BarbC
Member
How do you write the cost off on your income tax?
Let's discuss long guns
- Thread starter oldman45
- Start date
One of my areas of expertise is in firearms. I testify in more than a few firearm cases each year. In order to know more about firearms, I have to study them, shoot them and learn them inside out. Each time I buy a gun, I do so for study. Often times, the firearms maker will give me a gun like the one that is in litigation.
Anything I buy that aids my work, be it a vehicle, computer, gun or other item is a tax write off. I earn money working and travel over the country doing court room work. Since it is a long time legal business with substantial annual earnings, the deductions are allowed.
feralmerril
Absent Comrade
oldman45, thats interesting and more power to you. But is there a mechanism to tax you if you ever sell the gun after the trial? Just wondering.
BarbC
Member
I am obviously in the wrong business.
Anything the business bought is subject to being taxed for any money it brings IF sold. Depreciation is allowed and used. My vehicles are depreciated over a three year period. When I could justify owning an airplane all the time, it was depreciated over 10 years. If something has little or no value, it is just tossed away.
But if I were to sell any gun, the next time I needed one like that, I would just have to buy another. From a business standpoint, a person cannot have too many guns.
A friend of mine is an attorney that only handles cases involving injury or death from firearms. It got to the point where he had to become a FFL holder in order to get the guns he wanted shipped directly to him. I cannot justify becoming a dealer.
Snapping Twig
Member
Unless you're going the Sako route, or something top level like that, most rifles these days are unappealing IMO.
A purpose built midrange rifle is acceptable, synthetic stock of quality, bead blasted stainless and a good overall finish is OK.
Many or most of the entry level rifles I see look like old tin press tab toys to me. Rough, in need of upgrade, marginally accurate, some whiz-bang super-duper eye catching gotta have feature that doesn't make up for the deficiencies.
My first rifle is a Ruger M77 I bought in the mid 80's with lamo stock. Boy that was heavy and I sent it to Buzztail in Oregon for accurizing, lapping, hard chrome and I put it in a Lee Six stock. Purpose built, beat the crap out of it, shoots straight.
Next rifle was a used Remington 700 I found that was customized with a 6.5-06 SS Hart competition barrel. Buzztail got it and did the same things with it and put it in a MacMillan stock. Nice piece.
I fell into two Colt Sauer's. A .300Wby and a .243. Holy smokes! IMO, these are the finest rifles I have ever seen! Custom everything from the factory. Rear locking lugs, Colt deep royal bluing, the wood... oh, is that nice! I don't hunt with them as I have other rifles to abuse. Happy to own them and take them to the range every so often.
Of late I found two really nice rifles for next to nothing. One is a sporterized Eddystone 1917 ( June 1918 mfg.) in a fantastic stock. Whoever did this was a professional, no question about it. Friggin thing is heavy as a block, so it won't find itself in the field unless a miracle occurs, but it's real nice, shoots straight and a pleasure to own. Had a Leupold 4x on it. Real old scope, but still crisp and clear.
The other is a 1972 Browning 06, a "salt stock" rifle. Had a minor amount of patina, almost not enough to call it rust, at the stock line. This is an FN made browning with control feed and eject. I saw the identical rifle in a nicer stock with better bluing and it was labeled a Parker Hale. Same rifle exactly.
Cleaned up nice, oxpho'd the steel where needed, refinished the stock - tiger burl walnut - and inletted the forearm so I could slip a dollar bill all the way to the action. This is an accurate rifle! Came with a cheap scope.
Both those rifles were purchased for @ $200 each.
So, IMO, unless you want to move to a top tier rifle and the associated costs, look for old and used.
A purpose built midrange rifle is acceptable, synthetic stock of quality, bead blasted stainless and a good overall finish is OK.
Many or most of the entry level rifles I see look like old tin press tab toys to me. Rough, in need of upgrade, marginally accurate, some whiz-bang super-duper eye catching gotta have feature that doesn't make up for the deficiencies.
My first rifle is a Ruger M77 I bought in the mid 80's with lamo stock. Boy that was heavy and I sent it to Buzztail in Oregon for accurizing, lapping, hard chrome and I put it in a Lee Six stock. Purpose built, beat the crap out of it, shoots straight.
Next rifle was a used Remington 700 I found that was customized with a 6.5-06 SS Hart competition barrel. Buzztail got it and did the same things with it and put it in a MacMillan stock. Nice piece.
I fell into two Colt Sauer's. A .300Wby and a .243. Holy smokes! IMO, these are the finest rifles I have ever seen! Custom everything from the factory. Rear locking lugs, Colt deep royal bluing, the wood... oh, is that nice! I don't hunt with them as I have other rifles to abuse. Happy to own them and take them to the range every so often.
