the Rokslide rifle trend

[handwerk]

Being in my late 50's and having hunted the midwest and west for over 40 years I've seen a lot of trends come and go regarding rifles.
I've not wavered a whole lot from my affection for pre 64 Model 70s both in their factory form as well as customizing many of them with new barrels and quality synthetic stocks.
Lately I've been also enjoying customizing Kimber 84M's into lighter cartridges using less powder.
As I now have some grandkids and am putting together rifles for them and their future cousins I got to thinking weather the current Rokslide rifle trend sits on solid ground and is what the future holds for enthusiastic rifleman going forward or will things change much in the next decade or so.
That trend as I see it:
Smaller caliber/cartridges for most BG game
shorter barrels
synthetic stocks
suppressors
longer range hunting ,less up close work
Scopes that have exposed turrets
end of legacy rifles

What's your prediction...?

 

[112Savage]

I have a theory… 50 years from now, craftsmanship will be admired for what it is now. Dakotas, H&H’s, G&H’s, Rigby’s etc will still be seen as valuable and desirable rifles. Carbon fiber and steel 0.5MOA rifles of today will not be held in the same revere or hold their value in the same way as blued steel and walnut combined with superior craftsmanship.

The reason is because science and engineering march on, but craftsmanship or skill or talent is usually held on a high nostalgic pedestal. Are the guns of today better than those of the past? Yes! Will they be as good as those of the future? No! But I don’t see a $5000 rifle of today being worth the $5000 equivalent in the future. The $15,000-100,000 bespoke rifles/guns of today will still be revered and as valuable 50 years from now because they are art and evoke a more nostalgic or visceral desire apart from their mechanical value.

 

[trailblazer75]

I think it’s kind of the melting pot effect. We had 20+ years of war in the mountains where guys developed preferences for lighter rifles, suppressors, doing more killing with less ammo/or mass weight of the ammo. Squeezing every last ounce of energy and performance out of every round. Those trends and the uptick of technology from the competitive shooting space have lead us here.

I think there’s a place for artwork rifles. I think there’s a place for practical, lightweight, efficient hunting rifles as well.

 

[Tom-D]

I actually think wood stocks is seeing an uptick in popularity but there isnt alot available in modern designs that are reasonably cheap thats why you dont see too many of them

 

[7RemMag]

I think that your “heirloom” quality rifles are always going to be worth money regardless of cartridge/chambering. The blued/wood stock rifles that were so prevalent of the last century are always going to have value. People like old things, even as technology seems to evolve at nearly the speed of sound. In terms of functionality, there’s not much fancy about a Savage Model 99 or a Model 94 Winchester, but yet most shooters/hunters are still fascinated with them. I’m no different. That’s not to knock those older rifles in performance either. Plenty of those rifles chambered some of which were chambered in some now obscure cartridge were stacking up all size of critters long before many of us were even a consideration.

On the other hand, when it comes time to need a rifle that’s going to perform, I seldom, if ever think about anything but a synthetic stock. Most of my rifles do have blued/cerakoted barrels. Carbon fiber barrels tend to be a little out of my budget at this point in time. There again, no knocking the rifles of previous decades/generations. They worked then, and continue to work. That said, it’s pretty undeniable that “newer” rifles are generally better suited for the modern hunter.

It’s funny how the definitions and preferences change with time. I recall my Dad talking about being told by my great-grandfather that his synthetic stock Model 70 in 7mm Rem Mag with a blued barrel was just “one of them plastic stock pieces of __t”….. To me, that rifle holds the same value as the wooden stocked rifle that some of the guys a little older consider an heirloom.

As far as cartridges, the trend certainly has shifted more towards more efficient, and yes, generally “smaller” cartridges. I’ve no doubt the driving factor behind this is the vast improvements in bullet design over the last 20-25 years.

As far as where hunting rifles are headed, there’s little doubt in my mind that suppressors and shorter barrels are going to become more normal than they already are, and with it cartridges that are further optimized for it. Though as a traditionalist I don’t know that I love it, big, heavy magnums are likely to become a little less relevant as more efficient, lighter recoiling cartridges take their place.

 

[RockAndSage]

You're going to see a lot more truly exotic, high-performance materials and coatings.

Even now, but especially in the near future, you're also going to see manufacturing precision that was literally impossible 20 years ago - let alone affordable for anyone short of a government. And that's entirely separate from 3D printing.

That's going to yield performance leaps in terms of accuracy, durability, weight, and reliability, along with far better value-to-dollar costs. Even just what a Tikka is doing in a hunting rifle would have required a $2000 custom build to do in the 1990s.

You're going to see cartridges jump in performance substantially, allowing much shorter barrels - entirely separate from the trend of suppressor use.

