Thread: Rifle and Optics Snobs

Originally Posted by Bol Tackshin

The lens quality matters less at long distances because the mirage fcuks the picture up anyway. A decent megazoom non-DSLR will do the trick. You don't need a big aperture lens for that kind of shooting either, and it doesn't need super fast focus with spot on tracking so a 150-600mm Sigma or Tamron will be fine for a DSLR. Especially handy to use a body with 1.6x crop factor, so your effective focal length is 960mm at max. Add a 1.4 converter and you will need a very serious tripod! A drone is useful but DOC require a permit, especially if you monetise your footage - ie put it on YouTube.

Right, just I like to film a hunting story type, not actually to capture the shot. Some days later, I can sit back enjoy those moments in the past, thus I am more focusing on quality. Besides, with new equipment we could get in reasonable price, all the software, short movies are very popular in nowadays. One guy made a movie costed him 50,000 dollars, but the return was x,000,000 dollars.

This is interesting topic. Do `t have much hunting lately because C19, but lots fresh water lure fishing. People always asked me after my posts of fishing trip that what brand of rod you were using...I guess xxx should be, otherwise....xxxx, Or oh is that Simano xxx, double breaks... , PM me that hey would you recommend me a rod and reel and my budget is xxx. But my favorite rod and reel only costed me 35 dollars....For hunting, sako85 223 with scope and a K98 will be my choice. How people will think of when they see a man with Mauser k98 and trying to hunt deer with iron sight in DOC land in SI?

who cares what they think??? if you are happy and confident you can harvest animal cleanly...go for it.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

who cares what they think??? if you are happy and confident you can harvest animal cleanly...go for it.

Exactly MD, while my go-to rifles have been Sako it was because I wanted quality that would last a lifetime, not to impress others, mind you my ex freezing works hunting gear certainly wouldn’t impress others, hunting in the steel capped boots certainly didn’t impress ME!
Hell, looking down my nose at another guys hunting gear has never entered my mind, I know what it’s like to be dollars short and inexperienced.

Horses for courses. I appreciate a rifle / scope combo that is made for the task before it. A medium quality hunting scope is what I go for but if it's a target rifle then I go for the best quality I can afford. I looked through my fair share of coke bottles in my air rifle days.

Guilty as charged😄

Lol. That's where all the scopes have been hiding!
Awesome collection.

Loving the Voortrekker badges.

Originally Posted by Steven1

Attachment 207223

Guilty as charged��

Are these the one's that weren't good enough to go on a rifle ?

I am not a rich man and never have been , but always worked my arse off though never had a high paying job.
I have usually had to give something up in order to 'upgrade' something else .
Sold my triumph bonny and yammy r1 when just got to dangerous on the roads here and used some of that money to purchase my s/hand 338 Hardy and vx6 . Sold 3 other rifles and optics to fund my tikka 308 bushpig carbon stock build and vx5 . Sold a vehicle to put money towards the volquartsen 22 maggie .
These are my 'dream' rifles and that list would probably impress very few here, but frankly I couldn't give a s*#t what others think . Doesn't change the fact that to me they are still the 'best' I can afford and at the end of the day my freezer is still full .
Everything is relative to each persons situation and although some might scoff and look down their noses at my 'dream' rifles I made many sacrifices over many years to own them and regardless of how others perceive them I probably value them much more than the other guy with the mega dollar gear , mega dollar gear just because of the brand name plastered down the side.
The value is in how YOU perceive them - not other people or the price tag - that is what matters .
At the end of the day will those named top shelf brands actually be any more effective at harvesting food for the table than my 'dream' rifles because of the labels or monetary value - I doubt it....
Ok , rant over...

Originally Posted by erniec

Not an Austin Cambridge!!

Dont knock the Old-Cambridge ! I bought a minter in the 90's and drove it for years .Only problem ever was when my daughters pet-mouse escaped and somehow died in the heater-fan , what a smell...

