What was your first centerfire hunting rifle? maybe not the first one you owned, but the first one you hunted with?
This subject comes up periodically, and I'm sure I've posted this story before, but once more won't hurt... (Altho' it might near brings tears to my eyes to relate it...)
Back in '68, my Dad promised to take me deer hunting. When we were set to leave, he took his .30-30 Win (Pre '64 M-94 Std carbine) out of the gun cabinet and presented it to me with the words: "Here, this is yours to use for as long as you want, and when I'm gone, it's yours."
I used that rifle for the next 3-4 years, then acquired a nicely sporterized 8mm Mauser.
In the Spring of '73, my Dad came up to my house and said he needed the .30-30. I thought perhaps he had a varmint or something he wanted to shoot. I didn't think anything of it. That fall when I went out to sight in the rifles for deer season, I looked in his cabinet, and couldn't see the .30-30. So I asked where it was. He replied: "Oh! I traded it for a CB radio..."
I was devastated! Even tho' I didn't use it that much anymore, I still liked it, and used it every year. He passed away about 20 yrs ago, and I never told him how much that gun meant to me. About 4-5 yrs after that incident, I asked him who he traded it too, and he didn't even know.
I was going to buy it back at any price.
Today, I have one much like it; a Pre-War in .30 WCF. and in nicer shape. But it's just not the same... And I've never hunted with a .30-30 since. Or
any lever gun, for that matter...
The 'ol man had maybe 6-8 guns when he passed... He didn't leave any of them to me...
I don't miss him at all...
GH
