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

First centerfire rifle was a Rossi 92 chambered .44 Mag that my wife bought for me to hunt deer while we lived in PA. Killed my first several deer with that rifle in the PA deer woods. All with one shot. My dad killed his first few deer with it when we moved back to KY. Oldest grand son now has possession.

Second rifle was a Ruger Ranch rifle that I bought because I did not want to spend the extra $$$'s for a Left Hand .243 BDL. (dumb...) Eventually sold it off and bought a right hand Rem 700 in .243 with one of the stiff plastic stocks (Rynite?). Killed a truck load of KY deer withthat rifle. Had the barrel cut to 20" and put a youth stock on it. Son and his buddy shot the bajeepers out of it. Traded it off for something I can't remember.

Current "keeper" is the rifle I posted over on the Campfire Rifle thread. LH Rem 700 chambered in .270. Never say never. But, this is one that after 20 years of buying, selling, and tinkering with rifles, just seems to click....

My Dad and Grandpa were shooters more than hunters and when I wanted to start hunting, my Dad took me out. I carried his sporterized Springfield and he carried his Dad's sporterized Enfield. My Dad always said his Springfield was no good because of a pitted barrel. I shot my first two deer with that Springfield and thought it shot fine 😁

Later on, the first hunting rifle I bought was a Rem 700 '06

My first was a Westernfield (Montgomery Ward store-brand) .30-30 carbine, my father's at the time--which was actually a Marlin 336. Killed my first deer with it, the first year I could legally buy a tag in Montana.

Next was a Savage 99 EG in .308 Winchester, which my father bought me after killing that first deer. He said I could pick out any rifle on a local store's used rack that cost $50 or less. The price of the 99 .308 was actually $55, but he sprang for it anyway.

Killed a few deer with the .308, but it had a metal buttplate that gave my skinny young shoulder a flinch. Eventually sold it, a few years after my father passed away at 44, to pay for a lightly used Remington 700 BDL in .243, which cured the flinch. Killed a bunch of deer and antelope with that rifle, as well as prairie dogs and coyotes.

A year or so later also bought a 700 ADL in .270 Winchester, which turned out to be one of the most accurate big game rifles I've ever owned. With its favorite handload it would put three 150-grain Hornady Spire points into a little more than an inch--at 300 yards. Killed quite a bit of big game with it as well, including my first elk, but eventually shot the barrel out and traded it for something else.

While in college at the U. of Montana, I hunted elk for several years in the thick, steep country 100 miles or so west, near the Idaho line. Eventually bought a sporterized 1903 Springfield, and used it with the first Nosler Partitions I ever handloaded, the old, lathe-turned 200-grain "semi-spitzers," which worked great in the black timber on both elk and deer.

Lost them all during a divorce, then started over again just before I married Eileen with another .30-06, a tang-safety Ruger 77 that also turned out to be very accurate (though not like that .270). Hunted with it exclusively for several years, and Eileen also hunting with it some as well. But thanks in large part to her, I started making a decent living writing, and became a full-fledged rifle loony, ending up buying, selling and hunting with so many rifles over the years that it would take me a while just to track them all down in my handloading notes! But will always remember the lessons those first few taught me.

My dad has a Savage 99 in 300 that I started hunting with that when I was 7. I killed about 9-10 deer and one elk with it and when I was 12 I got my own 1st rifle, a Winchester M70 in 270 with a Weaver K4 on it. My 2nd rifle was a copy of a Hawken muzzleloader I made when I was 12. My 3rd was a Mauser, also a 270, which I made from parts myself when I was 14. Almost all the deer elk antelope as well as horses and cattle were killed with those two 270s or the 58 cal muzzleloader because my dad sold the 300 Savage when I was 13.

Until I got my 375H&H I don't think I ever shot any big game with any rifle other then those 270s or the 58 cal muzzleloader, and was shocked when I got to be a late teenager and read that the 270 was not powerful enough for all the elk I had killed, so the killing of cattle and some horses too left me wondering how I could have been so successful (was it just luck?) with such a "small gun" that so many "experts" said was too light for anything larger then a deer.
The other confusing thing was that, at that time,.... I had never fired 2 shots at any game, any cow or any horse with either my Mauser or my M70, and 100% were one shot kills. But as a country boy who grew up a bit isolated I didn't know there was another way to do it. Thats what my Dad and Uncle told me to do, and told me how to do it, so that what I did. I was under the impression the rounds in the magazine were for other animals, additional animals, not the one I'd shot 1st. I shot carefully with the 270s and also the muzzleloader, and my dad and uncle always said "shoot when you KNOW you will kill, not if you think you might kill."

