Loaner Rifle?

Do you guys have a "loaner" rifle for friends or relatives? I tend to hunt alone so its not a big issue for me. I also tend to highly personalize my rifles, and while I am a generous man, I have some friends/relatives that are klutzes! ha I like to use the "Loaner" moniker for any rifle project, but end up pouring $$ into them. I have used loaners myself and I have had mixed results in the field with them. ( one guy in South Africa was a former soldier. He always curled his trigger finger around that hard FN FAL copy, R1, so set his hunting rifles up same way. 8 to 10# suited him! I always pulled the shots low using his crap) I like to "make a memory" with my hunts, so the rifle is always special to me. What is your philosophy on "loaners".

I don't often loan rifles. Since I usually hunt with people I know and trust, I have on occasion permitted them to select from my firearms what they want to use (with very few caveats). For my grandchildren, I purchase a rifle fitted to them as soon as they are getting ready to begin hunting with me.

I've done it with a few safe queens, for very good friends who had kids coming of age. Doing so in Washington any longer would be against the law. No kidding.

A few years ago I helped a fellow in his 40's get started as a mule deer hunter.

He used my .30-06, Model of 1917 with a 6x Leupold. Sadly, he didn't get a shot at a mule deer with it. It's a rugged rifle, easy to shoot. He did well with it in practice.

One interesting point, he'd NEVER used a scope before, and it was a bit of a struggle at first, for him to relate what he was seeing with his eyes, with what the scope was showing him... He missed an opportunity at a coyote, 150 yards away and sitting still, because he couldn't recognize it in his scope, as a coyote, until it moved. Then it was too late.

I don't particularly like loaning out my rifles to just anyone, but I knew him from work, and new he'd treat the rifle with respect. Which he did.

After one season of hunting with that rifle, he bought his own Rem 700 in .270, with a 3-9x scope. Leupold as I recall. Maybe Redfield.

Guy

I loaned out a rifle twice and I can show you the scars.

JD338

JD338":21i164bo said:

I loaned out a rifle twice and I can show you the scars.

JD338

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+1 on that. I was disappointed. But it's a good memory now. And I do have a couple donors that will get loaned out if needed until I decide what I going to do with them however I will not shoot them.

I have a "truck" rifle and shotgun. Those are the loaners. Be a little hard to beat them up more but they are functional and the rifle is accurate enough for coyotes, so that should work.

...couldn't imagine not having a "spare" or three up & ready to go. Last season got my first cow, actually had to sit & wait a few minutes for 'legal light', while my buddy missed an easy shot. Got my cow back to the truck, checked his rifle & the scope was about to fall off. Traded rifles so I could fix his, went out the next morning, nuthing, came in early so I could remount his scope & sight in his rifle. He went back into town, picked up our friend who had never shot an elk, & drove out on the other side of the mountain, scouting. They only had my Tikka w/ 'em, spotted a herd, put a stalk on'em, & my buddy let our friend shot his first elk w/ my Tikka. Dead dark by the time I got out there to help 'em, & they didn't know just exactly where the elk was, so I convinced 'em it would be fine till morning. Back out @ zerodarkthirty, packed out the elk, on the way back out, saw another herd, so my buddy went after 'em, & ended up getting another cow. Three days, three shooters, three cows, all w/ the same rifle. I've also got a little .243 WSSM I let my 82yr. old neighbor & his wife use to shoot their deer in the back yard. My rifles are tools, just like my chainsaws, & just like my chainsaws, I don't lend 'em out to just anyone, but if I trust you enough to hunt w/ you, I'll probably trust you to use & respect my rifles...

I loaned my Browning BLR to my brother once and it came back all rusted up so that didn't make me happy. I have the old family gun which is a Lee Enfield 303 British which I let young hunters use these days and it does the job well. I put an ATI fiberglass stock on it and a scope and it works quite well.

A rusted up Browning BLR would make anyone a mite irritated Gerry...

Dang... :twisted:

It is pretty hard to get it all cleaned up on the inside of the bolt and all the gears......

gerry":1nujc9f1 said:

I loaned my Browning BLR to my brother once and it came back all rusted up so that didn't make me happy. I have the old family gun which is a Lee Enfield 303 British which I let young hunters use these days and it does the job well. I put an ATI fiberglass stock on it and a scope and it works quite well.

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I've loaned more rods and reels than rifles. I have had several rod tips broken off and several reels that came back either salt encrusted or with sand in the case. Such individuals don't get a second opportunity to borrow my gear.

I gave one of children permission for my granddaughter to use my 28 gauge shotgun for hunting. He gave her my Beretta .410 EELL instead and neither of them wiped it or cleaned my expensive shotgun afterwards. I had to card it to remove rust after being put away dirty and covered with fingerprints.

I'm glad to hear that I am not the only guy who is persnickety with his rifles! I have given a wad of fine rifles away to people I love and respect. I always take 2 sometimes 3 rifles when I go hunting. I like to have every rifle in my safe up and ready, zeroed in with plenty of ammo. I loaned a guy (deceased now) a fine Mountain Rifle in .280 AI in one of those Kolpin 2 piece hard cases ( the one you bolt to a 4 whlr) The rifle came back a bit grimy, but the hood part of the case had fell out of his truck at some point. He replaced it with a cheapy $20 case. I didn't loan it again.

I keep a right handed 25-06 as a loaner.
Synthetic stock, lower price point scope, and only my loads.

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I have given guns to all of my children and enough for the grandchildren as well. This is my protection against them not caring for my stuff. Once it is theirs, they can do what they want but if they ruin a gun, they replace it! I am not the free gun store and they know better about cleaning guns.

I make it a point to take 2 or 3 newbies hunting every year. To that end I have a "loaner" they can use on our trip if they don't have one of their one. I don't, however, just let someone take the rifle- only on trips I'm mentoring them on. I've never had any issue with someone mistreating one, just typical field wear and tear.

I've lent a couple of rifles judiciously to friends and they came back fine. Tents on the other hand seem to always come back filthy and wet and packed full of sand.

The rifle I tend to push toward newbies is a Browning stainless X-Bolt 270- an easy rifle to shoot and kills pretty well too.

I tend to keep 3 or 4 pretty decent rifles ready to go at all times for the family...a guy never knows when the canoe will tip over or a scope goes wonky for some unknown reason.

If you were one of my very 'good' friends, absolutely. Anyone else, not a chance! Mine are not fancy either, but their mine.

Yes. I find that at my ranch, often hunters do not have a decent rifle or have not taken the time to set the scope correctly, or even sight in their rifles. The result is wounded deer and elk. So, I keep a 257 wby mag and a 300 wby mag there. However, those guns are always in sight of either me or a guide.

As for just loaning out a rifle, I will load it to my brother, and to 2 of my friends.
Hardpan

I let my buddy use my Rem .30-06 on an Idaho Elk hunt two years ago. We went through some fairly nasty stuff one day and I was concerned both of my rifles would come out scratched up badly. I took care of mine and I saw him doing the same with my Remington so I felt better. While they are just a tool I prefer to take care of my tools.

I once loaned a stainless inline muzzleloader to a friend to try and get a cow with. Six months later I got it back after it sat in his detached, unheated garage through the winter in Western Washington. There was some serious rust on parts of the gun but fortunately the barrel and action survived. I think a blued gun would have been scrap metal.

Then there are my daughters. Several years ago I let my daughter "borrow" my Rem model 7 in 7mm-08. While it is stored in my safe somehow I think I'll never get that loaner back.....how does that work???