Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters It;'s 1958: what's the all-around Western Rifle?

Indeed and indeed! Topped with a fixed 4X Redfield or maybe a 6X.

The late Howard Copenhaver of Ovando kept a Grizzly bear hide draped over his couch that was shot with a 25-35. he claimed that was all the recoil he wanted to deal with.

I have read his books. Fascinating stuff. I have also hunted in that part of Montana some, which is pretty neat country.

I started big game hunting in 1956. Even then, I was reading all I could get my hands on, hanging out at gun stores (we had alot of them in Kalifornia back then) and arguing which caliber/cartriage was better than what.
The fist choice of the knowledgable gun nut/hunters were the M70 Winchester and the 721 Remington. While there were other choices, those were the standouts. The .270 and the '06 were the top choices of the well informed rifleman/hunters. At the tender age of 12, for my very first big game season, I carried a 721 with a B&L 2.5-4X, the Balvar 4. Since it was a 30'06, my grandfather had put a muzzle break on it. Surprisingly, I could shoot it pretty well.
There were still lots of guys that had .30/30 Winchesters where I hunted. My very first big game rifle, bought at the ripe old age of 19, (1963) was a 336 Marlin, .35 Remington. But my first big game kill, in 1960, a respectable forked horn blacktail ( 6 pt. eastern count) was killed with the hot, new 740 Remington semi auto in 30'06 wearing the latest in rifle scopes, the B&L 2.5-8X Balvar8.
BTW, Elmer Keith was one of those that I followed. Of the OKH series, the .333 OKH was based on the opened up '06 case. The Belted .333 OKH was a shortened, open up, 300 H&H case. The necked up, full lenth case of their design was called the .334 OKH ( belted ?).
While cartriages haven't changed much, rifle design and rifle scopes used have changed alot. We didn't have glass bedding back then. Few bothered to free float their barrels in spite of Townsend Whelen's writings and recommendations. Light Mtn. rifles were few and far between requiring, for the most part, the services of a custom gunsmith. Stainless steel use in them was very limited and not popular.
I don't recall the Nosler Partition being availiable back then. The top bullets were the Remington Core-Loks and the Winchester Silvertips. The original Barnes pure copper jacketed bullets were available with differenct jacket thickness. They were made from copper tubing.
We have come a long way. Particularly when it comes to rifle design and the materials used to build them. Bullets are vastly better. More accurate and much deadlier.
Rifle scopes are much brighter, and, in some cases, tougher.
Binoculars have improved vastly as well. I still have my grandfather's old B&L Zephur 9X35. A favorite of Jack O'Connor for sheep hunting. All of my 8X binoculars out perform it easily. E

mtnhunter thanks for the pics, who was Bill Foster?

shrapnel, thanks for sharing the stories

My dad served in WWII. He did all of his hunting after the war, until about 1966, with two beautifully reworked M98 Mausers: one in 7x57 and one in 8x57. As saddlesore said, there were a lot of guys back then hunting with surplus 98's and 03's. No scopes on my dad's guns, either. Both were fitted with good aperture sights. He tauught marksmanship in the U.S. Army during the war, and he could shoot. I saw him put down a few deer at longish ranges with those peep sights, and some others at shorter ranges with a very quick mount-and-shoot motion.

I agree, though, the dream all-around gun would have been a pre-64 in .270 or .30-06 - and it still would be a good choice.

Saddlesore, didn't Montgomery Ward sell a sporter M98? I think it was a model 50-ish and the name started with an "H."

Fosters Bighorn

A must see if you ever visit the area. The place grills a great steak too.

MtnHtr

My grandfather carried a Winchester 95 in .30-40 up until he bought a Remington 721 in .300 H&H in the '50's. He used the 95 in the middle 40's to shoot a grizzly in the Bob Marshall. We still have the simple tanned hide.

