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

Shot my first deer with an as-issued 1903 Springfield. I just gave that rifle to my SIL. I hunted rabbits and squirrels with an Eastern Arms 16 ga. singleshot. I wish I still had that one.

Dad's '06 became my '06 so he had an excuse to buy a 7600 Carbine

A 760 in 270 doesn't sound much like a mistake to me. It sounds like you were pretty well setup.

Savage 110 30.06 with POS Banner scope. Bought and paid with my paper route money.

I started with a .410 break-action single shot shotgun that I loved to death. It was given to me by my great-uncle and I couldn't hit ANYTHING with it. But even without a father at home, I had been a gun nut all my life, and I read everything I could get my hands on, and memorized cartridge velocities, trajectory charts and ft-lbs of energy, as well as every word from Keith, Carmichael and O'Connor. I had a lot of book knowledge but almost zero practical hunting knowledge.

Then my sister got engaged to a guy whose family went hunting all the time, and his father invited me and my brother to go deer hunting with them if we both passed the hunter education classes and got our licenses. I will never forget Geno. He was our mentor - teaching both of us how to hunt and fish, and spending innumerable patient hours with the two of us.

Neither my brother nor I had a gun, but my great uncle came to the rescue again. He had a neighbor who showed us his Winchester 94 with a long octagonal barrel in 32 special. We were mesmerized. When I asked him how much he wanted for it, he said, "How about $25.00?" I'm sure he was being kind to a couple of kids he really liked.

Well, my brother is a lefty, so he got to use the Winchester on our first outing, and I used a borrowed Savage 340 30-30. And I shot my first deer! It was a forkhorn with a death wish - stood staring at me from 30 yards away as I fumbled with the rifle and shook as I took aim. Three shots later the deer had 3 broken legs - and I finished him off with a closeup shot to the neck.

The next year I had saved enough to buy my first "real" rifle - a $100 rebarreled Mauser 98 in 270 Win, sitting in a California-style stock with a rollover cheekpiece and flares in all the right places. I had to pay extra for the metal to be blued and the receiver to be drilled and tapped, and it astonished me how much just those two additions cost.

It only took one year for me to decide the weight wasn't much fun to carry around and the military trigger was a pain, so I sold it and put that money toward a brand-new flatbolt Ruger M77 in .284 Win that sold for $185. Added a Weaver K4 and felt like I was ready to hunt the world! The .284 was the "newest thing", and as I showed the gun to Geno, he asked me why I chose that chambering. I said, "It's just like the .270 but in a short action." With a puzzled look on his face, he asked, "Then why didn't you just buy a .270?"

I've been through a lot of rifles since then - some that have cost me a lot of money. But looking back, I realize that every bit of hunting I've done since then could have been very competently done with that .284, and if I had kept it, I'd have had a lot more money for hunting!

Those roll over cheek pieces are really cool looking to my eye. I've only seen them on older rifles.

Somewhat opposite here. I also started with a 94 Winchester in .30-30 and later on got a .444, but the Trip-4 got sold and still have the M94.

Bought it brand-new in 1970 as a wee yonker with a paper route. It has accounted for quite a number of deer. Bear and pig can be added to the mix, just not in the numbers of deer that have fallen to that rifle.

The only changes I made to it were adding sling swivels, a Williams FP Receiver sight, and a Skinner post front sight.

I was 75 pounds 10 years old with a BB gun hunting robins.
I was a 90 pound 12 year old with a 12 gauge hunting doves.
At 100 pounds and 14 years old a 12 gauge hunting pheasants and ducks.
At 185 pounds and 58 years old a 270 hunting deer, antelope, and elk.
At 155 pounds and 65 years old a 7mmRM hunting deer and antelope.

Now at 157 pounds and 70 years, I am building a 260 [and other rifles] to hunt deer.

Interesting way of looking at it.

I was 170 pounds when I got my 500NE.

