New and pristine or used with patina?

[MS 9x56]

I own and use new rifles but when hunting I don't sit and admire and wonder where they have been and the game they have taken. I have a special affinity for 100+ year old rifles. The work it takes to secure ammo and get them shooting again is half the fun, but they are not whole again until I blood them. Sitting and admiring the workmanship and patina is part of their mystic. These old rifles teach me more about reloading and restoring than I originally set out to know and I thoroughly enjoy the education.

 

[revturbo9967]

Watched a hunt on YouTube yesterday, Dalton Tink showed his personal Winchester .458 stopping rifle. It's well worn with zero finish left on the metal, almost none on the wood, but I'd bet you couldn't buy that gun from him for love nor money. You can get a good look at it right around the 7 minute mark.

I’ve handled this rifle, it’s definitely worn.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Pretty sure Dalton bought a Heym DR

 

[MontanaGrant]

Given the choice I'd rather the gun with wear on it. I don't worry about it, and in fact enjoy carrying on it's tradition 30-50-80-100 years later from what it was made for.

 

[MS 9x56]

All else being equal. Would you rather carry a brand new pristine, immaculate rifle with perfect wood and blueing.

Or one that is in perfect working order but has some blueing worn off and some battle scars on the wood.

I appreciate both. But in my mind if I picture carrying a Rigby rifle for instance, on safari. I picture one with the blueing gone and replaced with a nice brown patina. The action nice and worn in. The stock has dents and scratches.

I love my rifles in great condition. But the look of one that’s been carried for thousands of miles is more unique.

I’ll start with my .458 WM
View attachment 593187View attachment 593188View attachment 593189View attachment 593190View attachment 593191

Now that is what I call patina!!!

 

[MS 9x56]

Depends...once upon a time, rifles as they came from the factory were OK with + - 2moa accuracy. I can put up with a little less than stellar accuracy if it's a caliber I don't plan on stretching the range with. But for distance, especially on an expensive hunt, I want a new quality barrel, well bedded and set up right. New rifles have new rifling. Old rifles in some cases can have someone else's old problems that are now my problems to solve, and some are just plain worn out. Many break action guns cannot be rebarreled without spending the cost of a newer gun, so you are stuck with whatever you got. I often rust blue and renew an older rifle, and improve it all I can. One thing I cannot abide is a truly ugly rifle. I wouldn't marry an ugly...well, you get the idea. And I can't "patina" to the point of NO blueing at all left.

Solving those problems then makes it your responsibility to continue to add to the patina.

 

[buck wild]

I'll take a banger any day.

 

[Warbeast]

The ideal woule be prestine in youbger years and well worn als you and the time with the rifle progresses.

Wanted to do that with a 98 that was given to me when i startet. But sadly a "gunsmith" ruined it

 

[CBeck]

Reviving this thread because, quite simply, there are not nearly enough rifle photographs here.

One can never see too many fine rifles—new and pristine, or worn smooth by years of honest use. There’s something deeply satisfying about the quiet patina that comes from miles in the field and a lifetime of proper work.

In theory, I’m a great believer in leaving well enough alone and allowing character to develop.

In practice… I appear to have a problem.

Despite my best intentions, I routinely find myself in the workshop with rottenstone in hand, freshening an oil finish, easing out a scratch, or touching up a bit of bluing. I tell myself I’m preserving them. You might suggest otherwise.

At present, I’ve settled—more or less—into a three-rifle battery with the noble intention of spending the remainder of my hunting days afield with them., allowing the well worn finish they deserve.

Naturally, this period of contentment lasted only briefly.

One of the rifles is currently stocked in what can only be described as perfectly serviceable, entirely uninspiring walnut, and I’ve already begun the quiet search for something with a bit more character. So much for leaving well enough alone.

In any case, I’d very much enjoy seeing more examples.

Let’s see them—pristine and pampered, or worn, honest, and carrying the stories of where they’ve been.

And please don’t be shy. I’ve yet to meet a member here who suffers from any reluctance to display a treasured rifle—no need to develop that habit now.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Danzig Mauser

 

[CBeck]

Danzig Mauser View attachment 749091View attachment 749092View attachment 749093View attachment 749087

I tell myself constantly that, in 100 years, this stock will gain the character of the one you posted above—straight-grained, rather plain, but full of stories earned over decades afield.

In theory, I’m patient. In practice… not so much. I suspect the rifle is quietly judging me.

