it's my mice to buff rifle my Whelen.
All my rifles work If'n they don't I fix them. Haha haha.
Bob.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

My mate has a work rifle. He is a
Roo shooter. If he says work rifle he means a beat up 788 Remington .222 he has rebarrelled several times and has a parts draw from previous ones he wrecked for parts.
Some farmers might have one rifle., a work rifle or a work rifle plus others if they are keen shooters.
One mate carried a Sako .22-250 on his property like his Father and his Father before him.
Me., I have Ugly Betty as my work rifle. Its a Tikka T3 CTR in 7mm-08 synthetic stainless bought on clearance now with a clear reliable sub 1k scope.
I always wanted a 7mM-08 and this as was intended to be a work rifle. A versatile One that I will use regularly and not fear to scratch she's not pretty but pretty bloody effective and I have some some good shooting with it. Rolling pigs in quick succession a few times.
I shoot foxes too., being mid weight and compact I find I manage it well from th e car.

@CBH
Chris does your mate need another 788 in 222 in good condition. My son just wants to keep his 35 and 308.
His 08 is his working gun over everything he has to choose from including dads rifles.
Bob

 

[fourfive8]

I'm with the OP on exactly what is a "working rifle"? In the end I make sure they all always work! Which means they must be maintained and taken care of- no matter for work or play (hunting or targets) or personal self defense.

The other thing that came to mind would be firearms I carried when I was working. That would be one of two or three types of rifles with scope along with a sidearm and a short barreled Remington 870 with full length magazine.