Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters First Few Big Game Rifles

Sitting home alone and just got to thinking about my first few center fire rifles. What are your stories?

My dad bought a Marlin 30-30 with a 4X Weaver scope around or about 1970 from my first cousin that was moving from South Carolina to Alaska. At that time Burke county, NC was one of the only counties in the foothills/mountains of NC that had a deer season. I was allowed to hunt by myself with that rifle at age 12 in 1974. In October of 1975 at age 13 my dad bought me a Remington 700 BDL 30-06 with a 3X9 Leopold scope. I wanted a 270 but my uncle which was my dads oldest brother said " if you can only have one rifle in your life that is capable of killing all North American Big Game Animals it is the 30-06 " He was a marksman or some kind of special shooter in WW2 so I got a 30-06. That 30-06 is still the most accurate rifle I own ( the Leopold scope crapped out about 12 years ago, fixed and crapped again).

What are your stories about your first few rifles?

1st cf rifle} Win. 94 .30-30

2nd} Marlin 336C .35 Rem.

3rd} Marlin 336T "Texan" .30-30

4th} Remington 760 carbine .30-06

Mine was a .243 Ruger Stainless with the boat paddle stock in 1995. I put a Tasco scope on that the store owner charged AU$249 for. A few months later I saw the same scope in another store for AU$70. I guess I was young and naïve back then. I replaced the zytel stock with a walnut stock and put on a VariX ll 2-7x33, my first ever Leupold scope. That rifle got used a heap from everything from rabbits to pigs and goats.

Then I bought a new Winchester Featherweight .30-06 with a bent barrel and had it rebarrelled to .257 Roberts and the .243 didn't get used much after that. I rebarrelled the .243 in 2018 to 6.5 CM and it's still wearing the same Loopy scope (and it's still working 100%)

Next rifle was a fifth hand Remington BDL .222. I put a 3-9x40 VariX ll on but replaced that a while back with a VXlll 4.5-14x40 which really helps sniping rabbits, crows, cats and foxes. Sadly I don't get to use it much as I spend most of the year chasing bigger game but I like to spend the July holidays whistling a few foxes just to shoot the .222. I like 40gn plastic tips.

Next rifle was a Remington BDL in .280. I think that was in 1998 as there were three models to choose from, the BDL, Mountain rifle and I think the Classic. It must of been when the .280 was making a bit of a resurgence. I ordered the Mountain rifle but the nongs sent up the BDL instead. Being younger and keener I took the BDL but sometimes wish I had of got the walnut Mountain Rifle. I put on an M8 6x36 and I used that rifle a whole lot. Eventually I replaced the wood stock with an HS Precision (brown with black web) and replaced the scope with Loopy 3.5-10x40 in gun metal grey. I always liked the gun metal grey finish and thought it would go really well with the HS Precison stock. That rifle is now my dedicated wet weather rifle.

Then came a Ruger Ultralight in .308 (2-7x33) and a Model 54 Winchester in .250 Savage (6x36) and another Ruger Ultralight in .250 Savage (2-7x33) and a custom stocked BRNO 600 in .30-06 (3-9x33 compact) and then A Ruger No.1 7x57 (6x36) and a ………….

……..and it goes on and on.

Thinking back I'd probably have paid my house off a lot quicker If I didn't spend so much on gun stuff and reloading components but you gotta live and have fun along the way. Getting into guns, reloading and hunting is the second best thing to happen in my life I reckon. First best thing would be my job choice.

My Dad is responsible for my rifle loonyism. He didn't know it.
@ 1960 - I was 10 yo - he borrowed a Sporterized Mil 303 B from a family friend. It looked REAL good to me.
He sat it at the front door to go hunting the next AM.

THAT did it. I've always loved rifles ever since.

I didn't get any CF rifle until 1972 because we had not had any deer to hunt.

1. Win 94 - 30-30

2. Rem 788 - 243 > didn't care for the rear lock up.

3. Rem 700 - 270

Never went back to the 30-30.

Along the way I had a few really good rifles BUT gun writers poo pooed the post 64s till I thot I had second rate rifles.
Wish I'd kept a Win 670, 243 and later a 70, 243 etc.

Gun Writers are not always right. At least WERE not.


Jerry

My 1st rifle (still have it) was a pre-war 30/30 Savage 99F (takedown) that my father gave me in 1973 when I turned 16. It was given to him around 1938 by a member of the hunting club that my grandfather used to caretake/guide for. It was the first centerfire rifle of his own.

In '86 I found out that I was going to get stationed in Alaska for a couple of years, and decided something a little larger was called for. My 2nd rifle turned out to be a brand new Remington 700 Classic 350 RemMag (still have that one too).

While in AK I tried out a custom built 270 Win on an FN Mauser action as #3, but it didn't work out. Within a year that one moved on and was replaced with a NOS Remington 700 BDL in 7mm Express. That one moved on too in about '98 when I replaced it with a Rem 700 Classic .280, that I still have.

#4 was a Savage 99C in .308, also bought while in AK in '87 or '88. Nice, accurate rifle, but sold it to one of my cousins when I found a pre-mil 99F in .308 that I like better. I still have the 99F, and my cousin still has the 99C. (He also has a 99F in 300 SVG and a 99F in .358 Win)

My Dad gave me his Remington 760 30-06 when I was 13. He bought a 7600 Carbine for himself. I hunted with nothing but that until when I was 17 I bought a Marlin 30-30 off him. I killed more game with those two rifle than any of my 100+ rifles since.