Still, there’s something satisfying imagining the slow, honest accumulation of character. A stock that wears its history with dignity rather than polish. One day, maybe, it’ll join the ranks of rifles that have truly lived.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

All else being equal. Would you rather carry a brand new pristine, immaculate rifle with perfect wood and blueing.

Or one that is in perfect working order but has some blueing worn off and some battle scars on the wood.

I appreciate both. But in my mind if I picture carrying a Rigby rifle for instance, on safari. I picture one with the blueing gone and replaced with a nice brown patina. The action nice and worn in. The stock has dents and scratches.

I love my rifles in great condition. But the look of one that’s been carried for thousands of miles is more unique.

I’ll start with my .458 WM
View attachment 593187View attachment 593188View attachment 593189View attachment 593190View attachment 593191

Some wear on the blued steel and some minor wear on the stock is good, but I draw the line when it starts looking like abuse or neglect.

 

[Josh P]

Not to ruffle feathers, but guns can be like women. You like them shiny and new-to-you, but the character they develop on adventures by your side adds to their value.

We will say nothing of the variety that…don’t.

 

[CBeck]

Not rifles but a 12ga Belgium Browning pre WWII A5 and it’s Remington 11 counterpart in 16ga a few years later!

 

[MS 9x56]

Not rifles but a 12ga Belgium Browning pre WWII A5 and it’s Remington 11 counterpart in 16ga a few years later!


View attachment 749103

Some nice wood on that Remington.

 

[Ridge Runner]

.......New....or...Used......

New....

A true Virginia needing to be well taken care of.
Requires due diligence to avoid seriius scaring.
High Maintenance.
The Horror, The Horror...of putting that first round down "the pipe" and degrading her to further use she was meant for.

AaaaHhhh.....but the pleasantries, or unpleasantness, of her recoil and effect on targets of interest.

She will no longer be a safe queen, but fondly the gal by which many a memories are made with.

Personally, I find it so difficult to pop the first round in degradation and inauguration of a new hunting and/or personal defense firearm when I have other well used and trained firearms.

Used.....

A slut....a forever problem.....that has a history too often horrific, with no hope of resurrection.

Or

A relished highly sophisticated, accurate, purebreed, that requires the fondling of her new owner to raise her to new glories.

She has no intention of working as expected. Or she is a true delight in the right hands.

Her age and marks of those who have handled her in the past are on her body. Scares by both fond and unfortunate memories for which her new owner may never know.

She may be war torn or relinquished as a "safe queen" awaiting her opportunity to her true passion for the outdoors.

New she is beautiful to be held and coddled.

Used she is succumbed to being remolded into something different by her new owner like that of the ugly duckling into a swan. Or perhaps retained and retrained into the beauty and beast she was meant to be.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

New or Used: As long as the firearm is: reliable, accurate, comfortable to shoot, ammunition or reloadibg components are "easily" (relevant to today's accessibility) accessible.

 

[Jason Miller]

I am a Patina guy, this old (56 year old to be exact) 20 gauge shot gun has taken more game than probably many of our rifles combined. Belongs to a hunter deep in the Amazon and every evening he just stashes it in the rafters after his days hunt.

Monkeys, wild pigs, deer, cayman, jaguar and many other animals have fallen to this gun, he had a canvas bag of shells and slugs.

Imagine the stories it could tell.

Once while in west Africa looking for artifacts I stumbled across a shop that had an OLD black powder rifle he claimed came from the east during the slave trade, It had been purposely dismantled so it wouldn’t work and he claimed I could buy it and take it home like any other seuvener. Even though I would have loved to own it It would have been taken immediately at the airport to never be seen again so I passed. I have some pics somewhere..

 

[Jason Miller]

Sorry, I am in Manaus and have sketchy service and can’t get the picture of the old shotgun to load completely. Will try again later

 

[CBeck]

Sorry, I am in Manaus and have sketchy service and can’t get the picture of the old shotgun to load completely. Will try again later

Thanks

 

[JG26Irish_2]

I prefer rifles that have survived the test of time. I do not often buy new rifles. My go to deer rifle is an old Mauser 98 custom sporter in 270 and on my first Safari, I carried a brace of two classic FN Browning rifles from the 1960's chambered in 308 and 375HH. On my last safari, I carried another old custom. It is an Enfield P14 built by ER Shaw in 375HH. I used it to bag a Cape Buffalo and a nice old Kudu bull. Just because a rifle is old and well used doe not mean it must be worn and beaten.