THE COST OF HUNTING RIFLES

At one point in time, in the not too distant past, cheap rifles were exactly that: cheap. Generally speaking, the inexpensive rifles of yesteryear left an awful lot to be desired. And while quite a lot of meat was made in my hunting circles with those budget-friendly guns, we could’ve done with a bit of improvement in the accuracy department.

Fast-forward to the past decade or so, and the improvement in inexpensive rifles has shot up faster than the recent prices at the pump. You can cobble together a viable 1,000-yard-capable rig for under $1,000, and that just wasn’t the case when I was young.

So, the question has popped up several times around the campfire: Are the expensive rifles still worth the price?

TRADING DOLLARS FOR PERFORMANCE

To be completely honest, I’ve owned and/or hunted with some rifles that were downright embarrassing, and some that were very costly … at least for a man of my means. Odds are pretty good that I’ll never be the owner of a Holland &