Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Your First Big Game Rifle

The first rifle I bought was an Interarms Mk X in 30-06, branded a Whitworth. Bought it in 1983 when I was 16 years old.

My dad was a hunter but knew little about rifles. I bought it at a small gunsmith shop, from a gunsmith and his wife who were well past retirement age. He also had another Mk X 30-06, an H&R 340 with classic style stock. Today I would grab the 340. But back them, knowing less than nothing I grabbed the Monte Carlo stocked and heavier Whitworth. Mounted it up with a Bushnell Scopechief 1.5-5.

Used it for a couple of years and shot my first deer with it. Then three years later I traded it in on my first Pre-64 M70, a 1957 Standard Rifle in 270. My dad still uses that as his field rifle for deer all these years later.

First real centerfire rifle was Rossi 92 in .44Mag. My wife bought it as an early Christmas present while we were in NE PA. Took my first few WT deer with it. Moved back to KY. Dad took his first couple deer with it. Now resides with the oldest grandson. Tempted to buy another in .45LC just because...

First as a young teenager was a restocked military carbine jn 8mm. Traded it after one year for a Winchester 94 in 30-30. The 30-30 was responsible for my first Whitetail. That was the only shot taken at a bounding deer. That rifle was traded for a Sears model 53 and that started my enjoyment trading and shooting different rifles.

Same here.

Ruger 77 Mark II. 30-06

Winchester 70 xtr in .264 wm
Used it to hunt everything.....I mean everything.
Woodchucks in the summer and deer in the fall.
Coyotes and foxes also.
Had a tasco 6x24-40 on it too ........lol
I dont have it anymore though.
No big deal it was blued with a wood stock..yuck.

This thread pains me. I ALWAYS wish I never sold my first rifle. A Marlin 336 in 30-30. I was a little kid and felt like Thor with that in my hands.

Bought a high number Springfield sporter when I was fourteen and just before the GCA of 1968 went into effect. My dad was there but really wasn't needed for the transaction. It was and OK rifle shot two deer with it. I gave it to a friend who was going through some tough times and needed a hunting rifle in 1978,

A Winchester model 94 in 32 Winchester Special from 1949. It is still my favorite rifle, but I haven't hunted with it recently.

Still have it. Remington 700 ADL in .30-06 with a walnut stock. Bought it at Wal-Mart for under $300. Shot 180 gr Core-Lokt ammo in it for years. I now shoot Barnes VOR-TX 150 gr TTSX in it.

My first rifle was a Remington 7400 .243. Killed a good many deer with it. I killed my first deer a doe with a New England firearms single shot 20 ga and buckshot. The next year I grabbed my dads Remington 1100 12 ga and 00 buckshot and put a hurting on them. Finally I got a rifle (.243) a year or two later.

Marlin 336C 30-30 in either 1980 or 81. Can't remember the exact price, but it was an advertised special from a local sporting goods chain--guessing somewhere in $140-$160 range. Think it got rust in the barrel later that decade during graduate school when my brother stored it in a 55' Chevy Bel-Air trunk outside. JES helped restore it by turning it into a 35/30-30 (which I love).

That was the first rifle I bought. I first one I lusted for was a Remington BDL 30-06 in their 1975 catalog.

It was a Remington 600 in 308. I wish I still had it. I was young and "needed" ss/synthetic. It was old and not cool enough at the time. I'd pay a premium and then some to have it back

No, I don't..I hunted with a .25-35 for a couple of years. Finally dad bought me a 99R in .300 Savage with a tang sight the year before I turned 12. I hated dragging the big heavy thing around and it was tough to use in the brush on the coast. Even so, it was amazingly accurate and I shot it well. I sold it when I went in the Marines in 1966. It was the first rifle I handloaded for. I never regretted selling it. I wanted a 99F.

Dad also bought a new 88 Winchester in .308 ( built in 1955 per the serial number) the same day. I got it from dad. My son has it. It will be my gradson's when he is ready.
.

Mine is a pre-64 Model 70 Fwt in .30-06. Bought it the summer I graduated from high school (1961). A lot of rifles have come and gone, but I still have it and still hunt with it at least once or twice, most years.

The first rifle I ever killed deer and elk with was my dad's 300 Savage M99.
My first rifles was a push feed post 64 M70 Winchester in 270. I gave the 270 to my 1st wife and she left here back in 1998, so I don't have it anymore.

My dad sold the M99 about 1-2 years after I got the 270 because he liked it better then his 300 ,and once we had that 270 in the house neither he or I ever got it out much.

Funny that I started to miss it about 20 years later and looked to buy one for another 30 years or so. Last year I found a 99 in 300 and I have come to really like it. I killed one of my antelope with it this season, but I don't have either one of the old guns we had in the late 50s or early 60s

Remington 700 BDL Custom Deluxe 22-250 with a peep sight! Circa 1980.
Next was a 700 Classic 7mm Remington Magnum. 1983.

Funny, we didn't bed or replace the stocks, change triggers, or weld the bolt handles, or nothing on them!

My first deer gun was a Mossberg 500 12 gauge smoothbore slug gun. Paid 99.00 for it brand new on sale at Sugarmans dept. store my junior year of high school.. Don't have that one anymore but have another just like it, complete with 18.5" smoothbore slug barrel and 28" modified choke barrel.

1975 ruger 77 6mm

Still have mine it’s a pre 64 model 70 featherweight in 308. I am the fourth generation in our family to use it one of my two sons will be the 5th.