I think the color case hardening just pushes it over the edge. I like some hardware color case hardened, and some rifles and shotguns look amazing like that, but the big flat sided AR is too much. If the receiver was just blued I think it would be ideal.
Personally I've never cared for engraving on firearms; it's just not an aesthetic I care for. There are (rifles especially) that I think look really aethetically pleasing, but I'm not quite sure what about a particular rifle makes me like the look of it - it's like a "I know it when I see it" thing. Maybe I'll look for some pictures.
There's many different styles of engraving out there... It's a skill I want to learn someday. There certainly are guns out there with unnecessary or just bad engraving, but sometimes it can really add to a fine custom gun. These two galleries feature some of the finest custom rifles you can lay your eyes on (in my opinion): <a class="postlink" href="http://hallowellco.com/historical_gallery_magazine%20rifles.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://hallowellco.com/historical_galle ... rifles.htm</a> <a class="postlink" href="http://hallowellco.com/historical_gallery%20single%20shot%20rifles.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://hallowellco.com/historical_galle ... rifles.htm</a>
I could do with less flourishes in the metalwork/no engraving at all, but this doesn't strike me as much gaudier than some of the cowboy guns. It does make me wonder how it'd look with some brass tacks in the wooden stock (well, not *that* gun in particular, that wood's lovely, but in general for guns that evoke the aesthetics of the Winchester, I wonder how they'd look with the common Native American decorations on them.) I would not pay that price for that, mainly because I'm cheap and poor. I would like to see if I could make my own like that.
What I'm wondering is why that particular gun went for 136k. Are you getting a 136k value shooter, or did it just command that price because of the pretty engraving? Personally even if I had the money to blow on a gun like that I'd never be able to bring myself to do it unless the gun I was getting was giving me 136k worth of performance.
To whom did the proceeds go, a charity? Did NSSF get a good cut of that? Also, spending money in itself can be a status symbol/dick-measuring effort, which I feel would explain part of that price. EDIT: found this from a news story: "The SHOT Show auction is administered by the Hunting Heritage Trust for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF ). All proceeds from the auction will benefit programs to further America's hunting and shooting sports heritage."
Yes, it was a charity auction, so some rich guy got a new toy and was able to write it off. Honestly, I like it. I love color case hardening, I love beautiful wood stocks, and I love good engraving work. Add that to an AR platform, and it's really cool. Maybe it's the fact that it's such an old aesthetic on such a modern rifle. Whatever it is, I really like it. If I had 5 grand to spend on a safe queen, I'd take a look at it.
I know a little bit about engraved high-end guns and I'm not a fan of this AR. I love case-coloring and all forms of hand engraving, from fine English scroll to Germanic heavy engraving on German and Belgian guns to the grotesques that Italian artists cook up. I just can get behind this one. The sides are way too big for that much case coloring and I'm not wild about all of the gold. Really, I'm not a fan of much of Turnbull's stuff. It's all either too gaudy or too close to misrepresentation for my taste. I had the opportunity to handle one of his Teddy Roosevelt Winchester Rifles, and while it was nice, it was sort of a bastard. It wasn't a real deluxe grade 1876 and it certainly wasn't TR's rifle. It was a mashup of new and old parts, refinishing, and retrofitting. It's kind of like a real, untouched Shelby Cobra frame with a fiberglass body and a Chevy 350 crate motor. I don't think I know of a single gun that is too nice or too pretty to shoot. If I had a NIB Grand Royal Model 21 in my safe, I'd hunt ducks with it at least once. If I had a Purdey or Greener, you can bet your ass I'd use them. I can send either of them back to be repaired and refreshed. The SHOT show auctions a gun every year. I'm sure there was a little more focus on this one.
Thought you guys might like to see what a European gunroom looks like: All are 12-gauge, all bought by my grandfather and all still shooting. From left to right: - Baronchelli "ultracorto" (extra-short) woodcock gun. - Circa 1900-1930 Webley & Scott "goose gun" - Pair of custom-made high-grade (walnut stock, silver fittings, custom engraving) shotguns built in 1950 for my grandfather by Baronchelli. - The pick of the bunch, 1950 Gebruder Merkel "Suhl". I looked into this one and apparently it's worth anything from $10,000 to $30,000. This one's for the grandkids. - Sauer & Sohn side-by-side - Franchi Alcione. That one's mine.
Those are all awesome. Do you have to use steel shot in the UK for Geese? I think the modern rounds in that gun over here in the US would be hell on that barrel.
That is an awesome collection, but that picture makes me nervous. I just want to grab them and point them all in the opposite direction.
Can't say I know, all these are in Italy, which is where I do 99% of my hunting. Don't really like the way they go hunting in the UK, it's all driven shoots with posh old men dressed in ridiculous outfits (and woe betide you if you deviate from the accepted norm) standing in a line waiting until the scummy peasant beaters drive the game out of a tiny little copse and send about 100 fat, farm-reared pheasants flying at them, at which point they all blaze away, go eat and drink for an hour, then repeat. As far as I'm concerned, hunting is one, maybe two men, and their dog. I'd much rather spend a day crawling through bramble thickets to get that perfect snap-shot at a woodcock as it flits through the trees, and I'd rather bag 3-4 wild, hard-earned birds than slaughter 20 flying chickens. To answer your question slightly, depending on what you're hunting and where in Italy, you might not be able to use lead (though you can still - mostly - get away with it). In that case, we just use bismuth shot. Can't say I've noticed much of a difference, myself.
I have an old Ithaca Flues from the 1920s. It can't handle today's loads, but they do make special shells that won't harm the barrel. You can order them online and they're the same price as your mid-range shotgun shells.
Pretty much every picture of the president is staged. Even the pictures of him delivering a speech from his podium are taken after the speech has already taken place.
He just doesn't look like he goes skeet shooting "all the time" to me, like he first saw the shotgun 5 minutes before the photo was taken. Anyways, checkering in HD: Spoiler My little gorillapod for the camera broke, so I made a new rig to take photos and videos hand-free. Spoiler Very, uh, sophisticated (in Red Green terms). But it works!