Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Your first and most recent deer rifle...

I just picked up a Winchester Classic Featherweight 308 at a gun show. It has decent wood for a factory rifle and it came with sights and Leopold QD rings and bases. I haven't seen one of these with sights before

First was a Weatherby Vanguard in 270. Most recent was a Tikka 30-06.

My most recent (as of Saturday) is a M70 classic featherweight in 308. It kept whispering softly "take me home, take me home" so after coming back to it 3 times I brought her home.

First was a Remington 742 30-06 that I received for my 15th Christmas in '71. Killed a boxcar full of deer with it.....and no, it never jambed. But, boy was it heavy....

The latest for deer, and everything else for the last 5 years, has been a Montana in 7-08. There have been a few in between, but this Montana is so sweet to carry all day long.

My first in 1967 was a 7mm Spanish Mauser my Old Man paid $15 for, and it was worth about $10. Geez, what a worthless POS - it soured me greatly on all Spanish Mausers for the next 57 years and counting. First real rifle, bought with my own money for $40 the next year, was a M1896 Krag Cavalry Carbine, a genuine one not a cut-down rifle. That gun was in my hands when I whacked my first deer. No pics exist of either gun.

The last couple seasons I've alternated about equally between three, unable to pick one over the other - they all serve me well and will likely be my deer hunting battery until the end of my days. I'm not as gung-ho about it as I used to be. In no particular order of preference:





Original Springfield M1903 NRA Sporter, 1929, one of around 4400 made between 1922 and 1933.
Krag sporter I built.
Ruger #1A 6.5x55.

Ok. I’ll play.

Myself like gnoahhh, first deer rifle was an old Spanish Ovideo M1916 7x57, mom bought me for Christmas 1969 for $19.95. The following Christmas I got an old Weaver K4 to put on it. Over the past 50+ years had a lot done to it. The old Austin gunsmith, Buster Kreuz, D&T’ed it. And bent the bolt. I got after it with a saw and did all the "fancy" stock work. Old hunting pard and gunsmith the late Joe Sherrod of Llano Tx. Had a decent 7x57 barrel so he rebarreled it for me about 25-30 years ago. Kids have hunted with it too!

And today I just picked up one of my grail rifles. I always wanted since I first spotted one in a 1953 Shooter’s Bible. A Model 1950 Mannlicher Schoenauer in 7.62x63 (🤣). I doubt it will kill anything any deader than that old Spanish Mauser! 😉

Pretty obvious the Krag would take it on style points where I hunt.