How do you set your rifle down in the field?

[stoopiddumbman]

This comment reminded me of when I found a coyote den with a bunch of pups in it.

Man I was just making a joke about shitting under logs you took it too far

 

[amassi]

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[Glendine]

I hated dealing with it so I made this, and sell it here. www.lswild.com Scoped Action Armor

View attachment 623355View attachment 623357View attachment 623358View attachment 623361

That looks fanastic.

 

[TaperPin]

I find it ironic that there is so much talk about a rifle being a tool and therefore doesn’t need to be cared for. I’ve spent my entire life surrounded with blue collar guys in all the construction trades, loggers, arborists, heavy construction, farming, welders, machinists, manufacturing and others - my pickup full of tools gets used 8-10 hrs every day rain or shine, as does the guy’s working to both sides and in ALL the trades tools are what puts food on the table and they are taken care of. I have yet to see any additional productivity with guys who are rough on tools - but they are the first ones that have to borrow something because theirs doesn’t work.

It takes so little extra effort to keep something as simple as a framing hammer in good working order, but leave it out in the weather when it takes 5 seconds to cover, and you’ll go through twice as many handles. If you can’t take care of a wood handle you‘d be better off with a metal handle - and few carpenters would want to spend a career swinging a metal handled hammer.

This isn’t for the older guys already set in your ways, so save your breath, but for the younger guys trying to figure things out. In everything you do, take care of your tools and they will take care of you - that’s been the philosophy of generations of tradesmen, and will still be 100 years from now.

 

[Formidilosus]

This isn’t for the older guys already set in your ways, so save your breath, but for the younger guys trying to figure things out. In everything you do, take care of your tools and they will take care of you - that’s been the philosophy of generations of tradesmen, and will still be 100 years from now.

I’ve yet to meet a framer that won’t let his hammer get scratched or who freakes out if it falls off a ladder, or one that won’t set his nail gun on the sub floor beside him, or set his saw down on the ground when cutting 2x4’s, or one who won’t let an extension cord touch the dirt, or one who’s framing square isn’t scratched and dinged.

 

[Bearwhisky]

My guns are tools not collectors items. I set them on the ground.


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[TaperPin]

I’ve yet to meet a framer that won’t let his hammer get scratched or who freakes out if it falls off a ladder, or one that won’t set his nail gun on the sub floor beside him, or set his saw down on the ground when cutting 2x4’s, or one who won’t let an extension cord touch the dirt, or one who’s framing square isn’t scratched and dinged.

When a new apprentice or laborer gets on he crew we‘re not shy about letting them know if they borrow a tool and break it they bought it. Drop a titanium hammer enough and the tip of the claw will break off. Pull on it wrong and you’ll break the handle. Hammer with the side of the head of a $200 ti hammer and that’s the last time that kid gets anything other than the steel handled hammer for idiots.

Framers don’t drop nail guns, but apprentices and laborers do until theirs doesn’t work anymore and all the old guys say we told you so. Apprentices and laborers toss framing squares off roofs, until one lands on the corner and we put theirs up against ours to show them how they are no longer square and they either replace it or if they will stop throwing it off the roof we’ll show how to straighten it. Someone wants to use an abused speed square it better not have bent up edges that change the angle or they can pack lumber until getting one that doesn’t waste our time. There’s a proper way to set a saw down so it lasts for 20k cuts and not just 10k. I don’t let anyone use one cord for two tools and constantly plug and unplug - it wears out 4x faster, let alone constantly drop cord ends or hose ends into the dirt when it takes 1 extra second to toss it down correctly. If how they treated cords worked, they wouldn’t need to borrow mine.

I could care less what the excuse is, most rough handling of tools is laziness.

You go ahead and treat your rifles however you want.

 

[JohnJohnson]

This isn’t for the older guys already set in your ways, so save your breath, but for the younger guys trying to figure things out. In everything you do, take care of your tools and they will take care of you - that’s been the philosophy of generations of tradesmen, and will still be 100 years from now.

I can't recall every post in this thread off the top of my head but I don't remember people advocating for doing things which might actually damage their rifle's ability to perform its task. This discussion seems more about not caring if it the stock gets a little scratched, or other small cosmetic things.

