A couple people had expressed interest in this topic, and I have a bit of extra time for a couple days, so here goes:
Bona fides: I am a former infantry NCO and sniper, hunter, competitive shooter, reloader, hobby gunsmith, sometimes firearms trainer and currently work in a gun shop, mostly on the paperwork/compliance side. Back in the day, was a qualified expert with every standard small arm in the US inventory circa 2003 (M2, 4, 9, 16, 19, 249, 240B, 21, 24, 82 etc.), and today hang around the 75th percentile of USPSA classifications. I've shot Cap-and-Ball, Trap and Sporting Clays badly; Bullseye and PRS somewhat better and IDPA/USPSA/UML/Two-gun with some local success. Been active in the 2A community since the mid-90s, got my first instructor cert in high school, and have held a CPL for almost twenty years now.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert in every aspect of firearms, there's huge areas that escape my knowledge base, but if you've got questions I'll do my best to answer.
Technical questions
Gun control proposals for feasibility
Industry
Training
Wacky opinions
General geekery
Some competition links (not my own) just for the interested.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U5IhsWamaLY&t=173
https://youtube.com/watch?v=93nEEINflXE
https://youtube.com/watch?v=utcky0zq10E
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Notes -
I'm very late to the party :/ i have some random questions:
When is a gun worn enough not to be usable?
Is it generally worth taking apart such a worn down gun and replacing the broken part or is this not practical (I'm assuming a broken receiver is a write off)?
Bullpup rifles yay or nay?
Ever watch the Forgotten Weapons YouTube channel, thoughts?
A very long shot but any idea if in any western european country it's practical to go to a gun range as a tourist, particularly as one with no prior experience?
Do you cold blue your guns if they get scratched or is it not worth the effort? Ever done hot bluing?
The UK has a massive shotgun culture which you probably wouldn't expect given foreign media coverage, and any range will offer clay pigeon shooting taster sessions. For rifles, Bisley (near Woking, about an hour's drive SW of London) has multiple ranges and a good reputation. Recreational handgun shooting is banned in the UK.
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1: Depends on how you are with maintenance. Some wear parts need to be replaced with some regularity, but as long as the frame, receiver and barrel are all still in working order, the gun can be made functional. Once those major parts wear out of spec either to reduce reliability or accuracy below acceptable standards, the gun is done. Obviously the type of gun and what those standards are will vary widely.
2: Most common wear parts are pretty cheap, it's worth it financially if you can install things yourself. If you have to pay a gunsmith, maybe not. On my competition guns, things like ejectors, extractors, strikers, hammers, sears etc. get replaced every twenty to fifty thousand rounds. Certain springs every 10k.
3: Nay so far, the idea has potential.
4: I have, more the technical stuff than the historical, IDGAF about old military guns. I like it, and found Ian very well informed and properly cautious about conclusions.
5: No idea, but France or Switzerland would be my guess if there is one.
6: I once cold-blued a muzzleloader barrel, never hot blued. I don't really care about scratches unless I'm selling a gun, and then I just take a sharpie to it. :P
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1 and 2. Guns wear just like any other mechanical device, but mostly by rounds fired through them rather than anything else. Pretty much all manufacturers publish somewhere what parts are recommended to be replaced at what round counts. Every gun, if fired enough, will have some part fail eventually, usually leading to jamming or inability to fire. Very few people will actually fire enough rounds through any gun to wear parts out though. And like any other device, it depends on whether you've actually broken or worn enough parts where the cost of replacement is more than a new item.
There are a few special case situations due to weird laws. Registered transferrable machine gun receivers in the US are extremely expensive and mostly can't be replaced, so people will go to crazy lengths to repair the serialized parts.
For 3, This video by Inrange, related to Forgotton Weapons does a good rundown of the tradeoffs of bullpups. Short version is you're basically always going to be giving something up (ability to casually switch which shoulder you're shooting off of or ability to easily clear malfunctions and verify empty or loaded) in exchange for the shortened length. The worlds' militaries sometimes like them for being easier for soldiers to carry around in cramped armored vehicles and aircraft. As a civilian, they're perfectly adequate for any reasonable use, but you're not going to be in the situations they really benefit from.
For 5, I have no idea about how things are in Europe, but in the US, it's fairly common for bigger ranges to have rentals and to be willing to show newbies how to do some basic shooting. Maybe they have the same there in countries where the laws permit it.
For 6, I've never heard of anyone doing that. Probably there's some super dedicated people somewhere who do that, but I've never met them. Pretty much all quality firearms already have finishes good enough that no such special treatment is necessary.
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For 5, I believe most Western European countries encourage potential gun license applicants to visit a range and use range-owned guns before getting a license and buying their own, and most require it.
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