He said, "No Thanks!"

[Thebelly]

I assembled a new hunting rifle for my father in law. I used an R700 SA in .243 Win and put it in a B&C Medalist Light Tactical stock with a weaver 20 MOA base.

I gave it to him for Christmas. I explained to him that since all he wants to hunt are white tails and SOuth Dakota Speed Goats, then the .243 was a pretty good round for that and he can shoot it all day long and not feel burdened by the recoil, nor by the weight of it, seeing as its a light weight barrel and the whole thing is very handy, actually.

He said no thanks.

Here's a picture of the evidence.

At least now I have another little project gun to work on for the next year or so.

 

[jordan0317]

Lol, if you feel the need to still gift it out of christmas cheer ill pm you my info

 

[Thebelly]

Lol, if you feel the need to still gift it out of christmas cheer ill pm you my info

Yeah, probably not.

I'll spend the next year gathering the $$$ to get this built up right.

First thing's first, though. Lets find out what kind of ridiculousness this barrel can handle. See what it's capable of.

 

[steve123]

What was your FIL's reasoning?

 

[Thebelly]

What was your FIL's reasoning?

He likes a 25-06.

He also complains about recoil and the weight of his current gun. A LOT of complaining, actually.

 

[ashiha]

Does he have money pouring out of his orifices?

I'd be grateful as hell instead of spitting in your face like that.

 

[Glacier 10x]

Yeah, WTF? What kind of guy refuses a firearm given as a gift? Maybe he was holding out for a GAP or Surgeon build.... lol

 

[Toast]

What is he demanding the new NightForce BEAST or something?

 

[Thebelly]

Well, I'm not made of money. I tried to give a thoughtful gift that he could enjoy for years.

Simple. Reliable. Pretty accurate.

So, now any thoughts on what to turn it into? I like the .243 cartridge. Maybe turn this thing into a match burner rifle.

 

[BoilerUP]

Maybe a Ross brake and a warm cup of NutUpOrShutUp would suit OP's pappy-in-law better...

 

[steve123]

He likes a 25-06.

He also complains about recoil and the weight of his current gun. A LOT of complaining, actually.

That's one overly proud personality.

The way some people think about things really blows my mind. He probably thinks 243's are for kids and women to hunt with.

My ex's whole family were sick in the head. They had all manor of bizarre notions and attitudes to go with them too. Zaps the joy out of everything.

 

[pizzamanny]

My neighbor who just had shoulder surgery is ashamed to say he hunts with a deer 243. He cant wait to get his 308 back in to use next season when his shoulder is better. I have told him countless times how good the 243. People are crazy when it comes to long held ideas.

 

[Falsecrack]

I think that it was pretty weak of your FIL to deny your gift (no offense to him). I'm not a huge fan of .243 myself, but I'd be jumping up and down, had you offered me a gift like that.

 

[wade-19]

A .243 is a GREAT deer round . He should be proud to have such a thoughtful son-in-law.

 

[E. Bryant]

A .243 is a GREAT deer round . He should be proud to have such a thoughtful son-in-law.

+1. Hopefully the OP can find a good friend that is a bit more grateful for his generosity and thoughtfulness.

 

[37841anarchy]

Should've got him a box of tampons instead....just my .02

 

[softcock]

I assembled a new hunting rifle for my father in law. I used an R700 SA in .243 Win and put it in a B&C Medalist Light Tactical stock with a weaver 20 MOA base.

I gave it to him for Christmas. I explained to him that since all he wants to hunt are white tails and SOuth Dakota Speed Goats, then the .243 was a pretty good round for that and he can shoot it all day long and not feel burdened by the recoil, nor by the weight of it, seeing as its a light weight barrel and the whole thing is very handy, actually.

He said no thanks.

At least now I have another little project gun to work on for the next year or so.

-
dude the Father in Law is just set in his ways and is just pretty dry, with his social skills, is probably all that's going on . Just the way he grew-up & was raised, everybody got a little of that streak in them.
In his mind ' He Is ' probably just being polite as he knows how . Most likely saying that if he is Not Going to shoot it . ' than the Polite Thing ', is to refuse it because it is just going to sit & collect dust & no sense wasting a good rifle on him . So just keep it and shoot it .
I agree it Sounds a little rude but in his mind it translates to the proper thing.
.

 

[Thebelly]

That's one overly proud personality..

Having been the son in law for almost a decade, this is actually pretty correct.

 

[Guy Montag]

No good deed goes unpunished!

You did good Thebelly, your FIL is clearly a difficult guy to please.

 

[JSTARSZ]

I have a 26 year old single daughter and I love 243's.

 

[ZLBubba]

Man, your father-in-law is a dick. F*ck that dude... Kudos to you for being an awesome Son-in-law. I hope the dude that marries my daughter someday is that thoughtful.

 

[my human host]

The 25-06 is the gold standard for some of the old timers that haven't paid much attention to the evolution of the bullet.

