After reading and pondering the above post i do have a few more thoughts on this.

All of us should be proud of the firearms we own. We should strive to own what ever it is that will please "US" and that is meant as a singular "US". However in this pride of ownership and striving to have good looking and admired pieces of property we should not devolope some form of pretentiousness. And that is to think that becuase one thing cost more than another it is automatically better. that the cost itself is the determining factor into "Usefulness". 

I personally do not own a Uberti or a Pedersoli or any of the other as stated here by a couple of posters as "Lower End Rifles" I certainly would not mind owning one though, and I believe that I can make them shoot as well as any of the 5 Meachams or half a dozen real Highwalls (pun intended) that i do own. I shoot monthly with a fellow that has shot hisself into Master Class in two years with a Uberti Highwall 45-70. Not only has he shot himself into Master Class he is one of the few, and I mean few Ca shooters that has shot well enough to stay in Master Class after the January rule change takes place. 

I am a BPCR Silhouette Nut, I love this sport, and it has not only been very good for me but also to me. I encourage new shooters at every chance. I always tell them not to let "Money" be the thing that keeps them from shooting. Don't let the fact that some of those guys out there simply don't have the money to plunk down 2,500 to 4,000 for a rifle. Bring that brand new in the box Uberti Highwall that you paid $795.00 for, and get to shooting. Who cares what it's worth in two years or so, WHO CARES? 

I have a Meacham that I had made for me. It is a 45-70 has all of the bells and whistles, very good wood ( That doesn't make it shoot one bit better by the way) 32" heavy Badger barrel with just the finish I wanted, checkered by Paula Shivey in Wa. State, engraved, DST. Ebony etc, etc etc. That rifle cost me almost $5,000 dollors, as a matter of fact the reciept says $4,897.52. This is my match rifle. I shoot a lot at least a couple of times a week usually 3 times, always a min of 80 to a 100 shots per time I shoot. I have owned this rifle for almost three years now. A very consrvative number of bullets down that barrel including practice and Matches would be 25,000. If money was the determining factor and how much it would be worth Now as compared to that almost 3 years I have owned it, i would not have shot it very much. It now is a used rifle, a very well used rifle. And I am sure if it where for sale, it is not, the price it is worth today would reflect those three years of a lot of use. Maybe it would bring on the used custom gun market today $2,500 to $2,800. Anyone willing to pay more would simply buy a new one custom made for them. I wouldn't trade one min with that rifle and if shooting it debreases itt's value so be it. I didn't buy it so it would be worth more today. None of us will ever get rich selling our used rifles.

I wouild much rather see more shooters today shooting at the Matches, than to see more shooters watching with there names on waiting lists to buy a tool to have fun with. 

Gunny

Gunny,

  Couldn't agree more with your last message. I only own one "fancy" gun and that's a Ballard Rifle Co. .22 Ballard. The rest of my guns are originals that to say they've been well used would be saying something kind about them. Some have been re-lined. My only criteria in buying the rest were that they had excellent bores. The outside on any of them didn't make a lot of difference as long as it was sound. So far I haven't heard anyone complain at a match about the quality, or try to "one-up-me" with theirs. The proof around here is in the shooting, and I've been beat by some pretty shabby looking rifles.

PETE

Dale,

  Your last sentence tells it all.

  Many years ago I bought a Diana grade Browning 20 ga. One ofthe first they made in 3" mag. Now this was a beautiful gun and I shot it quite a bit at Skeet altho the chokes were Mod. & Full.

  But I bought the gun primarily for Pheasant hunting. After taking it out a few times I figured the rough and tumble of that type hunting would only degrade the value in a short time. So, sadly, I hung it on the wall where it stayed for 15 yrs. Decided to sell it, and I did get about 3 times what I paid for it. As an investment it was a good buy. As a "usin'" gun it was a disaster.

  Now if I had one of those $10,000 Schuetzen rifles I wouldn't hesitate to use it as the only place it would be used would be at the range where I could control the situation. I wouldn't feel that I was degrading the value of the gun since I doubt if I'd get anywhere near the 150,000 shots thru it that have been recorded by some of the top shooters of old. In the time I would be shooting it I doubt very much whether the exterior finish would show any additional wear at all.

  So, to say guns are for shooting should be said with the caveat... it all depends on what you plan on doing with it!

PETE

Supermag,

  Good question, and wish I had a definitive answer.

  I suspect that, considering the number of parts, and the fact cars always seem to have problems, we expect we will have some somewhere along the line. We also use them far more than we will ever use a gun.

  A gun on the other hand has fewer parts and is used less so is not subject to break downs as often, altho I'll bet anyone who shoots original SS's will say they break down at pretty frequent intervals to. 

PETE