Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles first rifle you bought

Bought new in 1976, a model 94 Ted Williams 30-30 form Sears and Roebuck.

I had to order it thru the Sears catalog. $99.99 plus tax.

Ruger M77 30-06, choose it over a M70 Fwt. I would have been well served if I had kept it and spent the small fortune since on an elk hunt 😉

M70 XTR 270. The 1979 version with what I still think was the best stock ever screwed to a M70. Bought it with proceeds from my first part time job.

Savage 99 in 308 in 1965 - $99.00. Money was short enough that it took a couple of months of layaway payments to finally get it, I then immediately put a Weaver K-4 on layaway so I could scope it.

That 99 gave me a flinch that it took years to get over. When I was purchasing it I was torn between it and a Winchester model 70 Fwt in 243 Win but it was common knowledge back then that the 243 was too small to kill deer. - Should have bought the Winchester!

drover

As did J.C.Penney's! Maybe not as many as the above 2, but they had some. The country's going to heck in a handbasket when a department store no longer has a gun department!

My first one I paid for was a Remington 742, 30/06 of course, when I was 12 or 13 yrs. old. Paid for it by raising Irish potatoes and mowing yards. And I never got over $5 for any yard I mowed by myself. It was also the 1st gun I ever sold. Paid 165 for it and sold it for same if I remember correctly. Bought a used Rem. 1100 3" mag for 135 a year after that. When I sold the 30/06, I bought a new 77R in 25/06. Wish I still had it. But sometimes life comes at you hard and those things you think you will never get rid of have to go.

In reference to someone above saying his gun was officially his mother's, the gentleman who owned the local hardware store never filled out a form for any gun I ever saw bought/sold in his establishment. I'm sure he filled some out and just signed them himself. I'm sure the statute of limitations has run out on them, and besides, he has been deceased for a number of years. But he allowed a young fellow like me to buy what I wanted and pay it out $5-10 a month. Whatever I could spare. During the Summer I could afford more. Always had great respect for the man. I wonder if anyone else does business like that these days. I sure do miss the old hardware store.

Rem 700 BDL 7mm Mag.....that rifle has been turned into my .257 WidowMaker so I kind of still have it

1967, a Remington 700 in .270 for $99.

I'm amazed that more people here didn't buy a 22 as their first gun.
My first was a BRNO Model 2 in 22 in 1976
First centrefire was a Ruger 77 in 270 about 79, wore out the first and second barrel and a fair bit of the third shooting Roos over the following 15 years

Remington model 6 pump action 270 win

Bolt action 22, 4X scope was first.

Next was a centerfire ; 25/06 , Husqvarna/Carl Gustaf in 1976.

Wally Hall, at Hall’s Sporting Goods, pulled a mint gun out of the back room and sold it to a kid at the exact $$$ the kid had saved working at just about everything farm related at , at least, a 25% discount . Then handed the kid a box of ammunition. Thank you

Still have both

!970 It was A Mauser- Bauer 3000 Left Hand 30-06 It has thumped some Elk ,Deer and Coyotes and deheaded more than a few Grouse .It's here now.

The first rifle I bought was a Lee-Enfield. It was the WWII version, #4 I think. I was surprised to see only two other posts with a mil-surp as the first rifle one bought. It was for fun as I had hunting covered with Winchester 94.

I have one of those WWII Enfields Youper. Made in 1942. Only 2 groves in the rifling.

First rifle I purchased after I graduated college was a brand new Weatherby Mark V 270WM. stainless/synthetic for $500 in 1999

Mine was actually a five grove one. I sold it because the chamber was egg shaped in cross section. There was no good way to reload it well.

First one I bought with my own money was in 1988. It was an M77 Ultra Light in 270. I was 14 and I paid $425 with the rifle, 3-9 Leupold ultra light scope and a box of ammo. Killed a pile of deer with that rifle.

M70 Supergrade in .300 Win.

Don't use it much anymore, but I ain't selling it.

Marlin 336c 35 cal. In 1977.Spent all of $90.00

A Benjamin Blue Streak in 5mm. I sold a lot of nightcrawlers to the area fishermen to raise the money to buy that. Dad went into the shop with me to get it. I still have it and it's in charge of rodent control around here.