Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Go-to Old School 3 gun battery

My father only owned three hunting guns his whole life, and he was an avid hunter. I recently inherited them and was going down memory lane with them today. I bought him a scoped 30-06 which he liked to shoot targets with, but he gave it back and said he did not need it. He never hunted with it.

His 3 gun battery was: Win. Mod 12 shotgun in 12 ga, Win. Mod. 94 in 30-30, and a Win. Mod. 61 in 22 that he scoped in later years.

My Grandfathers 3 gun battery was: Win. Mod 12 Shotgun in 12 ga, an early Remington 760 in 300 Savage that had a Pachmayr Swing-Lo scope mount and a Weaver K-4 scope, and an open sight Win. Mod. 61 22.

What is your favorite old school 3 gun hunting battery?

Winchester 75 Sporter, Winchester 70 in 30-06, and Winchester 12 in 12 gauge.

Remington 121, Remington 141 in 35 REM, and Remington 29 in 12 gauge.

I cheat.

Kreighoff drilling in SXS 16ga over a 7X65R (pretty much a 280 Rem) and a 22 LR shotgun barrel insert. It wears a 1.5-6 Zeiss in claw mounts.

Traditional 3-gun battery for N America:

3-digit Mdl 70 30-06 with 3-9 American made Burris

Browning B80 3" 12ga with 26" invector, 28" invector, and 22" slug barrels

Marlin Golden 39 with a Lyman Alaskan CH scope

My dad's Lefever 12 gauge double barrel, Remington M760 pump-action .30-06, and a Winchester M67 single shot .22 rimfire.

When I could hit regular-like with the .22, I graduated to the M1 Garand, which he taught me to shoot out to 400 yards.

If I needed to choose from what's here now...

Remington 511 .22
Ithaca 37 20 gauge
M98 257 Roberts sporter

When I was kid.

Mossberg 146 22 from my dad.
1894 Win 32Spl from a family friend.
Savage 12GA single shot from bus boy tips.

Still have the Mossberg and the Winchester

Most true “hunters” that I’ve known were NOT “gun guys” and didn’t have much use for anything beyond what met their needs and reliably brought home meat. They didn’t care much about bullet construction as long as it shot straight and killed what it hit……oftentimes they preferred 180’s for deer and 220’s for everything bigger…that was the extent of their foray into external ballistics. There certainly weren’t the myriad of choices back then either. For a capable rifleman there really aren’t too many “wrong” choices of brands, calibers or styles, each being unique to the rifleman/hunter’s preferences and maybe perhaps intended quarry….at least for the real forward thinking hunter of the day. 😀

My father in law grew up in the logging camps and fishing villages of Alaska back in the 50’s so, as a teenager when he saw the biggest black bear of his life (and he’d seen a lot in his young life) he had to buy the rifle the Indian used, a model 53 in 25-20, which is proudly and forever in my “collection”. I hardly consider the 25-20 big bear medicine but that old native thought it good enough and my father in law didn’t know any better…..until he got to Kodiak. 😀. He had a different rifle for Kodiak that he and his brother left there and shared….a 25-06. That rifle almost cost his brother (uncle Rick) his life and even though the Kodiak skull sits proudly in Rick’s front entryway the rifle is somewhere out in the bay…they swore that 25-06 off after that experience and bought a brand new Winchester 70 in 7mm Rem Mag with 2 boxes of shells…in 1965 and then they never shot it and my father in law spent the next 10 years flying in SE Asia for Air America. My FIL’s dad held onto it for safe keeping while he was gone overseas and through the natural process of losing the one’s we most love I inherited that rifle. I took 3 shells (because I’m a sentimental fool) and fired it 3 times for chronograph numbers with the same shells they bought in 1965 before setting it up in a synthetic stock for use back where she first started life…Alaska. I have the brand new 1965 factory stock in a rifle sock and box but I’ll never swap it back out and the scars we share from here on just add to the story.

