Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What did your grandfather use?

Great grandpa hunted with a 1886 chambered in 38-70 and grandpa with an 1895 in 35WCF and later a pre war 70 in 06.

Single Shot Bolt action 22 LR, winchester. Food getter and Hog killer. Long since sold off now, once they moved into town.

BMT

My Dad's rifles were a Model 64 Win. in .30-30 and a .22 LR Rem. Mod. 241. My brother and I still have them.
My Grandfather used a Model 81 Remington semi-automatic in .300 savage with a 2.5X Lyman Alaskan scope. He also had two 721 Remingtons, one in .270, and the other a 30'06. Both had B&L adjustable mounts for a B&L Balvar 4, 2.5-4X scope. The '06 had a muzzle break, so I started deer hunting with it at age 12, some 50 yrs. ago. He also had a Remington Mod. 30S which he had rebarreled from .257 Roberts to a the then wildcat .22-250. It had a Weaver 330 scope with an addition which increased the magnification to 8X. He also had a Winchester M-70 in .22 Hornet. which also took the Balvar 4. We, he, my brother and I shot the barrels out of both.
Later, Gramps bought one of the first Remington 740 semi autos in .30'06. I killed my first buck with it in 1960. It wore the then new Balvar 2.5-8X variable.
His binoculars were the great B&L Zephurs in 9X35. I still have those which I used until 2001 when I bought a Leica 8X42 BA. E

Grandpa used a Wincheter 100 .308 with a fixed 4x. That seems like a rather popular choice so far on this thread. Interesting. Before that, he hunted with a number of different shotguns. That was his one and only rifle. He bought it new when they first came out on the market and used it right up until he passed away. He took alot of bucks with it.

My dad has it now and carries it a couple hunts each year, switching off with a Win70 .243. The 100 has never given a lick of trouble.

Best -
Andy

For birds he used a model 12, and he also had a Stevens sxs...Got that too.....

Great-grandpa- 1899 Savage .303, 12 GA Remington double, full chokes. Grandpa- 94 Winchester, ".30 Winchester",later the .30/.30...saddle ring cut off, peep installed (groan), Ithaca
pump 16 GA, Colt Model P .44-40, S&W Chief's Special, HS semiauto .22. GRANDMA- Marlin 30-30, Win pump .22,
Dad- Savage 99F .284 Win, Ruger #1 .223, Rem 870 20 GA,
Blackhawk 3-screw .357. Have most of 'em... also the favorite knives of all...

Remington Model 8 32Remington
Winchester 1886 45/70
Remington Model 11 12gauge
Winchester 1892 32/20
Got great grandpa's Falling-Block 44/40 and Springfield 50/70 too.
Mike

My Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great............Grandpa used a pointed stick. It was passed down several generations but was lost in a fire. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

One grandfather used a 20 gauge Ranger SxS for everything including slugs/deer. The other had a 94 .32 special for deer and ???? for birds. My father used a .35 Rem 336SC 1952 model that now sits in my safe. My brother has my grandfather;s 20 gauge.

I also have a pretty nice replica of great, great, gre............

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Granddad was a big aficionado of Mr O'Connor

Pre-64 M70 in .270 for a bunch of stuff including Elk, Moose and Sheep and a Steyr Mannlicher .222 Magnum (no typo) for Texas Whitetails and varmints.

Birds it was a Ted Williams 12 gauge over and under (think Win 101) and Win 101 in 20 gauge. I ended up with the Win 101 and others in the family have the rest and we use'em as he wanted

One grandfather used a Lefever Nitro Special 12 gauge SxS. I have that one.

The other grandfather used a late '40s vintage Savage 99 EG, in .300 Savage; with factory irons. My uncle has that, and I have a twin.

Dad uses/used a Winchester 94 .30-30.

The uncles use a wide selection, but tend HARD toward Marlin 336s in .30-30 about 90% of the time...

I had a grandfather that was a gun guy. I was pretty young when he died, but to my knowledge, all of his guns are still in the family. My dad has one of his Winchester 54's in .30-06, and an uncle has another one of his Models 54's in .22 Hornet. My grandfather also had a .257 Roberts, but I never knew what model rifle it was. One of my first .22's was his old Winchester Model 61 pump.

My grandfather also had a bunch of military weapons he'd brought back from WWII. My dad has an old .455 Webley revolver, that was converted to shoot .45 ACP ammo with moon clips. It's a neat old gun.

My wife's only living grandfather has a few old Winchester rifles. Old 45-90's, and such, that were given to him by his grandfather. I hope her family takes precautions to keep them in the family, when the inevitable does happen. She's got an uncle or two that would sell them in a heartbeat if it would buy them a few drinks at the local watering hole. I would hate to see that happen.

