What I did forget to mention in my first - a motivation for why I never feel bad about spending a lot on hunting rifles which see limited use:
Inheritance.
Someday my son will take on my collection, and hopefully someday, his son/daughter. My son already shoots my grandpa’s old 22LR and 410 break action, both of which were my grandfather’s, then my father’s, mine, and now his. He’ll also take over my first 30-06, 1894, Super Blackhawk, and 12 ga soon enough. My wife has her dad’s 30-06 and 30-30 she’s using currently, as well as her .45-70 she’ll pass down. No idea what he’ll do with the rest of the collection, I suppose keep what he wants and sell the rest to buy a second home.
These wood and steel firearms have a lot more class and inherent ability to accept sentimentality than some of my more modern and utilitarian rifles - my match rifles might be expensive, but they certainly aren’t “fine rifles” which feel like heirlooms, regardless of the price, quality, or volume of use and emotional attachment. My go-to shotgun for the last 12yrs, and likely the next 30, is a camo dipped Benelli Supernova. Great shotgun, and will last generations. My most common hunting rifles are AR’s, most as expensive as any of my bolt action hunting rifles, and some better overall quality. But it’s not quite the same to hand an AR or a camo dipped scattergun to my son as a family heirloom as it is to hand him a wood and steel firearm.
