Thread: "Too pretty to use"

Originally Posted by Flyblown

The Brits can be shockers for babying their rifles and getting in a tizz if it gets scratched. There’s a particular UK sub-culture of occasional recreational stalkers who buy rifles primarily for their aesthetics, and can write essays on the matter. To them the very notion of stainless steel and polymer stock is sacrilege and they will take every opportunity to tell you so. They will also choose a chambering from yesteryear and scoff at anything vaguely modern.

I admit I switch off completely the minute someone starts getting a semi over their rifle’s timber and the ever so expensive engraving they had done.

The fact that they hardly ever shoot anything with these rifles is beside the point. If they do it’s probably shot from the comfort of a high seat on a managed property. If the rifle is taken out deerstalking proper, as in kind of actually hunting, then it is carried around in a rifle case. (This particular behaviour drives me nuts, gets right up my crack - I have a relative in the Midlands who does exactly this.)

Each to their own, but to meet someone who values the appearance of their rifle over its function and reliability in the field needs their head read!

Have you looked on the US forum Snipershide, their MK13, M24 and M40 clone rifle builds and the degree they go to for 'authenticity' are something else...