Originally Posted by Bol Tackshin

Lol. That's where all the scopes have been hiding!
Awesome collection.

Loving the Voortrekker badges.

Thanx Bol, the badges are hand downs from when my dad was in the cadets back in the day. Quite special to have

True happiness is not a matter of getting the things you want, but enjoying the things you have.

You can have a cheap Howa 1500 or an old Parker Hale Safari for all care - great rifles as long as they're accurate shooters and in a relevant calibre.

But Leica Binos and a Swarovski Spotting Scope i(f a long range shooter) will make you a better hunter - full stop. SOME gear is worth being a 'snob' about.+

I think we can all have a little bit of snob in us from time to time. One thing is clear - there is no one right firearm, no must have firearm setup for our shooting conditions. Variety is the spice of life. I think everybody should have rimfire and centrefire setups like mine - but fortunately they don't. Life would be very dull and boring if everyone did the same as me - or you. Alot of ways to spend our coin and enjoy the sport.

Its 100% valid to buy only top of line, beautifully wooded arms like Schultz and Larsen, Mannlicher etc - and yet have them rarely leave the cabinet. There is a real pleasure in owning a well crafted item - an investment too. Also valid to save the pennies and buy that nicely wooded Sako with Nightforce on it - even if you only shoot it 2-4 times a year. Especially if you only shoot it 2-4 times a year. And there is great sense when you shoot alot in demanding terrain to buy less expensive but accurate, reliable firearms like the Savage, Marlin, Howa etc. Certainly with greater frequency of shooting, the terrain often guides what rifle you need to buy. Examples - if hunting in dense northern bush with valleys full of bush lawyer, supplejack and blackberry you won't want a mint Sako - at all. And if covering high country rocks, matagouri, shooting from trucks at night across thousands of acres, again it won't be flash you choose. It'll be functional. But all of the choices valid in right conditions.

Personally have had expensive arms, but with the frequent shooting we do, my rifles are now all lean, mean hunters. All precisely tweaked for their function - Marlin, Savage, Howa etc. My own bit of snobbery lies not with expensive equipment but in enjoying the reverse. I chuckle when I go to the range at times with maybe tuned JWs, extremely accurate little Marlins, or Howa etc, and some guy opens his case next to me to display some flash heavy barrel expensive piece. We do the shooting, come out, I ask him how it went, he smiles, then looks at the little JW's 0.3 and 0.4 targets, and puts the heavy barrel beauty back in the case with nary a word. Bit naughty really. I may grow up - but its unlikely

I suppose the one golden rule is if you want to take that expensive setup to the range, put the nose in the air and show off a bit - you better bloody know how to use it..

But it all comes down to the fact that having expensive gear doesn't make you a snob. You're only a snob when you look down your nose at others with "lesser gear". But snobbery also goes the other way too where people who have run of the mill gear slag off those with flash gear. It all comes down t a person's attitude; not gear cost. And probably applies to every aspect of life...

I'm a qualified butcher and people always looked down their noses at you because they perceived butchers as being thick, pissheads.... So again a type of snobbery... A classic example... When I was at trade school in Petone during my apprenticeship we had a weekly shop day, and the Polytech tutors and their families would come in to buy their meat. The butchery tutors would watch over us as and critique us as part of our training..

Anyhoo.... A tutor's wife came in and said to me "We all know that if you're too thick to be lawyer or accountant, but still want to make a lot of money, you become a butcher" Well that really pissed me off. So I replied "No; you marry a tutor don't you?" Well she kicked off and Mr Irons our Brit tutor took me aside and gave me a bollocking.

The bollocking went along the lines of "Now I have to reprimand you for saying that" snigger, snigger. "So consider yourself told off" snigger, snigger. "Telling off over; and yes; you were right" Then slapped me on the back and laughed his arse off. I think that he was pissed off at the "butcher snobbery" too!