Gun snobs?

Other than my carry gun (Ruger LC9) and my hunting rifle (Savage 30-06), I like to buy "interesting" guns. There has to be something about it that just grabs me...something a bit different about the design, odd, over-the-top, unusual, possibly historical, or collectible about it. Does that make me a gun snob?
 
I'm not rich and I really like peep sights, but I do have a couple of cheap walmart scopes. I've come to the conclusion that the cheap scopes work ok up to about 200 yards then good glass really shows why it costs more. Unfortunately for me every time I save up enough to buy a nice scope or a nice progressive press I end up buying another gun instead.
Some people love to give me a hard time about this, but the same people do an early upgrade every time a new Iphone comes out I call them Iphone snobs. The way I see it In 5 years their Iphone will be a piece of junk they threw away a long time ago. In 50 years It'll be dust but my guns will be just as useful and worth more than when I bought them.
 
Yes there are some snobs out there.
There are those that if it is not a Colt, Kimber, or whatever then it is an inferior product.
Same thing applies to rifles and scopes.
There will always be these type personalities – always has, always will be.

Like many have said, price is the driving factor 98% of the time.
What is the best I can afford that will suite my needs.

I myself shop for items bases on owner feed back.
Example: I needed a red dot sight for a recent AR build so off I go on line reading owner feed back on a number of red dot type sights.

The one I bought was $80.00 – off brand I have never heard of.
501 owner reviews and of that 501, 430 where 4 stars plus.
They were mounted on AR, 12 gauge shotguns, air soft and ect….

So far it has worked as good as any red dot sight I have owned in the past and I have bought some really pricy sights.

Just goes to show ya that just because it cost a lot it does not mean it is any better than a cheaper priced item.

With all that said, I have to admit I am a snob when it comes to wheel guns.
I’ve owned S&W, Colts and others and none have ever been as tough as any of my Rugers. – ROFLMAO!!!!!
 
Gun snobs come in all shapes and forms. Ain't just the ones that whine about price or those that brag about quality. Ain't just the ones that will never buy a Smith, Ruger or a Taurus or the ones that will only buy a Smith, Ruger or Taurus. Ain't just those that claim steel is better than Tupperware or those that claim 15 fast shots always beats out 6 slow ones. It's folks that insist on being critical or belittling of others and their choice in firearms to boost their own ego or validate their own choices. We need to not be critical of fellow gun owners but embrace and appreciate the fact we have choices and understand our priorities in firearms are not always identical. Makes the shooting sports much more interesting and enjoyable for me.
 
I think most folks would agree that you can be a "friendly gun snob" without putting down another person's choice of firearm.

I consider myself a friendly gun snob. That's because I really care how the gun looks and appreciate one that is finely made or has an innovative design, in addition to things like reliability. So, there is a bit of vanity in most of my gun purchases. But, I don't really buy guns to impress others. In fact, my favorite time of the day is late at night when I can sit on the couch by my self breaking down a couple of guns of mine so that I can compare and contrast their designs and their quality.
 
Now that I've had a lttle more time to think about it, I dout there are many real gun snobs on here. Consider the CEO who drops six figures on a Purdy or Holland & Holland just so they have something pretty to carry around while they chat up Dick Cheney. The guys that don't care about benchrest accuracy or dead nuts reliabily, as long as it conveys the message that they are above the great unwashed masses. I still could not care less...
 
I admit it, I'm a snob.
If you're at the range and someone pulls out an old cap n ball revolver and belches a load of smoke when firing, he's the coolest guy on the range. :cool:
 
Let me ask a question. I know two people that just got into shooting, neither knew anything about guns, one of them bought a Jimenze because it was cheap the other bought a Sig because it was the most expensive that the store had that day and he figured that price equates quality. Both of these guns are for CCW, and both are proud of their guns and both could have afforded a Glock or XD or any $400 to $600 gun.
Who is the snob and who made the better choice?
 
neither knew anything about guns, one of them bought a Jimenze because it was cheap the other bought a Sig because it was the most expensive
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Neither. They are both simply ignorant (especially if the Sig guy bought an X-Five for carry). Now, if the Sig guy just always buys the most expensive doo-dad because he has to have "the best", then he's an ignorant snob. And, I don't mean that in a derogatory manner.
 
The sig guy bought a 229, my point is at least one has a good gun even though both of their reasons are flawed. Snobbery comes in all types I have seen cheap snobs and rich snobs but at least rich snobs usually walk away with a good product even if they can not use it to its fullest advantage.

The reason most good glass comes from Germany or Japan is because that is where most good camera lens companies are.
 
It's pretty easy to see, it's all over the forum. Go to the rifle section and ask what scope to get for $150. Ask how much your budget SHOULD be. You'll soon find out that the scope should cost at least as much as the gun, some say 50% more! I've even seen double.

That's what the OP is talking about. Not just having an appreciation for finer things, not simply owning expensive guns but looking down your nose at people who can't afford them or don't want to, while telling them all the reasons they're stupid or foolish for not spending a months take home pay on an optic.
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Hmmmm....well, scopes are interesting. I'm not qualified to tell anyone what $150 scope to buy as I've never looked into optics of that level so I could not make a recommendation. However, I can tell you that there are real performance differences between products at different price points.

I've been professionally involved with optics for about 45 years - and you generally do get what you pay for in optics if you know how to choose and evaluate the lens, binocular, telescope, or rifle scope - and, most importantly know how to define the performance and features you need in an optic.

