Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Guns Rarely Found Outside of Western States?

You see them in GA and the Carolinas. The every popular “bean field” rifles

You won't find a lot in western states either.

Because they suck.

You'd lose that wager I'm afraid.

Southern deers tough as fugk.

I have a cherry 38 super 1911A1 from the 1950s. Cool as hell. Lot different recoil than the 45 ACP. Neither is bad for recoil, but I prefer the roll of the 45 compared to the snap of the 38. I also had a 1911A1 in 38 special, but I sold that long ago, That was mild.

I rarely see any kind of "unique" western guns in the city or the woods. The standard hunting rifle is a Ruger, Remington or Winchester bolt action in .270, .30-06, 7mm mag or .300 win. mag., with ammo purchased at Walmart. Handguns tend to be common semi-autos you would find anywhere. I have yet to see anyone toting a $2500 Freedom Arms handgun or SAA, and only rarely see someone with a lever action rifle.

I think you may have it backwards. More likely there are guns in the east that you don't see much in the west. Years back I remember someone out west on a forum excited about finding a Marlin 35 Rem. He said he'd been looking for one forever, and you never saw them where he was. A couple people agreed and said the same. This all seemed very strange to me as there were probably a dozen of them at my favorite store at the time, in various condition / price... nobody was clamoring to buy them.

Yet the big stuff they probably don't need abounds.

We DO have the "Amish Machine Gun"...

Semi auto Remingtons are the official deer rifle of Upper MI and yes they suck in every way..

What are the 7mm STW, 300 Ultra ridiculous?

Model 71? It is hard to say, the usual western elk rifle is a bolt in .270,06, or .300 or 7mm. Some things are not really suited to the ranges and animals. How about .44 mag SA and similar? So far more people have answered what is not found outside the midwest,. That .35 Rem Marlin is a better woods gun, and a bit small for elk so that is why you find few of them in the plains or rockies. I am one of the guys who always wanted one, and when I finally got one I am disappointed with the nearly non existent throate, button rifling, and the Mrlin jam if your cartridges are not pretty close to factory length.

Maybe we need to define western, rocky mountain west, desert areas, Alaska, California/Wash/Oregon. When I think of west I think of the rockies, probably as much because of growing up on TV western as anytthing. Remember that probably half our hunters come from the midwest or east or south. Then there are the anamolies like scoped inlines, rifled shotguns, flintlocks, and even the scoped big bore pistols (I always wonder who someone will carry a great big pistol that weighs nearly as much as a rifle and is less handly)

I have an Amish Machine Gun in 35 Whelen. It came to me by way of PA.

When I was growing up in the late 50's & 60's the lever gun ruled the woods of Michigan. Mostly 30/30, 35 Rem's and 32 Specials. I still have a very nice Winchester Model 64 in 30/30 along with a nice Model 94 AE in 30/30 that my son used to shoot his first buck and a Marlin 336 in 35 Rem..
With the advent of the scope, bolt actions began to appear, 308's, and 06's were the most common.
My first bolt action deer rife was a Rem. 700 BDL in 270, lot's of people didn't know what that caliber was.
Today I think just about any caliber available is found in the woods up here, still some lever guns, bolt actions and the AR platform is also showing up with the newer calibers.
I have a beautiful 1962 44 Special ,Colt SAA that came out of Michigans UP, that was a back-up gun for deer and bear hunters, those were fairly common back then.

I grew up with old traditional hunters who used 30-30s. They generally were very patient and would engage at bowhunting ranges. They would look for sign of a big bull and just park at a crossing till one came by, even if it would take them 2 weeks. They would cook tea and eat salmon strips and pilot bread.

There were a number of Weatherby Mark Vs and Colt Sauers in circulation in the Copper River Basin and Valdez areas during the 70s and 80s and the 798ers would leave them in Alaska when they moved out. They are all but gone now. I think we get a lot of push feed model 70s in 06 to 338. These come up with military guys who have their dad find them an Alaska gun.

Model 71s and 1886s are pretty rare these days. Collectors also like older Savage 99s. There are three rifles that really enjoy a premium up here and it would surprise many of you. All plainly just work.

1) Ruger Mini14 Ranch rifle with factory folding stock- Loved in the villages, loved by the local militia "tackleberries", these rifles will sell for 1 grand. Way over book.

2)Ruger 44 Deerfield semiauto 44 mag carbines. They will again sell for over book. Ruger would do well to remarket them as Alaskan Backpacker Backup guns.

3)Ruger 338 Win Mag 77 with boat paddle zytel stocks. These are common up here but there is a good demand for them and they sell for more than book.

Model 70 Winchesters are found up here but they are normally beat to crap. There are a lot of sporterized mausers and they often have all kinds of issues.

That’s interesting, 3 Ruger models,... they work.

All Rugers work and work well. May not be the fanciest of guns, but ole Bill Ruger KNEW how to make stuff WORK. And make them cheaper too. I’ve never owned a Ruger that didn’t work & work well.
IMO, he was the John Browning of our era.

It seems there is not much reason for 30-30's out west or the some of the magnums out east. I could be wrong though. As for Wisconsin. There really seems no real most popular gun anymore. Was a time it was the lever action, then the good old 760 / 7600 / 742 in 30-06 was the thing. I use a .243 in regular gun season lately but have been switching to a 45-70 gov. single shot in an Encore later in the season , just to have muzzleloader season switch me to my TC Encore but this year will be my TC Hawken with a 50 cal. roundball with Goex black powder . I seem to drift to other guns as the years go on. Never use my Rem. 700 in .270 Win. anymore.

The west is a lot more varied than the stereotypes suggest. It's not all mule deer and antelope in open country. Yeah, we have Colorado wheat fields, but we also have west coast temperate rain forest, sage, pine forests ... each lending itself to a particular type of gun, but also a lot of "edge" between different kinds of cover where a less specialized gun is "better" because it covers more bases well enough rather than doing one thing best.

I suspect the east is much the same.

What I see, more than east vs west, is differences over time.

Tom

Good point, perspective matters. I was mostly posing the question as an East Coaster living in the West Coast and wondering if there were any particular gun models i could more easily find here before i head back east. I'm tickled so many people jumped in to discuss.

A lot of the old gun writers used to promote the common stereotypes for both the West, East and South and what rifle you should see and use in those locations. I always thought that was a bunch of bull. They sold the same rifles almost everywhere and people move around all the time when jobs change taking their rifles with them.

In the 60's when I was in high school I worked as an installer/repairman for the phone company in a small town in SE Georgia. Shotguns were considered the norm then for deer hunting in the SE. Being interested in guns, I noticed what people had on display in their dens and saw it all. From original Henry's and Winchesters that had long been retired to modern bolt action rifles, semi autos and pumps. There were a lot of Winchester 92's, 94's, 88's and Marlin lever actions of all types. I also saw nearly any kind of rifle that could be stuck in a duffle bag by a returning GI. One little old lady, that had to be 90, had a loaded Browning machine-gun on a tripod displayed in a glass coffee table in her living room. That thing was impressive.

Back in the 60's if some friends of mine were going to the rifle range it would be common to see 8X57, 7mm, 30/06, 257 Roberts, 44 magnum, 308 Winchester, 25/35, 303 British, and 35 Remington. It's what we all had and I knew some that always had to have the latest thing out like the 6.5 Remington mag or a 7mmS&L. I would be willing to bet that in almost any comparable town in any state the same assortment could be found.

But in the 60's if we were going deer hunting, we all used a shotgun.