Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire First Center-Fire Rifle Chambering - Partial Results

30-06

You know how to cut to the core of me Baxter.

244 Remington. Dad gave to me when I was 14. Still have it an it shoots 6mm and has killed to many varmints to count.

Mine too. Authentic jungle carbine circa 1945. It works great in heavy timber for short range (100 yards) on both deer and elk.

.30-06

30-06 Remington bdl, in 1983 and still have it.

Sporterized Mauser in 30-06 from K'Mart, $49.95.

Local gunshop had surplus FMJ ammo for 8-10 cents each. Depending on how much I bought.

First one that was mine, .30-06.
First one I bought, .243 in a 70 lightweight. Redfield tracker 3x-9x in redfield mounts. I was 17.

A Ruger M77 7mm Mag I bought new in 1977. Killed some blacktail and a mule deer with it. Sold it long ago.

I bought a .270 Win. two or three years later (after first one which was a .30-06)

25-35

I was 13, a .270 in a 700 ADL. 1993. K-Mart. On sale for $300. BDLs were $330. Money saved from picking up black walnuts At $10/hundred weight and pecans at $1/lb with the help of dad and grandpa. A 1988 Toyota pickup with a bed level full of walnuts will make you $50 after being hulled.

4 years later I got this big guy and the doe with it. My first branch antlered buck. High school baseball coach got the smaller buck 200 yards from my stand.

Remington 700 .17 Remington

Weaver K4 w/rings and mounts

1 box of cartridges

Canvas case

Worked at a gas station after school to come up with the 1972 take home price of $158

Our town had a brand new mall. Center of the mall was a big Woolworth's with a cafe and a large sporting goods department.
Don't recall the last time I saw a Woolworth's. And I'll bet it didn't have a rack of Grumman canoes sitting at the back of the main aisle.

I was 14 when I bought this rifle. Dad had to go in and sign for it, and was not excited at all about going to "the mall". I offered to buy his lunch at the Woolworth's cafe. He went, and he signed for the rifle. Walked right by the cafe on the way out. I said, "What about lunch?"
His eyes could sometimes hit harder than a rifle.

The first one I laid out the cash for is a Weatherby MkV Fiber Mark, the original version in a McMillan stock. 7mm Wby. magnum.

Remington 788 in 22-250.

7 X 57 Mauser

Husqvarna .30-06, box of Winchester 165’s, red velvet lined vinyl and leather case, pack of targets and orange Silencio ear muffs. To be honest, I’ve never needed anything more since that first rifle.

My dad read an article in Peterson’s Hunting about the all new 260 Remington that was just hitting shelves. Drove us up to Jumbo Sports in the city and bought me a brand new M7 youth with the birch stock.

Killed my biggest mulie with it an wish I still had it.

First one I ever bought myself was a VZ24 with a sewer pipe bore at a surplus store in Farmington NM when we went out to my aunt’s funeral. Cost me $44.95. I’d order 70 round bandoliers of Turkish surplus ammo in strippers from Sportsman’s Guide for $8.99 with free shipping. It was minute of cinder block accurate. Think the only things I ever killed with it was armadillos and one big old stray tomcat. Shot lots of gopher mounds and cow patties with it though.

5.56/.223. My first centerfire rifle was a Ruger Mini-14. Got it when I was 17.

30-30... LOL