It’s not often I come across a rifle I’ve not only never seen, but never even heard of. So step forward Collectors, to show me the error of my ways:
Now that lil’ thang is as cute as a button — and would make a wonderful companion piece to a Ruger Blackhawk, similarly chambered:
Want. I want that Marlin carbine, and I want my Blackhawk back, except that its current owner won’t sell it back to me. Aaargh.
I have long loved shooting the Browning Buck Mark .22 pistols, having owned several in my lifetime. They are accurate, have an excellent trigger, and the only small drawback to ownership thereof is that stripping them for cleaning can be a PITA until you get used to it — unlike say the Ruger pre-Mark IV models, which were almost impossible to reassemble without assistance.
Anyway, here’s Browning’s excellent Buck Mark Micro Bull Barrel, on sale at Collectors:
What makes this model so special? As Collectors notes, it has a threaded, suppressor-ready barrel.
And they have four of them on sale.
Read into that what you will.
And Texas residents should note, there are some interesting legal developments coming up re: the issue of Texas-made suppressors and the Supreme Court. But I’ll cover those in a separate post later, once the dust has settled.
I have to say that I’d like to own one of these little sweethearts anyway, but this may be a deal-closer.
…in which ol’ Hickock45 goes through a whole bunch of his favorite bolt-action rifles, and decides which would be the last one he’d ever sell. Here’s the list (in case you don’t have time to watch the video):
I have fired every single one of these rifles, some of them scores of times, and I love all of them beyond words.
It was an agonizing choice, and I chuckled like hell in sympathy as he moaned and grumbled during the process.
But given the choice of the rifles he had on hand, I think I’d have chosen exactly the same one he did, for pretty much the same reasons he did.
Maybe.
This week, our teenage wall posters of yore feature the Lamborghini Countach:
…and Raquel Welch:
Classic pairing, if ever there was one.
Reader Brad_In_IL suggests a theme for a shooty weekend:
“Seeing that this is Memorial Day Weekend, I’ve decided to only shoot pieces which are uniquely and distinctly American. Therefore…
“Saturday will be my Browning / Stoner 2023 Memorial Day Commemorative Shoot, and I’ll be shooting the 1911 and the AR-15… and maybe some .22 pistol (also Browning). No 9mm this weekend… Georg Luger (Austrian) will have to take a rest.”
An excellent thought: bringing a little background to the typical “Oh what should I shoot today?” question that plagues us all. And going All-American on both gun and cartridge makes it a little more fun, especially as it relegates the 9mm Europellet and the 7.62x39mm Commie to the “Later, Furrin Bastards!” category.
To make life even more interesting, let’s set an arbitrary criterion of “guns and cartridges from before 1900“.
Not so easy now, is it?
Here’s what I would take:
Winchester 1894 (.30-30/.30 WCF or .45 Colt/.45 Long Colt or .44-40)
…and of course Marlin’s and Henry’s versions would be welcome, too.
Browning 1885 High Wall (.45-70 Gov)
Colt Single Action Army (.45 Colt/.45 Long Colt or .44-40)
And of course, there’s some plinking to be done:
Marlin Model 39A (.22 LR) 
Winchester Mod 61 (and clones)
(clones allowed because Winchester stopped making them because they’re idiots)
Now, I’m not saying I actually own any of the above (because of that Tragic Canoeing Accident on the Brazos a few years ago), but you have to admit, there’s a whole lotta shooty Murkin goodness on that list.
Your suggestions for the festivities in Comments, as always.
So you’re a young-ish man or woman, and you want to get into the wonderful world of Hunting / Target Shooting, Rifle Division. But when you start looking at what’s out there, you’re bowled over by the prices.
You might saunter over to Collectors, and snatch up this one, for only $600:
Here’s the checklist, all answered in the positive:
Caveats:
Honestly, it’s a dandy for an entry-level shooter. Me, I think the positives outweigh the potential negatives, bigly.