Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles first rifle you bought

1980 Savage 99C .308 Win. Bought a Redfield Widefield Low Profile 3-9 for on top of it.

My first rifle, bought at age 10, I split the cost with my Daddy....a Remington Nylon 66. I still have that rifle! My first centerfire rifle! I was 14, saved money from mowing some yards and picking up pecans. Still have the receipt (somewhere), around $112.00. A Winchester Model 88 in .308 Win. memtb

First rifle I bought was a used Rem 552 Speedmaster 22, I think it was about $100 in 1983.

The first centerfire rifle I bought was a Rem 700 classic in 350 Rem mag in spring of '86. Found out I was getting an all expenses paid 2-yr trip to interior Alaska courtesy of the US Army (FT Greely). Decided the 30/30 Savage I'd grown up hunting with might be a little light for the trip.

It was a little transition from a 30/30 to the 350, but it worked out ok with just a little bruising. Turns out going thru a box of 350 at the first range session wearing just a t-shirt was not ideal.

Still have the 350 Rem mag. The Speedmaster is long gone.

Cooper Mod 21 Varminter in .204 Ruger. Bought it at Sheels in Grand Forks ND when I was on a pipeline job.

Ruger M77 MKII in 270. It's still in the safe and is exempt from my tinkering, trading ways as the end times, fall back, always gets the job done rifle.

Used Marlin 336 30-30 in 1974. I put a Bushnell Banner 1.5-4x on it with sight thru mounts. My family convinced me that I needed to hunt with a Remington 742 since everyone we knew did so I sold the 336 and bought a 742 a couple of years later.

Now I do most of my hunting with a Marlin 336 30-30 and the 742 sits in the safe.

First rifle I bought? That would have to be the AR-15 .450BUSHMASTER. The only other rifle I own would be the Glenfield model 60.22lr, unless we're talking muzzleloaders.

Remington 600 .308. $99.95 fair trade price at Sears in the Peoples Republic of Maryland.

Remember when Sears and Monkey Wards used to have all kinds of guns for sale in their catalog?

My father took me hunting all kinds of things while growing up. But he didn’t hunt deer or larger game. I dreamed of hunting deer and larger game and read every magazine or book on it I could find. I could not afford a rifle my first adult year, 1986. So, I bought a Remington 870 - 12 gauge. I practiced and practiced with various slugs. It had its limitations though, being unrifled and with just a vent rib and bead at the end to sight with. I found place with good deer sign at a public lake in Kansas where I then lived. 30 minutes into the start of deer season, I nailed a buck with one antler at 70 yards.

I worked about the first 1/3 of the next summer (ran a small house-painting operation), and bought a Remington 700 BDL in 300 Win Mag. I still have it, and it shoots great groups with any 180gr bullet I ever have loaded in it. Plan on giving it to my older, 14-yr-old son when he is ready to shoot reduced loads in it, and then he can amp it up from there. As of now, he still prefers his .243.

Remington 700 adl .270 Win. in 1978 for $179 minus my employee discount at Sunset Sports Center in SLC, UT. Worked part time there and spent the proceeds on guns, reloading and fishing equipment.

700 BDL SS in 300 RUM I thought that my hand-me-down 30-06 Mauser wasn't powerful enough to make those "long shots" on blacktail and elk. We all have to learn and grown up sometime.

Now I own a handful of great hunting rifles and not an uber magnum in the lot.

First rifle was an air Rifle - a Benjamin 5mm, mid 1960's/

Second rifle was a Browning SA-22 take-down, 1974.

Third was a Ruger M77 in 7mm RM, 1982

Still have the Browning and the Ruger.

Winchester model 70 featherweight 280rem. in the mid 90’s, up until then I was using a hand me down model 88 in 308.


Still own both.

A Marlin 336 SC in 32 Special off the used rack.

First rifle I bought was one I had wanted for a couple of years. I bought a Remington 700 BDL .280 Rem. in 1995. My wife and I were dating at the time and her dad had his FFL at the time, so I had him order the rifle for me.

Stevens 12 gauge, 1966. Killed bunch of deer with slugs. I bought it at s Globe store on North Shepard Drive. About 40 bucks as best I recall.

Centerfire? Pushfeed 70 in 458 Win Mag. Shot truckloads of game with that rifle.

1982 I bought a new Ruger M77 7mm Mag and killed my first deer with it (3 point Whitetail buck).......Hb

A 1944 BCD Mauser 98K in 8mm, still have it. Paid $75 for it in the mid 70's. Broke the bank and had a Redfield peep site installed. I have taken many a deer with that rifle.