I was recently talking to several of my friends that were over to talk about planing hunts, one of my older hunting partners about the possibility of making next years elk hunt to a slightly different area in Colorado, mostly because the area we have hunted for decades is some of the steepest and roughest canyons in the area near GYPSUM,CO.
(now I was personally un-able to make the last couple years elk hunts due to both finances and injuries but I still enjoy sitting and talking to the guys in our elk hunt club that stop by, before and after each hunt too B.S. and show pictures and tell stories)
well that discussion eventually got around to equipment and he had his 22 year old son sitting there and we got as usual into discussing past hunts and I opened a closet and took out a 300 win mag weatherby vanguard rifle, Id recently acquired in a trade, too show off, it was handed around the group..
it could be a clone of this one, (but its about 15 years old)
the kid looked it over and said he had always wanted a 300 win mag, and I was just about to make him, a super low cost cash deal,
($350 for the rifle, which has scope mounts and a 4x weaver scope and a sling)
its a rifle previously owned by a guy who recently retired from hunting and a rifle I know has been carried on six trips out west but hardly ever actually fired except at a local range, a rifle which I know has less than 120 shots thru it) making it almost new and hardly used at all, but then he noticed a 2" long minor and shallow scratch on the stock's butt surface ...the result of a few years honest wear climbing around in those same canyons.
(a minor blemish that has zero effect on the function and something that a couple minutes of careful sanding with 600 grit sand paper, and a couple of hours letting a new sprayed on finish dry, would totally both remove and repair to the point it not detectable)
the rifle looks like new other than the stock scratch..
this one kid, immediately seem to loose all interest in the rifle.....while all the other guys at the time who were looking the rifle over,seemed to realize that it was a minor surface flaw,and one that could be ignored or easily repaired.
maybe its just me, but if I was 20 something years old and I was offered a nice used weatherby rifle for about 1/5th of its new cost, I think Id have at least thought it over... in fact I know Id have jumped on the deal!
now I immediately after this kid made it clear he was no longer interested, I had one of the other guys offer to buy it at that price for his son,and pull out the cash! so its not like I was over pricing the rifle.
Id offered the rifle not to make any money, I,m sure i could have sold it for a good deal more, but to help out a friends son and to get a new guy, who was a son of a friend, a bit more interested in hunting elk, the money was really of little importance too me, here!
I don,t know, about the rifles you gentlemen own, but if you've made several elk hunting trips with a rifle its unlikely to remain in show room condition if you hunt as hard and long as most of the guys I hunt with and a few minor surface scratch,s add character.
(now I was personally un-able to make the last couple years elk hunts due to both finances and injuries but I still enjoy sitting and talking to the guys in our elk hunt club that stop by, before and after each hunt too B.S. and show pictures and tell stories)
well that discussion eventually got around to equipment and he had his 22 year old son sitting there and we got as usual into discussing past hunts and I opened a closet and took out a 300 win mag weatherby vanguard rifle, Id recently acquired in a trade, too show off, it was handed around the group..
it could be a clone of this one, (but its about 15 years old)
the kid looked it over and said he had always wanted a 300 win mag, and I was just about to make him, a super low cost cash deal,
($350 for the rifle, which has scope mounts and a 4x weaver scope and a sling)
its a rifle previously owned by a guy who recently retired from hunting and a rifle I know has been carried on six trips out west but hardly ever actually fired except at a local range, a rifle which I know has less than 120 shots thru it) making it almost new and hardly used at all, but then he noticed a 2" long minor and shallow scratch on the stock's butt surface ...the result of a few years honest wear climbing around in those same canyons.
(a minor blemish that has zero effect on the function and something that a couple minutes of careful sanding with 600 grit sand paper, and a couple of hours letting a new sprayed on finish dry, would totally both remove and repair to the point it not detectable)
the rifle looks like new other than the stock scratch..
this one kid, immediately seem to loose all interest in the rifle.....while all the other guys at the time who were looking the rifle over,seemed to realize that it was a minor surface flaw,and one that could be ignored or easily repaired.
maybe its just me, but if I was 20 something years old and I was offered a nice used weatherby rifle for about 1/5th of its new cost, I think Id have at least thought it over... in fact I know Id have jumped on the deal!
now I immediately after this kid made it clear he was no longer interested, I had one of the other guys offer to buy it at that price for his son,and pull out the cash! so its not like I was over pricing the rifle.
Id offered the rifle not to make any money, I,m sure i could have sold it for a good deal more, but to help out a friends son and to get a new guy, who was a son of a friend, a bit more interested in hunting elk, the money was really of little importance too me, here!
I don,t know, about the rifles you gentlemen own, but if you've made several elk hunting trips with a rifle its unlikely to remain in show room condition if you hunt as hard and long as most of the guys I hunt with and a few minor surface scratch,s add character.
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