Of late I found two really nice rifles for next to nothing. One is a sporterized Eddystone 1917 ( June 1918 mfg.) in a fantastic stock. Whoever did this was a professional, no question about it. Friggin thing is heavy as a block, so it won't find itself in the field unless a miracle occurs, but it's real nice, shoots straight and a pleasure to own. Had a Leupold 4x on it. Real old scope, but still crisp and clear.
The other is a 1972 Browning 06, a "salt stock" rifle. Had a minor amount of patina, almost not enough to call it rust, at the stock line. This is an FN made browning with control feed and eject. I saw the identical rifle in a nicer stock with better bluing and it was labeled a Parker Hale. Same rifle exactly.
Cleaned up nice, oxpho'd the steel where needed, refinished the stock - tiger burl walnut - and inletted the forearm so I could slip a dollar bill all the way to the action. This is an accurate rifle! Came with a cheap scope.
Both those rifles were purchased for @ $200 each.
So, IMO, unless you want to move to a top tier rifle and the associated costs, look for old and used.
Texas Star
US Veteran
Winchester is again building fine rifles in the FN plant in S. Carolina.
I'm very fond of my M-70 Fwt. Classic in .270, made in the early 90's. My son and his father-in-law have a couple of those in .30/06 that are outstanding. Really nice wood, and worthy of the Zeiss scope that the son has on his. Mine has a genuine Redfield scope with a Euro reticle that has thick crosshair, save for the top one. It is very quick to get on target. The sling is leather, too, not nylon!
I think that if I buy another rifle, it'll be another M-70 or a CZ or Sako. Haven't seen the Kimbers or Dakotas, but they are so expensive, that I'll need to sell some books to buy one. Better go work on writing one now. I spend too much time on forums...But there are worse vices!
T-Star
P.S. How is the action smoothness on new CZ's? I haven't seen one in person. They used to be a little rough at first. I guess that Break-Free and elbow grease would wear one in, and they are otherwise nice. I do plan to get one of the M-452 American .22's. Should be a fine small game rifle.
I'm very fond of my M-70 Fwt. Classic in .270, made in the early 90's. My son and his father-in-law have a couple of those in .30/06 that are outstanding. Really nice wood, and worthy of the Zeiss scope that the son has on his. Mine has a genuine Redfield scope with a Euro reticle that has thick crosshair, save for the top one. It is very quick to get on target. The sling is leather, too, not nylon!
I think that if I buy another rifle, it'll be another M-70 or a CZ or Sako. Haven't seen the Kimbers or Dakotas, but they are so expensive, that I'll need to sell some books to buy one. Better go work on writing one now. I spend too much time on forums...But there are worse vices!
T-Star
P.S. How is the action smoothness on new CZ's? I haven't seen one in person. They used to be a little rough at first. I guess that Break-Free and elbow grease would wear one in, and they are otherwise nice. I do plan to get one of the M-452 American .22's. Should be a fine small game rifle.
Texas Star
US Veteran
Oh: I picked up a Howa 7mm-08 with synthetic stock in trade for a binocular. It shoots well, and is more of an all-weather rifle than my walnut-stocked M-70. But it doesn't have the "soul" of the Winchester.
I need to upgrade the scope, probably to a Nikon 4X. The previous owner had a "bargain" scope on it.
Wish that I could find factory ammo with Nosler bullets, but they're really not needed for most of what I'd hunt. Remington ammo with 140 grain bullets is the easiest to find, and should do fine on whitetails. My DIL bopped a nice buck with this rifle at 80 yards. It hit the ground so fast that it probably never knew what hit it.
What I really need is a .416. I could spread the word that I had it, and elephants would steer clear of the flowerbeds. Not that elephants or Cape buffalo have been a problem, but you never know. All sorts of "exotic" animals show up in the US, right?
I need to upgrade the scope, probably to a Nikon 4X. The previous owner had a "bargain" scope on it.
Wish that I could find factory ammo with Nosler bullets, but they're really not needed for most of what I'd hunt. Remington ammo with 140 grain bullets is the easiest to find, and should do fine on whitetails. My DIL bopped a nice buck with this rifle at 80 yards. It hit the ground so fast that it probably never knew what hit it.
What I really need is a .416. I could spread the word that I had it, and elephants would steer clear of the flowerbeds. Not that elephants or Cape buffalo have been a problem, but you never know. All sorts of "exotic" animals show up in the US, right?
I'm stuck on blue and wood myself. I certainly see the advantages of the stainless/synthetics, but they don't have any "soul". JMO..........here are a few "old school" blue and wood guns...1886 Browning (45-70),Mod '06 20" carbine in 22LR,1949 M-70 (30 Gov't 06), and a few other assorted smokepoles..........Sprefix
Attachments
Now those are real guns with eye appeal.