I spent my pre-teens, teens and young adulthood hunting with the only centerfire rifle I owned until I was mid 20’s it’s another cherished family possession that my grandpa bought me in the desert of Apache Junction at Diamond Jim’s gunshop, a Remington 788 in 30-30. That accompanied the .22 Glenfield bolt action rifle I got for Christmas 1980…another cherished possession of mine that is ALWAYS included in my “arsenals” of daydream requirements. 😀

The older I get the more the OLD guns mean to me and the more my connection to them grows as well as their souls seem to grow immeasurably deeper with time spent together afield. Once I’ve declared a deep and sentimental attachment to a particular firearm I don’t refinish it, we wear many of the same scars and that deepens the bond. This is my long winded way of saying mine WAS a Single shot 20ga Savage, Glenfield 25(iirc) and 788 in 30-30….nowadays I don’t think I could choose just 3 because I have too many that meant too much for those I loved and they allow me to still take a quiet walk through the woods with my most cherished people…

The batteries show your ages. Mine go like this:

1. Sporterized m1917 30-06
2. Ruger 10-22 deluxe walnut model
3. Left hand Remington 870 12 gauge, 28" barrel with fixed modified choke.

One of my early Montana hunting mentors had three hunting guns, a Model 70 Winchester .30-06 he bought the first year the Model 70 appeared; a Winchester Model 97 12-gauge with a 30" full-choke barrel, made in 1911 and purchased used; and a Marlin Model 81 tube-magazine .22 rifle. H

The Model 70 had a Bausch & Lomb low-power variable in B&L adjustable mounts, with a dot reticle on very fine crosshairs. He was one of the finest running-deer shots I've ever known, even in his late 60s when I first met him.

But as he got older and couldn't shoot as well, he decided both the Model 70 and Model 97 were "too heavy." He sold the .30-06 to one of his ne'er-do-well nephews, who promptly took it to the nearest "big" city and hocked it at a pawn shop. Then he decided to trade the 97 in on a cheap 20-gauge pump at the one sporting goods store in our little town, which offered him $75 in trade. He told me about it, but hadn't finished the deal yet. I bought it for $75, and shot it for many years, among many wild birds taking my first Canada goose.

Wasn't interested in the Marlin .22, as I'd purchased a used Model 81 at 13 with paper-route money--which I still have....

If paring my collection down today would keep these three:

Ultra Light Arms Model 24 .30-06, given to me by Melvin Forbes in 1996, which has taken big game from northern North America to southern Africa.

The Model 870 Remington 12-gauge magnum I ordered new through the Missoula, Montana J.C. Penny store in 1979--after the already-worn Model 97 became unreliable. It has also traveled some, from Canada to Argentina, and with a rifled slug barrel has taken deer, my biggest black bear, and (in Eileen's hands) a young cow moose.

As my rimfire would probably keep a Ruger American .22 Magnum purchased at a local store new for half-price in 2015. The price was apparently so low because at the time .22 Magnum ammo was unobtainable--but I had a considerable collection, including a brick of .22 Winchester ammo for small-game hunting. Its the most accurate .22 Magnum I've ever owned, and unlike many shoots well with just about any ammo.

.338 WinMag, .416 Rigby, .450 Dakota/Rigby

My Three Gun Battery as a kid and into/through college 50+ years ago was a .30-40 Krag carbine, Ithaca M37 12 gauge, and a Winchester M52A target rifle. The two rifles were purchased when in high school with paper route/snow shoveling/hay baling money to replace the Spanish Mauser 7mm and Mossberg (Actually New Haven el-cheapo version of Mossberg) .22 semi-auto which my Dad bestowed on me earlier. Those two rifles were deplorable and I often thought it was Pop's way of spurring me to acquiring better things by my own wits.

Of the three I still have the Mossberg .22 and the Ithaca, mainly because Dad gave the Ithaca to me for HS graduation in 1970. One of the few new fresh from the factory guns I ever owned! I've always owned Krags and could duplicate the old triumvirate by adding one of them from my collection to the Mossy and Ithaca pump gun.

