Let's define a "shooter"...

[Wild Skies]

The term "shooter" comes up quite frequently and it appears to have somewhat differing meanings to different people, so let's try to define what a "shooter" is...

Can a "shooter" also be defined as a collectible gun?

Can a collectible gun also be a shooter?

Is a shooter a worn gun? Is a shooter an altered gun? Is a shooter a collector quality gun that you choose to shoot? Etc.

What is your definition of a shooter?

[Bindlestiff]

"My" definition of a shooter is a Parker that has been shot before and is safe to shoot now. I have one Parker that isn't a shooter....... its a wall hanger. I wouldn't shoot an "new" Parker.

[Autumn Daze]

Greg,For me that question is easy.Any gun I own is a "shooter" because at this point I really have no use for a gun that I am afraid to use.To me the real thrill of owning a Parker is using them for their intended purpose be it hunting or at the traps.

I think in the classic sense of the word a shooter is any gun that is in less than collectible condition but still safe to use but this description may be open to individual interpretation.

[Old and Reliable]

The shotgun held by writer Ernest Hemingway is "shooter"-- IMO any shotgun you'll carry through the briars and brush after grouse or have in a goose blind in a pit in a muddy cornfield is a "shooter", ditto the VH single trigger 20 pictured as having been Burt Spiller's grouse gun, also in recent PP issue- Great magazine, our publication is the "A-1 Special" of all the gunning magazines going, again, IMO. Kudos to Austin Hogan and all the contributors for their fine work--

Off topic a tad- at a area Gun Shot today (Sat 27th) mainly looking for some Parker receiver/safety components for a friend- a dealer I know had a 179xxx sn. range 16 bore VH- DT, extractors, barrels reblued, original case colors? and varnish- DHBP-- fit me like a cathcer's mitt did for Johnny Bench- I expected it to be a std. 1 frame- surprise, surprise- it was clearly marked 1 & 1/2 frame size on the lug. Would that have been a special order??

[Drew Hause]

"The Shooter"
From Shooting By Baron Thomas de Grey Walsingham, Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, Lord Charles Lennox Kerr, Archibald John Stuart-Wortley, Gerald Lascelles, Simon Fraser Lovat 1886
http://books.google.com/books?id=MT9...h+edition+1910
p. 134
He is a man with a wonderful aptitude for observing the habits of wild birds and animals, combined with all the physical qualities requisite for a good marksman and a country life. He possesses great precision of judgment as to the pace and distance of any moving object, with a wonderful command of eye, hand, and nerve, and usually excels more or less in all the athletic and amusements dear to Englishmen…He looks, and is, thoroughly workmanlike from top to toe, and you will find that all details of his equipment…are as perfect as may be for practical use. He can…run and walk as few men can…He is cool and self-possessed, never a jealous shot, and lets everybody get and keep his respective chances at birds or animals, for he is quite content to obtain his own proper share. He is kind and generous to keepers…is devoted to dogs, and is generally popular.
When shooting, though rarely in a hurry, he never idles, nor does he move about in excitement here and there. (He)…is ever on the watch…and his gun is, by the way he grasps it, also available for instant use. The gun comes to his shoulder just at the right moment without any flurry, and down comes the object at the right moment too; and though he never endeavours to overreach a fellow shooter, or takes any evident precautions to obtain an undue proportion of shots, somehow he seems to get more shooting than anybody else, not really (as it appears) from chance, but because he by instinct knows where to look for game and which direction it will take. He never, unless directly questioned, alludes to his own skill, though others do not fail to do so, and rather gives the idea that he does not himself know how well he shoots. Last, not least, a true sportsman rarely wounds…
On the other hand, a bad ‘unsporting’ shot is a man who…is never satisfied with his shooting or the behaviour of the game…and is forever explaining why he does not shoot better- an explanation no one cares one jot about. Such a man, too, is usually careless with his gun, as safety is the last thing in his mind, and getting shots the first, anyhow and anywhere.

You asked

[Wild Skies]

Thank you for that Rev. Drew...I WAS right when I stated the term "shooter" has different meanings to different people, but I wasn't thinking in terms of him, but rather it.

[TARNATION !!!]

Originally Posted by Greg Baehman

The term "shooter" comes up quite frequently and it appears to have somewhat differing meanings to different people, so let's try to define what a "shooter" is...

Can a "shooter" also be defined as a collectible gun?

Can a collectible gun also be a shooter?

Is a shooter a worn gun? Is a shooter an altered gun? Is a shooter a collector quality gun that you choose to shoot? Etc.

What is your definition of a shooter?

Greg: Yes to all of the above, with the caveat that "worn" does not mean "unsafe". Every gun I have is a shooter and gets its time in the field although the rifles seem to be relegated to the steel tombs (deserved citation: Francis) Some time ago I started believing that big game was getting more like work than fun after two days of two guys packing a bull elk out of a location that should have been relegated to the camera, not the .270. Day two was a worrisome day. We became concerned we would never find the rest of our prize, as it had snowed heavily and most our tree blazes were not visible. Murphy's Law states that the driven snow will always be from a direction that obliterates a blaze.

"Collectible" itself is subjective. For me, if I want it and acquired it, it becomes part of a collection, therefore it is collectible. "Collectible" need not mean only high condition NIB unfired and all that - although that is very collectible.

Even unsafe crappy condition guns with interesting provenance can be collectible but not a shooter.

I don't see "shooter" as a derogatory term, rather a descriptive term of endearment for the gentleman shooter portrayed in Drew's post.

Here is my definition for the "it":

"Shooter" - a gun that is safe to use.

Example:




I think I might be a bit of a Philistine when it comes to a high condition unfired gun. I understand the "caretaker" philosophy but I'm not sure I could resist the temptation to take at least one rooster with it, which then forever changes it, I guess.

BELOW IS SUBJECT TO CORRECTION BY THOSE WHO KNOW FOR SURE
Now I presume every Parker was fired at the factory based on reading about #pellets on a pattern board, so does "unfired" really mean "not fired since leaving the factory"? Could a couple more shots since factory be proven as not being patterning shots? I would not be a good caretaker so I should never acquire a high condition gun (hell, I could win a lottery - maybe)

How many shots does it take before the most discriminating collector can unequivocally conclude a gun is no longer as delivered from the factory?

Good topic

Cheers,
Jack

[TARNATION !!!]

Originally Posted by Drew Hause

"The Shooter"....though he never endeavours to overreach a fellow shooter, or takes any evident precautions to obtain an undue proportion of shots, somehow he seems to get more shooting than anybody else, not really (as it appears) from chance, but because he by instinct knows where to look for game and which direction it will take.

Just thought it bore repeating.

Cheers,
Jack

[Dean Romig]

In my humble opinion, a "shooter" (meaning the gun itself) is a gun which has been shot for game or score for enjoyment, not to include for regulation at the factory, and which may or may not continue to be carried and shot today - that being left to the discretion of the current custodian.

My own definition of the term "unfired" is a gun which is in "as new condition" and which shows no evidence of having been fired since leaving the factory where certainly all guns have been fired as an integral part of the manufacturing process in regulating shot count per the standard of customer's order or the order of the superintendant of the factory.

Collectible? Any gun can be termed "collectible" if it fits a particular niche in a gunroom.

[Tim Sheldon]

To me a "shooter" is a gun that isn't too perfect or unsafe or rare to shoot.

An example of too rare, IMO, is say a gun that has a name hammered into the damascus pattern. Could you shoot it, yes. But if you blew the barrel, the loss would be to great to the collecting community.

To shoot a 120 year old mint gun is just selfish.

To shoot an unsafe gun is just foolish.

Tim