Aesthetics: excluding wood furnitured guns, 1 to 5 how much do they impact your purchasing decisions?

It appears to me that most of us have misunderstood the OP's question:

He wanted to leave wooden furniture out of the discussion.
But most responses discuss the perceived importance and beauty of wooden stocks.... 🤔
(Or maybe I misundersood the OP?!)


On a scale from 1 to 5 for how important the looks of a gun are — I'd be a 5.5.


(Wooden furniture? — Yes, please! For my dining room table and my entertainment center.
But please, not on my killing tools — I like them tough, lean & mean.
I have other items to "remind me of grandpa and my childhood in the woods" — I don't need an archaic looking gun for that.)


Sorry, I seem to be in the minority here — but thankfully today we have plenty of great guns that cater to all flavors of aesthetics — and that is great!! 😃

Cheers,

Matthias
Yeah, I mean it's fine that it's lead to a wood & metal vs. plastic/ tactical vs. traditional conversation because those are usually the two most obvious attributes to any build. But it kind of takes a sick mind to not have a love for finely crafted wood stocks and grips, so it's not really even a topic that can be debated if you have any taste and not too many of us will disagree on the matter

I was going more for the thought process we often won't admit to, buying something primarily based upon looks vs. functionality. Looks are often the most frequently made comment whenever something new comes along, so it does matter to most of us.

There have been a few purchases that I've made thru the years on items based on bling factor, but I've also sensibly bought items that I initially found visually repugnant but warmed up to as value and performance became more apparent.
 
20240831_113706.jpg


20240901_133502.jpg


20240315_154646.jpg


1 to 5, 5 being best.
Wood - 0
Plastic - 0
Carbon Fiber - 5
Metal - 5
 
I love the way this gun looks feels and shoots

View attachment 514806
I also love this one with its traditional look and feel.
Looks can be so subjective. I have loved the Wildcat since the MK1 made its appearance years ago and they still speak to me. Especially the short ones. The only thing that bugged me then (and still gets me today) is the trigger guard. For some reason it never looked quite “right” to me, so I did mine up differently. I am 100% sure that some would look at my chopped up Cat and it’s weird trigger guard and think it is a heinous abomination, but I still get a little tingle when I look at it.

IMG_8199.jpeg
 
  • Haha
Reactions: coastal drifter
Looks can be so subjective. I have loved the Wildcat since the MK1 made its appearance years ago and they still speak to me. Especially the short ones. The only thing that bugged me then (and still gets me today) is the trigger guard. For some reason it never looked quite “right” to me, so I did mine up differently. I am 100% sure that some would look at my chopped up Cat and it’s weird trigger guard and think it is a heinous abomination, but I still get a little tingle when I look at it.

View attachment 515033
Thats a damn good looking gun!
 
The only 3 Tactical chassis gun I own any longer .... FWB P70 and a THOMAS long gone.
Have these because there unique with the top 2 being POWERFUL as well ACCURATE being just downright cool PCP's. The third a recent acquisition because it folds up, high shot count and works so well.

Personally think there all ugly as sin and prefer Woodies better. But then again not found a "woodie" that has the same capabilities.

DSCF0865.JPG
DSCF0896.JPG
4.jpg
 
This is kinda tough. I have not purchased rifles because of athletics before.

As for their effect on my purchase…
5 out of 5 - for getting my attention
3 out of 5 - for actually buying

I have a Prophet right now that I’m not at all a fan of the looks of. I bought it I guess 3-4 years after it was released because of that, but I really love how it shoots.

That being said, there are a few others I’m looking at, first based on what I am looking for utility wise, but why I have or have not purchased them is because of looks. I will wait until I find one with the looks I want first.
 
Another reason I like nice wood/blueing on guns is usually they come in at a decent weight when scoped. Personally I find for the most part tactical air rifles are heavy to very heavy plus ugly as sin to boot.. I do not enjoy carrying a 11-13# air rifle around squirrel hunting, bench shooting yes hunting no. If I was gonna shoot prairie dogs or set up and shoot pigeons/starlings in a barn lot then heavy is ok.
Everybody should shoot what they enjoy that's what variety is for.
 
My go to airgun is my Wildcat. Not a bad looking gun, but it won't win any beauty contests either. But it works so well, I've been thinking about getting a Maverick. If I'm considering buying a gun that looks like someone put it together out of random plumbing supplies from Home Depot, I must not care too much about how pretty my guns are.