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

Most all of the gunshops in Mid Tn just have ragged out shît or plastic garbage remingtons.

Never, in 30 years have I walked into a pawn or gun shop and seen a savage 99 on the wall. Or any '94 in anything beyond 30/30.

Yes they do. When I moved on Monday, 3 Rugers went with. Mini 14 tactical, GSR and a MKII and of course my Glocks

Love my Ruger GSR. It’s an accurate SOB.

I saw a lot of wierd stuff in the woods growing up. I had a Winchester 94 .30/30, but a cousin had a 742 Remington in .243, another cousin used a Winchester 70A in .243, another cousin used his father's 1891 Argentine Mauser, and a buddy's father from school had a really eclectic bunch of stuff, a Winchester 88 carbine, and a 100 carbine, both in .284 Winchester. Those are wierd, period, in n/c Missouri in the 'early 70s. I still only know one other person who ever had a .284. One kid from school borrowed a Winchester 94 in .32/40 to shoot his first buck.

It didn't take long, and we were all "moving up" to the .30/06, .270, 7mm Mag, and so on. One of my cousins still buys wierd crap, though, a 7mmUltraMag (the long one) and one of those silly .243 WSSMs, which he has trouble finding ammo for. He usually just shoots a 6mm Remington, and it kills deer just as dead as his .338.

For the most part, a .30/30 is no longer common in N/C Missouri any more, you see the .308, .30/06, 270, ,300 Mag, and 7mm Mag, mostly .270s, though. They work, don't kick much, and are easy to find ammo for. Yeah, they could order online, except some of those folks don't even get online, even now.

I like the .30/30 still, and have used it in the past five years, but mostly I just use a .270, It works.

The usual belief is that the Eastern states offer short range woods hunting and the Western states long open shots. Under that model a 444 lever would be more of an Eastern gun, not Western.

Old Colt SAA not too common back east.

Long range is not only a Western thing there are a surprising number of long range shooters in PA, as a kid in the 60's growing up in Wyoming County PA I could not imagine hunting were you could see more than 100 yards but when I started to hunt with my uncle in Potter County I meet the guys that shoot mountain to mountain. That opened up a whole new world of hunting. Also that part of the state had plenty of pipe lines to hunt another thing we did not have back home at that time.

I see an old Savage 99 or Winchester 88 in our local N. TX Pawn Shops every once in a while. And a few Winchester 94’s in 30-30. Old time farmers like my GrandDad used to carry them in their pickups.

"Regional guns" seem to be more uncommon as time goes on.

When I was running Cast Performance Bullet Co I saw that most of our 444 Marlin bullets and 45-70 bullets were sold in the great lakes area and the east coast. Funny, but that how it was. I expect it's based on populations size, not use or need.
I am 100% certain the 444s and 45-70s used to kill game in the northern Rocky's and in Alaska are more common, whereas the 444s and 45-70s owned in the east and around the Lakes are used for fun and sometimes white tails or bears, but people like what they like ---------and that's what they buy them.

In Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming I do see very old small bore lever actions and sometimes pump and auto rifles in 22 High Power, 25-35, 25 Remington, 219 Zipper 250-3000 and so on, and I see them in greater numbers then I've seen them in other states. The reason is that they are family heirlooms and "Grand-dad" or Great-Grand-Dad" shot wolves with them in the turn of the century and all through the depression era. Wolfing was a way to earn some money in those days, and those types of rifles in those calibers were the best for killing them without destroying hides. Because it was ranchers and some farmers going back 100 years that owned most of them, and those families still have holdings of land to this day the old rifles stay in the families more around here then in other places.

But I find it curious how many 458s, 454 Casulls, 338 mags, lots so "uber-Mags", and 416s sell in the east. These folks mostly have no need for such power, but they LIKE the guns. And that's a VERY good reason to buy them.
A slave is allowed what he needs but a free man buys what he wants.

Neal, grandaughter shoots an 88 in .308 and her little brother shoots a 99 in .243. Courtesy of their grammie. She can’t hunt anymore.

Very Cool Bob!!!

Yeah its pretty hard to define "west". Up here Alberta is certainly in the west albeit east of me. What I find the Alberta boys seem to go for for obvious reasons, lots of prairie out there.. is a 7mm or 30 cal magnum in a rifle in a Sendaro type platform although it could be a Ruger or a Winnie too. Odds are they're go-to rifle will have a bipod on it and it'll live there. This just judging by Alberta guys that I've seen hunting out here.

In BC its all over the map. There's a ton of Savage 99s around they were super popular probably in the 50s and 60s maybe up in to the 70s. After that i'd say the average guy would get set up just like the Alberta boys sans the long barrel instead a 22" and without a 'pod. P

Having said that there's lots of levers, semi autos a fair single shot following as well in both places. These and everything else though might make up 30-40% of what's around the rest are bolt actions.

I grew up knowing there were only several guns made! The Win 94, the Savage 99, and the Springfield 30-06..I never knew anybody with a Remington pump or auto.

years later, I opened a gun shop and got to know a lot of guys from the north east and they all seemed to have grown up on 99 Savages and 94 Wins. But, then I was introduced to the Remington Semi Auto's and Pumps. I had a hell of a time selling one of them. They were a novelty then and from what I see they still are here in my part of Montana.

Some of the nicest lever actions I have ever seen all came from the Eastern US.

I suppose Remington 721's 722's and Mod 70 Winchesters and Ruger Mod.77's got to be the most common before I closed my shop in 90.

Of course the 98 Mauser is still the king! Also, I forgot to mention , there were also a lot of Marlin lever actions around.

In Western Oregon kids mostly packed a 30-30 of one kind or another, every other deer hunter was packing a mdl 99 or a BLR. There was definitely a weatherby crowd, seemed 9 out of 10 elk hunters and guys that hunted Eastern Oregon either used a 7 RM or a 3006, 70’s and 700’s.

Today anything goes. No telling what a guys going to hunt with.

That's because it's not rare at all.

I love Winchester 94's. It's been my experience that those rifles in 25-35 are an incredibly uncommon find here in the East and the ones on Gunbroker are commonly in the western states. I also note how many stories I've heard through the years of some Rancher lady who killed all her Elk with the 25-35. It has always led me to believe the 25-35 was more of a hit out west.

Not sure about the western States, but I do know that there are not many pre-64 M70s and commercial FN98 type rifles here in Eastern Canada.

Those old farmers and ranchers knew what they were doing, unlike us city slickers with our loudenboomen shoulder breakers. So you find .2535 250 savage and the ilk

Sure enough, that was where I first heard about a 30/378 Weatherby. Guys were shooting across a reservoir from benches in a parking lot on the other hillside. Said they were members of the "1000 yard club). They wanted to come through my work to get their deer.

Having lived on both coasts and few places in between, I can't say I know what a more common Western gun might be. Or eastern. I think it might have been my first time deer hunting in San Diego county CA and I borrowed my bro's '94 in 30-30. Dad gave me a sporterized .303 Enfield he used in NY back in the 50's, I've used it out here in the west.

I guess I've read too many writers like our own JB, and hunt with quite a variety wherever I'm hunting.

Geno

Try finding a 264 Win. Mag. in western NY state. They're around but very rare. Saw several within a week last time I was in Wyoming.