Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters It;'s 1958: what's the all-around Western Rifle?

Then the LOP supplied on those rifles was probably close to correct for you at the time.

I got my M721 .30-'06 in '54, and my Dad paid Sears & Roebuck $88 for it. I also picked up a surplus M94 Swede 6.5X55 carbine a couple of years later for $15 IIRC.

I still have the actions of both rifles.

jim

The 'o6 for all around use. At its velocities, standard bullets work well. Just match the weight to the game, with 180s or 200s being do-it-all choices. Back then, 400yds was a really long poke (still is) and people tended to hunt closer. Even in the West, 200yds and under is probably the majority of big game shots.

A model 70 in 30-06 if I can afford it. If not, a Remington model 721, again in 30-06.

I like this answer. From what I own I have two really good options:

(1) Ruger 77 MKII stainless laminate .30-06 LH
(2) Winchester M70 Fwt Blued Walnut .300 WSM LH

Hard to pick, but would probably give the nod to the order listed. Never hurts to have a backup .

I wasn't even a twinkle in my mother's eye in 1958 and for many moons thereafter. But I really enjoy reading the posts from those who were around back then.

Model 70 in 300 H&H or a Weatherby in 300. jorge

Hmmm, I guess I am the only one old enough to have been there in 1958, at least that could read and write!

The 30-06 was king, the 30-30 definatly still had its calling, and the 270 was in the hunt and gaining ground..

The 30-06 was king because the boys were back from several world wars and they loved it, the springfields were selling for $7.50 each from NRA, and they flooded the country with 30-06s and 45 autos..It was a better world in the 50s...Anti gun nuts didn't come out during daylight hours.

An old thread I know and the topic is set 2 full years before the world was graced with my presence but a lot of the stories seem familiar to me anyway.

One of the most interesting threads on the 'fire imo.

2 years before my arrival, but I believe my dad was feeding my 2 older sisters, and my brother who was brought home and put under the Christmas tree in '56 with his Remington 721 in 257 Roberts or the sporterised '03-a3 '06 I remember from a few years later. This was back here in Maine, not a western choice perhaps. I do recall a large pile of pistol trophies and a lot of bullet casting and hand loading going on too.

I just read this entire thread... Very enjoyable... Don't know how I missed it the 1st time around...

I don't recall my Dad ever owning a bolt rifle other than a Sporterized Krag. He always thought that was as good as it got.

My hunting mentor owned a Sporterized '03-A3 with a M-70 stock on it. Never had a scope on it until he was in his '70's.

I was never fortunate to inherit any guns of any kind. But in 1958, I was a gun nut even then... At the ripe ol' age of seven, all my rifles were whittled (roughly) out of slaps of lumber. I had a .30-30, a .32 Spec., a .30-06, and a BAR. Those were the only guns I'd ever heard of...

GH

+1, the "rifleman's rifle" for me too....

i dont want ATKINSON HUNTING , to feel all alone, i got out of high school in may of 1957, we lived in rangley ,colo. n.w. colo.about all i did growing up was hunt and fish. i started hunting cottontails by myself at 9 yrs old with a savage single shot .22 dove, quail, phesant,& ducks, with a .410 savage single shot.when i was 12 yr. old a friend of my mother gave me a 44-40 win. rifle. octgone barrel, damn thing weighed a ton loaded, so i would only put 4 rds. in it at a time. killed my first mulie& first elk with it.both inside of 75 yards, my next big game all around kill anything rifle was a rem.721 in .270,it was my super gun, shot like a lazer, with iron sights.i will agree that the 30-06 was the gun of choice for most hunters back then, with 30-30 and 300 savage also in the running, but i thought my .270 was a lot sexier and it was faster than a 30-06. i killed bear, you got a bear tag with your deer lic. back then no extra charge, elk, mulies, mountian lion, woodchucks, coyotes, and everything it was legal to kill with my .270. and im 75 yrs old now and still use it every fall. its got a scope on it now as i cant see as good as i used to.i still guide hunters every year and i still have my 721.i got when i was 14 yrs old.rio7

I must say, three and a half years after I wrote that post, my personal pick today is the Model 70 in 30-06. I'm no longer willing to tolerate recoil above that level, unless I have to.

Congrats RIO7 ! Hunting AND guiding at 75 yrs.

That's fantastic. I'm sure you'll do it as long as you can AND

I hope that's a long time still.

Your story makes me S M I L E.

Model 70 in .270 Winchester.

My story is not so grand.

In '58, I was 9 yrs old but I had my own 'J C Higgins' mod 101.25 (Sears and Roebuck) ha, 410 bolt action shotgun. I killed a lot of squirrels & rabbits with it. Still have it.

About this time my dad borrowed a sporterized 303 B E. The guy was a family friend and he had done a beautiful job (I thot as a kid) finishing the stock.

I remember WELL looking at that rifle and having a 'warm fuzzy' feeling. That's when I became a rifle loony. and didn't know it; neither did my dad for another 12-14 yrs.

I didn't know much about hunting out West but EVERYBODY knew about the 06, and Win M 70s soooo.....

In 1958, I was 21. My battery was a Western Field 87 (Stevens made) .22 LR semi-auto, a 12 ga Ithica 37, and for a rifle a custom stocked Jap 6.5 that the seller told me was a .257 Roberts, so that is what I shot in it. The .25 bullets made an awful sound on the way to the target, but in retrospect it was amazingly accurate with the under size bullets. Minute of jackrabbit and coyote for sure, even to way out there. I had an uncle that was often broke, so he used me rather than a pawn shop to hock whatever handgun he might have. Always felt sorry for him and let him buy them back at cost when he was flush again.

Most of the folks that I knew, were still using some type military surplus, either stock or customized, or a lever gun. It was about this time that I ran into a man at the range who was kind enough to let me shoot his Model 70 .243, First one I ever saw. We had a rich family friend (oil) in west Texas that had three Model 70s in .270, .30-06, and .264. I have that pre-war .270 and it will go to one of my rancher daughters. jack

In an article from one of the 1963 American Rifleman magazines, it is mentioned that the Winchester model 70 factory spec for accuracy was 3" for factory ammo. Curious bit of trivia as compared to the standards tossed around today.

Coming in late to this. Modified/sporterized Springfield 03 in good old 30/06 + 180 grain Partitions and never look back.

Mathman,
Dad hunted with a 1903 Enfield in those days, and I was carrying an empty shotgun, then a Winchester .25-35.