 

[ElPollo]

This thread cracks me up.

I was once distracted while dealing with a bird dog while quail hunting and set a shotgun on my bumper. I promptly drove off with it setting there. It took me an hour and a half of canvasing ranch roads to find the damned thing because it ended up in the bottom of a cattle guard two miles away. The gun was not significantly worse for the experience.

Needless to say, I can’t really have nice things or they don’t stay nice for long. I don’t recommend using your bumper but I’ve honestly never given two thoughts to setting my guns down in the dirt or rocks. If I’ve got something I don’t want to scratch, it doesn’t get used and doesn’t stick around for long.

 

[Formidilosus]

When a new apprentice or laborer gets on he crew we‘re not shy about letting them know if they borrow a tool and break it they bought it. Drop a titanium hammer enough and the tip of the claw will break off. Pull on it wrong and you’ll break the handle. Hammer with the side of the head of a $200 ti hammer and that’s the last time that kid gets anything other than the steel handled hammer for idiots.

Framers don’t drop nail guns, but apprentices and laborers do until theirs doesn’t work anymore and all the old guys say we told you so. Apprentices and laborers toss framing squares off roofs, until one lands on the corner and we put theirs up against ours to show them how they are no longer square and they either replace it or if they will stop throwing it off the roof we’ll show how to straighten it. Someone wants to use an abused speed square it better not have bent up edges that change the angle or they can pack lumber until getting one that doesn’t waste our time. There’s a proper way to set a saw down so it lasts for 20k cuts and not just 10k. I don’t let anyone use one cord for two tools and constantly plug and unplug - it wears out 4x faster, let alone constantly drop cord ends or hose ends into the dirt when it takes 1 extra second to toss it down correctly. If how they treated cords worked, they wouldn’t need to borrow mine.

I could care less what the excuse is, most rough handling of tools is laziness.

You go ahead and treat your rifles however you want.

You ignored what I wrote and moved the goal posts. Show me where I wrote anything about tossing a square off a roof? I guarantee you that you, and every single framer treats their tools more rough than I do rifles while hunting. This thread is literally about not laying a rifle on the ground.

 

[rclouse79]

The last time mine tipped over with the bipod deployed was the last. Now I just lay in on its side. I try to put it on some vegetation or a rock to keep it out of the dirt.

 

[TaperPin]

You ignored what I wrote and moved the goal posts. Show me where I wrote anything about tossing a square off a roof? I guarantee you that you, and every single framer treats their tools more rough than I do rifles while hunting. This thread is literally about not laying a rifle on the ground.

What I said is for the guys trying to figure this sport out and might question if rough handling their guns for no reason is normal. It’s not. Every hunter since the dawn of black powder has set their rifles on the ground - this thread isn’t about avoiding it, but how to do it without having to damage the gun.

You do what works for you.

 

[sdx]

I am convinced that this thread was nothing but bait for the special people. FISH ON!!!

Haha, no it was a serious question. The rifle is a tikka t3, blued and wood stock, so that's part of it I guess. I had a heck of a time a couple years ago in the snow because I didn't have the muzzle taped. Scratched it in the rocks this year and last year. I added a bipod, but I didn't like the extra weight. I'm not that worried about it, but if I can prevent it from getting scratched I'll try. I hate scratching up the scope more than anything, I might try one of those neoprene covers instead of scope caps. Thanks for everyone's input.

Also, I'm somewhat of a new big game hunter. I've learned everything on my own, no teacher except forums and youtube. I've got 3 elk on my own so far in about 6 years, still learning as I go.

 

[roosiebull]

The last time mine tipped over with the bipod deployed was the last. Now I just lay in on its side. I try to put it on some vegetation or a rock to keep it out of the dirt.

I literally did that twice the other night… on my floor at home I had it under the table drying out from the day… after the second time, I just left it

At least in the woods it’s usually soft ground instead of laminate flooring.

 

[roosiebull]

When a new apprentice or laborer gets on he crew we‘re not shy about letting them know if they borrow a tool and break it they bought it. Drop a titanium hammer enough and the tip of the claw will break off. Pull on it wrong and you’ll break the handle. Hammer with the side of the head of a $200 ti hammer and that’s the last time that kid gets anything other than the steel handled hammer for idiots.