My current Go-To Three pulled from my stash, for a basic "do everything" battery based solely on hunting requirements and not necessarily where my "shooting head" is at this time , would be:

1. Ruger No.1A 6.5x55 with Leupold 1.5-5x
2. LC Smith 12-bore 28" M&F
3. BRNO #2 with 4x Leupold FXII rimfire scope

Paring down with what's currently on hand:

1. Beretta 391 26". I'd have to think long and hard to decide 12 or 20 though as I don't hunt waterfowl.

2. 77/22Mag SS Boat Paddle w/NF 3-10x42 SHV/IHR

3. Kimber Montana 270Win w/1:8 Lilja @ 22" and 2.5-10x42 NXS w/IHR reticle

Non of the above have much "sentimental" value as I don't think I've owned/shot any of them for more than 10-12yrs. That said, if I'm having to choose 1 of each going forward then the above 3 get the nod because they're simply trouble free and most likely to stay that way a good long while.

Only 3 guns...oh the horror of it. BUT if I had to it would come down to these
275 Rigby built on a VZ24 action
Parker GHE 16ga two bbl set. 28 inch barrels skt/skt and M/F
Cooper Western Classic 22LR

My three gun hunting battery is as follows.
C.I.L. Model 900 ( Anschutz 54) in .222 Remington

Ruger #3 in .303 British built by Greydog

1878 Westely Richards 12 bore hammer double - I shoot this one with BP and brass cases or low pressure loads and Federal plastic cases with either Bismuth or lead.

I have hunted with the .222 since the late 60's, the Ruger since 2010, and the hammer gun since about 1996.
I have used others on occasion, but these are my main hunting guns.
Cat

Old school three gun battery. probably never happen around here! But give it a shot. Like my Marlin 783 22 mag and it would be #1, then I think I'd keep my mod 70 in 6.5x55 and for a heavy gun my 1903 custom 30-06. Recently added a 260 Rem mod 700 with a Lelja barrel I'd probably hide in the bedroom with my 25-06 mod 700 and my 243 Patriot! Oops! Forgot the shootgun. Be either my Aya or CZ 28 ga. And that makes four! Well I'd go with out a 30-06!

Honestly I simply don't hunt like I used to. Haven't used the 25-06 in several years and have hunted even deer with the 243 only a couple time's in my life. Have a 6.5x06 but the 30-06 does everything it can do and a bit more! If I could draw tag reasonably close to home where there public land I could hunt, I'd probably hunt more but been a few years since I drew a tag to hunt in the unit I live in and going to fat out simply runs me into to much private land or travel get's expensive. Bottom line huntinmg is simply getting to expensive for me anymore.

Back in the day, when I arrived in Washington State I had;

My Dad's 1957 Model 70 in .243
An Ithaca 20 gauge pump (made by Miroku) a HS graduation gift from my Grandfather
A 10/22 - First gun I ever bought myself $85 at Kmart

I could really still do most of what I do now with those three but where's the fun in that? From the collection today I'd pick.

Ruger #1 in 275 Rigby
Parker reproduction with 20 gauge and 16 gauge barrels (I cheated, sue me)
Winchester 52A Sporter. Although, I'd likely replace the scope. That vintage Ziess 2.5X, as cool as it is, seems to make things further away.

Marlin Deluxe 1881 in 32-40 with rocky mountain front sight and 28 inch octagon barrel.

Stevens Favorite 22L from 1915.

Ithaca 37 Featherlight in 20 Gauge from 1948.

or

1928 Sedgley Sporter in 30/06 with Lyman 48 receiver sight.

Remington Model 12 22LR

Browning A-5 12 gauge from 1926.

or

Savage 1899 b with 26 inch octagon barrel in 303 savage.

Winchester Model 61 22 LR, L, S

Winchester 71 in 348-450 Ackley Improved.

RAR .22rf, 16", switching between 10x SWFA and a thermal, on pic rail.

Guide model in .375R, but if I had one in '06 that would be the choice.

An old 12 ga Perazzi, if I'm sensible.

If I had to ..

1) Ruger 77/17 in .17 HMR
2) Kimber Montana .257 Roberts
3) Winchester High Wall .405 WCF

I'm not a shotgunner.

I was not aware that Ithaca had any Model 37's made in Japan. I know Miroku and SKB made sxs's and o/u's for them, but I never heard of Ithaca pumps made by anyone but Ithaca (in their several iterations.)