Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What was your first ???

A Carl Gustaf 6.5x55. I think my father paid $60 for it. He bought two of them, one for me and one for my twin brother. I hunted deer with it last year, never got a shot though. It's fun to go old school and hunt this old iron sighted rifle once in a while.

Her name was Kara.... oh rifles.

A Remington 742, in 30-06. It was my dad's. It went through hell and back and didn't work very well. Our house burnt down when I was a kid, and I was able to clean the rifle up enough to be able to use it.

I shot my first two deer with it.

An old M1 carbine. Took my first 2 whitetail with it. I got it when I was 10. Still have it. I will admit I haven't shot it in a few years though.

I got my first gun at 8 it was an H&R 410 single shot.

Still might be able to around here....maybe.

The first purchased by me was a M70 Black Shadow in 300WM. Push feed. Killed everything with that gun to include elk and deer. Had many rifles before that one, but they werent bought by me. Anyone remember when Bush gave us that first tax credit in 2001? My $300 paid for that M70 in Walmart in Morehead City, NC with that credit. I call that rifle "George"...

1903 Springfield I sporterized (I now wish I had not) with a 1.5-5? Weaver scope in Weaver mounts. I shot a nice buck with it last year.

Remington 700 ADL in 308 Win. Bought it with the money I saved from delivering papers. I found it in a newspaper clssified and drug Dad wit hme to go check it out that night.

The second deer season I had it we were driving to our afternoon stand when we saw a really nice 4X4 Mulie, I hopped out, grabbed shell after shell from my cartridge belt but none would chamber (uncles reloads) I foolishly blamed the rifle, went home and sold it.
Wish I knew then what I know now.

In 1983, at 16 years of age, I bought an Interarms Whitworth Mark X in 30-06. The smith mounted a Bushnell Scopechief 1.5-4.5X20 on top in Weaver mounts. Nice rifle that weighed a good 9 pounds.

Two years later I found my first Pre-64 M70, a 1957 standard rifle in 270 so the Whitworth went away.

Sportsman 74. Cheap version of the rem 7400. Got it from my uncle for 200 bucks back when I was in college. Killed four deer with it.

.54 Lyman Hawkins muzzleloader that dad made from a kit some years before I was a dirty thought. Had an Green river (or was it green Mountain?) replacement barrel on it that was a funky size. Shot .530 balls decently but prefered a .526 ball.

Did pretty well on blacktail with it.

444 Marlin NIB for $115 when I was 15yo

Marlin lever in 35 Remington.

My first deer rifle was bought for me in 1972 by my late Mother so I would not have to borrow someone elses rifle ever again.
It was a Mossberg 810-A in 30-06.
I still own that rifle to this day and it has taken a lot of Texas Whitetail Bucks over the years.
I have not had the rifle in the field for at least nine years now.

Rem. 600 in 6mm Rem. With a Leupold M8 4X.
Dad bought in for me in 1964 when I was 12. Hunted with it for 10 seasons befor I killed my first deer with it.

It now has a McMillan stock, Pac-Nor barrel in 25-284, and a Leupold 6X42mm with a dot reticle.

Virgil B.

Win 70 Carbine (push feed). Wood stock, 20" .30-06 FWT contour barrel, 3-9x32 Bushnell scope. Seemed to kill anything it was pointed at (coyotes, deer, etc.). Took it to the bench and realized I needed more accuracy. Wasted a lot of time that way but now have that same action in a McM EDGE stock with a 22" Pac-Nor barrel in .30-06. Liking the combo. Still light, more accurate (not that it's mattered in the field), and very weather resistant.

Model 1898 Krag-Jorgensen, still in full military dress. Really long, heavy, and very deadly on deer. I paid for it myself, with money earned doing farm work. A whopping $14.95, big money for a farm kid in the 60's.

Be worth a hell of a lot more than I paid for it, if I still had it...

First gun was a Marlin / Glenfield G60 single shot bolt action .410 shotgun. My father bought it for me when I was 6 years old at Gibson's Dicount Center in Tyler, Texas. Cost $19.95 and he bitched about the high price. I contributed some of my lawn mowing money for it but I don't remember how much. It seemed like buying a house at the time. I used to murder doves with it. I was only given one shell at a time so I had to make them count. Today, I couldn't hit a stalled out Goodyear Blimp at five yards with a .410. I still have it as well as his Sears bolt action 12 gauge that he used to hunt squirrels with. He also bought me a Remington 788 .30-30 at K-Mart for $94.95 when I was about 16. I killed my first deer with it, a nice 8 point buck. Unfortunately, after I graduated college, I needed money for beer and women one day and foolishly sold it. I have one like it now and it is every bit as accurate as the one I had all these years later. Thanks for the great thread. BT

As foolish as it seems my first whitetail rifle was a Browning BL-22. back in 1970 I was a hunter and it was lots enough rifle for 20 - 25 yd shots that were the norm for me. I was convinced by my much better informed friends that it was not realistic to kill deer with a 22 RF. So I bought a Winchester 88 in 308 since there were no 243's in stock in 1972. |That rifle was stolen after a MVC, and I started collecting after that, mainly military rifles from 1894 onwards.


I still have the BL 22 but it has been ten years since it killed a whitetail. That one was at 25 yds one shot kill right behind the right ear quartering away. I have been told it is illegal to hunt big game with a rimfire, so do not do it. I also can not stalk like I once did. Age has its draw backs, but it gives me excuses to buy more rifles.
Randy

Ruger 77 Ultra-lite in 270 with a Bausch and Lomb 3-9x40 scope in the Ruger rings. I was 19 and I bought it myself. My Dad had stopped hunting by that time so I had never even fired a center fire rifle or used a scope until I bought that gun. Just shotguns and iron sight .22's. Took it to a friends house, sighted it in with two shots, fired a nice 1 1/4 inch group at 100 yards, jumped on a plane out to Saskatchewan where I took a very nice whitetail buck. It's taken lot's more game since. I still have it and hunt with it every season even though I have many more guns now.

Ruger M77 MkII Stainless with the boat paddle stock in 338 WM at 11 years old (just call me flinch). With about a hundred more pounds of me today it is somewhat more pleasant to shoot. Shot my first big game four years later, a 2 year old bull bison.