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

Model 88 Winchester,.308 ... My 11th birthday present back in 1966... Nowadays it is in .338 Fed rather than .308 though...

My first centerfire rifle was a Remington 742 30-06 Carbine 18 1/2” tube. I took my first and only Mule Deer with it in Wyoming, 1974. I still own it and will until I’m gone......

The year was 1966, I was 14......mowed lawns and picked-up pecans until I had enough money to buy a Winchester Model 88 in .308 Win. My only hunting rifle until 1982! I gave it to my , non hunting son, about 2 years ago! memtb

Still have mine.

Brand new push feed M70 from the local Coast to Coast store sometime around 1990.

It's chambered in 22-250 and is very accurate.

Haven't shot it in years though.

NIB Remington 788 308 Win(4X Scope ?? rings and base) out the door for $77.00.....The rifle shot great ...... Still have it somewhere

336 Marlin in 35 Rem for me and I still have it.

I borrowed a 30-30 to hunt with the few times I went in high school in the 80s. Didn't deer hunt again until 2007 when I bought a Remington 710 package rifle with cheap scope in 30-06. Used it for a couple of seasons, pulling the trigger 5 times to take 4 deer, and the miss was my fault, not the rifle's. Then I won a 280Rem Ruger M77 MarkII in a raffle. Nothing like going from a 710 to an M77 to make you realize what an absolute piece of crap a 710 really is. It went down the road and I don't miss it at all. I gave the Ruger to my Dad last year for Christmas. He'd been borrowing it for years, and I figured it was time for him to have a deer rifle of his own.

Nope, not the first, 1977 a used Win 670 in '06 killed a bunch of deer, ground squirrels, and grouse with a Weaver V7 and 165s of many denominations.

Nor the second, new in 1979 Weatherby MK V deluxe varmintmaster in 22-250 with redfield accutrac killed one deer and a ton of ground squirrels.

Nor the third, 1982 used Ruger 77 tang safety in 25-06 with 4-12 Bushnell Banner. Probably the most absolute accurate rifle I have ever held with any reload I wanted to make. But I never managed to blood it on big game.

They all got sold in 1983 to help get a new wife and five year old daughter out of debt.

Nor the fourth, An old 303 Brit I bought in 85 for $60. It shot three feet high with my handloaded 150s. I had to TIG weld the aperture closed and redrill it to move POI down.

It got stolen from the bedroom closet in a burglary a year or so later.

Nor the fifth,bought in 1988, an original Venezuelan 98 mauser tanker carbine in 7x57. I butchered it, I took off all the extra metal parts, threw away all the wood except for the basic stock. And then sanded the hell out of that and covered it with Tru oil. I killed a couple deer with it, then rebarrelled it with an H&R takeoff 308 which was then rechambered to 30-06 AI. I played with it for a few years, experimented with a few powders and bullets. And then stuck it in the back of the safe for a few years. But then I gave it to a young 'Fire member from Grant's Pass Or who said he needed a donor action for a build for his wife.

Nor the sixth, in 1990, another used Win 670 in '06. It was covered in red dust.and I paid $200. I hand rubbed enough gun oil into the surfaces to bring back a blue glow and mounted that trusty old V7 on it which I had saved. Then I proceeded to kill a bunch more deer, and grouse, and ground squirrels with it, as well as a cow elk.

But I just simply got tired of the boring old reliable and dependable 30-06 and sold it to buy a Ruger #1 in 7 STW

I still have the Ruger #1, and everything I have bought and used since.

Ruger M77 in 7mm RM. Iron sights. 1982.

Have taken prairie dogs, coyotes, antelope, deer and elk with it. Still have it, still shoots great.

Winchester 70 XTR Magnum in 7mm RM with a Weaver 3-9x. I shot that rifle till the barrel was toast. Had a new 23" Lilja .358 Norma barrel fluted and screwed on, then glass bedded a Ramline stock for the new setup. Mounted a Bausch and Lomb 1.5-6x scope in Redfield mounts. I have killed elk as far away as 450 yards with that rifle.

Still have it, 1923 circa Savage 99 featherweight takedown 30/30. It was also my father's first deer rifle. Still use it when I want a nice carrying rifle with no scope.

Bought a 1 yr old Marlin 30-30 Texan in '76 from a fellow I worked with. Still got it and still hunt with it.

Yep, Stevens 12 gauge double barrel, deer hunted with buckshot for years.

I don't know which one to consider my first big game rifle. My father had an old sporterized 6.5 X 55 Swede with an 18.5 inch barrel and wore an old Weaver K-3 that I used as a kid. He let me have it when I was grown, but he asked for it back on day and I never saw it again. Never will see it again cuz he either sold it or gave it away, he doesn't remember.

The first one I ever purchased was a used Remington 7600 in .270 Win. Mounted an old Bushnell Banner 3-9X40 and used that rifle to kill a lot of stuff. I sold it and bought a Remington 700 ADL with beautiful wood on it back in the mid 80's. I don't have any of them anymore. I really wish I had that ADL back. It was a tack driver!

When my dad turned 12 in 1965 he got a new Model 94 in .30-30. He gave me the same rifle for my 12th birthday and I passed it to my son on his 12th. It will sit in my safe until my son is on his own.



When I turned 13 I worked all summer and bought a Featherweight model 70 in .30-06. Had it rebarreled about 1.5 years ago to .257 AI. I think I like it as much or better now with the new chambering.

Wish I still had it. A Remington 788 in 6mm. First reload shot five in under a half inch. It spoiled me. I thought every rifle should do that. I never did take any big game with it though a lot of woodchucks and coyotes fell to it.

mine was a boat paddle .270. sincerely wish it had been a lightweight .223 or .250 savage, but we didnt know back then that such cartridges killed deer. never did get completely unscared of the recoil and had to unlearn some bad shooting habits later on.

Killed my first two bucks with my Great Grandad’s Remington 760 in .244. At age 11 my Dad got me a Remington M7 in .260 for Christmas. Grandad gave me his old M8 4x to put on it.

Neither of those rifles are around anymore, a cousin ended up with the .244 and I sold the .260 to buy a .350 Rem Mag when I was moving to AK. I still have the old M8 though and wish I had the .244.

My first big game rifle was a Ruger M77 tang safety 338 win mag. Got it when I was 15. I shot two moose, a Dalls sheep and a couple deer with it. I only had it a couple years.

My first big game rifle was a Remington 742 in 30-06 I bought used from a friend in 1984. About a month after acquiring it, I shot a boar down in TN. I still have it. In 2004, a freak wind blew it off the rifle rack on the front porch of deer camp and for whatever reason, the gunsmith refused to work on it. In the intervening 20 years, I'd taken a bunch of deer with it.

My second big game rifle was a Win 670 in 30-06. I bought it out of guy's trunk at a gun show for $120. It looked like it had been dragged behind the tractor. I spent a winter refinishing the stock and come spring I took it out to the gun club to sight it in. A guy offered me $400 cash for it. I turned him down, because I'd put so much work into it. In 2014, I gave it to my youngest son.