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My introduction into centerfire rifle was a singular one.


Uncle Bob Robertson was my shooting mentor. He lived in a small town in NW Montana and had about 150 Acres of property about 50 miles north of town up by the Canadian border. My Dad, myself & him would go up there to camp, fish, shoot & hunt ruffed grouse out of season and just generally to goof around. Now uncle Bob had a nice selection of firearms that he had put together over the years he was definitely a Rifleman by nature and had a number of pre 64 Model 70 rifles l remember a 30-06 a .257 Robert's, and a .243 Winchester. He also had a mixture of Winchester lever action and smaller bolt guns and a few shotguns. Being a kid I would go over there to visit and harass him when I was in my early teens and would always ask for a particular gun to be brought out from underneath his bed or bedroom closet, pulled out of the case and handed to me then I would get the story on how he had acquired this one and what had done with it. Now one of his favorites was an old I would guess 1930s vintage Winchester 1886, this gun had an especially interesting story. Uncle Bob had always done a lot of remodeling and generally liked working in wood more than metal. This time he was working at some old widows house taking out a wall and when he pulled off the plaster here was this rifle in between the wall studs so he pulled it out and cleaned it off, here was this beautiful old gun with a nice dark walnut and the curved cut butt plate with the bluing that was almost completely gone giving this gun a stainless steel appearance. I always liked it it was big and long and very heavy must have had the 26 inch octagon barrel on it with a full length magazine tube and it was chambered in of course .45-70 Government. We took this one along with us this up to his property and this was my introduction into rifle shooting. Now other than the Ithica 22 single shot, my little lever gun after a fashion, I had shot up to this point with my dad that was Mytotal experience I'm sure Uncle Bob didn't set me up with too hot of a load but I do remember that it was a stout recoil and it seemed like the echo from this rifle bounced around the hills for quite a while after I fired it I remember it was extremely hard for me to to hold level at a young age and I have no idea where the sites were looking when I pull the trigger but I do remember it like it was yesterday and I felt felt very proud to have fired such a piece of history at such a young age

This has turned out to be a popular thread.



My introduction into centerfire rifle was a singular one.


Uncle Bob Robertson was my shooting mentor. He lived in a small town in NW Montana and had about 150 Acres of property about 50 miles north of town up by the Canadian border. My Dad, myself & him would go up there to camp, fish, shoot & hunt ruffed grouse out of season and just generally to goof around. Now uncle Bob had a nice selection of firearms that he had put together over the years he was definitely a Rifleman by nature and had a number of pre 64 Model 70 rifles l remember a 30-06 a .257 Robert's, and a .243 Winchester. He also had a mixture of Winchester lever action and smaller bolt guns and a few shotguns. Being a kid I would go over there to visit and harass him when I was in my early teens and would always ask for a particular gun to be brought out from underneath his bed or bedroom closet, pulled out of the case and handed to me then I would get the story on how he had acquired this one and what had done with it. Now one of his favorites was an old I would guess 1930s vintage Winchester 1886, this gun had an especially interesting story. Uncle Bob had always done a lot of remodeling and generally liked working in wood more than metal. This time he was working at some old widows house taking out a wall and when he pulled off the plaster here was this rifle in between the wall studs so he pulled it out and cleaned it off, here was this beautiful old gun with a nice dark walnut and the curved cut butt plate with the bluing that was almost completely gone giving this gun a stainless steel appearance. I always liked it it was big and long and very heavy must have had the 26 inch octagon barrel on it with a full length magazine tube and it was chambered in of course .45-70 Government. We took this one along with us this up to his property and this was my introduction into rifle shooting. Now other than the Ithica 22 single shot, my little lever gun after a fashion, I had shot up to this point with my dad that was my total in shooting experience. I'm sure Uncle Bob didn't set me up with too hot of a load but I do remember that it was a stout recoil and it seemed like the echo from this rifle shot bounced around the hills for quite a while after I fired it. I remember it was extremely hard for me to to hold level at a young age and I have no idea where the sites were looking when I pulled that trigger but I do remember really liking it & remember that moment just like it was yesterday. I felt felt very proud to have fired it in such fine company & to feel like l was now a part of the club.

41

53 years ago My fathers Savage 340 in 30-30 , recently passed it on to my nephew.

My first CF was a 1895 Chilean 7x57 Mauser[sporterized]. Second was the exact 788 above.

Model 98k,8mm mauser. I was 12 when I started hunting with that heavy sumbeech

1894 made in 1917. A 30-30

My Dad's Model 94 in 30-30

Ron

7 x57 small ring german mauser. Lots of cool factor there. Had the original military sights on it and as I remember they were pretty accurate.

We always had guns around and I can’t remember the first centerfire I fired. What I do remember is at 10 years old, begging my dad to shoot his Interarms Whitworth .375. After several weeks of listening to my nagging, he let me shoot it with a full load of 4350 behind a 300-grain Sierra. For those that live in the Dallas area, he bought that gun from our down the street neighbor, Ed that now works in Gunmaster in Plano. This was shortly before Ed moved 400 miles to the big city.

I vividly remember firing that gun along with how attractive I thought the English-styled stock looked.

There was only one type of centerfire rifle when i was a kid. 30-06. One guy had a 300 savage. one a 308. Everyone else had a 30-06.

That was all their was.

My Dads 03-A3 Springfield in 30-06

1st CF I recall shooting was my Dad’s Remington 721 in 30/06 complete with steel butt plate. It was fun but probably not the best choice for a 13yo’s introduction to center fire rifles. I’ve killed a few things with that same 30/06 and it worked as well as anything else, but to this day I’ve never thought the ‘06’s performance was anything special considering it’s recoil. That steel butt plate probably didn’t help those feelings…

John

300 Savage, I was 9 and shot a peep sighted model 99 at a 100 yard target and hit the small bull each time...

".. King of the wild frontier."

30/06

Winchester model 94 classic 30-30. Had a 26" octagon barrel. One of only 2 rifles I regret having sold.

A 1948 Spanish Mauser 98 in 8x57 Mauser unsporterized and weighing about 9lbs. Overpaid for it at local pawn shop with my yard moving money. I thought it was the best rifle in the world.

A 6.5 Carcano I bought from a neighbor for $15 in 1975. It came with a box and a half of Norma 156 grain ammo.

Sporterized 03A3 in 30-06. Killed that Kleenex box dead.

Was a Winchester saddle ring carbine in .44-40. It was 1978 and I was eight years old. I spent some time trying to hit a purple-breasted moor hen with it.

I still shoot Winchesters and the .44-40 is one of my favorite cartridges, both smokeless and black powder.. Nowadays I shoot red and fallow deer with it.