What is your dream firearm?

[BrentD]

"....pretty guns can be used hard and even abused (though I consider those two different things)".

Ever slip and side on a scree slope, bouncing your new 16 SxS off of the granite on it's maiden voyage into the field. After that incident that poor gun looked both used hard and abused. Blue grouse hunting along ridgelines is a good place to season your scattergun.
Probably a few chukar hunters on here with some good stock wounds.........
Nice doggy.

Rocks, barbed wire and dogs are the big three here, maybe thorns as well, plus weather of course. I suppose rock damage is pretty rare here in Iowa. Ant mounds are a killer though while sprinting behind a dog and running rooster. I've busted two stocks with solid face plants after place-kicking some mounds of Formica montana

 

[BrentD]

What's a ballpark figure of having a stock bent? I'm looking for a 20ga for my son and the options withing budget are S L I M. I looked at a O/U that was a great weight and priced well enough, but it has a right handers buttstock. Don't want him getting whalloped too much just starting out.

I don't know but I could send you directions to do it yourself if you are handy with tools and so inclined. You will need to build a fairly large, strong jig, some heat lamps, some clamps, some canola oil.

Some stocks bend easier than others due to wood grain lay out and through bolts etc. So, it's not a given that all stocks can be bent.

What sort of gun and price are you looking for? I got my wife a fairly inexpensive Ithaca SKB 100 (side by), 20 gauge. It is neutral as a lefty-righty thing. I had the stock cut down and a pad put on to make it fit her better. Fit is as important as weight - maybe more so. It is a very robust gun as well.

 

[Don Fischer]

Easy with a shotgun, Win mod 21 Grand American.

Rifle, hum. I have a 1903 Springfield customized in 1945 by Paul Jaeger, it's a work of art! But I'm always thinking back to my youth. Guy stopped in at home and had a Mannlicher-Shonauer full stock carbine in 6.5x52, think that what it was. I have never seen an action remotely as smooth as it and it had double set trigger's on it. That left a definite impression on me!

 

[onpoint]

What's a ballpark figure of having a stock bent? I'm looking for a 20ga for my son and the options withing budget are S L I M. I looked at a O/U that was a great weight and priced well enough, but it has a right handers buttstock. Don't want him getting whalloped too much just starting out.

More important than cost, for me at least, was spending $$ on someone who knows what they're doing. I happen to have someone local who is skilled at it. He took msmts and notes upon doing a fitting and went from there. You really need to be present with the gun for someone to find out "where it needs to get to".
$$ here was about 200-250 IIRC. Get on the google machine and try to find someone reputable local. Good luck. How's that dawg?

 

[BrentD]

I agree that getting it fit perfectly is a hands on job for experts that know how to fit. But for a growing kid that simply needs a stock to go from cast off to neutral or cast on, it can be a much simpler and cheaper job done by ones self.

If you were nearby I'd be happy to let you do it in my shop one night. But for a truly perfect custom fit, the a pro is always required (and more dollars).

 

[onpoint]

Yeah, for a still growing kid makes sense. Or save that hassle altogether and look for an inexpensive one with a neutral cast - upgrade later.......

 

[Ben Lamb]

What's a ballpark figure of having a stock bent? I'm looking for a 20ga for my son and the options withing budget are S L I M. I looked at a O/U that was a great weight and priced well enough, but it has a right handers buttstock. Don't want him getting whalloped too much just starting out.

I had Griffin & Howe bend one. It cost about $250, iirc. That didn't include shipping though. Most gunsmiths should be able to do it, but I think Brent would be able to walk you through it. Takes a lot of patience & caution.

 

[TreeDog]

New Ultra Light Arms in a .308 case based cartridge. Probably 7mm-08 or .260. I have a special yearning for a NULA since they are made in my home state and I went to college right next door to Melivin Forbes.

 

[1_pointer]

Patience and caution!! Hahahaha. Those are in short supple with me as is time. The shotgun, Savage 555, I was looking at us ~$560. Adding the price of bending gets me closer in costs to other options I like as well. Since we seem to have a few shotgun snobs/aficionados on here I'll start another thread about this pursuit.

 

[onpoint]

Patience and caution!! Hahahaha. Those are in short supple with me as is time. The shotgun, Savage 555, I was looking at us ~$560. Adding the price of bending gets me closer in costs to other options I like as well. Since we seem to have a few shotgun snobs/aficionados on here I'll start another thread about this pursuit.

That's funny. If you saw 3 of the $560 range shotguns currently in my safe (all of which which I spent about $200-250 on to adjust stock fit) you'd hardly consider me a snob - two CZ's and one Lanber.
An aficionado of affordable, utility, hunting guns - yup. Snob??.....
Then I went and picked up a Browning Citori Superlight Feather - my "dream gun" - which singly cost more than all three of the former combined. That snob gun is currently at the gunsmith due to malfunction. Something none of the low rent guns ever did to me......
Interesting topic.

 

[1_pointer]

That's funny. If you saw 3 of the $560 range shotguns currently in my safe (all of which which I spent about $200-250 on to adjust stock fit) you'd hardly consider me a snob - two CZ's and one Lanber.
An aficionado of affordable, utility, hunting guns - yup. Snob??.....
Then I went and picked up a Browning Citori Superlight Feather - my "dream gun" - which singly cost more than all three of the former combined. That snob gun is currently at the gunsmith due to malfunction. Something none of the low rent guns ever did to me......
Interesting topic.

I said aficionado as well as using a smilie... My cheap streak may result in the boys starting out with 20ga Mossbergs as they are readily available and in my price range. Though I would like to start them out with something a bit "nicer" a 500 will put a lot of critters in the bag for a long time. Heck, the bird killingest guy I know still uses the 870 he got at 12 for most all his hunting. A whole lot of more expensive shotguns can't match the numbers and variety of game of it.

 

[Crumb]

Benelli 828u in nickel for me.

 

[Gunner46]

I've said this before. It's not fancy, nor a glamour rifle, but if I could have my 'Dream' it would be a Rem 600 in a 35 Rem. Not for it's value today, but because I love that cartridge, and I love the M600 as an awesome light weight tight cover rifle.

 

[7Remmy]

http://kilimanjarorifles.com/custom-rifles/kilimanjaro.html
Walkabout in 270 Win.

 

[Boarmaster]

I have all kinds of rifles but I always wanted a Remington m 700 in 270 in a mcmillian edge with a timney trigger with a vx3 2.5-10x40 scope in Talley LWs. It Took a few years to put it all together but I did and I couldnt be happier with it. Always a chance I could be Jones'n for the same in 7Mm08 with a 22 inch barrel.

 

[Brian in Montana]

My dream gun?

I think I'll know it when I shoot it.

 

[NCSU_Lewis]

I have had a soft spot for Kenny Jarrett wind walker rifles since I read an article on them in F&S several years ago. Most likely in 300wm, but they have some slick sounding calibers of their own.

 

[Sask hunter]

Any double rifle

 

[416ruger]

50 alaskan built by Wild west guns in Alaska. That is the only firearm left on my bucket list. I was fortunate to acquire the 457 wwm last year and was delighted with the fit, finish, handling and performance. But I was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer so I am unsure if I will live long enough to get the 50 alaskan.

 

[Huntkook]

Christensen Arms Ridgeline in 7mm. I like the balance of that rifle and like the caliber.