I spend a lot of time at the local range, and I get to see a lot of other people's guns. I think It's much better than a Bass Pro or Cabela's counter. Most of the time, the proud owner wants you to try their favorite rig with their personal modifications. And most of the time i happily oblige.
I have had the pleasure of pulling the trigger on some Jewel's and some Anschutz's, and let me tell you, they seem like game changers.
I have seen some Henry rifles shoot almost one hole groups at 50 yards. Marlin 36C's the same way. Old rem or win 22 target rifles from the 50's that actually did shoot in one hole @ 50. (They seemed almost boring).
Some of the trijicon scopes that were crazy clear. (Not a lot of high end rifle equipment owners at this club). With all of this, I do try to get the most for my $$ by researching a lot of a certain product to help me make the most informed choices.
No club member ever had a kimber Montana, that I knew of, until I bought one for coyote hunting. Going from a heavy Ruger Varmint to a lightweight Kimber was a good choice at the time for my back injury I had back in the day. Today I am working on building a Tikka T3x Lite with a manners stock for what is hopefully for me, 'the ultimate hybrid' coyote rig with the stability of a heavy varmint, with the lightweight-ness of a mountain rifle.
I just ordered the Manner through the snipershide group buy. And I did my fair share of reviewing that stock. (The stock costs more than the rifle!)
But in the end, I hope, (for me), it will be the ultimate coyote harvesting machine for my applications.
Right now Im researching a high-end aftermarket trigger. And the one Im looking at costs 'almost' as much as the rifle! I know, the Tikka factory is sweet and all, (even after the YoDave Spring installment),but for just on one rig of mine, I want to have a high end trigger. So for now, Im a lot better in the R&D department than the actual slaying department. I do intend to do a lot more field positional shooting this spring and summer to up my field game. Im also in the market for step up in the tripod department. The upgrading seemingly never ends. And for my old carcass, I don't mind it all that much.