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The Gun Nut Survey: A highly biased, unofficial poll of 2,000 readers on all things shooting In the 12 days it was out there, we got over 2,000 responses to our Gun Nut Survey. Some of the results were flat startling. We learned that Remington rules the roost as far as popularity goes, that the highest-ranked handgun was designed before the First World War, and that our No. 1 big-game and deer cartridge is even older. But this nod to tradition aside, we found that most of you do not yearn for the good old days. You think modern guns are better, and you are perfectly happy to break with tradition if it results in a better firearm. We also learned that firearms hunters won’t cross certain technological barriers if it means violating their code of ethics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1:Your Guns You have plenty of good guns on your rack, but here’s what you take down most often 1. What is your primary whitetail gun? Remington 700 15% Ruger 77 7% Winchester 70 7% Remington 870 5% Browning A-Bolt 4% Marlin 336 4% Winchester 94 4% Savage 110/111/116 3% Remington 742/7400 3% Remington 760/7600 3% other 45% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. What is your primary whitetail gun’s caliber or gauge? .30/06 20% 12 gauge 14% .270 13% .30/30 9% .308 7% .243 5% 7mm Remington Magnum 5% other 27% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. What is your primary big-game rifle? Remington 700 22% Winchester 70 11% Ruger 77 8% Browning A-Bolt 7% Savage 110/111/116 6% Weatherby Mark V 4% Mauser, commercial or converted military 4% Remington 742/7400 3% Remington 760/7600 3% Marlin 1895 3% other 26% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. What is your primary big-game rifle’s caliber? .30/06 30% 7mm Remington Magnum 10% .270 9% .300 Winchester Magnum 9% .308 6% .300 Weatherby Magnum 3% .300 Winchester Short Magnum 3% .45/70 3% .338 3% other 34% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. What is your primary waterfowl shotgun? Remington 870 22% Remington 1100/11-87 14% Mossberg 500/535/835 10% Benelli Super Black Eagle I/II 4% Winchester 1200/1300 4% Browning A-5 3% Benelli Nova 3% other 40% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. What is your primary upland shotgun? Remington 1100/11-87 11% Remington 870 11% Browning Citori 6% Mossberg 500 4% Ruger Red Label 4% Winchester 1200/1300 3% Browning A-5 3% Beretta 686/687 3% other 52% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. What is your primary turkey shotgun? Remington 870 24% Remington 1100/11-87 11% Mossberg 500/535 9% Mossberg 835 6% Winchester 1200/1300 5% Benelli Nova 4% Benelli Super Black Eagle 4% Browning BPS 7% other 30%

Interesting. Your thoughts ??

Dimitri

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Section 4: Your Shooting Habits Centerfire, rimfire, or shotgun, it doesn’t matter. As long as it has a trigger, you want to pull it 1. Do you belong to a gun club? No 66% Yes 35% 2. Where do you do most of your shooting? On private land 49% A public gun range 20% A private pay-to-shoot gun range 18% On public land 13% 3. Did you shoot any of the following in the last 12 months? Sporting clays 13% Trap 13% Trap and sporting clays 9% Skeet 8% Trap and skeet 8% Skeet and sporting clays 7% No, I didn’t shoot any of these 43% 4. How many centerfire rifle (or shotgun slug) rounds a year do you fire in practice? More than 100 36% Less than 20 18% 20–30 16% 50–100 15% 30–50 14% 5. How many shotgun rounds a year do you fire in practice? 100–500 31% 25–100 24% Less than 25 21% 500–1,000 13% More than 1,000 12% 6. Do you shoot a rimfire rifle at least once a year? Yes 86% No 14% 7. If you do shoot a rimfire rifle at least once a year, you do it mainly to: Plink 56% Hunt small game 28% Practice for deer/big-game season 16% 8. Do you always sight in your deer or big-game rifle before the season? (Be honest!) Yes 83% No 17% 9. What’s the longest shot you’ve ever taken at an animal? 100–200 yards 36% 200–300 yards 23% More than 300 yards 23% Less than 100 yards 18% 10. Have you ever missed an animal because of “buck fever”? Yes 56% No 44% 11. Have you ever shot at a running deer? Yes 55% No 45% 12. Have you ever had a problem with the police, the Transportation Security Administration, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms that involved guns? No 96% Yes 4% Section 5: Principles and Politics Shooters disagree on a lot of issues—except when it comes to protecting their right to shoot 1. How do you feel about Cowboy Action Shooting? It’s a great idea, a lot of fun, and a great boost to the gun industry 72% There’s something terribly sad about grown men and women dressing up and playing cowboy 14% What’s Cowboy Action Shooting? 14% 2. Which of the following do you believe is true? You can’t deal in good faith with people who want tougher gun control because their ultimate goal is the elimination of private gun ownership 75% Some of the people who favor tougher gun control might have some worthwhile ideas 25% 3. Would you spend $3,000 on a rifle or shotgun if doing so didn’t cause a financial hardship? Yes, it’s worth it 44% I’d never spend that much money on a gun 43% Only on a rifle 8% Only on a shotgun 5% 4. If you had the chance to go on the big-game hunt of a lifetime for something like elk or sheep, would you get a new rifle? Only if my current gun wasn’t adequate for the hunt and/or the game 81% Yes—you only live once 19% 5. Have you ever written to your elected representatives at any level about their stand on a gun-control issue? Yes 57% No, I just never bothered 29% No. They’re going to do what they want, and my letter won’t make a bit of difference 13% 6. If you could buy a range-calculating riflescope that would just about guarantee hits on game, would you get one? No 51% Yes 49% 7. Agree or disagree: Hunters who use scoped, in-line muzzleloaders are violating the spirit of the law, and their guns are no more “primitive” than most centerfire deer rifles. Agree. Blackpowder hunting is about the challenge of getting close enough to game to make one sure shot, not just killing an animal 54% Disagree. Modern blackpowder guns are reliable and accurate, and make for more humane kills than do replicas of primitive guns 46% 8. What do you think of this survey? It’s okay 66% This is the first gun-owner survey I’ve ever seen that had any guts 32% You guys are a bunch of knee-jerk liberal blue staters 2%

