Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles first deer rifle survey

300 Savage 99F------my uncle's gun @ 14 years old. Bought a Remington 700 30/06 when I was 16.

Have been hunting with a Blaser R93 in .257 Weatherby for last 20 years for deer and antelope. I use my Steyr Scout rifle in .308 for pig hunting. I have a conventionally mounted scope: S&B 1.5-6X42.

7mm Mauser. 1895 bubba'd sporterized I bought at gun show.
I was 13. Enamoured with it. It was stolen last year! I was in my 30's when I learned how to seat a bullet out to the lands and actually got it shooting straight! Shot my first deer with it, back in the 1900s.

Winchester Model 100 .308
I was 14 when I started using it. Shot my first deer with it when I was 17.
I got a brand new Remington 7400 30-06 for Christmas that same year and carried it for probably 8-10 years before switching to a bolt action.

M1 carbine - Got a button buck my first year.
18 y/o

I would not suggest it but it worked.

winchester 94 Buffalo Bill 30-30

Remington 788 in 6mm

Exact same, except 180gr Sierra RN over 4064.
Old man gave it to me two years ago. Think I’ll shoot bambi with it this year just for old times sake.


Growing up, every load was with IMR 4064. The old man and my uncle had a metal 2 or 3 gallon keg of it they bought somewhere. Only other powder ever used was unique for .357’s and .38’s. I have his RCBS Jr press too.

Hell yeah! I dig it. Never loved the 742/7400’s, but my old man had a few and they all worked well. The 180/4064 is a classic huh?

Hope you hunt it. Probably be fun to see the old bird in the woods again.

At age 12 Remington Model 760 pump in 6mm Rem was the first centerfire I hunted deer with. Still have that rifle , Thanks Dad! Good memories!

Over the years I have went bolt action & up in caliber & back down to 6mm Rem & now 6mm ARC. For the type of hunting I have done I have never needed anything more.

Here was mine. M70 XTR 7mm Rem Mag. Had the black Tupperware stock on it and a 4x Redfield for a long time. I fed it a steady diet of H870 and 140 PTs.


Took a lot of deer, some bear and anything else that would stand still back then.

Then I used it for my moose and caribou hunt in 95 just before I joined the MC.










After meeting BobinNH he convinced me to Mashburn it.



It’s still in my hunting family and will come home when he’s ready to let it go.



He restocked it with a Pendleton stock

12 years old. A Winchester M1 Carbine my uncle Charlie sent home from Italy a piece at a time.

A Marlin 336cs in .30-30 win. at age 12.

Age 13, Remington mfr sporterized Springfield 03A3, .30-06 Springfield in a Bishop Circassian Walnut stock.

Revalation 225 (savage 340) in 30-30. I shot a button buck with it when I was 13, but thought I needed something bigger and I started carrying my cousins model 70 in 7wsm. Dad traded the bolt 30-30 and I ended up with a mossburg 100 ATR in 270. Gave my cousin back the 7wsm and started hunting with the 270. I have laid down a lot of deer with the mossburg and it is a shooter. I now have my cousins 7 wsm in the safe, but haven't carried it in about 15 years.

I bought my first deer rifle a Ruger 77 tanger in .270, I was 21. Killed my first deer the following year with a .338WM Weatherby Vanguard deluxe. I had bought it to be my elk rifle. Sold the 338 as it was to flashy for my taste.
Way to many rifles since then have come and some have gone. Lol

A Marlin 336 in .44 Magnum.

I was eleven.

Shot a 4 point six minutes into opening day.

-Jake

Ruger M77 Mark II stainless .30-06 Sprg. @ age 22 on red deer

The first rifle I ever killed deer with was my Dad's M99 Savage in 300 Savage. It was what I used by was not mine. Actually it was a 30-30 or 303 originally that an Arizona gunsmith converted to 300 Sav. before my Dad got it from him in 1948, so it was one made before 1920, but I can't come up with any details beyond that now. The gunsmith was a good friend of my Dad's and he gave that Savage to him as a wedding gift when he married my mom. It was also the rifle I also used to kill my 1st elk. It was a short thin barrel, about 20" I am guessing. It had a crescent butt plate and was made with with no pistol grip. Just had iron sights, but it shot well enough to kill what we needed to kill.

My own 1st rifle that I bought with my own money when I was 12 was a 270, Model 70 Winchester with a Weaver K4 on it. About 2 years later Dad sold the Savage.

For Ohio: Remington 1100 12 GA w. smooth bore and rifle sights. 2.75" Remmie Sluggers
For Kentucky: Remington 742 in 30-06, 180 grain Rem SPCL

I was 23.