Fine Guns                                          

       I was delighted to come across the article written by Capt. Paul Curtis in the early

30’s on the number of advantages of owning and shooting a fine gun because, 30-odd years later, I also penned some articles on this subject.

            One finds it difficult indeed to understand just why, in this most affluent period of our history, the average American male, while loudly professing to have a genuine, even passionate, interest in guns and hunting, is so all-fired reluctant to invest in a really fine gun.  I use the term “fine” rather than “good” for, as Capt. Curtis pointed out, the average cheap shotgun will shoot as far and as “hard” as the most costly.  The appeal and the value of the more expensive scattergun, what the English call a “best” Gun, therefore must be found in some other aspect of its performance than in its mere ability to simply kill a pheasant, a duck or a rabbit.  Any motor car will get you from point A to point B, but few drivers are so unperceptive as to fail to understand that a Bentley, a Cadillac, a Mercedes-Benz or a Ferrari provides a level of transportation which is quite different than is experienced by the use of an Austin, a Ford, a VW or a Fiat 600.  Best is best.  A “Prime” steak is tastier and costs more than a cheap, and invariably tough cut.  Well, a truly fine gun nourishes the soul of a man as does no cheap made-only-to-sell-at-a-price model.

            So we enter the realm of the intangible, the not clearly defined area where a superbly made tool, or similar utilitarian object, approaches, possibly even becomes, a work of art.  And I submit that any sensitive person with a genuine appreciation for materials, for craftsmanship and for beauty of line must admit that a high grade double barreled shotgun is a far more honest “work of art” than is most of the welded junk and

smeared canvases regularly displayed with insulting seriousness by Guggenheim!  Although they have not seen fit to actually display a Purdey, or the locks of a Westley-Richards, the Museum of Modern Art has shown its appreciation for this high level of

functional design and craftsmanship by displaying such sporting items as a Bugatti and a Randall hunting knife.  The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has a permanent display of truly magnificent firearms of all types—including a fine modern double as well as that incredible double-barreled flintlock shotgun made for Napoleon by Nicolas Boutet (with a matching set of percussion locks and barrels).

            Capt. Curtis seemed to doubt that many hunters really understood or appreciated the higher grade firearms, but it has been my experience that most people, even non-shooters, immediately do react to both the beauty and workmanship of these guns as well as to their balance—but shake their heads in disbelief, or profess to be horrified, that anyone would be willing to pay the price guns of this quality cost.  Lest anyone think my own collection is full of $10,000.00 guns let me hasten to point out that even an $5,000.00 Darne or a $2,000.00 Sarasqueta has the same effect on most people!  Even enthusiastic and experienced shooters usually feel that there is something verging upon the immoral about shelling out $2,500.00 to $5,000.00 dollars for a gun—something akin to taking up with a fancy lady and leaving the family behind to creep over the hill to the poorhouse!

            It seems to me that we American men have been rather effectively brainwashed to accept as Gospel that we were put here on earth for the sole purpose of slaving away to provide the “good life” for the family—and if we want anything specifically for ourselves it had better be limited to something practical like a power lawn mower (or a new razor).

            It is downright appalling to find men who really do enjoy hunting hesitate to replace a beatup, ugly, badly balanced piece of junk, which was trash when they bought it for a few dollars only 10 years ago, with even a moderately priced, medium grade gun costing $2,500.00-$3,500.00, which they can very well afford.  The thought of getting something in the $4,000.00-$5,000.00 range (much less $15,000.00-$20,000.00) never enters their minds, even though they never seem to hesitate to add $4,000.00 or more in extra alone when buying a new family station wagon that is going to be resting on a junk heap in 8 to 10 years, even though it did cost anywhere from $25,000.00 to $75,000.00.

            Why is it perfectly respectable, and even approved by society as well as one’s bank, to go repeatedly into hock for many thousands of dollars for transportation which is subject to fantastically rapid obsolescence and depreciation, but irrational and irresponsible for a man to only once invest an almost similar sum in an object which can be used for a lifetime, without continued and expensive repairs, and be virtually guaranteed to be worth as much, if not more, after 30 or even 50 years!  As I said, even the cost of the extras found on the average car purchased today would add up to enough to get a man a far better than average gun.

            The Stoeger catalog for 1929 lists the Parker A1 Special for $750.00. –today, used but well treated, that gun must be worth at least 30 times that figure while any $32.00 mass produced repeater of that year would be hard to even give away.

            Don’t you wish your old man had “squandered” $600.00 back in 1929 on those fine Merkles with the detachable locks—the only similar gun made today is a $17,000.00

Holland and Holland.

            That Year, 1929, you will note that you could have acquired a Crown Grade LC Smith for $266.75 which would surely be worth close to $6,000.00 now, after 40 years of use.

            Even in the 1930’s a standard Winchester Model with single trigger and automatic ejectors cost a mere $111.25!  How much better an investment than a $37.50 repeater do you reckon such a gun was?  Today’s shooters look askance at the price tag of a DIANA Grade Browning O-U and consider the purchase of such a $3,500.00 gun a madly impractical idea—as no doubt did most shooters in 1939 when the “Bible” carried this model at $218.00!  What did anyone buy in 1939 for $218.00 that today is worth more than it cost after giving 30 years of service?  A fancy radio?  The sofa and chair?  The rug in the living room?  Ha, all that stuff was almost certainly thrown away 40 years ago!  Just as your present $2,000.00 color TV set, your $1,500.00 CD, and most of your $1,200.00 kitchen equipment will all be junk in another 10 years (after costing how much in repairs).  While a really fine gun bought today, at what seems like a high price, will steadily go up in value and give you pleasure every day that you look at it on the rack or handle it.

            My heart bleeds for the poor bastard who works himself steadily toward the grave (whether wearing a white collar or a blue one) in a dreary job just so his family can have everything they “need”, including  TV in every room and a $20,000.00 Mustang for his high school kid, but is ashamed to spend more than a pittance for something he himself would deeply appreciate as a MAN—a damn good shotgun (or rifle).

            Let daughter go off to college on a bus instead of in her own VW, to heck with adding that “family room” (do you really need or want half the neighborhood kids in your house every night)—for a change, consider your needs and desires (it’s time someone did), for you deserve at least one thing you can call your own, besides that can of beer, and for once it ought to be something of lasting quality and value.  And if you end up feeling slightly conscious-stricken, cheer up, your grandson will love and respect you all the more