I wonder how many on here likes the newer Remington 742 with the plastic stocks than the real wood of the older models. A person can call stocks synthetic, composite or what ever they want but they are still plastic. You cannot smooth out scratches, you cannot polish them and you cannot make them as nice as real wood.
feralmerril
Absent Comrade
I already posted a batch of my rifles. Here is a couple more cheaper ones that I am proud of. The first is a ruger 77 7x57. I got it for half price brand new about 30 years ago on a sale. Its accurate, shoots to the same POI with different ammo and I think looks classic. The 2nd is a remington 30-06 760 I inherited from my dad. He shot a nice buck with it at about 86 years old! Last year I took it to the range to sight in almost as a afterthought. I was pleasantly surprised as to accuracy and handeling. It may find a place on my ATV now! They are fairly cheap excellant guns and dont have that plastic modern look and still are old classics.
texas star, i know that my 527 pestige is of recent manufacture. i know that it was a limited special run. i have heard that it was a complete custm shop run and i've also heard that it's nothing special, just a model that's designed for the american market. whatever the case, it has an action that's like rolling a marble across a piece of glass....smooth.
gregintenn
Member
I like the looks of the 99 Savage.
But you just gotta love those custom Mausers.
You can still get good ones. My Ruger #1 is gorgeous. Same for the Browning SA-22. The CZ's are good, old-fashioned wood and machined, blued steel and very affordable to boot.
I hate plastic, too, but when our generation is gone, that preference will probably vanish with us. The newcomers don't know anything but plastic and tactical crap. They think all shooting will be done in cities.
I hate plastic, too, but when our generation is gone, that preference will probably vanish with us. The newcomers don't know anything but plastic and tactical crap. They think all shooting will be done in cities.
kscardsfan
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I am the new generation (I'm 25), and while I do appreciate the utility of plastic and stainless, nothing has the appeal, looks, feel, or yes, soul of walnut and high polished blued steel. My mother wouldn't allow me to own synthetic stocked guns when I was first given my own guns, so I had a browning BPS with blued steel and highly figured walnut. My first deer rifle was a Ruger 77 (tang safety), again in blued and walnut. I currently have a stash of pre-64 winchesters and late 50s-early 60s production remingtons that are truly working works of art. But they also don't hit the tree stand in a snow storm or wade out to the duck blind and get dropped in the lake like my Benelli nova does, bought specifically because it was ugly and plastic. I truly love, appreciate and enjoy shooting my "pretty" guns, but when it comes time to work/use/abuse a gun I grab some plastic and get to business.
Smith357
US Veteran
There are newer rifles out there that are as good as the old ones but, you are going to have to pay for them. When I was looking for a .30-06 sporting rifle what I wanted new started at $800-1000. The nice ones like Cooper's and Dakota's were much more. I looked at the new batch of $300 budget bolt guns and found them lacking. They looked cheap, and they felt cheap. Fortunately I found an old Winchester with a scope for $450 that just needed a little TLC.
Edit: I can suppose I can get over the plastic and stainless guns, what I can't get over is the lack of iron sights on todays rifles. I just don't trust glass or batteries in the the woods and in my mind a hunting rifle must have iron sights mounted for use when you scope fails.
Edit: I can suppose I can get over the plastic and stainless guns, what I can't get over is the lack of iron sights on todays rifles. I just don't trust glass or batteries in the the woods and in my mind a hunting rifle must have iron sights mounted for use when you scope fails.
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kscardsfan
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Edit: I can suppose I can get over the plastic and stainless guns, what I can't get over is the lack of iron sights on todays rifles. I just don't trust glass or batteries in the the woods and in my mind a hunting rifle must have iron sights mounted for use when you scope fails.
Thank you! I had to hunt high and low to get that 06 ruger with iron sights. I have never had a scope fail on me (yet) but I want to be prepared for if it does. I am a firm believer in redundant systems and backup plans simply because you can never be too prepared for when Mr. Murphy comes calling.
You give me hope. I shouldn't have made a blanket statement about young shooters because obviously you have appreciation for classic firearms. I hope there are more like you.
Andy Griffith
Member
You know, it wasn't but a few decades ago that "tactical" actually looked pretty decent compared with the junk of today.
This for instance:
As for other nice pieces, heres a vintage 1895 in .30-40:
My newest Remington, a 341:
And, I know this is a long gun thread, but I just have to sneak in a couple of handgun with my old 1873's...
I really need to take some more long gun pictures....
This for instance:
As for other nice pieces, heres a vintage 1895 in .30-40:
My newest Remington, a 341:
And, I know this is a long gun thread, but I just have to sneak in a couple of handgun with my old 1873's...
I really need to take some more long gun pictures....
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Faulkner
Member
I like a good looking walnut and blued steel gun as much as the next guy. I even have a few guns that are pretty enough to hang on the wall as though it were a work of art, but I hardly ever use those as a tool because I'm afraid I'll ding 'em up.