Pa Pa used this guy, a Winchester made 1917 Enfield that he got sometime after coming back from Europe via Purple Heart treatment. I don't know exact dates, but it was purchased at a Hardware Store in Harrisville, WV in the late 40s or early 50s. Had a gunsmith outside of Charleston sportarize it and here it is. He also used a Win. 94 and later a Marlin 336 both in 30 WCF.

rem 722 300 sav

Not the best pic but was handy at the moment. This is (was) Dad's and not Grand Dad's. This guy was bought the same year that the stork brought me (1977) and is in 30-06. A Leupold Vari X-III 2.5-8X36 sits on top and has a recently installed post and duplex reticle. Don't know how many deer have gotten a paper tag for a tombstone over the years. I try and arrange that at least once annualy with this rig.

As a young man, Grandpa hunted quail with a 16 ga SxS. When I knew him, he had a .410 for general farm work, later swapped for a .22 LR Savage 19.

Deer hunting was pretty well unknown in the time and place my grandfather lived, but it was a quail hunter's paradise. He didn't figure he had missed a thing. We have lots of deer now, but I'd trade it to get the quail back.

Paternal Great-grandfather - Sav 1899 in 30-30 with Weaver 4x
Maternal Grandfather - Pre 64 Win m94 in 30-30 (have it in 95% condition)
Father - Great grandfather sav and now a SUCKS in 06.

My paternal grandfather passed about 12 years before my birth. According to Dad he wasn't much of a hunter. Maternal grandfather had a 410 bolt gun by the door to shoot red squirrels off the bird feeder. Not much of a hunter either. (Used bait ya know ...). Dad has been my loonie influence.

I grew up in North Dakota. Dad's guns were tools of the northern plains. Lots of bird hunting. Big game wasn't ever bigger than a mule deer and usually wayyyy out there.

The guns I will always associate with Dad are square back 20 gauge autos with mod chokes. First a Belgian A5, then a Franchi AL 48, then LOTS of Franchi's (never met one he didn't like). Those were his upland guns ... for "serious" waterfowling he'd break out the Superposed stack barrels. Back in the day he'd take a brace to the duck pass ... one with Lubaloy 2's ... the other with 5's. I saw too many "quads" over the decoys to think he was just lucky.

For big game hunting I've never seen him hunt anything other than deer and the very occasional pronghorn. Coyotes and fox were roadside targets of opportunity. Ever since I was old enough to notice (late 70's?) his rifle of choice was a 25-06. I vividly remember his old springfield with the 70's high cheek wild laminate stock. Always had a straight 6x on it and 100 gr handloads of varying componentry and astronomical ballistic claims. One thing was certain, he could flat out shoot that rifle! Sometime in the early 80's I recall hearing the declaration that the springfield was "too heavy" and he bought a brand new M70 Featherweight Bob for the express purpose of reaming to a "two bit aught". Eventually the Springfield got listed in Shotgun News as a "Beanfield Rifle" and sold to a gentleman from that way. Probably is still dropping deer at 500. The Featherweight never shot quite like the Springfield. Maybe it was an eroding skill set. Probably had something to do with a lack of bedding. In any event the mislabled featherweight is still in his cabinet. I'm thinking that a bedding job and modern loading may improve on the current label of "Inch and a half gun". It's a project on the back burner of theories.

A few years ago Dad "discovered" the 280 Rem ... "Ballistics of a 25-06 with 20% bigger bullet". Shoots it out of a BAR from his elevated stand as the friends and family beat the river to push the deer past.

I guess availability of family components (and cartridge prejudice) has greatly influenced my battery. Lo and behold ... there is a SUCKS Mountain Rifle in 280 Rem and a B-78 25-06 in my safe. The 6.5x55 Featherweight has a striking resemblence to the "Better Bob" (hmm even down to the 6x scope ... ah but mine is a 6x42!!!) and the 7x57 Shillelagh is a mannlicher, well just like the M77 RSI .243 that I shot my first deer with in 1983.

Damn. I am my dad's son.

There. One blessing I will count for today ...

I just got to see my grandfather's guns for the first time last night. I cannot even tell you what most of them were. I can tell you that one was a lever action 30-30, but a couple others were a Hex barreled single shots made by a company that is probably no longer in business. Also has a 1917 .30-06 that he used during World War II also.

I'll see if I can get pics and get more information.

My grandfather used an 1895 winchester 30 govt' 06 built in 1922. I have a picture of him with the rifle and a nice mule deer in wyoming from 1928, hanging above my desk. I also have the rifle. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

A 99 savage in 300. I have it now. Funny how the old stuff killed game dead every time.