And you might very well see CNC production costs come down so far for common manufacturers, that the machine-produced "hand-carved stock", with all the checkering and finery, is indistinguishable from that of all but the finest of custom stock makers - all for a couple of minutes of CNC time.

It's going to bring utter high-performance luxury down to the masses.

 

[Southern Lights]

You're going to see solid state electronic scopes combining thermal imaging, auto-ranging reticles, etc. dominate and old school non-solid state optics with mechanical dials are going to be seen as antiquated.

 

[Sponge]

Overall I think better action and barrel dimensions and materials, more efficient cartridges, and breaking free from the traditional stock designs. I think I read a comment in one of the gain twist barrel threads that barrels were being rifled with EDM (or ECM?). It seemed like this machining method which may allow the use of tougher alloys, and those benefits, got lost in the overall discussion of whether gain twist is a gimmick. It may be, lets try it! Maybe this is what high pressure cartridges need to thrive.

With the combined new barrel and cartridge tech, it feels like we are on the cusp of a stepwise improvement in cartridge rifle performance. Yes, shaking out some of the new ideas and it will evolve, but brass case at 2600-3000 fps may look as "performance" in a few decades as black powder cartridges look now.

Likewise I think we are on the backside (or still climbing the rise) of a leap in stock designs. Injection molded plastic took over in the 90's and 00's, got significantly better (in material, maybe not always in design), but stocks still followed the basic sporter design. Now, it seems like may factory plastic stocks are at least sturdy, some have legitimately good designs (Tikka, Sauer, maybe others). Other plactic stocks seem to be designed to sell unscoped rifles at a gun counter (cough Browning cough) but are materially sound. The accepted paradigms on hunting rifle stock design and ergos are being tested and shifted - rokstock, woox chassis, other chassis designs.

We may begin seeing a resurgence in the acceptance of wood stocks for some, it will be interesting to see if the kind of demand for wood Rokstocks expands to other stock designs and makers. I think it will.

Optics I'm not so sure of, but I think passive aiming devices will be supplanted by active imaging.

And you might very well see CNC production costs come down so far for common manufacturers, that the machine-produced "hand-carved stock", with all the checkering and finery, is indistinguishable from that of all but the finest of custom stock makers - all for a couple of minutes of CNC time.

Check out what Jim Kibler is doing. CNC flintlock kits that need some light woodwork to finish the architecture and carving, if desired, and recently releasing a CNC relief carved option for his kit rifles. Carving that to the lay person would look hand done, but likely wouldn't fool a student of contemporary rifles.

I don't think the demand for hand built firearms will go away, but the function and ergonomic feel previously reserved for that class of object will become (has become) much more attainable. I believe the demand for truly hand crafted firearms that are art themselves will stay stable, however the mass produced items will start closing the 'quality' gap. I'm interested to see what that artist segment of the firearms market comes up with to maintain relevance and stay in business.

 

[RS_Non-Res]

Bunch of silly optimists in here. I see ...

• Heirloom/inheritance firearms maintaining personal value for some heirs, but not generally.
• Because mass production technology will improve:
  • Plastic fantastics will continue to be the go-to for hunting roughly and they will be good enough.
  • Current items strongly dependent on technology will deprecate in less than 5 years (e.g. optics)
  • Almost everything nice will get so much more expensive that it's unobtainium (supply will go down).
  • Hand crafted excellence will fade into obscurity.
• Fudd-lore will continue to be held in high regard.
• Hunting opportunities will decrease in total and demand will go up.
• More restrictions on normal firearms and silencers (+CL-3) and ammo.

If you have a stash of firearms for your grandkids and want to make them valuable, I think you could

• Establish a reputation that "this was grandpa's gun" or
• Modify them so that "this is really well-built, even by today's standards."

 

[Yaremkiv]

It's going to trend towards what we always want; comfort and convenience. Suppressor (quiter), shorter barrel (lighter, easier to carry), shots at longer range (obvious convenience), smaller calibers (less recoil and easier to spot impact), synthetic stocks (MUCH more weather resistant etc. etc. So rifles will get shorter, quieter, smaller, lighter, cheaper ...probably.

 

[nm.otter]

Smaller cases, smaller calibers, and shorter barrels are the future. High chamber pressure designs are going to make magnums effectively obsolete.

 

[MTBackroads]

If trends continue, within 3 years everyone here will be arguing about a 14" 17HMR being plenty for elk.

 

[nm.otter]

Behind the ear at 100 yards? Maybe.

 

[MTBackroads]

Behind the ear at 100 yards? Maybe.

lol, so it begins

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

My guns are not a piece of art. Its a tool to finish the job and is treated as such.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

There will be a day where brass rifle cartridges become what flintlocks are today.