Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Just fer schitz n' giggles.........your "taste" in rifles?

I hunted with wood stocked rifles blued steel for over two decades. These days I still appreciate a nice looking classic rifle but I hunt with stainless and synthetic stocked rifles. It rains quite often where I hunt and the red clay gets on everything. So its just easier to get things cleaned up and my coated stainless rifles are just about bulletproof in the rain.

Utilitarian for me. Single shot 30-30 and 44mag with silencers for deer. 45/70 Marlin or 6.5 Howa or T/C if I wanna change it up. .308 Savage Lightweight hunter if hiking is involved.

Obtaining the things now, I always admired, but couldn’t obtain as a kid. I’m not rich by any means. Just now I get the firearms I want that are within my means.

I will abstain from trying to inject to much philosophy ( or excuses) into it. It is simply what I like.

I find myself slowly slipping into a small collection of niche chamberings when one or 2 standard rifles I alreadyown would do the job just fine. 22 Hornet, 6x45, and 300 BO bolt rifles, for example.

I like them old. Or old style. Have a 151 yr old rolling block that is very shootable. Love levers and old style pumps. Many bolt actions. Love Mausers. Love single shots. Have some elderly double shotguns. All good.

Guns have come and gone, had some fancy and beaters, can't remember any I couldn't get to shoot.

But the killing guns I've had are the first 4 plus 2 I've given to my my nephew and my oldest friend.

Bought a 99 308 and the 870 with my summer ranching money mid '70s. Killed a deer every year until the early 90s with the 99 and I can't even guess how many doves and quail with the 870. Bluing's wore and it's been beat to chit in the desert, it's like an extension of me.

Early 90s bought the rem 700 3006, it's killed a bunch of elk and deer from family and friends, at least twice it's killed 4 elk in a season.

Latest go to has been the Tikka 7mm08 for over 10 years, deer and elk.

They will go to the grandkids.

Kent

I like my rifles to be light and have wood to the muzzle and my shotguns to have hammers on them and I really like European weapons that have both rifle and shotgun barrels on them.

I'd rather sneak across the valley to shoot a deer than shoot across the valley to kill it.

I have had a few over the years. Winchester, Sako, Mauser, Mannlicher, CZ and Ruger in various configurations. Recently I got a Blaser R8 in 257 Weatherby. Wow! That baby will shoot. Under a dime groups @ 100 yds. Seems like that is a rifle that lives up to its hype. Still have my Savage 99 PE, my Browning 1886 Montana Centennial and a couple of others for SHTF events, but the "go to for hunting" is the Blaser.

I have played with them all. Beautiful customs, pumps, levers, Euro single shots.

I am simply bolt action trash. Preferably coated metal and synthetic stocks. I lean towards Model 70 classics from NH, Kimber Montana's. I own a few wood stocked rifles, but struggle taking them out.

Shotguns have gravitated toward Benelli semi autos, and own a Winchester 101 that I had reblued and stock refinished due to rough hunting conditions. My first shotgun was a Winchester 1300 pump. It is in pretty rough shape, but it has been there done that.

Holy grail item, right there.

With that dorky lookin mug and mellon head of yours, plus the fact that you're a welching pos lunatic, it must cost you a fortune to maintain that standard for women. What do they usually charge you per hour ?

Some nice stuff in this thread... REALLY NICE STUFF.

I have very little wood... some Garands, a 700 CDL or two, couple of plain levers (.454c, 460S/W, 45/70).

My passion has always been the math of a cartridge... how quiet can I make a .458... how long to punch can a .300 Bee throw... how fast can I make a pistol (Glock 21 throwing at 1,720 FPS).

I totally respect a beautiful weapon, but BCs and physics are my bit.

Thanks to all for posting some mighty beautiful stuff.

I like the older ones. Got a couple pre-64 transitionals. One in 300HH and the other in 387HH. Had a double 475 Nitro Ex. that I intended to take to Africa. But things changes and it was rarely getting out of the safe so I sold it a few years back. Really like the doubles. Got a couple of English 12 Bore SxS. If I found a good deal on another double rifle I would have a hard time not "pulling the trigger".

Mine is pretty varied.
But I also sell off alot of em.
Right now I have a
New Model ZPAP PRK based AKM
FN 16 carbine
Mod 70 ot6
Sako Customized 98k 8x57
And basically a 220 that in roundabout way you might as well call a rifle.

I have sold what many might call desirable rifles since I was 16 yrs old.
That 1st rifle I ever sold was a 1980 marlin 336A 24 inch half tube in .30-30.
Some I regret. Kinda....
Most recent ones
A 1964 Marlin 36G and a 1981 Marlin 375
And a Arsenal SLR 100H.
But the people I sold them to also gave me my asking price and didnt try to haggle me at all.
And were more than happy to find them in the exc condition they were in.
I sold a pistol ( outside of thread subject line) I kinda regret.
Kinda......
3rd gen colt woodsman back in 04 97 98% condition.
Box and all papers.
Everytime I shot it, it was cleaned to my OCD standard.
But I doubled up on that pistol also.


I dont really have emotional attatchments to firearms.
They work for me and I hold onto to them and they reach core group status, or they become boring to me and can be replaced easily
with something else that might work for me and reach core group status.
Never know unless you buy and try is what it is for me.

Holy CHIT Les!


Glad you're alive n typin...

I started out with a tang Ruger in 30-06. Saved my birthday money forever. 368 bucks

Had a bunch Rugers since, none were SS/Syn.

Rem 700 for a bit.

Now down to a single Montana in 7-08

Getting to the age where I want to buy/build something for a possible grandchild. I'd like a CRF M70 in 7-08, micky stocks - youth and adult sized.

The firearm is merely the tool used to put a bullet where I want it, at least for me. I like mine to do it consistently with speed and then have some comfort. Looks rank fairly low for me as most who have hunted with me can attest to. Doesn't mean I don't care, it's just not above accuracy, function and feel.
My preferred rifles are savages, some painted but mostly customized and often a wildcat. My usual go to is my 308 because it just works as is, although a 6-06ai was used most this year just because. I own some classics and heirlooms but they just take up space and only get exercised on a rare occasion. I appreciate a fine looking rifle, much like a beautiful woman. It's not very often though you see a supermodel pull a calf, fillet a fish or butcher a deer, in fact I've never seen one. Cute girls who get it done are more my speed.

That's bad ass.

I dunno. I've never really seen a pattern.

Thanks tzone. There's a hell of a story with that rifle too. An unbelievable one really.

The fancy grade PE rifle above came from Texas. When I got it here it had a crack in the stock. It had also been shortened a little bit. Disappointing to say the least. But that's not the end of the story.

I bought another standard Savage rifle from back east that someone had embellished with the same style fancy wood. Where they got the wood is anybodies guess. It was a mint condition standard rifle with fancy wood, but the wood had been added to it. One day I decided to take the good wood off the standard rifle and when I did the serial number on the wood I got from back east matched the serial number on the rifle I got from Texas that had the buggered wood, AND, it didn't have a crack and had not been shortened!

Imagine buying two rifles from opposite sides of the country, years apart, and having the wood from one match the serial number on the other. What are the odds against that?

Anyhow, I was very, very thankful to be able to replace the buggered wood on this PE with it's rightful buttstock and make it whole again.