Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What did you start out with?

20 gauge shotgun was the first and the first rifle is a Rem.700 BDL in 270 win.

It still gets the job done when i do my part.

My Dad wasn't a hunter or a shooter, so I was pretty much on my own and without an experienced guide.

My first firearm was an Iver Johnson Champion 12ga. Yeah, it kicked! I was 14.

Fortunately number two followed quickly, a 22 rimfire.

Fast forward 50 years and I've had a half-dozen DG rifles including 450 Dakota and 470 NE. None of them intimidated me like that 7 pound, hard-butted Iver Johnson, at 14 years of age!

A good friend of my Dad's gave me an 1894 Winchester (rifle, not carbine) in 32 Special when I was in HS. Ser # says 1907 mfg. Still have it after all these (56) years.

I’ll edit to add that was my first deer rifle. Had a .22 Rifle and single shot .410 long before that.

I started out with a Marlin 336 in 30-30. The recoil is quite mild but I replaced the plastic butt plate with a thin rubber one after I leaned the gun up against something on a concrete floor and it slid and fell to the floor. I still have it and always will, unless I give it to one of my kids.

Yep, Dad's 760, 06. Then 12 ga with slugs.....uggh.


Jerry

That would make a good thread I think - "How and when did you get your first Weatherby eyebrow?". I doubt that there are any "virgins" out there.

The 'proper' name for that is; "The Royal Order of the Scarlet Crescent "


Jerry

I can HONESTLY say, I've never had a scope cut.

edit to add: The first Scarlet Crescent I every saw was from a H S buddy shooting My Dad's 760, 30-06. I told him 2 or 3 times he'd better back off the scope. He said, "I got it".....He Did !

Jerry

My Dad got me a Dasiy BB gun at 5, and I grew up with his Winchester 22 pump rifle (which I own now) and a 300 Savage M99. My own 1st gun which I bought with my own money was a used Winchester M70 in 270 and my 2nd gun with an Ithica M66 20 gauge. My first handgun was an original Colt 1851 Navy that I learned to rebuild.

Between the ages of 12 and 18 I got only 3 more long arms, a Berretta BL3 O/U 12 gauge, a Mauser barreled action I made my first bolt action on in 270 Winchester so I could use the same ammo as my Winchester M70 (I also still have that rifle too, but on it's 3rd barrel) and a handmade Hawken copy in 58 cal. With Dad's help I got 4 more handguns, a 1st Gen Colt SAA in 45 Colt (which I also had to rebuild,) a Ruger 44 Super Black Hawk, a Colt New Frontier 22 with mag convertible 22 mag cylinder and 8-3/8" S&W M29.

Funny thing............I never owned a 22 rifle of my own until I was about 24 years old. I got that rifle when I was a Marine, A Winchester 94/22 purchased in Jacksonville N.C. . Dad gave me the Winchester 62A when I was in my mid 40s

I started my shooting years with a Remington 760 pump in .270 Winchester......it was a terrible mistake as I should have started off with a .243 bolt rifle.....but that's water over the dam.

Dad got me an Anschutz Woodchucker when I was 5 or 6. My girls learned on it too. Then I inherited his A-5 Light 20. First deer was killed at 10 with Dad’s Rem 600 Mohawk .308, shooting the 150 NBT. He bought me a 700 ADL and a B&C Carbelite the next year. A Vari-X III 3.5-10x40 the year after. He got me good stuff, so I do the same for my kids.

For BG pre-64 M70 transition model Super Grade 257 Roberts which I got for $35.00.

Rifle was a military issue Model 98 in 8x57. Don't remember that gun kicking too bad. Took 4 straight bucks and a black bear with it.
Used a 410 bolt shotgun to shoot my first rabbit and squirrel.

I had a Marlin 75c 22 growing up, and hunted rabbits and squirrels with an old 20ga single shot or my dad's 12ga 870. Got my own Browning BPS for Christmas when I was about 14-15. Only deer hunted a couple of times with a borrowed 30-30. Never saw or killed anything. Got back into hunting in my mid-30s and bought my first deer rifle, a Rem 710 in 30-06. Next was a Ruger M77 MarkII in 280Rem that I won in a raffle. That helped me figure out the difference between a cheap gun and a quality firearm. The 710 went down the road and I've never missed it, even though I did kill my first deer with it.

First for me was a 20 ga double, with a steel buttplate, when I was 8. I didn't really use it much until I was a little older though - shot a good number of ducks and rabbits with it from when I was about 11.

In the meantime I used various .22s under supervision, and was given a .22 single shot by FN when I turned 10. I soon showed that I could be trusted to hunt by myself, and after a year or two I was allowed to use various other .22s, including a pump-action Winchester and a couple of autos (Browning, Sportco, Ruger) that we had. I also started shooting in competition, and for a while there I had a Martini International and then an Anschutz Match 54, and a Brno Mod 1 for Field Rifle comps and rabbits.

By the time I was 13 I was introduced to the .303 SMLE via cadets, and then bought various surplus or sporterised rifles in 7mm, .303 and 30/06 with my pocket money. When I was 14 I bought myself a brand new 12 ga auto, and also was using a Marlin 1893 in .30-30.

None of these had a recoil pad. In fact the first gun or rifle I had with a recoil pad was't until I was in my late 20s, and it was a lightweight.30/06. I think that is at about the level where I like to have one.

I bought my first shotgun, a single shot Stevens with a tenite stock when I was 10. So rifle recoil was a nonissue with me until I got a 458!

I’ve tried telling some on here that IF you shoot a
Heavy Kicker a few Xs before you shoot a smaller
cartridge .. you’ll notice the milder recoil.

All responses I got were negative.

It IS true altho

Jerry

Rem 700 Classic in 6mm Rem

I traded for a 1892 Win .32-20 when I was 9 but never used it much. I got a .22 LR Win M55 that Christmas also. I used a borrowed .25-35 to hunt deer for a couple of years then dad bought me a .300 Savage. 99R at 12. I killed a nice four point and a doe with it that year and many more as time went on.

I also bought a Stevens 94 16 ga the summer I turned 13 with the money I made working in a fireworks stand. I never bought a pistol until I was 16. A Ruger 4 in Standard Auto.