 

[dannyr3_8]

243 lol i would be happy with a 22 if it was a gift some people are just asses

 

[lobo56]

243's can reach out and ping steel at outrageous speeds............I am wanting to build 26" for benchrest playland!

 

[RHunter]

My ex's whole family were sick in the head.

My X's family were all Democrats too. I just could not take it anymore... Dee Vorce

 

[MrGreg]

I have a 26 year old single daughter and I love 243's.

I might be interested in a trade. Send pics of daughter, and I'll send pics of rifle...

 

[Goatman007]

Well, where to go with this one,"I feel your pain" Is all I can say. Gave, and I say GAVE a custom Mauser 98 to a friend of mine, it now resides in the county sherrif's department armory(Don't ask) and after a very unpleasant phone call from the BAT boys,Which I told her she could do with her "Tactics" i explained the situation and they never called back. Do with the rifle what you want, and have fun.

 

[A300fe1]

The .243 is an awesome round, I used one for almost 13 years here in NC hunting deer and coyote. Would much rather shoot that round than a .25-06 any day of the year. I also agree that it's better he told you that than to accept it and never use it, and if we all had the ability to know how to get a person to decline the gift of a firearm so we could keep it, we wouldn't need to think of other excuses to tell our wives why we bought new gear.

 

[scudzuki]

You are a good son-in-law.
Seems to me that was a very thoughtful gift; you put some effort into putting a rifle together to fill a need of your FIL's.
Me personally I would never turn down a firearm.
I'm confident you will find a use for the rifle.

Joe

 

[redneckbmxer24]

He rejected a gift and turned down a free rifle? WTF is his malfunction?

 

[ashiha]

Should've got him a box of tampons instead....just my .02

thanks. i spit rum all over

 

[jdh1982]

no doubt that's kinda rude to deny a gift no matter what it was....I am happy with every gift I get no matter how bad I don't like it...lol send it to me and ill regift it to my safe....

 

[Bubb]

Not sure your age, or relationship with him,but I wouldn't give him $hit next Christmas. If he says anything just say your hoping your money holds out to pay for the lid on his casket... Grump old people are the worst, especially when you really tried to do nice! Old fart,

 

[sandwarrior]

Well, where to go with this one,"I feel your pain" Is all I can say. Gave, and I say GAVE a custom Mauser 98 to a friend of mine, it now resides in the county sherrif's department armory(Don't ask) and after a very unpleasant phone call from the BAT boys,Which I told her she could do with her "Tactics" i explained the situation and they never called back. Do with the rifle what you want, and have fun.

Goatman, you got me on the edge of my seat. Details pending?

I gave my dad a rifle. He up and traded it off... Every time I think about it, I get pissed...

 

[nexusfire]

What an asshole. Any decent person would smile and say thank you. He needs a swift kick in the ass. There is no excuse for behavior like that. I would think that your wife is probably pretty embarrassed to have such a douche bag for a father.

 

[RHunter]

I don't know.. Seriously... Think about this from his perspective...

If you were banging my daughter I would want more than a factory 243 in a nice stock too. My girl is worth a fully decked out Surgeon (At least) and a couple cases of Lapua ammo... And you gave him THAT?

So I can not blame him.

Now if I was your friend and you ave me that gun for Christmas I'd give you a nice pat on the back, show you some extreme appreciation (And take it to the gunsmith and get it trued and put a new pipe on it)

 

[nashlaw]

I have a 26 year old single daughter and I love 243's.

Funny!

 

[tnichols]

Ungrateful ol' prick! Piss on him. Build it into something you, your wife, or kids will enjoy.

 

[Thebelly]

I don't know.. Seriously... Think about this from his perspective...

If you were banging my daughter I would want more than a factory 243 in a nice stock too. My girl is worth a fully decked out Surgeon (At least) and a couple cases of Lapua ammo... And you gave him THAT?

So I can not blame him.

Now if I was your friend and you ave me that gun for Christmas I'd give you a nice pat on the back, show you some extreme appreciation (And take it to the gunsmith and get it trued and put a new pipe on it)

I have provided EVERY want and desire his daughter asked for. That's all he ever told me he required when I asked for his permission to marry her. Yes, I'm traditional enough that I asked dads permission.

He's not that current on his firearms knowledge. He wouldn't know a factory built rifle from a GAP from a Surgeon. He didn't even look at it other than to see what caliber it was.

Oh well, his loss.

Can anyone recommend a good smith? I've got a bit of cash and a bit of time, if they've got any openings in their schedule for a year.

 

[GeneralPurpose]

That's amazing, I can't imagine there's a free gun in the world I would turn down. What do you want to do with it? You've got a sweet hunting rifle, just add scope. Even if you want to use it as a target rifle, I would burn that barrel up before you replace it with a heavier contour.

 

[Kilmore]

Yeah, my first hunting rifle was a .25-06 purchased in Durango CO in 1974. Times change, don't they? Buy him a pink .22 and tell him where he can put it. The man doesn't deserve you as a son in law.

