You Gonna Fish Or Talk

The tier list post and SWJ's comment reminded me of something that's mildly irritating in the land of guns.

People pick a gun as a bragging point without regards to whether it shoots well or not.

My cheap Savage 110XP suits me just fine.  I'm still upset my phone had died and I didn't get a pic of the perfect cloverleaf 100 yard group.  I'm even more upset with myself for balling up the target in anger at my phone and not just taking the damn thing home where I had a real camera.

Besides, I happen to like Savages!

I have yet to buy a complete AR.

I buy parts and assemblies, but not complete guns.

Every single one is a "FrankenAR" of some stripe.

Mostly because the configuration I want isn't a stocked item.  You couldn't get an M16 or M16A1 clone when I made mine.  The closest you could get was a Colt SP1, and the front pin was totally wrong in addition to lots of other details.

I've watched people with high-dollar set-ups come to the range and struggle with it.

Those same people have watched me breeze into my lane, fire a few rounds to get zeroed, then enjoy shooting a box or two and leave.

While they're still struggling to get zeroed.

All the money in the world won't help if you don't understand what you're doing.

Despite my accumulative tendencies, I'm more of a shooter than a collector.  That lets me accept and enjoy guns that are downright ugly.

That rusted S&W M&P I saved with electrolysis is a great shooter!  But it's ugly.

Pawn shops have been a great source of good shootin' but bad lookin' guns.

The Lovely Harvey and I both love the Colt Challenger that Willard scored for us.  I had to modify a set of Woodsman stocks to work with it, but it's an awesome shooter despite the abuse to its finish it's seen.

My grampa's old Remington .22 is still a tack driver despite all the rust patina.

This is not to say that I don't own guns just to have them.  Grampa's .32 revolvers are not great shooters, nor are they pristine.  But they have sentimental value.

Sentiment and nostalgia might, actually, be the main driver of my purchases come to think of it. 

A couple of examples here are here just because I think they're neat!

There's no grand unifying theory.

Except:

Buy what you like.  Shooting shouldn't be a grim chore.  Shooting can be, and is, great fun!

Let yourself enjoy it and don't worry if anyone else is impressed with what you have.

Do it for yourself.