I don't think of walnut and blued steel having any spirit, soul, or other mojo any more or less than stainless and synthetic. I carry a gun every day and I like the fact mine are good honest tools. When my butt is on the line I want equipment I can depend on, and I've been impressed with polymer and synthetic and stainless steel. I want them to hold up in any kind of weather and go bang when I pull the trigger and put a bullet where I pointed it. I've been so pleased with my duty gear that I've kind of gone the same way with my hunting rifle as well, and I'm glad I did.
I don't think of walnut and blued steel having any spirit, soul, or other mojo any more or less than stainless and synthetic. I carry a gun every day and I like the fact mine are good honest tools. When my butt is on the line I want equipment I can depend on, and I've been impressed with polymer and synthetic and stainless steel. I want them to hold up in any kind of weather and go bang when I pull the trigger and put a bullet where I pointed it. I've been so pleased with my duty gear that I've kind of gone the same way with my hunting rifle as well, and I'm glad I did.
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kscardsfan
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There are lots like me, the problem is most of us can't afford the finer guns of yesteryear simply because of collectors also like me (I'm actually more of an accumulator, but thats a topic for another day
). In fact, I have a buddy who flat out refuses to buy synthetic stocked guys, and as a 27 year old prefers to carry a wheel gun (model 19-3) to any autoloader ever made, except possibly the 1911. I have gotten lucky on several of the classic guns I have, to the point of inheriting an entire collection of guns made no later than 1968 (no serial numbers or importer stamps or other GCA give aways) and I have been fortunate to get a job that pays pretty well and have very low living expenses right now. I also have very old man style tastes, so that probably helps the situation quite a bit lol. I love classic guns, but the sheer price and limited availablity of them means that the majority of mine stay in the safe unless conditions are perfect and likely to stay that way for duration of the hunting day.kscardsfan
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I know how you feel, but I've also had a glock malfunction in the middle of a mag of remington hollow point 180 gr and seen a stainless steel sig 1911 rust, and had never been exposed to weather. There is no magic bullet or 100% reliable gun, modern or not lol.
gregintenn
Member
Andy Griffith, I sure wish you'd quit laying your guns on bricks to photograph them.
The pictures look great, but it just makes me nervous!
The pictures look great, but it just makes me nervous!"Cold and Dead" - Skeeziks (Page 1) - best definition of the new trendy guns I've ever read. I might be old-fashioned but give me walnut and deeply blued steel anytime!
beach elvis
Member
Being in my mid-40's, I guess I might barely qualify to be in the blued-steel-and-walnut codger club. I display my membership card proudly.
Held out on a 10/22 until I could find a Deluxe Sporter w/ the walnut stock. What wonderful little rifles they are.
Now having said that...
Could someone please tell me why I have such a screaming yearning for one of those stainless, synthetic-stocked FLINTLOCK rifles?
Gander Mtn. here in Ohio had one a while back and they wanted $600.00 for it. Nope, don't want one THAT bad but what an ultimate utilitarian piece of gear that would be.
Held out on a 10/22 until I could find a Deluxe Sporter w/ the walnut stock. What wonderful little rifles they are.
Now having said that...
Could someone please tell me why I have such a screaming yearning for one of those stainless, synthetic-stocked FLINTLOCK rifles?
Gander Mtn. here in Ohio had one a while back and they wanted $600.00 for it. Nope, don't want one THAT bad but what an ultimate utilitarian piece of gear that would be.
Wheelgunner840
Member
I agree with just about everyone here. To get the old time wood and blued quality, you have to pay through the nose! I am glad that I held on to a few of the old ones. Having said that, I don't mind the synthetic stock on my Savage MK II FVT. It's a great shooting .22 that I don't have to worry about scratching up at the range. I reckon they all have their purpose.
Great choice Barb. I have a '73 Cimarron (44-40) and it is absolutely beautiful. I am sorry to hear that they have gone up so much in price. That same gun 5 years ago was around $750 dealer price. Cowboy Action Shooting has grown leaps and bounds over the past 10 years, and the demand for lever guns has made the folks selling them pretty much name their price.
I hope you love yours as much as I do mine. While they all originate from Uberti, Cimarron does a nice job with fit & finish. All my cowboy type guns came from them, and I have never had a single problem. Best of luck to ya!
WG840
Great choice Barb. I have a '73 Cimarron (44-40) and it is absolutely beautiful. I am sorry to hear that they have gone up so much in price. That same gun 5 years ago was around $750 dealer price. Cowboy Action Shooting has grown leaps and bounds over the past 10 years, and the demand for lever guns has made the folks selling them pretty much name their price.
I hope you love yours as much as I do mine. While they all originate from Uberti, Cimarron does a nice job with fit & finish. All my cowboy type guns came from them, and I have never had a single problem. Best of luck to ya!
WG840
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