Wood & Blued Or Its Not The Best Hunting Rifles Produced

 

 

What is the best hunting rifles in the collectable rifle world today? I believe that sometimes we forget that the firearms of the late 1940s till mid 60s or even into the 70s were primarily hunting guns. They were made for the hunting and the shooting public. So those guns would be the best classic hunting firearms in my opinion that were ever produced. The hunting rifle was the primary focus of that time.

 

What I am going to talk about now is what makes the best hunting rifle and why it is from the 50s and 60s. Why were those Winchester Firearms or Remington Firearms or Weatherby Firearms the best of that era or the best of all time in my opinion? What did those guns have that made them the best? I believe it was their classic style and design.

 

 

The gun has to have a wood stock and preferably walnut. The gun stocks would need to be in the classic styling with an oil type finish. I know some of the gun companies were using other types of finishes and some of these were also excellent looking and were pleasant to look at.

 

The polyurethane finishes were not yet widely used in the gun industry and that was good (IMHO). It also had to be a steel action and barrel that could be blued. That means the traditional bluing and stock finishes of the years before the 1950’s.

 

Today we have a lot of different variations in gun configurations and this has been going on for the last 20 to 25 years in my opinion. The stainless steel guns and composite stocks are good as tools to hunt with and they do have their place. You cannot beat the durability and ruggedness for which they were designed, but they will never be considered classic firearms or the best hunting rifles in design and looks.

 

If it is not wood, especially walnut and it does not have a blued receiver and barrel then it is not a classic firearm or the best classic hunting rifle. Now that does not mean that all firearms with wood stocks and blued metal are considered classic guns. But they do have to be present in order to qualify. (IMHO)

 

I have noticed as I look over some of the new firearms made today, primarily the bolt actions and also some of the pump rifles and lever guns. They are starting to incorporate allen-head screws into the gun assembly. I am primarily talking about the exterior screws that you can see.

 

This to me is a ridiculous attempt to save a few pennies that actually does more harm than good for the guns overall appearance.

 

So who’s in charge! College grads that do not hunt or collect! They have no clue.

 

I have held a new classic firearm in my hands recently and it was based upon one of the old classic guns of the 1950s. And overall it looked very nice but the two screws holding the trigger guard to the action were allen head screws. This for the few pennies they saved, made that gun look cheap in my humble opinion and if I was to buy that gun I would change those screws immediately. They may be the best hunting rifle of today but I do not like those screws. The best Hunting Rifles does not include allen head screws.

 

I know a lot of companies are doing this and it probably saves them some money and most people today probably don’t care. But to me I just do not like it. If you have some of those firearms like that, change them. I know there are gun supply companies out there who do supply the better looking screws for those guns.

 

Also we have a big issue with safeties being installed on some of the new classic rifles. Like the Winchester firearms, and the Marlin firearms, where safeties have been added to their lever rifles. This may be a good thing for safety reasons but it still distracts from its looks. The 1950s and 60s produced the best hunting rifles of the modern era, period.

 

One good thing with that is the early guns made without those alterations will be worth more money because of it. This is why I love those old classic rifles and consider them the best hunting rifles and great investments.

 

So to sum up my take on the best hunting rifle or classic firearms. If the gun stock is not of wood (walnut) and the barrel and action are not blued. Then it will never be considered a true classic.

 

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