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

JB's article in the latest Sports Afield mentions starting new hunters with milder loads or cartridges and recoil pads. I started with a 30-30 with a curved steel butt plate which kicked the snot out of me at 12 years old and is no fun to shoot. Luckily I graduated to a 30-06 with a recoil pad a few years later.
Anybody else start off with a kicker?

I started out as a high school junior with a sporterized M98 Mauser in 8x57, which had a Lyman All American 4x in a Williams side mount with high central overbore rings and a Willams Foolproof receiver sight mounted under it. It had a hard plastic buttplate. This was in 1965, when full power 8mm military surplus ammo was cheap. I shot that rifle until the barrel wore out (half from the number of rounds fired and half from neglect when using corrosive ammo), and had the bruised shoulder to show for it. I wish I had never sold that old rifle.

First rifle I ever fired was Dad's Interarms Mark X in 7mm Remington Magnum. It darn near knocked me on my 12 year old butt.

That was just the prelude to him and Mom handing me Mom's 760 Carbine in 30/06. I still have it and it still produces 39 years later.

I hunted squirrels in Michigan's north woods with an old bolt action Remington 12ga shotgun because that's what we had. It was brutal to shoot, but I was happy with it. When I got old enough for deer, I used a Ruger Deerfield carbine. Oddly enough for the same reason. I still love the 44 magnum cartridge, and wouldn't be without one. Its so good, I take it's performance for granted. The 12ga is still beating me up. My old Stevens 311 put a bruise on my shoulder just yesterday. But I'll never sell it.

Rem 760 30-06

1965, I was 10 and my Dad bought a new M 70 in 243 for me to use on my first deer hunt. No recoil pad and iron sights, shot an 8 point on opening morning, a spike the next day. Still have that rifle.

1934 .32 Winchester Special, Model 94 carbine. About knocked a 12 year old on his butt in 1966, but managed to bring in a spike.

I killed my first deer with a .22 in the apple orchard behind my dads barn. Had always heard a .22 would drop a deer with a head shot and by golly it did. Dad was pissed {I wasn't old enough to legally hunt deer yet} but put his tag on it anyway and it didn't go to waste. My first legal deer and several after were killed with a 12 gauge Mossberg 500 and slugs. Felt like I had a death ray in my hands a few years later when I finally got my first .30-30.

First gun I ever fired ead my dad's Reminton 512T .22. I was small enough that I was sitting in his lap on the ground and just pulled the trigger....all that business about sights was beyond me at that point. First gun of my own was a hand-me-down 16 gauge Ithaca 37. I killed my first deer with it, first grouse, first duck. First rifle I bought was a sporterized 03A3.

A sportirized 98 mauser in 8x57 cal. and a Redfield peep. Wish i still had it.

A model 700 adl Remington in 308. Steal butplate . It wasn’t pleasant to shoot.

Sporter stocked aperture sighted 03-A3/30-06 w/ 150 gr. Federal red box.




GR

Uncles Sporterized A3-03 in 30-06. I was 10. Got the deer but got the big “scope kiss” cut above my right eye. 😬

Not a gun writer but my first deer, a CA Blacktail, fell to my Grandpa’s 721 30-06. Still take it out every season & have taken a few more with it along the way. Pretty sweet gun really.

Same as Howard1, a sporterized 98K 8X57 with a peep. I do still have it. Bishop stock, it is still the worst for recoil, does not fit me I guess. Several magnums have brought less pain firing.

Remington 700 30-06 that I bought new at 13 with paper route money. The recoil didn’t really bother me but the amount of noise even with hearing pro bothered me some.

Well, I believe I was 10, the rifle was a Husqvarna, .270 wcf. I was so fortunate because my uncle was a serious hunter and shooter and he was very into handloading at the time.
We didn't use any reduced loads, quite the opposite.
The rifle had a plastic or steel butt plate.
I was a pretty big kid in 1968. I don't remember complaining and we did alot of shooting.
It was my elk rifle, still have it.....I installed a recoil pad on it latter on

Agreed. I’ve heard guys recommend a 30-30 as a light recoiling first rifle for kids in my home state. In my experience the amount of recoil is pretty substantial in a typical light weight hard recoil plate lever action deer rifle.

Started with air rifle but shortly after got a 22 and then 303 - full wood MkIII SMLE inclusive of the standard brass butt-plate. Thumb in the nose was worse than the metal butt-plate. The recoil was otherwise fun, as well as the big bang, and cloud of dust at the target.