Sadly, my uncle grabbed the .300 H&H within hours of my grandfather passing and then traded it off for a rifle worth less than half of its monetary value, and less than zero percent of the Remington's sentimental value to my dad and I.

But, a cousin has the Winchester 95 and though he doesn't hunt anymore, he treasures the rifle.

Family, shot mostly bolts in .270 and .30-06. My other grandfather had a Mauser rebarreled to .30-06. My dad in 58 and 59 bought Weatherbys in .257 and .300.

A thanks to all have contributed to this thread! I have truly enjoyed it! It's just what a cold snowy afternoon was made for!

Jim:

Is that a real 1903 or the parade rifle dummy version?

Just curious, I had the latter at about that age..............

My boy now plays with it.

Wooden stock, fake action, cast weight were the handguard normally is located.

[quote=Mule Deer]!!!!

My dad said that a couple of the guys from the neighborhood (if you can call Bohemian Corner a neighborhood)

Mule Deer

There are about 3 house within a mile or so of Bohemian Corner. What more of a neighborhood do you want.


My dad and uncles grew up around Lewistown in the late 40, early 50 and all of them shot a 30-06. My Grandpa who lived over at Saltese, MT used a 30-40 Krag. A friend who lived in Townsend used a 30-06 in both M70 Featherwieght and Enfield and his dad used a Krag. I really didn't know what a .270 was until my brother bought one in the late 70s.

My brain finally clicked and I remembered the answer to my own question. It was Sears that sold the J.C. Higgins Model 50, which as a Belgian FN 98 Mauser. I believe later they sold the Win 70 under the JC Higgins name, and that was a Model 53.

Sears also sold the J C Higgins Model 51L which was built on a Husqvarna 1600 action.

In '58,here in BC, it would have to be a 303,with hot CIL ammo,it wasn't much off the velocity of a 30-06.I have 3 sporterized P-17s,two of which are factory BSAs, and a FN-Husky from that era.All 30-06s.

Although I am from the Eastern USA I read all of the stuff and most of that was by O'Connor, Page, Brown, Keith and Whelan. The dream rifle was the M70 of course.

It was O'Connor who made the 270 the Western cartridge. I started handloading in 1953 however it was not until the early 60's that I had my own money for guns.

Back then my late dad was a tool and die maker and in fact had his own shop. We belonged to the local RC and shot in RF competition and my dad hunted deer in VT. It got to go to VT in the mid 50's and dad had sporterized a P-17 Enfield for me.

We could get military rifles for twenty bucks and almost free ammo from the DCM. There was no way the cartridge was going to be a 270 what with free 30-06 ammo. We did not hunt with the FMJ ammo but shot a lot of it.

Dad got a fixturing job from High Standard and they were making the M50 and M51's back then. He got one for my uncle and one for himself in 30-06 of course. I still have his M51. Lymans were right here promoting shooting so of course we had Lyman scopes.

This is a great thread and I enjoyed the talk from you Western guys.

And the close second is the same, in .270 Winchester.

Yes. It was the J.C. Higgins Mod 50 my dad used and he handed it down to me.

Dad was shooting a Rem 721 in 06 topped with a 4x Unertal scope.

I first hunted out west in 1960. Four of us each got a mule deer and a pronghorn. The rifles were 30-06, .300 Weatherby, .270 Weatherby, and 7mm Weatherby. The 30-06 (mine)used 150 grain Sierra spire points and they worked fine.

I think the (then) new Marlin 455 in 30-06 would have been perfect. The model 725 Remington, the Model 70, and the FN would have been for the high rollers. We peons would use the 300 Savage, 30-40 Krag/303 British sometimes even fitted with a peep sight. A real eccentric might use a Rem722 in 300 Savage restocked to look like a mini Weatherby and mounted with 3X Weaver in beautifully machined Maynard Beuhler mounts.
For the economy minded a Sears (Mauser) or a Wards (Heym or Sako)actioned plain stock beauty would fill the bill in 270 or 06.