Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What was your 1st deer rifle?

I was 14 in 69 and had stopped at a hdwe store on the way home from school to see what guns were in stock. On the rack was a well used Rem Mdl 572 22 lr for $30 and I was admiring it, the store owner told me he needed a young guy to do what ever and I could have the gun for 40 hrs of whatever,so I got my first real job and the gun as a paycheck. Didn't take me long to figure the 572 was a pos and I traded it and $11 bucks for a Century Arms sporterized M93 Mauser in 7 x 57. Had the metal work done at the Shell Shop in Sioux City Ia and did the wood myself from a EC Bishop 90% inletted blank, put on a 2.5 x 8 Bushnell for the scope. Didn't take long and I got RCBS dies and a RCBS jr. press. Worked with IMR-4350 and 139 gr Hornady SP and switched to the 140 NPT for my 1st whitetail buck in 1972. Took about 3+ years to get a tag back then. Still have it, need to put it too work again. Magnum man

Model 94 Winchester Carbine 30-30. Whelan and O'Connor said aperture sights were best so I mounted a Lyman 66 rear and a Redfeld Sourdough front. It loved those Winchester 170 grain Silvertips and it did the job until I believed the hype and bought a .243.

Winchester 94 in .32 Win Special. Was my Dad's gun. Took my first deer, a small spike, with it the first day of my first PA buck season in 1961. My younger son took a deer with it also so 3 generations of my family have "made meat" with that gun. A fourth generation is coming along to carry the tradition forward.

It currently resides in the back of my gun safe, but occasionally when the leaves turn color, the mornings are frosty and the house is quiet I find myself pulling it out and sitting with it for a time. One throw of the lever and I'm in a gas-lighted camp in the hills of Centre County. The smells of wet wool, wood smoke and Hoppes #9 fill the air and a nervous, excited 13 year-old anxiously awaits the first deer drive of the day and his hunting life.

Excuse me for a minute. I need to open the safe.

Weatherby vanguard deluxe in 7MM Remington Magnum caliber - bolt action rifle

Winchester M70 XTR, Redfield Rings and mounts, Bushnel 3-9x40 Scopechief.

My Dad bought me a Reminton 721 in 270 cal when I was 14.Killed my first deer(a big doe) and many more since then.I still hunt with it every year.

Skipped school when I was a junior to go deer hunting. Shot my first deer with a modified 303 Enfield. When I checked it in a photographer from the local paper took my picture, largest deer so far in Cherokee county, Ok. that year. My excuse of being sick didn't work for my absence from school. The principal invited me in for a visit, he had the paper opened to the sports page with my picture and my 8 pt buck. He explained that my excuse didn't hold water but he did congratulate me on a fine deer. I still remember it as though It happened yesterday even though it was 50 years ago.

Savage/Stevens 110 in .270 , 2 years ago it became my sons first deer rifle

Remington 788 in 7mm-08

I got a great story of my 1st deer rifle! No one in my immediate family (dad/brother) hunted or liked guns so I was the "black sheep". I was turning 16 and what does every kid turning 16 want? A ride of course.....Well my mom/pops came into the house and my mom said "we got your BDAY gift" so I was like OK, where/what... My mom told my dad to give me the keys!!! Hot dern, I got a ride!!!!!!! Yeahhhhhhhh, then my mom said it's in the trunk!!! hahahaha had me fooled!!! I opened the trunk and low and behold sat a new/used Remington 700 in 270! It had/has a cheapo Tasco 3x9x40 w/ even cheaper see through mounts! It was a beautifully cared fer gun! I still have it like it came and before moving up to different rifles, shot a bunch of deer with it!

I have raised all 3 of my kids to hunt and fish, and my youngest got his 1st deer rifle at 7 (NEF 223). Killed his 1st deer at that age too. Since I have bought him his 1st quality rifle (BAR in 270) but he wants my Steyr in 7-08 since I bought my Steyr in 300. Can't fault him fer having good taste like his daddy!!!

My first deer rifle is the 30-30 Marlin that I broke the stock on, when I fell last fall.

My first deer with a rifle, I was shooting dad's 270 win.

My first deer was killed with a westernfield 12 ga with buckshot

Tang safety Ruger M77 30-06. Still have it...

mine was a 1898 effort mauser in 8mm loved that old gun and kill my first deer a 5 point whitetail . At 12 years of age i could not have been happyer

This is a great topic and have really strolled down memory lane. Mine was a Christmas gift in 1971 when I was 13 going on 14. Under the tree was a new Rem 760 pump .270. My dad had the same rifle but was a few yrs older and a .30-06. He took off his 2 3/4 powered Weatherby scope and put it on my new gun. He then bought a new Redfield 2x7 scope. I hunted with it my first 3 yrs with no luck. dad got an idea ans said that ne never shot a deer with a .270 and how about a trade for a yr and see what happens. He got a buck the 1st day and I got one the second. After he passed a few yrs later I started hunting with the .270. I shot a lot of deer with it for 20 yrs but some idiot stole all my guns. I'm still bitter. The only thing I didn't like about the gun was the hard trigger pull. I bought a Sako .270 bolt and have hunted with it all over the U.S. and Canada. Only other deer I have shot with a gun was a 20 gauge Savage 220 hunting in Iowa.

Family tradition was you started with a shotgun so at age 12 I killed my first buck with an H&R 20 gauge. My older brother had put me in the middle of a huge old pine tree figuring I would not wander off and get lost while he hunted else were. He was surprised when he came back, a 6 pt had walked under my tree and stopped so my first kill was at 5 yards.

At age 15 I got a new Winchester model 94 in 30-30 it cost $65 back then times were tuff, I earned money cutting grass and paid half the rest was my Christmas gift from mom. Used that 30-30 for deer for a decade before moving up to a 06.

Savage 308

Oddly, a 270 Wby Mag in a beautiful LH Mark V. First centerfire rifle I ever owned. Great gun.

50+ years ago, my first deer rifle was a surplus Argentine mauser. That rifle was long and heavy, but it would shoot.

1977, first Christmas Bonus - $375

Remington 700 BDL
308 Winchester
Leupold 3-9x "Gold Ring"
Suede Leather Case
2 boxes Ammo

Savage 99R in 300 Sav.