The Story's the Same One...

[Cypress Knee]

“Except for the names and a few other changes, the story’s the same one” –Neil Diamond

When I was a young boy I used to browse through my father’s magazines – Field & Stream, Sports Afield, and Outdoor Life. I’ve always wanted a rifle like they used to advertise in the old hunting journals, and now that I am passing through the middle-age crisis stage I have decided to go ahead and buy one to fulfil a boyhood dream of ownership.

I visited some gunshops. It was like going into a guitar store. Walls behind the counters were loaded with a myriad of rifles and shotguns of varying shapes, sizes, colors and materials. You had to ask to hold one. Accessories of all sorts out front. Customers wandered in talking to staff in a second language that I vaguely understood. Intimidation for sure. Finally, a worker would ask what I wanted and I would blurt out, “I’m just looking today”, then leave.

It was like looking for the Gibson my grandfather once had. “Was it an L or a slope? Steel strings, or nylon? Mahogany or rosewood? What kind of music did he play?” The answer is “I don’t know, it was under the bed and my brother and I would sneak a peek when the grown-ups weren’t around. My brother hocked it after Gramps died and nobody misses except me.”

So I turned to that old stand-bye, the Internet. The Web.

It is just like hanging out on the AGF. The discussions are basically the same, it is just that the product is different.

Can't find what you are looking for at your local dealer? It is for sale on the web!

Instead of endless discussions about tonewoods and body shapes, there are endless discussions about calibers and actions.

Instead of neverending talk about improving performance through various strings and picks, there is neverending talk about improving performance through various grains and grams as pertains to bullets and powder.

There is talk about composite stocks, or maple, or walnut or others, as well as grades of wood and appointments.

Time periods, factory locations, and corporate ownership are all discussion topics. Buying a Marlin lever action with a “JM” proof stamp is apparently like finding a Westerly Guild.

Then there are the accessories by the score.

Remington just declared Chapter 11 after years of corporate bean-counters ruining the brand. Sounds like a Gibson story to me.

And just like AGF, there are a lot of people willing to provide me with sage advice, depending whether I want to hunt grizzlies in Alaska, prairie dogs in Kansas or plink at empty pop bottles. The truth is that it will most probably stay in the case next to a Browning shotgun I inherited from my father that hasn’t been fired in at least twenty years.

Well, this isn't making a long story any shorter, but for those of you interested enough to read this far and wonder what happened, well, I finally decided on a Winchester Model 70 Super Grade in 30-06. It feels like I have finally decided to order a Martin HD-28 in a different world.

[Steve DeRosa]

Visited a few uber-high-end gun shops back when there were such things here in NYC - including the original Abercrombie and Fitch, back when they could outfit you for an African safari - and as a former competitive target shooter I have the same appreciation for the craftsmanship involved in fashioning a smoothly-functioning lockwork or a finely-figured stock, as I do for effortless action on a perfectly-carved neck or a quartersawn old-growth BRW body. Political baggage aside, I've found artisans in both fields to be capable of products that transcend their primary function, to serve as genuine works of art - and IME they're both potentially hazardous to immediate bystanders in the wrong hands...

[unimogbert]

..........

[philo426]

The 99 is lever action so that could explain the mounting problem.I always wanted a Winchester or Browning High Wall in .45-70.

[unimogbert]

............

[philo426]

Yep that would really knock the scope off center.

[PorkPieGuy]

I feel your pain CK.

I went through this whenever I was the the market for a conceal carry firearm. I finally settled on one, and I never really talk about it with gun enthusiasts because it's not a Glock (the Glock fan base is really "excited" about that brand, and apparently, I should be really excited too, but I'm not...but I'm not telling them that).

It looks like you made a good choice. Looks like it's a lot of fun to shoot!

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by PorkPieGuy

...I never really talk about it with gun enthusiasts because it's not a Glock (the Glock fan base is really "excited" about that brand, and apparently, I should be really excited too, but I'm not...but I'm not telling them that)...

Never met any Martin guitar owners, haveya...?

[PorkPieGuy]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Never met any Martin guitar owners, haveya...?

No, never.

[Bob Womack]

I've long wished there was some way to introduce guitarists to marksmanship. It takes there same dogged determination and a technical slant to play guitar and to master marksmanship. I've long thought that if some could overcome the prevalent biases they might find and interesting outlet in shooting.

And about all the opinions: Yes, it is just like the guitar forum world, and just like in the guitar forum world, quite often you can get help from the 'Net but then you have to make up your own so-called mind. I participate in a couple of forums and moderate another mostly centering around historical firearms because that is my interest.

Bob

[Mr. Jelly]

I'm not sure there is any animal you can hunt in Iowa with a 30-06. It's bows and shot guns for deer.

[Cypress Knee]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

I'm not sure there is any animal you can hunt in Iowa with a 30-06. It's bows and shot guns for deer.

Hi Mr. Jelly,

I do not have any intention of visiting Iowa for any reason other than to check it off my 50 states been there list, and it will be behind Alaska, Hawaii, and North Dakota for sure.

But your comment piqued my interest, so I did a little bit of investigating. It appears that Iowa bars the use of any "necked" cartridge for hunting, which eliminates the 30-06, .270, .308, 30-30, .243, AR-15 in 5.56 and so on.

However, "walled" cartridges are allowed. These are rounds like the .357 magnum, 44.magnum, 45 Colt, 44-40 and so forth.

The "walled" cartridges in most cases are the "cowboy" calibers. So you can hunt deer with a rifle chambered for .357, 44, and 45. The calibers were developed so that cowboys could carry the same round for both their pistol and their rifle, which in those days were regarded as tools of the trade and not implements of destruction.

So apparently you can use a Marlin 1894 lever action chambered in 44-40 or 357. magnum, but you cannot use a Marlin 1894 lever action chambered in 30-30 or 45-70.

I don't want to get into the politics of who, how or why, the point of the thread is that if you are going to use a pre-war Martin with Brazilian rosewood in Calgary, you better know the law of the land before you go, the same as you best know the law of the land before you go hunting a deer with a rifle in Iowa.

[Mr. Jelly]

Originally Posted by Cypress Knee

So apparently you can use a Marlin 1894 lever action chambered in 44-40 or 357. magnum, but you cannot use a Marlin 1894 lever action chambered in 30-30 or 45-70.

That was more information than I imagined. My understanding has been that you can only hunt deer, which we have allot of, with deer slugs in Iowa. They were having to many bullets flying through farm houses. Most everyone I know hunts with bows now days. Nebraska is a different story.