My 4th was a Mauser in 375H&H which I got when I was 22.

It's been a land slide from there.

I started deer hunting when I was 11 years old, killed my first buck with a hand-me-down Winchester mod. 94. The year was 1954. Two years later, my dad traded an old outboard motor for a used Remington mod.721 in 30.06 which he gave to me. I still have the '94, the 721 is long gone.

Savage 99 (EG) in 300 Savage that my dad bought for ‘himself ‘ but was really to get my older brother and I big game hunting. My dad, not a big hunter, shot it very well.

After using it for several years, and deer, my dad scored me the cash that allowed me to buy a lightly used Husqvarna in 25/06( I was looking for a 257 Roberts but they were a few $ more) which I used, quite successfully on many different types of game.

Both acquired 45+ years ago......and I still have both.

If I was smarter I probably would have stayed with those two exclusively

Yes I had a Wood stock ADL in 30-06 before the syn. trend got started. That ADL
was 1 of 2 MOST accurate rifles out of the box I had owned. The other was a BDL
6mm Rem.

I know those were before 1986 because I moved in the Spring.

I’ve read that the ADL wood stocks were more rigid than the BDL and others
like them. I dunno.

Jerry

My first rifle was a Weatherby Vanguard in 1980 in 300 Win Mag. I still have it. I purchased it for about 350.00 in 1980 with proceeds from the first $1000.00 PFD. I have never shot anything with it. But it's a very nice rifle and its very accurate. People are always impressed with it.

My second purchased rifle was a 375HH Interarms Mauser in a Brown Precision synthetic stock that I bought at a gun show for 500.00 in 1991. I shot one black bear with it. I still have it but need to fix the Brown Precision stock that has cracked. I probably will fix it up after I retire as a project.

My third purchased rifle was a 243 Winchester Remington Model 600 that I purchased up in Ambler from the Gardner Gentlemen at the Kobuk River Lodge for 300.00 in 1995. I gave it to my wife as a wedding present. She uses it to this day. It has only killed two caribou but it is a nice little rifle.

My Fourth purchased rifle is a 375 HH Model 70 NH Classic Stainless that I bought from Kmart in Fairbanks. I saw it go on layaway three different times before I purchased it for 783.95. I have shot it several times and its pretty accurate.

My Fifth purchased rifle is a Weatherby Varmint Special in 22-250 with a Bushnell 10X. I purchased it for 436.00. It is extremely accurate. I have just shot varmints and targets with it.

I purchased a used Remington 760 in 1958 in .270. It was a fine gun but I soon discovered that it wasn't up to shooting varmints at longer ranges and it's trigger was badly wanting. I kept the Weaver K-6 that it had and traded it for a pre-64 M-70 also in .270. I was much too young to know much about how to accurize rifles and soon discovered that that too wasn't up to the varminting I wanted to do. In actuality, I'd have been far better off buying a good .222 and borrowing my uncles 30-30 for the once a year deer hunting I did.

In 1965 I purchased my first new rifle......a M-70 in .225 Winchester......wow....that was a shooter and I shot it a lot....prairie dogs were in serious trouble. Eventually I shot out the barrel and tried to rebarrel it to 22-250 but that didn't get me the accuracy I wanted so it soon belonged to someone else.
A Savage M-99 in .308 came my way and I used it for deer to good success. The list just piled up since then.

In retrospect, my first rifle should have been a M-70 in .243......a dual purpose gun, but It seems some of us must learn the hard way.

I'm now days away from 74 and have owned almost everything from .17 HM2 to .404 Jeffery. I've learned great respect for the .223 chambered rifles I've owned and a pretty maple stocked post-64 M-70 fwt in .30-06.....most of the rest just fill spaces in the gun cabinet

Savage 340 in a 30-30. Wish I had never sold it..