 

[Thebelly]

That's amazing, I can't imagine there's a free gun in the world I would turn down. What do you want to do with it? You've got a sweet hunting rifle, just add scope. Even if you want to use it as a target rifle, I would burn that barrel up before you replace it with a heavier contour.

I'm probably going to end up shooting pieces of paper with it, mix in with some steel every now and then. It gives me a good reason to just go blast stuff. I did some very rudimentary load development for it, and it likes about 40 grains of 7828 behind the 105 AMax I have. I still have 50 rds of that recipe loaded up, so I'll see what can get accomplished with the lighter barrel.

 

[valkyries]

Ive been shooting .243 for decades. Great round in my opinion. It will do anything the .25 will do with less powder and the short action is nice too.

 

[RHunter]

Durango CO in 1974

Durango had a gun store in 1974?

Wow....

He's not that current on his firearms knowledge. He wouldn't know a factory built rifle from a GAP from a Surgeon. He didn't even look at it other than to see what caliber it was.

Yeah, OK the guy was certainly being an asshole.

I have provided EVERY want and desire his daughter asked for.

That's scary.

 

[jashmore1234]

I assembled a new hunting rifle for my father in law. I used an R700 SA in .243 Win and put it in a B&C Medalist Light Tactical stock with a weaver 20 MOA base.

I gave it to him for Christmas. I explained to him that since all he wants to hunt are white tails and SOuth Dakota Speed Goats, then the .243 was a pretty good round for that and he can shoot it all day long and not feel burdened by the recoil, nor by the weight of it, seeing as its a light weight barrel and the whole thing is very handy, actually.

He said no thanks.

Here's a picture of the evidence.

At least now I have another little project gun to work on for the next year or so.

This is going to sound odd, but you should be thanking him. Had he accepted that rifle, it would have sat in the rack or safe and never got used. Now i can live with someone saying i wont use this so i am not going to accept it, but it would irritate me if they accepted it and never used it as that would be a waste of money.

The only real question is what build are you going to use the rifle for?

 

[Niles Coyote]

No foul,

Just take him hunting and then show him what a 243 will do. FWIW, in my r700 varmint model (26") 105 amax and 105 berger vld's work well with H1000 at 46 grains...

 

[bluto77]

There's a guy that works for me that's about 8 - 10 years younger than me. He's pretty much a "gun nut" for lack of a better term (I'm not using the term enthusiast on purpose). He "knows" everything about guns, and he will tell you. I've taken him shooting, and he's brought his tricked out AK-47, his Springfield 9mm, and his Mosin. These are his guns. He was interested in long range shooting and needed his first bolt gun to get started. I've let him shoot my AR's, 308, 338, and 243. I also gave him the heads up when my gun club opened memberships to take in new members and he joined. He's single, no kids, so I figured he would have plenty of time on his hands to go shooting. I wanted someone to go shoot with me more, I knew he wanted to get a bolt gun, and I thought he would want to go every weekend like I do (try to do). Knowing his didn't have a lot of extra money, I offered to let him buy the .243 and pay me $100/month on it (r700, trued, douglas M24 barrel, 1:8/5 twist, manners t5a, swfa ss 5-20) while he found one that he liked. After he politely declined, I offered to let him simply use the rifle/scope combo AT NO COST until he found one he liked, and even told him I had tons of reloading supplies for the .243 and he could come over anytime and load up some ammo for free. Essentially he could get into long range shooting for free, and learn with a tack driving .243. He politely declined that too, and told me, "Man...I appreciate it, and I don't mean any offense, but when I get a bolt gun I want one that can both target shoot and kill deer pretty easily (he's never deer hunted)....I'm really looking at the 300 Win Mag with that 5R barrel.." After trying to explain that a 300 Win Mag is NOT the rifle to learn with until I was blue in the face, I finally just moved on. This was in July. The guy hasn't been to the range yet....still looking for a deal on a used 300 Win Mag, but is MUST have that 5R barrel, because those barrels are "like .25 to .5 MOA out of the box".

OP, that sucks.

 

[Twisted .308]

should have re-boxed it and gave it to the MIL , evidently shes got more balls and sense than he does !

 

[Thebelly]

This is going to sound odd, but you should be thanking him. Had he accepted that rifle, it would have sat in the rack or safe and never got used. Now i can live with someone saying i wont use this so i am not going to accept it, but it would irritate me if they accepted it and never used it as that would be a waste of money.

The only real question is what build are you going to use the rifle for?

If he would have explained it to me that way.... Well, I can deal with that.

He just looked at it, snorted a bit, then said, "uh.... No, thanks." In the room of him, the MIL, my wife (his daughter), and me, we all sat there through about five seconds of awkward silence.

Then I said, "We'll, I hope that I can use this next year for deer season." More awkward silence. Then Mrs. Belly said that we should get dinner started and instantly the silence was broken.

Here's the part that makes it really awkward: we're at his house for the holidays, and we don't go home until 1 Jan.

Ugh! It's been an awkward 24 hours.

 

[Edds]

Was this rifle you attempted to give him the climax to a long ongoing debate about what kind of rifle he should be using?