First rifle was a 270 Remington BDL I payed for in college
followed by a Ruger 77 257 Roberts for graduation then a Ruger 22 Hornet, and the fourth was a 700 BDL in 7 mm Mag. From there they just seem to keep multiplying.
GreggH

M700 BDL .300 Win mag
M96 6.5 Swede
Ruger M77 tanger .308
M70 Featherweight 6.5 Swede
M94 30-30
M700 .308
Marlin 1895 45/70
Marlin 336 30/30
M70 Supergrade .300 Win mag
Browning X Bolt .270
Steyr SBS .270

When I was 12 my dad bought me a Model 70 300 WM and vx1 3-9. It’s still my elk rifle with the same scope after over 20 years and lots of rounds down the barrel.

My first was a Marlin 336 my dad had purchased in the early 60's. It worked but what I really wanted was a bigger gun like I been reading about. I saved my lawn mowing & muskrat money and on my twelfth birthday I put money down on my first shotgun. My Dad paid it off for my birthday. I then went on to get a Mini-14 which I promptly put to use bagging coyotes which funded the purchase of a well used Interarms MkX in .30-06. I still have them all, and they've been used by my sons to get started with, except for the '06.

My first was a Remington 788 in 243 Winchester, given to me on my 12th birthday in 1979. Used it for two seasons.
Traded it for a Remington 700 BDL in 270 in 1981. Used that rifle until 1992 where I traded for a Remington 700 SS in 270.

Was not until 1997 when I purchased a 2nd big game rifle. Remington 700 KS in 338WM.

Hunting/looneyism was always there, just did not manifest 100% until early 2000's.

Winchester M70 XTR 30-06 Sold
Ruger M77R 25-06 (Now bedded in Brown Precision)
Remington M700V 223 Sold
Remington M7 6mm Remington Sold
Remington M700V Synthetic 223 Sold
Ruger M77MKII Stainless/Synthetic 338WM Sold
Remington M700 Stainless/Synthetic MR 25-06 (Later bedded in McMillan Rem Classic Edge fill) Sold
Browning BLR 81 308 Sold
Kimber 84M Varmint 22-250 (Now bedded in Wildcat and ceracoted)
Remington M7 Predator 17FB Sold
Kimber 8400 Montana 300WSM
Kimber 8400 Montana 25-06 Sold
Kimber 84M Montana 6.5CM
Winchester M70 Stainless/Synthetic 375 H&H
Kimber 84M Hunter 308
Kimber 84M Montana 223 (Now being rebarrelled to 17 Remington)

Savage 99 in 250 Savage

At 12 my first rifle was a 94 carbine .32 spl. that was my dad's.
At 15 I bought a Savage 340 .222.. Mostly a wood chuck rifle..
16 I got my grandfather's model 54.30-06... Later had this custom stocked and scoped.. Big mistake, but still a beautiful rifle..Use this for most of my big game hunting til I was about
21..Used it off and on all these years.
17 Mauser .270 had it only a few months..
18 Enfield rebarreled to 7mm RM.. Traded this for the custom work on the model 54..
20 Build a custom stocked 700 in .300 WM. This is still one of my main big game rifles.. Now on its 3rd barrel. I have carried it all over the country,,
21 Bought a custom stocked Sako in 7mm RM.. Killed a few deer and traded it on something..
I suppose I have bought one or two new to me rifles about every year of my life.. I have had most of the common calibers, .257, 7mm, 300 and 340 custom barreled Weatherbys;
.338s, .375 H & H.
Now have stuff from 17hmr through .45-70.. It has been fun..

My first big game rifle was a Marlin 336 in 30-30 that my folks bought for me when they realized I had the hunting fever in 1977. I put a 4x Redfield on it a few years later. I think the next big game rifle I bought was a Remington 742 in .308. I soon learned that was an ammo wasting SOB so I traded it for a Ruger 77 in either .308 or 30-06.
In between I bought a Remington 788 in .222 with a 6x Weaver. I used to strap that across my back with my Ruger Mark I .22 on my hip and ride through town on my 1980 Yamaha DT400 to go woodchuck hunting. People would have a schitt fit over the sight of that nowadays!

A tang safety Ruger M77 in 7x57 ended up giving this to SIster-in-law for Christmas one year.

Next was a SAKO laminate in .270. Shot the bejeebers out of that rifle. Wore the throat down but as long as I seated the bullets further out it shot well.

Wish I still had it.

Lots more followed.

My father bought me my first rifle and shotgun, a Remington 742 .30-06 and a Belgian Browning A5 12 gauge, both used but in very good condition. He was a potato farmer in northern WI and never grossed more than $15,000 a year, yet he provided for a family with 5 kids and my mom was the classic 1960's / 1970's housewife. I didn't kill anything with those guns, eventually trading or selling them off for something else. I wish I still had them.

Model 70 3006 that my girlfriend ( now wife) gave me for Christmas in 1977 in Nome. Her parents were the pastors of a church there at the time, I was in the Army, stationed on Fort Wainwright. I got the rifle she got a fur coat thought that was a fair trade. Still have the rifle and the lady.She gave me a model 70 in 375H&H in 93, I might have to keep her around.

Dang son. She sounds like a good'un!

Yep met her in 68 in Fairbanks and married her 10 years later. Been together more then 40 years, I would be kinda lost without her.