Winchester 1200 pump 12 gauge with bird and deer barrels, and first rifle was a Model 70 300 win mag

First rifle was a Rem 552speedmaster. First shotgun was a.410 single shot. Killed my first squirrel at what had to have been 60 yards as it ran down the limb of a huge old oak. Dad thought I missed. About 30 seconds later the squirrel fell out of the tree. One pellet from a 2.5” Remington #6 hit the squirrel dead center in its heart! First deer was with a coast to coast (mossberg) 500. First high powered rifle was BAR 30/06.

1st rifle that was really "mine" was a Chipmunk 22lr single-shot. Then dad had a Marlin 60 cut down for me. That one had the Bushnell scope with the dovetail on the bottom of the scope which slid fore/aft in it's mount which also clamped a standard 3/8th dovetail. Then a brown Bi-Centennial Nylon 66 and it get's fuzzy after that for 22's.

1st cfr I shot for deer (actually pronghorn came 1st) was a M700 carbine in 243. I can recall loading 85gn Sierra's w/WW760 powder. When I was 15 I got a M70 Lightweight in 270Win.

For shotguns I can't exactly remember the order but there was some wire-stocked 22lr over .410. Then a .410 snake-charmer. Then a brand-new H&R single-shot 20 with a hammer so heavy I couldn't operate it safely so it went back and I ended up with an old well-worn Stevens single-shot 20ga. Carried that Stevens a couple of falls then graduated to an 1100 with a shortened stock and a bbl cut down to 22".

On my father's advice I bought a Savage 99 featherweight in 300 Savage.... was early 1960. Was a 10th grader. Not the best choice for me then. Because of the stock shape, and the light weight and my own small build..... that thing beat me up.
Few years later put a Weaver K4 with post & crosshair scope on it using the Pachmyar [sp?] tip off mount. Didnt shoot it often cuz of the recoil. But i took my share of deer with it, especially in brush. With or without the scope tipped off. My son shot his first deer with it.
Later I grew into it some. Have been reloading for it for 30 years. Still has the Weaver scope on it. And on a good day it will shot about MOA off a bench. Still recoils pretty good. It still is in good shape. It was the first rifle i ever bought, so i call it THE ORIGINAL.

The Model 70 Winchester [1953] , 270, i use sometimes is called THE CLASSIC. its done its share, too. Less perceived recoil than the 99.

No, neither is for sale. They will go to my son. They are family.

I started at around age 10 with a single shot .410, and of course there was a .22 rimfire in the house that I shot some. At 14, in1965, parents got me a second had Remington 760 in 30-06, a mid to late 1950's model with the steel butt plate. First half dozen years or so I hunted with iron sights only so the rifle was fairly lightweight, at least for the time. I had never been told that recoil was a bad thing so I just hunted with that rifle until the mid 1990's when I sold it. My kids named that rifle "The Hammer" due to the recoil and that butt plate.

First centerfire rifle I pulled a trigger on was a Remington 30 06 when it was about 12 years old. I went with my dad to the gun range and he asked if I wanted to shoot it. Kicked the snot out of me and the scope cut me above my eye. 🤪

Took me a while before I mustered the courage to try it again. Dad bought me a Ruger M77 7x57 for my 14th birthday and still have it almost 40 years later.

First centerfire rifle was a Winchester model 100 in .243. First shotgun was a single shot Harrington and Richardson Topper model .410. Unfortunately the Winchester was lost when my parents house burned down. I still have the .410 and it was my sons first gun as well.

First centerfire I ever shot was my grandfathers 300H&H, Rem 721. I wasn't a teenager yet and my grandfather was in no shape to take us hunting, No one else in the family hunted. I just started sneaking it out and shooting it the odd time when nobody was around. I figured all guns kicked the snot out of you! lol. Eventually shot my first few deer and a bear with it.

First CF rifle was a .222 Rem 660.in 6th grade.
First deer gun was in college, a 12 ga M500

My dad started me off deer hunting with a Remington 600 in 308. He was somewhat of gun nut and happily traded it off when I wanted something else. I've always wanted to pick up another just because

At 11 yo my first deer fell to a 30-30 Winchester 94 Eastern Carbine made in 1930. My eldest son has it now.