Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles First rifle you handloaded for

M70 - 270 Win. Even 1/2 century ago. 130 grain Hornady IL, IMR4350, Federal 210 primers, RCBS jr press, and RCBS dies.

7mm STW 150gr Nosler Partition Win Brass, CCI 250, 77gr IMR 7828, C.O.A.L 3.675. Custom Sako L 61 R

.257 Roberts. I had zero interest in hand loading but hated those soft, round nose bullets.

For me it was a Springfield 30-06. It came with a set of those Lee hand dies....I loaded a lot of ammo for it I was I probably 17 got some pretty good groups too

Weatherby Ultra Lightweight.30-06





That’s me on the left with my first handload kill.





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WBY Ultra lite your chitting me. Naw kidding good job Pharmseller

I had 3 that I started at the same time, back in 1974. A .243 Win., 270 Win. and one of my favorite rounds the 30-06..

Browning A-Bolt II, Micro Hunter chambered in 243 Win.

Krag-Jörgensen .30-40, 50 years ago this year.

444 Marlin

Rem 700 in 22-250 in 1974. The first weekend I had the rifle I enjoyed it so much that I new I had to have a loader to keep it going. That gun was the first barrel I wore out also.

I had an M94 Winchester .30/30, so my mom thought a good Christmas present for her 12yo son would be a Pacific C-press and kit.
As soon as I got it went off down to the LGS and bought a box of Sierra 150gr flat-point 30-30 bullets, and a box of Speer 100gr "Plinkers".
I got a tin-can of IMR 3030 and a square tin can of Hercules Hi-Vel #2. Federal primers in wooden "flats" were sitting on the counter, so I picked 2 100-packs.
30gr of 3031 served me for the next two or three years, before an M1917 Enfield .30-06, full of Cosmoline, appeared behind the kitchen door.
Everything except the Enfield have gone on down the road, and it has even changed, now being rebarrelled to .300 WinMag.
I don't miss any of it...it was always replaced by something better.
I DO think of them often, though.
Gene

Rifle: Marlin 336a (24” bbl) , 30-30 chambering. Started reloading with it in 1976.

Reloading system: Lee Loader , Hornady 170 grain flat point bullets, scoop of IMR 3031.

If it was a Lee hand press, and full length dies, a Lee tray primer tool, Lee case trimmer, and K&M flash hole uniformer to prep brass, that system would have realistically met my hunting / shooting needs over the past 40 years ( northeast whitetail deer). That would’ve saved a lot of money, and 60 rifles bought/sold/traded.

Still have that Lee loader, and Marlin 336a 30-30.

That is a great little rifle. My brother has one. Shoots great, and well-made Beautiful little action. He got it new in 1979. Shoots well under moa ( more like 0.75 moa).

A late 80's model Remington Mountain rifle chambered in 30-06 that never was very accurate but I loved the way it handled. I hunted with it for 3 or 4 years and sold it sometime in the early 90's........Hb

In 1990 I bought a LH Rem. 700 BDL in 30-06. My mentor at the time advised me to buy some IMR-4831 and 180 grain Hornady bullets. My load was 58.5gr.

Killed my first cow elk at 150yds. with that load. Had that rifle for about 10 yrs. and killed 2 more cows with the same load, then I discovered the 300WM!

There have been many rifles since then, but that was my first!

Elk Country

1873 springfield trapdoor 45-70 christmas day 1958

A Remigton 700 Varmint .243 back in 1979....shot the barrel outta that thing everything from 60 gr to 100 gr bullets Learned a lot from that gun....and mosty have never been without a .243 since then. bach then the Sierra 85 hpbt was a varmint bullet according to Sierra..... After a few years I KNEW it was a deer bullet.......and still use h 414 with it @ 3300 F/sec....works VERY well on broadside and even not so broadside whitetails!

Pre'64 Winchester Model 88 .308, took my biggest whitetail with that rifle and a 180 gr. RN handload.

Remington 700 LSS Mountain Rifle, 30-06. 165 grain NBT & IMR4064 from the Lyman manual.