BigBlue wrote:

Some rifles are just too pretty and too pricey for me to take in the woods. As far as I'm concerned, those rifles are best left in between the pages of gun rags where they can stay pretty in perpetuity.

My guns are tools not works of art.

I might have shared this here before but I was goose hunting in a muddy pit on a particularly nasty sleet and raining day with some of my friends business clients. My orders were to knock as many geese out of the sky as I could and tell the clients what great shots they had made... Anyway - they are fussing over trying to keep their shotguns covered up with towels and bitching about the weather and sloppy conditions in the below ground blind and how it will affect their inlays and finish on the very nice shotguns they had with them when a group locked up on our decoy spread and committed hard to coming in. I threw my fully synthetic and black phosphate finish Remington 870 into the mud and came up and knocked two geese out of the sky as the mud splattered my face... I turned to the others and said "The weather doesn't bother my gun..." It got a big laugh from the group but I made my point. The next year most of them had added a synthetic Bennelli autoloader to the gun safe and left the fancy grades at home.

Prestige and pretention are expensive. Enzo Ferrari is reputed to have said that he could mass produce his automobiles for a tenth of the existing cost and selling price but then it wouldn't be a "Ferrari". I wonder why someone would pay 3-5 thousand for a Blaser rifle that shoots no better than one costing less than a thousand. Obviously it is something else hence my opening sentence.

Dawgdad that would have been a hoot to see.

Ok
I know I have been out in the cold for some time now, but am getting back in the saddle slowly (literally). I have yet to put the first round through my new rifle so I cannot really give you and tried and true info yet. This Christmas my lovely bride of 31 years gave me my very first rifle (from her).
I received a new in the box Remington model 783 in .308 caliber. I can honestly say that she spent less than $375, tax and shipping included. I have not yet been able to shoot it, and that is killing me. Rest assured as soon as the sun shows up for a couple of days and I can get the range cleared of snow, I will be putting some rounds down range. I will try to report on my progress. $375 Now that is an affordable rifle.

I'll stay with my mosberg 308 that I gave $150.00 for.It does the job rather well

I'll keep using my Rem model 700 BDL in 25-06. Awesome Whitetail/Mule Deer cartridge........ !! I Love It.... Deer don't like it at any range even out to 400, 500, and even 600 yards. I think I paid $150.00 for it new back in the 80's. By the way, it still looks like new after many many deer hunts.

Damn...all three of those rifles are good, and the prices are outstanding.

I'm rather green with envy.