Reply With QuoteI like to shoot stuff (and repair / re-engineer stuff). So cosmetically challenged every time for me..
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I have acquired two Haenel 28-Rs in .177. One is pretty close to perfect, certainly has been used, but retains almost all of its bluing. My most recent example seems to have been little used but had one side where the bluing has been compromised by bad storage. Going to touch that up before long. But this example is the tightest and shoots like a new gun. Ironically this is the gun that I know I will enjoy the most. I will love working on it to bring back the finish. I can shoot it without thinking about degrading it. In collectables I think "perfect" can be a curse that relegates a cool gun to sitting in a case?
Last edited by 45flint; 15-03-2017 at 11:12 AM.
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I like to shoot stuff (and repair / re-engineer stuff). So cosmetically challenged every time for me..
Always looking for any cheap, interesting, knackered "project" guns. Thanks, JB.
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Jon, couldn't agree more. Shooting everything I own is an absolute must for me. Not only must it come out its respective bag / case, but it must also perform and get closest to the bull. I love my rifles for their aesthetics, their engineering, their history and provenance, but also for how they perform. But heh! I like to think they are all happier that way.Originally Posted by Jon Budd
I like to shoot stuff (and repair / re-engineer stuff). So cosmetically challenged every time for me..
Its a bit like that Americanism, a lovely sofa with a PVC cover on it - never got that mentality!
https://www.walnut.black
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I prefer to collect things that have been used & "lived" (but not totally knackered) so for me the odd mark/ bit of patina isn't really an issue. I tend to find if something is totally mint I just end up worrying about damaging it so that spoils the fun for me.
A lot depends on your viewpoint though. Some buy to collect/ display so will generally want immaculate or as new. if you want to sell an item on later, perfect & boxed will always be worth more. I'm not bothered by any of that so it's not a problem.
Award-winning Airgun Anorak
Sorry to buck the trend here but I like my guns as close to the original new condition as possible and shooting them is secondary.
Vintage Airguns Gallery
..Above link posted with permission from Gareth W-B
In British slang an anorak is a person who has a very strong interest in niche subjects.
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I've had a couple of mint examples but soon sold them on as I didn't dare use them in case they got any marks on them. Use comes first for me.
That said I have three Crosman 1377 pistols one of which is mint - 1970s, in original box and with all of the various stickers still on it. I have fired it about five times and that is it's firing history. I guess because it is not particularly valuable and I shoot the other two then I have made an exception for it.
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I have been collecting in a sort of off-hand way, for a long time. It was always my ambition to acquire an example of each variant of the Webley Mark 1, from the spring-clip first type onwards. It was never my wish to have a set of museum pieces which could only be taken from their [I]original[I] boxes when wearing glovers, because handling them, shooting with them, and maintaining them is far more satisfying, at least as far as I am concerned.
John
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I am cursed. My brain wants everything absolutely flawless, but I still will shoot them. Not just guns but everything else I own I try to keep as new as absolutely possible no matter what it is. Shoes, cars, clothes, kitchen knives.. literally everything. My things last forever but at the expense of all of the time and precaution of being all OCD. I think it comes from not having a lot when I was a kid and now that I can buy nice things I want them to live on forever. In the end though, all this crap I own will out live me regardless.
If you are already aiming for the exact center of everything, then the target’s size shouldn’t matter — the center of a beach ball is just as big as the center of an aspirin tablet. -Byron Ferguson
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I have the same curse. A couple of months ago I bought a pretty rare mint Colt Butterfield Express 1860 percussion, made by Colt in 1979. It came perfect except for a imperfection on the grip. That bothered me every time I would look at it. I several weeks ago sanded it out and Oil finished it just as it was originally. Perfect and no one would know it was touched. Now I feel better, it's nuts.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day
I like to shoot stuff (and repair / re-engineer stuff). So cosmetically challenged every time for me..Same here. I would rather have a bit of a beater that I can shoot, than a 'safe queen' as the Americans put itI prefer to collect things that have been used & "lived" (but not totally knackered) so for me the odd mark/ bit of patina isn't really an issue
Though in an ideal world I would have one mint one for looking at, and a slightly scrappy one for shooting...
Good deals with these members
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I have only had one minter. A skan r32 special edition. Never got used as was afraid to damage. I sold it on as i was starting to get ocd when handling it. Now all mine are good condition users.
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I tend to like things in 90-95+% condition, as they still look almost like new, but I don't worry about the consequences of handling or shooting them.
The older they are, the more some "patina" is acceptable.
There is also a charm to an old gun that wears the scars of age, but is properly sorted internally and shoots well. What the Americans would call "Old Betsy".
Bottom line, if you gave me a truly mint, boxed, never fired gun, it wouldn't be my thing. I wouldn't want to violate its pristine status, and, ultimately, even if I don't shoot all of the collection on a regular basis, I want to be able to shoot all of them when I feel like it without concerns.
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I would have done the exact same thing, it would have bothered me every time I saw it.
If you are already aiming for the exact center of everything, then the target’s size shouldn’t matter — the center of a beach ball is just as big as the center of an aspirin tablet. -Byron Ferguson
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This is me to a T 😉😉😉😉Jon, couldn't agree more. Shooting everything I own is an absolute must for me. Not only must it come out its respective bag / case, but it must also perform and get closest to the bull. I love my rifles for their aesthetics, their engineering, their history and provenance, but also for how they perform. But heh! I like to think they are all happier that way.
Its a bit like that Americanism, a lovely sofa with a PVC cover on it - never got that mentality!
Lost love child of David Niven and Victoria Beckham
The other week I bought a Crosman mk1 from a retired American serviceman.
It was a good price, functionally working well, but with some chipped paint in quite a few places - nothing too major, but obviously a used gun.
Refinishing it would be easy - but then as we talked it transpires he was based out of Mildenhall having come over back in the 70's as part of the SR-71's support group back when they were still secretly flying missions from there.
The gun had come from the USA in the late 60's and been around the world with him before ending here.
Now where am I going to get another like this with that history?...Refinish it? - No, I don't think so, because then I lose the back story.
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