Tag: Guns and such

I think I’ve said before that I can understand why someone won’t shoot a particular gun — its extreme age makes it risky, its historical value, or maybe shooting it would devalue it from its “unfired NIB” value, to give but two reasons — but all I’m saying is that I sure as hell wouldn’t hold off from popping some lead downrange with it.

Here’s a prime example, from one of the Usual Suspects, of a presentation-worthy Browning Medalist target pistol:

(The link has all sorts of fine pics, showing the engraving and so on.)

Now Barnett wants $7,500 for this unfired beauty, but there’s something eating at me about it (other than the silly price, of course;  maybe it’s worth it — I don’t move in the Browning Collector Set circles, so I wouldn’t know).

A precision target pistol is made to be used.  All that smithing and careful detail in both its design and manufacture is completely wasted when it’s just going to sit unfired for 35 years in some guy’s safe, and only taken out to be lovingly wiped down (or shown off), then put back for another decade until, eventually, it gets sold.  I mean, WTF?

Sorry, I just can’t get my head around it.  And let’s be honest:  what might make the next owner not want to shoot it is the fact that he just dropped over seven grand on its virginal goodness.  We don’t even know if the thing is accurate — it’s precision is all potential, not actual.

All I can say is that it’s a good thing I haven’t yet won the lottery, because if I had, that Medalist would now be in my possession with its trigger pulled well over 500 times.  And if just the thought of that makes you get the shivers, we live in different worlds.

And if it’s too pretty to be fired, then I wouldn’t buy the stupid thing.

Had occasion to go over to my local Merchant O’ Death yesterday, just to browse a little and to tickle my fancy by looking at a couple of guns I’ve been eyeing out lately.  Well…

The handgun counter is usually crammed with guns — well over a hundred, as I recall — and the few guns you see under the glass are either the very expensive (Nighthawk, etc.) or else .22 pistols and single-action revolvers.

Ditto the rifle racks:  the nearly-empty one on the left is usually packed with AR-15s and AKs… not anymore.  The rack on the right has sporting shotguns, mostly, and even those have been moving out — bought by people who, when they find all their first- and second choices out of stock, are buying double-barreled shotguns just to have something on hand.

The guys tell me that they have over six hundred guns on order, but the distributors are looking after the bigger dealers first, so little establishments like this one are in a desert.  Even then:  “Have you been to Cabela’s or Bass Pro recently?  They’re almost as bad as we are.”

When I think of all the work I’ve done over the years to try and make America a Nation of Riflemen again… and all it took was a few riots in Minneapolis and Seattle to do just that.