RELH,
As my red hairs become replaced with a more "mature" lighter shade, my resolve to buy quality the first time grows. Granted, high quality costs, but inferior quality also costs. Younger people starting in the hunting and shooting sports are more strapped for money, but I feel that "surviving" the family years until they can afford to upgrade is a disservice to themselves for those years. Heck, scrimp, earn and save and buy the best you want, rather than wasting money on lesser quality and forfeiting money on the inevitable upgrade.
My first pair of binoculars, 25 years ago, was a Bushnell Sportview 7x35 Insta-focus. I gave them away a couple of years ago to a 10 year old hunter with no binos or money in the family, rather than letting them sit unused in a drawer (could have saved money on the aspirin they required to look through). I decided to get top shelf at the time(~1985) with Leitz 10x25, and they served me well until the small objective size proved poor for glassing long distance toward evening. Several years ago I put aside enough for a pair of Leica 10x to replace a mid-grade set of Burris 10x (Lost money in that transition).
In terms of guns, I am now tending to high grade my assortment of hunting guns. The Dakota Arms Westerner with classic stock and octagon barrel looks like a goal for which to save. No, I don't have a lot of loose change (maybe a loose screw?), as I have been teaching High School for the last 24 years. Champagne tastes on a beer budget? But are not two Paulaner Amber Marzens worth more than a twelve-pack of Keystone Light? Buy it once and live with the quality forever?
A good friend and long-time hunting partner earns 6 figures. His choice of gun for his son was a Savage with plastic trigger guard that split at the screw hole, action screws that go into the Tupperware stock and strip out, and has a horrendous trigger pull. His rifle has a Ramline stock with a crack in the magazine block area. He is passionate about hunting, but I cannot get him to consider the possibilities as to why these rifles won't shoot well.
Guess my point to this rambling is to question the apparent waste of $$$ and time during one's hunting career while upgrading from cheap quality throughout the years; money wasted is not buying what you really want in the first place. Maybe this is part of the learning curve from youth to elder, but I wish some would be able to learn from other's mistakes. On the other hand, being a part of the learning curve has its educational values and one may be able to appreciate the finer qualities at the end. I have been able to observe and learn from both spectra.
Doug~Red Rabbit
no charge for my $0.02
