The Romance of the Rifle

by Mark Scheeren

I was on the phone with Chris Dalti (the Co-Founder of Big Woods Bucks) this morning, and we were discussing hunting and tracking rifles, and the fact that I enjoy restoring the walnut furniture on my guns. In our conversation something he said hit me. “That’s your let-go isn’t it.” I never really thought about it that way, but he was right; I do find beautifying a rifle stress relieving and therapeutic. But it’s not just making them look good that I find satisfying, but also that my labor of love builds a gun that can take the abuse a tracker will impose throughout their adventures and will do so with some grace involved. 

Beauty and the Beast

One of the first guns that I worked on when I was getting passionate about building rifles was a used Remington 7600 in 35 Whelen I found at a local gun shop. I was earlier in my gunsmithing days, and when I ran up against my abilities to make it the gun I wished for, I let my ego drop and I sent the rifle to a legit custom shop where their skills were clearly better than mine. When I got that gun back home - some of you know it as “the Green Machine” - I realized that it had been transformed into a veritable tracker's beast. It had a 20 inch barrel (cut from 22 Inches), was cerakoted in Olive Drab, had the action smoothed, trigger done, peep sight and a one piece front fiber optic sight installed, and the length of pull was shortened. By all accounts it was what many would call perfect for a long day on the track, and in 35 Whelen, there wasn't a whitetail alive that was going to walk away from a good hit with that rifle. But with all those accolades it had simultaneously been transformed into something that didn’t emotionally excite or move me. At the time I couldn’t put my finger on why I couldn’t warm up to it. After I shot a buck with it, I turned around and gave it to my nephew, who has since passed it on to my son. 

The Green Machine is a veritable tracker's beast. Its modifications are detailed in Mark's book: "Learning to Track and Hunt Wilderness Whitetails"

While the Green Machine might just be one of the best tracking rifles I ever had built from a functional perspective, it was missing one very important aspect for me - beauty and romance. Beauty of course is truly subjective, as is romance. I know a lot of guys that look at the Green Machine and literally think of it as perfect. They see beauty in its intense focus on function over form. For some that is the very definition of beauty, that is their romance. But I have a very different definition and it includes a natural bend.

Natural Beauty = Romance

Romance: passionate feelings of attraction—a mental state of "being in love", with focused attention.

There’s something about the feelings you get when you hold in your hands a well taken care of hunting rifle that is made from blued steel and walnut. This is especially true if the walnut has clear indications of hunts passed and the bluing is worn away where hands and untold amounts of brush and forest grime have taken the finish away. THAT is romance because it tells a story of dedication, hard work, adventures, misses and hits, broken hearts and glory, and ultimately, a hunter filled with joy, love and a deep reverence of the hunt. Of course you can have all that same experience with any dedicated hunter holding any rifle, but only real metal and wood can tell the story the old school way; the natural way.

The Natural Way

As you build an attachment to a rifle, that gun will record your history in the scratches, lost bluing and lost chunks of stock wood. Steel, aluminum and hardwood exist naturally in the very places you walk and stalk, so the pieces of the rifle that are torn away through years of hunting end up returning to the environment from where they originally came. Even the bluing is natural - it’s just a layer of rust made the fast way after all! The entire experience of gun, hunter and the environment become one over the course of time in the field. From the materials it's made of, to the way it sits cradled in your hand, to the story it will inevitably tell, that gun will build its own romance with you. That’s the natural way!

As Mark emphasizes in his Big Woods Bucks video series: "The Process" the hunt is more about the experience than the kill. Similarly, the gun is more than just a tool for propelling projectiles. The whole experience matters. 

Within the very designs of many bolt actions, lever actions, pump actions, and even some older model semi-autos are the souls of the great gun designers of times past. When you hold a modern Henry lever action for example, you immediately feel the history within your hand that started with their predecessors; the Winchesters and Marlins that paved the way more than 100 years ago. These were the days before composites, plastics, or even AR’s. So not only are the materials of these designs bringing us back in time to a more romantic age, but the very design itself, and the manner of hunting on foot, do as well.     

The Purpose Driven Ideal

I have nothing against composite stocks, AR 15’s, or all things tacticool. It has a place and a purpose, and judging from the sales figures, a very big place in the overall rifle experience. I own several guns with this bend and there are some days they sit on my lap in the stand. But when I go to my beloved mountains and attempt my go at a nomadic mountain whitetail, it's almost always a wood stocked lever action or semi-auto of the older persuasion and design. Most will have a hand rubbed oil finish by yours truly, and will have some wear and tear from being a favorite of mine. 

Tally marks on the bench portray that this furniture received 22 hand-applied coats of oil, with sanding in between. A process and experience that becomes a part of the rifle that wears them, forever.

So know this, I do not judge what others find beautiful or functional for their purposes. I’m fully aware that each of us have our preferences. But for me, romance is just as important as function, and if the gun I’m carrying has some soul that is attached to the land within its steel, aluminum and walnut; and my hands created the finish that will eventually tell a greater story; then I will find that rifle a true pleasure to carry. For me it’s never been just about killing a buck - it’s about soul, romance and a feeling I get carrying some history in my hands, whether that history is mine, a previous owner's, or the designers from an earlier time. 

This is Mark's new Big Woods Bucks Henry Long Ranger, with such gorgeous walnut he couldn't resist bringing out its full beauty with 20 coats of hand rubbed oil! It's beautiful, and durable, with extra resistance to the elements.