Soul-less Rifles

[Mygrainman]

When it comes to inanimate objects having soul, I think it's a reflection of the love its craftsman put into it. Especially when it earns a name, and becomes an irreplaceable member of the family. Case and point... my Scarlett. She might not have a sliver of wood or a single part of blued steel (all nitride/melonite and stainless), but she has plenty of soul. And she gets new jewelry more often than my wife

 

[MountainBear]

It's all in the eye of the beholder. To my eye, most rifles with soul, with life, have blued steel and wood. I'm sure there are exceptions to this, but they usually don't stick with me.
Last time I checked my safe, the only long gun I own without wood is an FAL and it's currently on the chopping block and will likely be replaced with guns made of wood and steel.

I had a long conversation about this very topic today with @tac. I'm very happy to live in the US where I'm not asked to trim my guns down to 19.
Because they aren't just tools. They don't exist for the sole purpose of doing some job. If that was the case, living in the Willamette Valley, I'd have a stainless steel and synthetic .30-06 and call it good. These guns are art to me. They tell stories. Some are memories in wood and steel. Some belonged to departed friends and family.
I understand that not everyone feels that way. I saw all the family heirlooms that came into my shop for sale.
But for me, guns go beyond just what job they can do. I want to sit in a comfortable chair or hang out at the range with them and imagine the places they've been and the stories they could tell.
It just turns out that most of the stories I want to hear are wood and blued steel stories.

 

[Kruel J]

They are all tools. Just like mopeds and fat chicks, they get the job done.

Agreed. And sometimes done quite well.

 

[CLT65]

Last time I checked my safe, the only long gun I own without wood is an FAL and it's currently on the chopping block and will likely be replaced with guns made of wood and steel.

Time to give that classic battle rifle some soul!

 

[ZigZagZeke]

This one definitely has soul...

 

[11Charlie]

This one definitely has soul...
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I would agree with you. Did you restore it? Either way it is Beautiful.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I would agree with you. Did you restore it? Either way it is Beautiful.

The rifle was my grandfather's and was given to him by his uncle. The uncle took it up the Rosebud River on a steam boat about the time of Custer's defeat. He brought back a pair of buffalo horns and a Sioux headdress from that trip. I have the buffalo horns, as seen in some of the pictures. My dad had the rifle for decades, but it was in junk condition. It had been through a cabin fire and had no finish on the metal and a missing fore stock as well as a scorched butt stock. The scorched butt stock can be seen in one of the pictures I think.

When I inherited it I set about finding an expert to restore it. I found authentic reproduction wood, and I found a master gun maker, Jim Dubell, in Colville, WA to do the metal work. The entire rifle was dressed with a draw file to remove pitting and sharpen rounded corners. Jim was careful not to obliterate any markings. He then re-heat treated all the metal, case colored the receiver, converted the breech block to center fire, manufactured a center fire, high pressure firing pin, lined the barrel, re-chambered it from .38 Long rimfire to .357 Mag, and generally applied lots of love and artisanship to the project. I installed the tang sight, and fitted some of the wood. It was not cheap, and it took 18 months of work. The results are well worth it.

Also there's a picture of the receiver when it was "in the white" before getting a new finish.

 

[11Charlie]

The rifle was my grandfather's and was given to him by his uncle. The uncle took it up the Rosebud River on a steam boat about the time of Custer's defeat. He brought back a pair of buffalo horns and a Sioux headdress from that trip. I have the buffalo horns, as seen in some of the pictures. My dad had the rifle for decades, but it was in junk condition. It had been through a cabin fire and had no finish on the metal and a missing fore stock as well as a scorched butt stock. The scorched butt stock can be seen in one of the pictures I think.

When I inherited it I set about finding an expert to restore it. I found authentic reproduction wood, and I found a master gun maker, Jim Dubell, in Colville, WA to do the metal work. The entire rifle was dressed with a draw file to remove pitting and sharpen rounded corners. Jim was careful not to obliterate any markings. He then re-heat treated all the metal, case colored the receiver, converted the breech block to center fire, manufactured a center fire, high pressure firing pin, lined the barrel, re-chambered it from .38 Long rimfire to .357 Mag, and generally applied lots of love and artisanship to the project. I installed the tang sight, and fitted some of the wood. It was not cheap, and it took 18 months of work. The results are well worth it.

Also there's a picture of the receiver when it was "in the white" before getting a new finish.
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Damn! Hell yes this has soul! Now see that is what I am talking about. Nice job!

 

[AK0perator47]

Please my rifle is named after this person.


Therefore it has "sooouulll" and plenty to spare!

What? Any other questions? Didn't think so!

 

[tac]

Who dat?

 

[No_Regerts]

Who dat?

Snoop Doggy Brown

 

[tac]

You have a rifle called Snoop Doggy Brown?

Oy.

 

[AK0perator47]

James Brown The Godfather of Soul!

 

[No_Regerts]

James Brown The Godfather of Soul!

He's the original Sex Machine!

 

[AK0perator47]

He's the original Sex Machine!

Thanks but I was referring to James Brown!

 

[No_Regerts]

Thanks but I was referring to James Brown!

 

[AK0perator47]

You have a rifle called Snoop Doggy Brown?

Oy.

Seriously though my Romarm Sar1 is named after the musician because he was a baddass and so is that AK.

 

[orygun]

The problem with only having guns that have soul is that you can't abuse them like you can soulless guns.

I'm not sure my definition of the soul a gun may or may not have has to do with it's composition. I've owned more than one very nice blued, wood stocked rifle that was old and gorgeous and I have had the very same issue.
That beautiful ol pre '64 Lightweight hardly had a mark on it. The Browning B78 had some of the nicest wood I've ever seen, let alone owned. My beloved 1951 Colt 1911 showed the world what nice bluing was all about (and knocked the center out of any target)...
These three went away because I didn't want to mess up the beauty and value of a really nice gun. I don't have a problem minding all of the safety rules associated with handling firearms, but I hate being distracted by the worry of damaging the finish on the gun I may be using that day. I see "my" guns as tools. I rarely abuse my tools, but I never feel bad about using then in harsh environments. Some of them are modified, some not, but the "soul", or maybe what's better described as personality, grows in them as we make our own history.
Like Zeke, I have some family guns that have been handed down. I don't know if they have soul, but they certainly have precious memories attached to them. Memories of family that have passed on. Memories of the first times shooting, and learning to shoot well with Dad. Our camping trips that the highlight (for me) was shooting Grandpa's 22's. Hunting deer with Dad while carrying the 1918 Model 1894 in 30W.C.F. Shooting clays with Grandpa's sxs hammer 12g. Hunting with my "soulless" stainless Ruger '06, remembering how I let that one get away and how fortunate I was to get it back. To me this is where the soul comes from. It comes from the memories in my heart.

 

[11Charlie]

I have a old Colt 1911 that in my opinion has soul.

 

[Boboclown]

If a gun had a soul and talked I'd be in the lunatic house.