fieldandstream.blogs.c...t_sur.html

Dimitri

As usual in polls of any kind the answers depend on how the question was worded and the qualifications and experience of the respondent.
For example this question.

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1. American guns are: Better than they were 50 years ago 65% (1300 voters)* Not as good as they were 50 years ago 19% (390 voters)* About the same as they were 50 years ago 6 (120 voters)* No Vote: 10% (190 voters)* * Bold print items added by me.

From the 2000 or so respondents how many actually have experience with guns made 50 years ago. It looks like 390 voters to me. Not many have the knowledge because a CNC machined rifle or pistol does not come near the quality of a hand fit and finished firearm of that time. Yes there is a difference in metals now but if the new metals were used would you prefer a hand fit and finish firearm or a CNC job. So what do the younger generation (1300 voters) base their vote on this survey question on? Apparently a lack of experience with quality firearms. Note that the age breakdown of the respondents is not furnished and you can see that that information is important to interpret the results.

Interesting that the no longer made Model 70 Winchester showed up as #2 and #3 in many of the questions about rifles.

Here again the tally does not hold much water. For years people have been buying Remington 700's for no other reason than someone told them it was the most accurate rifle right out of the box. I would love to see that test data because there are so many aftermarket accuracy improvement parts for the Remington 700, i.e. triggers, recoil lugs, firing pins & springs etc. that the gunsmiths are working at a backlog. Why? To improve that great out of the box accuracy?

The fact is that there is hardly any difference in today's production rifles. Quality is lacking in all of them. It's no secret that I like Winchester 70's but the last one I purchased, a Stealth in 22-250, was delivered in the box with lathe shavings in the action and bore. Obviously no test firing took place. Thankfully after a good cleaning it shot as it should.

Most of my rifles have need bedding to get the best accuracy and that includes my favorite Winchesters along with my Remington, Ruger, and Savage rifles. The companies are sacrificing a truly good product for a profit margin and the quality suffers from the bean counters. The sad fact is that there probably will be no improvement either.

The survey is OK but I would like to see an even better survey.

Popgun,

Yes there are problems, I like old iron and wood myself.

But for out of the box accuracy, you have to remember alot of buyers that lisen to hear-say about the accuracy of a rifle arnt interested in upgrades or in accuracy really. All they care about is to hit minute of deer within 300 yards. Anyone that was seriously into accuracy wouldnt care about what is said about the rifle as they'd get factual information telling them most commercial rifles are the same 1-1.5 MOA or so (well thats what I've read about commerical rifles ) and that they'd need to bed the action and do other things to get it shooting .25 MOA for example

So in reality I highly dought most of these buyers would notice a difference between a rifle to another as most are pretty similar they just go with the herd.

Dimitri