Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Could your "first" rifle, have been a "ONE rifle"?

Very nice! Love those 99F's

I meandered around quite a bit before I tried a .300 Savage, but it fast became one of my favorites.

It took me a while to figure out that rifles I could shoot well, made me look like a good shooter.

FC

Yes, a Win. Model 88 in .308 Win. Though I did retire it in the early '80's for my first .375H&H. memtb

Old Adl Rem 700 30-06. Bought it used when I was 11. Still have it, its sitting in the safe next to about 350 handloads waiting for one of my kids to get big enough.

The first rifle I bought on my own was a Ruger 77R in 7X57 because
JOC said I should in his writings at the time. I sold it, missed it, then replaced it with another M-77R in 7X57 and sold it as well.

I could have like most here saved a tons of $$ and just stayed with the rifles I started with but would have never had a much fun doing so.

Doc

My first rifle WAS my "ONE" rifle for 22 years, unless you count the Browning B92 in .44 Mag that Dad gave me early on.

While I hunted deer and elk with the .44 one day every fall for, I never considered it a serious rifle for my style of hunting.

The first rifle was a tang safety Ruger M77 with iron sights, chambered in 7mm RM. It was a good choice then and still would be.

It is, obviously enough, the one on the left. The Ruger #1 is a .280.




While the 7mm RM could have been my "ONE" rifle still, I've enjoyed the hell out of playing with others.

Always figured, for example, that a guy with a .30-06 really didn't need anything else. The same was true with the 7mm RM. Now I have the 7mm RM and FOUR .30-06's. Nor sure why but not regretting it one bit, either.

My first rifle was a tang safety Ruger .270 and could easily have been my only rifle for the last 30 years. It also would have saved me years of research, loading, etc. on other calibers.

Would you like to hunt with it this fall?

I have some other rifles that I want to bloody but hate to neglect "old faithful".

my Dad had a 742 that he basically never cleaned. Never jammed once in its history.
I cleaned my 7400 every time I toted it. would literally pull the bullet case apart. had to use a ramrod to push it out.

My first rifle was a Marlin 336 in 30-30. Then I owned 2 Rem. 700's in 308 & 243 and 1 Rem. Sportsman 78 in 30-06. All of those guns are gone, today I hunt with a Marlin 336 in 35 Rem.
So to answer the OP's question.... YES!!!!

My first rifle was a Marlin 336 in 44 Magnum. I bought it new with my first few paychecks in 1967. My son still has it and it has dropped a good many deer. It is a great deer rifle for shots less than 100 yards, but anything more and it just isn't suitable.

My next one would have handled anything that has come my way in the last 40 years though. It was an early Browning BLR in 308. It shot good and I hunted with it for several years. It was just kind of ugly with the magazine hanging out the bottom like it did and it was replaced after a few years. A succession of rifles, that didn't meet my expectations in the search for the "grail rifle" either, followed the Browning. I finally realized that if I like the rifle, it doesn't even have to shoot good to make it a keeper.

Yes, Remington 700 in 270 Win. Shot under an inch with factory ammo. Long since gone and have not materially gained any ground since. Have spent a lot of money and now have rifles that shoot .3 inches better. Worthless difference in the field. But I move on to find the next great rifle. I think it is boredom that drives the quest for the better rifle.

The first rifle I bought myself was a Model 88 Winchester in.308 for $130 new, in the box that I put an $18 Bushnel scope on. It now has 2.5-7 old weaver V7 on it. That was back in 1964 and it was the only rifle I had for ten years to hunt big game with. Several, but not many rifles have come and gone since then, but I still have it. There hasn't been one hunt, except muzzle loader hunts, that I have been on and have been successful that the 88 could have done just as well.

Yes. And all the ones that followed it, not counting .22 caliber.

700 ADL in .270 Win. 13 years old , bought new with money primarily made from picking up black walnuts with the help of dad and grandpa.

No,it was a Remington M 600 .243 Win. Killed a few jackrabbits with it.

I must have a need to have affairs with other rifles. I've had more than 20 mostly good ones.

I have only two that I have kept through all the time. They are exceptionally smooth actioned, worn in M70s although they have changed calibers a couple of times each. My favorite right now is a M700 SPS with a Timney trigger assembly.

Yes....it could...but wouldn't be much fun for the "collecting" hobby...hehehe.....a 1963 Win M70 in .270.

Whoa! Slow down there Travis.

It isn't a tang safety but has the 3-position safety.

You're looking a bit needy and clingy with the hope for me to be your BFF. Looks like you missed the part where I said it was spooky you and I had pretty much the exact same first rifle.

Yes, its only real flaw was being a bit heavy:

M70xtr in 7RM with a 3x9 Redfield

Nope.. #3 would have done it... 1st was .22, second was a .222 Rem.. #3 was my M70 in .264WM - and that's the one I grab when it's huntin' time..