Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What was your 'dream' rifle as a kid?

Oh YES! Ditto here!

I wanted a H&R 317P in .222 which was high gloss everything with white line spacers. Ended up buying what I could afford which was a 788 in .22-250. Did my first batch of reloads with 63gr Sierra's and learned that day why brochures listed twist rates.

Having grown up in the swamp, I never really wanted a rifle, other than a .22. I won a Marlin 336 in a fishing tournament when I was 15, and never really shot it. We used shotguns, bows and .22's for everything. I didn't really get into rifles until my late 20's, when I found out that killing deer without them was not cool.

A 22 long Rifle. I didn't care what kind, any 22 Long rifle would work.

A pre-64 FW Model 70 in '06. Boring but true.

Winchester Model 71 for Alaskan adventures. By the time Alaska rolled around a .338 Winchester Alaskan seemed more better.

Due to my Dad, the long guns of my dreams were in a wall locker in our attic, so I lusted after 5" Smith & Wesson revolvers.

After I got married, I got a copy of RL Wilson's Ruger book for my birthday one year, where I discovered the 350 Rigby Magnum that had been built for a member of the Maytag family.

http://www.christies.com/lotfinderimages/d40036/d4003616r.jpg

I still lust after it today.


Okie John

Mine was a 264 Win Mag, Model 70. I was a fervent reader of North American Whitetail back then. There was an article about a great buck taken in either KS or NE. The old timer who shot the buck was using a 264 Win Mag. The article mentioned how it was a cartridge a head of it's time and the use of the dual diameter bullets.

something other than a 30-30, nothing wrong with that, but every brother, cousin,under the age of 18 was made to start hunting with a 30-30. i just wanted to be different.

Wore out several Herter's catalogs, and lusted after a U9 in just about any caliber, but probably .30-06. Never got one, but my first rifle was a 1917 Enfield sporteriezed nicely that I still have.

A Sako Vixen in .17 Remington and a Ruger M77V in .220 Swift.




Travis

By the time I was 13 I already have a MKV dlx 270Wby and a pre81 BLR.
Dad was in the police arms biz so I got plenty of trigger time with MACs, Mini14s, and pistols of all shapes and size.
My all time most fun was the FA M12 380 MAC. It would rip a mag before you realized it was firing. 1400+RPM.

Matel "Shootin' Shell" rifle and pistol. Still have them...

700BDL in .308, I bought one my senior year in high school. It turned out to be everything I thought it would be, until I grew up a bit and decided it just wasn't "it".

Now, I'm completely lost and dunno what it would be. I'm currently using a M70 .270 and perfectly happy with it, as I was with a .30/06. Just don't know what I would be happy with, hell, they all work on a puny little old whitetail.

My last purchase was a 336SC .30-30, and it'll work, too.

Way back when I was in junior high school I was a member of the "Outdoor Life Book Club". One of the books I received as part of the subscription package was Jack O'Connor's "The Hunting Rifle." As I read it I thought, "How cool would it be to have a M70 Featherweight in 7x57!!"

Who knew...

A Remington Model 700 BDL in 30.06. As a kid I wanted one so bad I could taste it. I finally could afford one after college. I still have it.

A Winchester 92 in .44-40 with a Colt Single action to match. Had both, but in .45 Colt. Killed a lot of stuff with those guns, and sold both in a fit of stupidity. Haven't searched out a replacement set due to having other stuff that fills the need. Not the kind to have things just because I like them, gotta have a better reason. Sometimes I hate myself...

A H&H double rifle in .375 Win. mag caliber.

Winchester Model 71, 64, 70, 55, 94 and not in any special order. Life in the 50s was tough...no money!

You know, I honestly can't remember lusting over a single rifle. When I grew up, I hunted with a shotgun (started with a single shot .410 with slugs and moved up to a Mossberg 500 pump 12gauge with good ol' double ought buckshot). I more lusted over semi-automatic shotguns, mainly Rem 1100's. We hunted rabbits, squirrels, dove, ducks, etc., so having a shotgun was higher priority than a rifle.

Now, I would have loved to have one of several different rifles, but I dreamed about semi-auto 12gauges!