Free For All Friday: 3-28-2014

cabinet We had a really tough one thrown in this week. I love a good challenge! Let’s get to the questions!

“Hey bro what do you recommend for a good place I can store my lmt ar so it won’t get any dust or moisture?” -Manual S.

Guns have 2 constant enemies: rust and politicians. The latter, well, that’s bet handed by people greater than I but when it comes to rust, that’s easily taken care of. If you want to go real cheap, a silicone treated gun sock, like the Allen Company Tactical Gun Sock is always a decent option. It not only acts as a barrier to moisture and rust but it can also wick moisture away from the gun.

Another, slightly better but slightly more expensive option is a gun cabinet. This is not to be confused with a gun safe, mind you. A decent cabinet can be bought for under $150 and, when combined with a good gun safe dehumidifier, can keep your guns nice and preserved for the long run. They can also serve to keep your guns away from children (if you have any) or visitors. They aren’t nearly as secure as a full fledged gun safe, however, as most gun cabinets can be easily opened by nothing more than a screwdriver and some elbow grease. Granted, even a full fledged safe isn’t going to keep a thief out if they’re motivated enough but still. Cabinets are there mostly for storage/organization and to keep out casual interlopers.

“Hey Noob, here is my next question, like you I am getting into rifles and thinking about my first 308 or something like that. My question is about Scopes. What do look for when picking one out. Are they specific to a single type of rifle or will a scope work with any rifle? This is completely new territory for me and have no idea what I am looking for.” -Skylar R.

Thanks for giving me a great chance to plug Gun Noob Year of the Rifle! I could probably spend ¾ the year writing on nothing but scopes and still not cover everything. As per your questions, I’ve got a handful of in-depth guides coming up covering those and more. In the meantime, a couple quick tips…

Yes, some scopes are geared towards very specific applications. There are even some scopes that are set up for specific rounds. The Nikon P-223 scope, for example, is meant to only be used on .223 or 5.56 chambered rifles. They also make some specific to .300 Blackout. The companies are usually very proud about caliber specific scopes so it’s usually pretty prominently displayed.

Beyond the caliber specific models, scopes can be changed out easily. Most people will buy a scope per rifle and leave it attached to it’s chosen gun. This is because although it’s easy to swap them out, sighting them in every time it’s swapped takes time and wastes a bunch of ammo.

A rule of thumb for picking out a scope, or at least narrowing down your options, is to budget half the price of the rifle for the scope. So say you spent $500 on your gun. Looks for scopes that run in the $250 range. You can always go less or more, of course, but from what I’ve seen so far in my own shopping and research is that gives you a good quality of scope vs. quality of gun compatibility.

“I have a Hawthorne Viking 12 gauge pump shotgun, made by LaSalle and sold by Montgomery Ward back in the day. Will the furniture and mag. Tube extension from a Remington 870 fit my Hawthorne?” -Jeff M.

Gotta love the good old days when you could walk into a department store like Sears, Montgomery Wards or Western Auto and get a gun. Heck, you used to be able to order them from a catalog and it would arrive at your front door 6-8 weeks later. Anyway, a lot of those old stores loved to have their own “exclusive” brands. As it turned out, those “exclusive” brands were just low end, cheap guns from big name manufacturers with a different name stamped on it. Revelation guns sold by Western Auto, for example, were really just Mossbergs for the most part. Savage and Marlin also stamped Revelation on their guns for Western Auto which makes tracking down exactly who made a gun difficult because you could have two Revelation .410 shotguns sitting next to each other that were made by two entirely different companies!

But I digress. The Hawthorne Viking was, as you said, was made for Monkey Wards by LaSalle (now called Manufrance). I’ve only been able to find one of my gunsmith buddies who’s even heard of the brand. According to him, and I can back this up by my own research, the Viking 12 bears closest resemblance to the Marlin Premier shotgun. Unfortunately, that gun isn’t being manufactured anymore either however it was in production long enough that there are a bunch of accessories being made for it. I’d recommend starting there if you’re looking to customize the gun.

Also: Bob’s Gun Shop, I’ve found, is a great site for parts for older and obscure guns. They have a great deal of knowledge and can probably help give you a more exact answer on this one. Their site might be a bit….1996….but it should get you started: http://www.gun-parts.com/manufrance/

So do you have a question burning in your mind? We answer them every Friday so send them in! It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s arguably gun related we want to hear it! Head over to our Facebook or Twitter or Contact Page and send them in. See you next Friday!

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Free For All Friday: 3-28-2014

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