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

We didn't have many deer in our part of the country when I started hunting. Ducks. squirrels, rabbits, and quail were what we had, so I started out with a 12 gauge shotgun. When we did get a deer season, we hunted them with hounds in the woods, so buckshot was the ticket. Somewhere around my first 100 deer were killed with buckshot. Westernfield pump 12 ga. 2 3/4" 30" full choke.

I don't know the date of the rifle as it was borrowed, and I was in college and it didn't knock me on my butt, but I also killed my first deer, a spike with a Model 94 in .32 Special in 1965.

Started out with a BB gun like most and graduated to my dad's .22. My first gun I owned was a bolt action .410 that accounted for lots of squirrels and rabbits. Killed my first deer with a family Remington 600 in .243 at the age of 13. The muzzle blast from that 18" barrel is horrendous! That rifle is still in the family and several generations have successfully used it to punch tags. I got my first centerfire that actually belonged to me gifted to me when I was 18. A well used but well cared for Rem. 700 BDL in .270
The .270 was all I owned for the next 20 years until I went loony. Looking back I wish I would have just kept the one .270 and spent all the money I spent on guns on more hunting trips.

I started with a model1890 Winchester pump in 22 short. Killed my first deer with a Winchester model 290 shooting 22 long rifle hollow points. That was over 50 years ago, long past the statute of limitations...

I used to cull deer with my Westernfield 22. Head shots inside 50 yards.

Red Ryder BB gun, .22 Winchester single shot, close bolt and then cock the striker, graduated to 7x57 model 95 Chilean mauser, at age 11. Still shoot the 95 now and then! Killer my first deer and elk with that sweet carbine!

Started out with a Remington 700 BDL in 25-06, roped with a Redfield 5-Star 6x18. Started out shooting Hornady 120 HP’s, until they became extinct.

I had a Chilean 95 in my early teens. Mine was the rifle, with a barrel about 29" long. Original, unmolested, and beautifully made by Loewe, I should never have let that rifle go.

Shot my first deer in Nov 1956 with a Arisaka 6.5 x 257 with
some of my first handloads. I was 13 and can remember
the bullet was a Speer 100gr and powder was imr 4350.
Next rifle was Rem Model 722 in 257. Sold when I was in
college, to buy my Mom a Christmas Present.
Old Cuss

Started out with a old 1890 Win( burned up ) in '63 or '64......22 Shorts. The rifle had no rifling in it at all......Shot mice in the barn and corn crib.....The rifles ejector was broken so you had to keep a pocketknife with you to pick the shells out of the chamber.......Graduated to a old Stevens 410 that I killed my first squirrel with...Bought my very first rifle at age 10 for $75.00 It was a used Model 52C with Redfield olympics front and rear( It burned up in a housefire ) ...Bought my first shotgun at age 11 it was an 870 NIB for $119.00......The next year I bought my first high power a 788 in 308 Win. for $77.00 NIB with a 4X scope,rings and mounts............Killed piles of game with that rifle.......Funny though,I killed my first deer with a 22LR single shot bolt gun of unknown make..............

I started with a 30-30 Winchester lever never liked that rifle ,still don`t like this 30-30 lever rifle and still own it , as was said years ago in Gun safety training class lever 30- 30 without a safety are a dangerous rifle for kids to use, even for some adults too.

First deer I killed was with a bow. A Xi compound. Next season after that I was afield with a Rem 742 in .30-06 and a Rem 11-87 I bought the 11-87 year they came out. I still have and hunt with both of them...though I have dozens of other options now. I wish I had kept a journal of all the deer killed with those two guns...hindsight, go figure!

First gun deer was w Mossberg 12 ga slug gun, 8pt at 77 yards.
First deer was 2 yrs prior, a 4 pt shot on the trot w a PSE compound.

I got a Remington 514 single shot .22 at 8 and started shooting. When I was 12 and could hunt big game (mule deer) legally, I got a sporterized Italian 6.5 Carcano carbine. It had buckhorn sights which weren't the greatest, but I killed my first few deer with it. I also hunted some with a borrowed Remington 722 in .300 Savage. When I was 16, I bought a surplus 1903 Springfield from Montgomery Ward for $30. I modified that rifle some and used it for a number of years until I bought a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle, also in 30-06. I've got plenty of other rifles now, but I sure wish the mule deer hunting was as good as it was back then!

First big game rifle was a Remington 700 BDL chambered in 7mm Express topped with a Redfield 3-9 widefield. Traded that rifle for a Browning Stainless Stalker in 7mm Remington Magnum.

My first hunting rifle was my grandpa's old Savage 99 in 250/3000. Sweet, soft kicking rifle. It had a Marbles peep sight on it.

When I was 12 I started saving all I could and eventually splurged $150 for a synthetic stocked Enfield in .308 from Shotgun News. Loved it but the mag would not remain in the rifle. If I would have known what a gem I had I would have found a gunsmith to fix it. Traded it for a Savage 110 in 30-06. Swapped to a synthetic stock and chunked the birch log. In the next two years I traded it for my 3rd rifle and hadn’t even graduated high school. Semi custom 300 Win Mag REM 700. That started my rifle lunacy!!!!

Sporterized No.4 lee Enfield i303 Brit was my first big game rifle.
55 years later I'm still hunting with a 303 as my main big game rifle except it's in a single shot Ruger action .
Cat

1976 Remington 700 BDL in 308 Winchester with no recoil pad. Been shooting many heavier recoiling rifles since, yet have NEVER had a rifle kick me as hard as that one did.

30/30, Model 94, my dad bought at the Rod and Gun Club on RAF Alconbury England in June 1966...

I still have that rifle and the 1958 or so, Model 870 12 gauge....