Most mid-range scopes will give you 80-85% of the performance of a high end scope which, for a lot of people, will work for 100% of the shooting they do. I have a $600 scope on my AR15 and a $3300 scope on my precision AR10. Both do exactly the work they need to do and were chosen for their performance and not price.

I also have a 35 year old Leupold Vari-X III purchased for a custom rifle of the same age. I wouldn't trade that scope for any new scope because I'm so used to shooting the combination of gun and rifle scope. At this point, the performance of the pair are known at ranges from 100-600 yards just through use, in effect, they're a matched pair and I have no need to change anything.

Could I find a "better" scope today? You bet. Optics have improved immensely in the past 35 years with better coatings, designs and manufacturing techniques. But - the question is what would I gain? My answer is not much - I'm satisfied with the performance I have.

What you get in a truly high end optic is generally mechanical robustness paired with optics that provide better eye relief, color transmission, percentage of light transmission, contrast, and clarity. The image will appear more three dimensional and where the scope will really provide a performance difference is in low contrast, low light situations.

There can be other features like 80 MOA or MIL adjustments in the turrets, repeatable zero stop adjustments, custom reticles, front focal plane reticles, and lighted reticles - all of those kind of features raise the price of the optic and require additional mechanical design, engineering, and manufacturing steps to ensure they are as robust as the tube itself.

With scopes you can narrow down the requirements by very carefully evaluating the features you need to support the shooting tasks you have in mind.

Hunting has a totally different set of requirements than target shooting which is different than precision tactical rifle shooting, etc. Evaluating the use of the optic will lead to a range of choices which then have to be matched to the budget you have available for the scope.

My only advice on any type of optic is to buy the best you can afford when you purchase it from a known, quality manufacturer.
 
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If I know a particular gun is junk I'm going to tell someone. But only if I've had experience with that exact gun......Just reading about it on the internet doesn't make it so...

On the other hand I own several weapons that get sub par ratings from the internet gun snobs. I have a Kimber Eclipse Custom II and 3 DPMS rifles...all of them declared garbage by the know-it-all's on internet gun forums. Yet they have been perfect examples of the type of weapon that they represent. Never a gun related malfunction through thousands and thousands of rounds.

Gun snobs can have their opinions....but I'll take my own advice
 
ozarkhillbilly said:
Who is the snob and who made the better choice?
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Who is the snob? Skans is probably right that they were initially just ignorant rather than being snobs, but either one or both could become snobs; it depends on how they interact with others regarding their purchases. The Sig guy could be dismissive of guns less expensive than his and the Jiminez guy could be critical of guns more expensive than his.

Who made the better choice? That is a matter of who is happy with their purchase and whether the gun meets the owner's needs. Most of us on TFL are devoted gun folks, but a lot of people will buy a gun, shoot it a time or two, and stick it in a nightstand drawer. For those people, it may not matter much what particular gun is in the nightstand drawer for the next several decades - unused, neglected, and not maintained.
 
One of my co-workers has told me more than once that my Mosins are clubs compared to Garrands and that the Mosins are useless. To each there own
 
co-workers has told me more than once that my Mosins are clubs compared to Garrands and that the Mosins are useless.
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I suppose that is about as good of an example of a true gun snob as I've seen.
 
ozarkhillbilly said:
Let me ask a question. I know two people that just got into shooting, neither knew anything about guns, one of them bought a Jimenze because it was cheap the other bought a Sig because it was the most expensive that the store had that day and he figured that price equates quality. Both of these guns are for CCW, and both are proud of their guns and both could have afforded a Glock or XD or any $400 to $600 gun.
Who is the snob and who made the better choice?
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There is no snobbery involved in your example.

It has nothing to do with buying something expensive just because you can or buying something cheap just because you want to. It's the attitude that you display that's the problem. It has nothing to do with liking what you've got and telling others why you like it or recommending it to others.

Snobbery is when "Product Y" is the only product worth buying and anyone who buys anything else is an idiot.

It's not "I bought Product Y because it does X, Y and Z and those features also fit your criteria well." That's just advice.

Snobbery is "Product Y is the best there is, Product X is not fit to walk in the odor of Product Y's flatulence. If you buy Product X you'll be sorry. It will cost you the buck of a lifetime"or "What's your family worth to you?, you really claim to love them and you're going to claim to protect them with that junk?"

THAT is snobbery.
 
What you say/think....

Whenever I see any gun owner or armed officer with a off-brand(low end), I think;
A) They can't afford a better model & may be saving up to get one later.
B) They might not know enough about the shooting sports industry or guns to get a better sidearm.
C) The person is cheap or wants to save $$$. :rolleyes:
D) Their other(better) pistol or revolver is unavailable or the post might not be somewhere they want to carry a high end weapon.

Id like to think most gun owners learn about the industry but mostly Id say it's B or C.
 
So who pays attention to them? I don't like Glocks, many others do. No one has forced me to buy one -now giving me one is another matter. As a Life Member of SNM-Sons of Neandethal Man-I don't care for non-steel frames.
31 years of military service, Active and Reserve-don't care for the M-16/AR-15 and the 5.56 cartridge, won't buy one. Now if you want to GIVE me one...
 
So who pays attention to them?
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Generally, no one who usually posts on this forum. Heck, many of the folks here are walking guncyclopedias. However, people new to shooting and firearms would have a hard time ignoring some off-hand remarks made about various guns, simply because they wouldn't know any better. Brian's examples of "It will cost you the buck of a lifetime" and "What's your family worth to you" come to mind.
 
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