In 1967 I bought a Marlin 336 in 44 magnum. I never really thought about it kicking. I shot a lot of cans and targets with it because back then there just weren't that many deer around the areas I had to hunt. From the middle 70's to about 2005 it put a bunch of venison in the freezer though. My son has it now and it is still a great rifle. I found one like it a year or two after I gave mine to my son. I now have a Marlin 336 in 44 magnum back in my safe.

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.

1898 .30-40 Krag...as a 70 pound 12 year old I feared it greatly, convinced it was a giant (and kid) killer comparing to the .600 Nitro. I was a pretty fair marksman with it, if you take into account, that every time I jerked the trigger, my teeth were clenched and my eyes firmly shut. My Father visibly swelled with pride when one time I hit a paper plate at an astonishing 75 yards.

I started with a 30-06, had a 458 Win and a 470 NE for a while just because.

Now my big gun is a 308.

I started with a Rem 788 in 243 Winchester and Federal red box 100gr.

I was small for my age, and at 11, in a tank top, no hearing protection. It dang near ruined me.

To this day it is still one of the worst recoil memories I have, along with a 700 classic 35 Whelen and CZ hogback 416 Rigby.

I bought a Century Arms partially sporterized M93 7x 57 finished sporterizing it and learned to load amm0 for it
Shot my 1st deer with 140 gr NPT's that I loaded mb

I started on centerfire rifles with a Remington 700 ADL in 30-06. I had a Marlin 22 bolt action, H&R crack barrel 12 gauge and a Dan Wesson 357 mag revolver for a while before the 30-06.

My first centerfire rifle was a pushfeed 70 in 280, my second when I was a kid was a pushfeed 70 in 458 WM. I lived in AK and shot almost everything with it.

300 win mag in a very light weatherby vanguard at 11yo. Only the strong survive. We were taught not to waste ammo and bring home meat.

I started with a 20GA side by side shotgun shooting FN Brenneke slugs with which I killed my first wild boars and red deer at the age of fourteen.

It was the gun I had been shooting small game with, and my Father would not allow me to graduate to a rifle until I was sixteen.

Then I would use whatever was available at home, with my two elder brothers being avid hunters as well. Most of the time it was a 300 Win Mag SAKO with Dominion ammunition loaded with150gr bullets wearing a white plastic tip.

Ahh... what times!

I started shooting trap with a Rem 870 tb or tc when I was 11, using mild loads. Deer rifle was a Rem 600 in 6mm. I remember the 6mm kicking worse.

I started like most kids I knew with a 22 and grandpa's break open 12 ga. I was quite a bit older before I realized that there were levels of recoil in between those two.

An 1894 30-30 made in 1917

I started hunting with my Dad really young. I didn't carry a gun for a couple of years, a lot of the time my Dad was carrying me....this was following beagles on rabbits on our place and local farms during rabbit season and when deer hunting (no dogs) on scheduled WMA hunts. Later I got to carry a single shot 16 ga for rabbits and with slugs for deer....at that age I always had to sit with Dad. Recoil was kinda tough with the 16 ga but I didn't really mind it. It was the noise that I hated as we never wore ear protection.

After a couple of years of that he let me start carrying a Ruger 44 auto with a 2.5x fixed power scope in see through rings. Same thing, recoil didn't bother me, noise did.

Dad got me a TC Cherokee kit in 45 that we put together and finished so I could go on the primitive weapons/muzzle loader hunts the WMA's had. This was the only time does could be killed so it was a big deal to me and the first deer I killed was with that rifle. Lightweight with a metal butt plate. Recoil was solid but not to harsh. I still have it and hunt with it occasionally.....I hate to shoot it now and as I got older I hated shooting it because it hits my right cheek bone HARD because of the stock design. It didn't do that when I was a kid....I'd have definitely remembered it. I liked shooting it when young because it didn't seem as loud as the 44.

Later my parents got me a 700 30-06. "One rifle to last your life". I still have it and it's still very accurate, though it sits in a McMillan Edge rather than the original wood ADL and has a Nightforce rather than the original Bushnell. Recoil didn't seem bad to me even when I was young.....again, the noise sure did.

On all of these I might have noticed the recoil more if I had hearing protection on.....as it was, recoil was always an after though, noise always bothered me more.

30 40 kraig,30-30 winchester,then 30-06 ,12 gauge too

I started out with a Remington M 600 .243 Win with (IIRC) a 6x Weaver.