First was a Winchester 70 Westerner .243 with a Weaver 4x. Christmas present from the folks in '81 or '82. Best Christmas present I ever got and it changed my life forever.

After that I got bit by the "odd cartridge bug" and the next three were a model 70 .300 H&H, a Ruger 77 6.5mm Rem Mag and a Schultz & Larsen 7x61 S&H.

The very first one I bought was a tang safety Ruger 77 30-06 with a fixed 4x Weaver already on top.

Hunted with a shotgun age 12 to 14.

First rifle at age 14 a new Winchester 94 30-30 for hunting PA, gun cost $67. Mom paid half and I paid half with $$ I made that summer.

Second rifle at age 26 new Ruger 77 safety tang 30-06 with Redfield 3x9 Lo-Pro Widefield, most accurate gun I ever had.

That is what my first centerfire was except with a 2x7 Widefield. A friend of mine bought it for me for helping him build his house. I think he wanted me to get into deer hunting so he would have someone to go out to Wyoming with. I was all in favor of that and we made several trips for Mule deer and Pronghorn. He has been gone for ten years now, but I still have the rifle. I mostly hunt Whitetails in Wisconsin now with .308s, but may get out west again when I retire.

Jerry

First rifle I used to shoot a deer was Grandpas Rem 141 in 35 rem. The year was 01. Then the Christmas I was 18, dad bought me my own rifle. A Ruger M77 MKII chambered in 260 rem. Will never get rid of that one.Was great to have my own rifle because there were 3 boys, one born in 84, one in 85, and 1 in 87. As you can imagine you were never sure which rifle you were going to have the privilege of hunting with!

The first centerfire rifle I bought was a Winchester bolt action for $50 at a flea market when I was 14 yoa. I thought I was ripping the seller off at that price. The seller was probably thinking the same thing plus hoping I wasn't part of a sting operation. I was quite disappointed as I could not find ammo anywhere for it.

I think I got the better end as it turned out to be an all original Winchester 1895 Lee/Navy. I still haven't fired it but some day I might.

My first usable rifle was a 98 Mauser rebarreled to 6mm Rem. I used it for several years and I still have it. I believe it has a slower twist though maybe not as slow as the 244 as 100 gr boat tails do not group well at all nor do many 100 gr flat based bullets though 100 gr Remington Core-Lokts do very well at all ranges and Hornady soft points do OK.

Third rifle was a Browning A-Bolt in 300 Win mag. I intended to buy a new Savage 110 in 30/06 for my first elk hunt but found the Browning on the used rack for only $10 more. It is one of my favorite rifles though it has been a decade since I last hunted with it.

The second rifle wasn't bought for hunting though it has taken one doe. I found a Remington Model 8 in 25 Rem ata pawn shop with dies, 2+ boxes of ammo, and ~150 empties for only $150. The first rifle I used deer hunting was a Model 81 in 300 Savage so this appealed to my nostalgia. It started me on a quest acquiring these guns along with their contemporaries.

I started out with military rifles because they were cheaper. When I was 12, my dad got me a sporterized 6.5 Carcano carbine that I used for my first few mule deer. Then, at 15, I bought a 03 Springfield from Montgomery Wards for 29.95. I worked on the trigger and modified the stock and used that rifle through high school and beyond. It worked well with an aperture sight.

A decade later I began to buy factory sporters starting with a Rem 700 30-06. I also started mounting scopes on my rifles at that point. Now I have more rifles than I really need, but it's fun to have some variety.

In high school, I built this Springfield .270 with McGowen barrel, Herter French Walnut stock, had the bolt handle altered. I glassed and free floated it, did the Rosewood inlay and period cool skip-a-line checkering. It shoots really well. I still have it, don't use it because it's pretty heavy.

.270...? I know, not cool, but I was young back then...

DF

Posted this yesterday but I guess there was a glitch in the system and it didn't stay. I am not surprised with the 30-30/35's for a first rifle but and surprised about the number of 6mm/243's.

SMLE Mk III that I bought when I was a teenager. It eventually refused to open after firing a Federal cartridge. (It had fired most of the box without problem.) I took it to a gun shop and wound up trading it for a a No. 4 Mk 1* that someone had tried to turn into a No. 5 Mk 1. After that came a Remington 788 in .243.