Framers don’t drop nail guns, but apprentices and laborers do until theirs doesn’t work anymore and all the old guys say we told you so. Apprentices and laborers toss framing squares off roofs, until one lands on the corner and we put theirs up against ours to show them how they are no longer square and they either replace it or if they will stop throwing it off the roof we’ll show how to straighten it. Someone wants to use an abused speed square it better not have bent up edges that change the angle or they can pack lumber until getting one that doesn’t waste our time. There’s a proper way to set a saw down so it lasts for 20k cuts and not just 10k. I don’t let anyone use one cord for two tools and constantly plug and unplug - it wears out 4x faster, let alone constantly drop cord ends or hose ends into the dirt when it takes 1 extra second to toss it down correctly. If how they treated cords worked, they wouldn’t need to borrow mine.

I could care less what the excuse is, most rough handling of tools is laziness.

You go ahead and treat your rifles however you want.

I don’t have it in me, I would consider most of that anal retentive(some of it)

Properly setting a saw down to last 20k cuts rather than 10k sounds hard to quantify in real life, as well as unplugging a cord changing life span by 4x… how would you know?

I assume most tools are pretty tough, and if not, I’ll seek out a more durable option rather than over babying something.

Using and abusing are different things, but very subjective too… my bows, rifles, fishing rods and reels, pickups, etc are all objects that I have vested interest to keep functioning properly, but not really any more.

 

[TaperPin]

Properly setting a saw down to last 20k cuts rather than 10k sounds hard to quantify in real life, as well as unplugging a cord changing life span by 4x… how would you know?

It‘s pretty easy for carpenters to quantify, because me and the 20 other carpenters I’ve worked next to have fairly similar pro grade tools and we compare notes all the time. I’ve worked next to cord unplug-and-plug types and its very easy to see how often their cords wear out compared to mine - saying 4x faster is generous. Every time a saw is set down on something hard the magnesium or aluminum base plate is tweaked a tiny amount - so tiny it would be hard to measure - it’s like tapping on it lightly with a little hammer - repeated 10k times and you can look down it and see it’s jacked up. If one guy can cut and install 25 boards a day, that’s 50 cuts, 250 cuts a week, 1000 cuts a month, 12000 cuts a year. If one guy gets one year out of his saw before it’s jacked up and another gets two years, that’s easy to see and easy to correlate to how it’s used and set down.

Cars are the same - a car that lived 10 miles up on a gravel road and another that was 10 miles up a paved road will age differently.

Kids that run and jump on the couch will wear it out sooner than sitting on it normally, everybody knows it, but you can’t measure it day by day because it’s too small.

In a town like Kodiak with constant wet and black sand everywhere, nobody wears shoes in the house and all across town carpet lasts a really long time. Back in the lower 48 almost everyone wears shoes in houses and really good carpet is lucky to last 4 years. That’s maybe 20 one way trips across the carpet per day x 1460 days is 29k trips.

All the objects we own are consumables - take care of them and you’re better off in the long term.

 

[hereinaz]

Scratches and dings don’t even enter into it for me. Clean and functional does.

Malfunctions may be as rare as hens teeth for everyone else, but the first one was too many for me. I was probably too careless where and how I laid it. That’s why I get nervous reading this thread…

 

[Mikido]

Tell me more about the $200 hammer

 

[Pabst]

There are a lot of small bushes in the desert, picture a woody shrub resembling a 1' sphere. I hold my rifle by the scope and set it down right in the middle of the bush, and just make sure none of the rifle is touching the ground. It sinks in far enough it can't tip over and doesn't get scratched up on the rocks.

 

[TheGDog]

There are a lot of small bushes in the desert, picture a woody shrub resembling a 1' sphere. I hold my rifle by the scope and set it down right in the middle of the bush, and just make sure none of the rifle is touching the ground. It sinks in far enough it can't tip over and doesn't get scratched up on the rocks.

Either that... or a Juniper... or some Buckthorn... or literally any reasonable.. not wet.. not sticky vegetation that'll hold it up off the ground some. And really I only do that so I don't have to bend down as far, since I got some back issues now, that's all.