Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What gun are you the most attached to and why?

My first rifle was a Remington 788 in .308 Winchester. Dad bought it for me used, I believe in 1978. I killed my first deer with it on Pleasantville Mountain that December, and quite a few others with it up until I joined the Army in ‘85.
I was in Ft Lewis WA the fall of ‘85, so I couldn’t go hunting. I called home and talked to Dad to see who got what.
“I killed a nice 8 point on the Mountain” Dad says. “Oh yeah? Where at up there” says I.
“Over in that hollow below the Big Rock. You know where I’m talking about?”
“Yeah Dad, I usually always hunted that hollow the first day. What was you shooting?”
“Your .308!” He then asked if I wanted to sell it. A family friend had seen it and wanted to buy it.
“No, tell Bill it ain’t for sale” I said.
“That’s good. That means I can use it till you get home!”
When I returned to Pennsylvania, I bought myself a Ruger 77 in .30-06, and the .308 became Dad’s gun. He hunted the last 25 years of his life with that gun. When he died, I finally put it back in my gun cabinet.
It’s still a shooter. I still hand load for it, I drag it out once or twice every year in deer season.
But it’ll forever be “Dad’s Gun” to me, and when I go on to hunt with Dad again, Ben can say “it was Pap’s Gun”.
7mm

Great story there 7 mm

I should add this.
“The Big Rock” I mentioned was one of Dad’s favorite spots. It’s a boulder the size of a house, and it sticks outta the side of the mountain about a 1/4 of the way down from the summit. It sorta overhangs the side of the mountain. From there you can cover a lot of territory. We spent a lot of time up there.
When Dad died, he went peacefully with my brothers and I right there. Just before he went he looked at Dave and I and said “I’ll see you boys on The Big Rock”.
Dave’s legs ain’t the best, and it’s steep and rocky up there.
But every year in deer season, I make sure and spend a morning or afternoon up there, and I always leave a cold beer and a cigarette.
7mm

What: My bubba'd Howa 1500 in 35 Whelen.

Why: It's the rifle I made while attending CST. Looks like dogsh!t but it shoots well enough.

This one is special. GI National Match .45 Service Pistol built in the FT Benning AMU shop. I've shot it in hundreds of matches over the years, with many a win (and a lot of losses, too). Truly a superb pistol.
Bob

Mt Les Baer UTC, 1.5" sans FCS. Because it's bad-arse:

Had a minigun strapped to my ass for a few years, guess I was attached to it.

Far and away the gun I have the most attachment to is an old Stevens 22/410. My dad bought it new, shortly after being discharged from the Navy.
It was his go to small game killer. Several times a week he would come home early during hunting season and we walk the half mile or so to old over grown abandoned orchard and hunt rabbits squirmed pheasants and grouse. I can't begin to count the meals that old firearm out on our table. I know for a fact the even took a ducks, 1 goose and even a turkey during afternoon hikes. I miss those days and I miss dad . The old 410 still gets out every season and feeds my family too

Lots of nice stories here about the gun that daddy gave you and I can see why you all feel about them the way that you do.
The gun that my daddy gave me was an old 46b Mossberg 22 that didn't have any rifling left in the bore. Needless to say, it didn't shoot worth a hill of beans. Finally gave it to my nephew who was tickled pink to get "grampa's" gun.
Good riddance.
As for the one I am most attached to, Every one that I have obtained since I turned 18. Haven't sold a one in over 50 years.

But if you forced me to proclaim one as my favorite, it would be my Rem 788 in 223. First hunting rifle I bought all those years ago and still shoots dime size groups off the bags.

I am most attached to my SS FW M70 All -Terrain .30-06.
I added iron sights and a 2.5-8x36 Leupold. It started as a .270, I had it rebarreled with an unfired .30-06 barrel by a retired USMC armorer. It is floated, bedded with Steel bed and the trigger was adjusted to three lbs.
My favorite load is a 180 NPT in Remington cases, CCI LRP, with 57 grains of H-4350SC. It shoots 180 I/L to about the same point of impact to about 300 yards. Remington factory 180 C/L shoots very close as well.
It is not my first M70 or my latest. Nor is it my first '06. It is just the rifle I shoot the best and that I have the most big game kills with. It has never failed me in nearly 30 years.

My Dad’s pre-64 M70 in 30-06 and a Colt Series 70.

My girlfriend gave me a M70 30-06 for Christmas in 1977. I went to Nome that year to have Christmas with her family. I gave her a fur coat and I got the 06. I thought it was a fair trade. Still have the rifle and the girl. She gave me a M70 in 375 H&H for Christmas in 93, I think I'll keep her. I got my father's and hunting partners rifles when they passed away, but those two model 70s are the special ones.

I could be attached to those.
Bob

1946 (I think) model 70 .270 that was my grandfathers. He passed in 2000. Before he died, he sold it to a buddy of his. I contacted him and asked to buy it if he ever sold it. After about 10 years, he said he was ready to sell and to come over. We small talked a little then I asked him how much? He asked how much money I had in my pocket, I had a wad of bills. No, he said, any change. I didn't but Dad did and he held out some. Guy took two pennies. That's what my grandfather sold it to him for, his two cents. Pop-pop was funny like that. Also have his Ithaca 16ga SxS that I used to kill my first rabbit.

The other is my Dad 760 .270. He passed in 2019.

I've killed 2 8pts with each, one shot each. Carrying Dad's again this year.

My Dad's Marlin model 80 .22 he left me.

I have one hanging on the wall in my gun room. Take it down and shoot & clean it once a year.

I don’t have any inheritance baby guns.

I have a bowling trophy with the arms broken off from my peepaw. No tittie baby hand-me-downs.


I do have a 788 in 308 with a 16” barrel. Got from broke-dick military pawnshop. Pistol Pete’s pawn outside Gate6 next to the smut video store. Fort Campbell. That’s a military base for the folks in Pisswater that make threads about a single helicopter flying over.

Anyway, had to have the old man sign for it across statelines. Wooo!!! Saved up my hay bale slinging money when I was 15

Probably whacked 80 whitetails with that little rifle. Perfect in climbing tree stands.

I have dozens of guns but the one I'll never sell is my first.

An Ithaca model 37 12 gauge my Dad let me pick out at small gun shop for Xmas in 1974.

Every nick, scratch, chip, pit and crack tells a story.

A Kimber of Oregon Model 82 Cascade in .22 magnum.

My dad sold it to me as he said there are "no freebies in life". A lesson well learned.

A lot. Sold the hams, kept the rest.