-

When my Uncle Bill, came back from WW2 1946, he brought me a falling block single shot .22 I was 6 years old, and he taught me to be safe, and trigger press, and we shot tin cans down by the creek, sitting, standing,prone, kneeling, when I was 8 Years old Uncle Bill married my Aunt Jeannie, and moved from Meeker, Colo. to Sterling , Colo. I didn't have anyone to shoot with, I started bitching to my Grandfather who was a great hunter and shot, that I didn't have anyone to shoot with, I will always remember he went to our gun rack and got my .22 and gave it to me, and he said
" if you shoot your self don't come crying to me" Killed my first Mule Deer and my first Cow Elk, that fall with Granddad's model 94 30-30, don't remember any recoil or muzzle blast. That was in 1948, still hunting and shooting, and will until i die. Rio7

I started hunting with a Remington 742 in 30-06 and a Remington 1100 12 GA.

The Rem 1100 was a TB Trap, and I acquired several barrels so that I could shoot trap and skeet, and also hunt deer with a slug barrel. I hunted turkey with the trap barrel.
For squirrel, I had my grandfather's Winchester 1897 12 GA.

I was an adult before I thought about hunting. I had a bunch of knowledgeable buddies that helped me. One was the gun editor of Gundog Magazine. Another owned a gun store and ammo factory.

I started with a Winchester 94 30-30 and one of my next guns was a Marlin 444. I still have the 444 but sold the 30-30 way way back.

Started with an old l.c.smith 12ga double barrel at maybe 12 years old. Went to a sporterized brittish smle when 18 years old. They both recoiled about the same to me.

I started with a H & R topper in 30-30. Use to think it kicked so much but got my first deer with it from about 50 yards. I felt like I could have shot anything with it. Great memories indeed.

I killed my first deer with a W-W Foster-style slug from a Winchester Model 37 .410 single shot. It was a little fork-horn blacktail that I shot out of our hayloft when it came in (right on schedule!) to eat windfall apples in our home orchard. Range was about 20 yards. One shot; I had "Kentucky windage" sighted the slugs in on a 25 yard pistol target that I found in my grandfather's shooting kit. "Wasted" a whole 5-round box figuring out where to put the bead to make the slug hit where I thought it should go. Beginner's luck all around....

On the dubious strength of that achievement, my grandfather gave me his "coyote" rifle, a Win '92 .25-20, and I used that for 3 more little blacktails over the next few years. It worked when the range was short and the deer small and you could afford to wait for the near-perfect shot. I usually could wait, and the only time I didn't, it was a serious mess.... Shortly after that my brother went off to West Point and left me the custodian of his Savage 99.

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.

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....

My dad was a bit of a gun guy so as a kid I started out shooting stuff in his gun cabinet ; a Sears bolt action 22 RF, Remington 722 222 Rem., M1903A3 30-06 purchased from the NRA in the early 60's, Winchester M94 30-30 and a Sako L579 Deluxe 308 Winchester purchased from the base Rod and Gun Club Karamursel , Turkey in 1970 .

I started with the Red Ryder BB Gun like many, one Christmas a Sheridan 5 mm pellet rifle showed up, a Marlin 60 22RF was a birthday present , in 1976 I paid for a M700 BDL in 30-06 and a Savage M67 12 gauge . The shotgun was appropriately named "Savage" as it kicked the snot out of me ; my first dove hunt it turned my shoulder and upper arm all sorts of interesting shades of blue, black , green and yellow . Put all four boxes through that gun that afternoon and was ever so proud of those 12 birds
After that shotgun , the 30-06 was a piece of cake to shoot .

I took my first whitetail with my dad's M94 30-30; I still have that rifle and his Sako in the safe , great memories .

StarchedCover

First gun was as a 10 year old. Savage 24 in 22/410. Killed lots of small game with it.

First deer rifle was a Winchester 94 in 30-30. My oldest has it now. Still shoots great.

700 ADL 7RM.

My dad didn’t hunt and I took advice from coworkers who thought 270 was low end for hunting game. One guy said get the 7 because he liked it better than his 30-06. He felt it recoiled less and was flatter shooting.

Looking back I wish someone would have suggested a 7-08 as it would have been a better learning curve. Oh well. I’ve killed the hell out of deer with it and am never getting rid of it because it shoots so well and I put it in a Ti stock. It gets lonely never being used but every 5 or so years I blow the dust out of it and take it hunting.