I'm curious if there are particular gun models that exist mostly in Western states and are rarely found in other regions of the U.S.

25 years ago it seemed Texas was the place where the .22 Hornet, .218 Bee, .25-20 and .32-20 came to retire. There were many in use and at the gun shows. Today the Hornet seems common around the country. Lots of small game to hunt and good reasons to do so.

The .25-06 used to be the National cartridge of Texas and you still see many custom rifles in use. The .300WSM made a good run at it but things have calmed down.

There are many .250-3000 Savage Model 99's in West Texas. Most sleep in the safe - waiting for the great Grandchildren to begin hunting.

Wild guess. 444 marlin lever gun?

Maybe: Ruger Super Blackhawks 44 mags
300 Weatherby's and 300 WM

Don't know about newer guns, but I've hardly ever seen Colt SA's around here. Also, lever guns chambered in anything other than 30-30 or 35 Rem are not really plentiful.

I grew up next door in West By-God and don't ever recall a SAA either. All the lever guns I remember were .30-30 and .32 Win Spl. I know of one .444 Marlin owned by a HS bud.

I took a Wild Russian Boar in Vermont with a Winchester 94 chambered in .444 Marlin back in the 1990s. Didn't know that was rare outside Western states.

You don't see a lot of semi-auto deer rifles in Pa. just because of their arcane laws illegalizing semi autos for deer hunting.

Years ago, it seemed like most of the 1911 38 Supers were in the South West. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona.

A lot of the nations squirt guns are in California.

There's a reason for that. Mexico has always prohibited civilians from owning a 1911 in .45 ACP, so most 1911s sold in Mexico were in .38 Super, since that was legal for civilians. Many of these gradually found their way north of the border.

I used to know a guy who found a good 22 Hornet load for a TC Contender. I don't know what powder and bullet he used but he could just fill the case, smooth it off across the case mouth and seat the bullet. Without having to weight the powder, he could load a bunch of them in a hurry.

Lots of Kleinguenther rifles in Texas, they were sold in Seguin.

I can tell you that's a no. My uncles in southern IL had several.

Basically due to it’s popularity south of the border. (Non-military cartridge).

Hell, even I have one.

edit, sorry TRH didn’t see your post. Anytime one of those individuals came in the shop they would always ask to see a "Super38!"

There is at least one in NC as of this past Thursday :-)

I'd say the 444 is most common on the east coast......

Great Lakes States.........New England States

Here in Pennsylvania it is illegal to shoot big game like a deer with a semi auto. So auto loaders like Browning self loaders are rare.
Last year I think they started allowing AR15s etc for small game like coyotes and ground hogs.

I'd wager you'd see very few of the Western long range stuff, like the .264 Win or the ridiculous .300 Ultra, 7 STW and such.

I don’t know how common they are in the West, but it seems like everyone in the east has either one of the Remington 74/7400 series autos or a BAR . I believe I’m the only one who has never owned one of them or a centerfire lever action.

You see them in GA and the Carolinas. The every popular “bean field” rifles

You won't find a lot in western states either.

Because they suck.

You'd lose that wager I'm afraid.

Southern deers tough as fugk.

I have a cherry 38 super 1911A1 from the 1950s. Cool as hell. Lot different recoil than the 45 ACP. Neither is bad for recoil, but I prefer the roll of the 45 compared to the snap of the 38. I also had a 1911A1 in 38 special, but I sold that long ago, That was mild.

I rarely see any kind of "unique" western guns in the city or the woods. The standard hunting rifle is a Ruger, Remington or Winchester bolt action in .270, .30-06, 7mm mag or .300 win. mag., with ammo purchased at Walmart. Handguns tend to be common semi-autos you would find anywhere. I have yet to see anyone toting a $2500 Freedom Arms handgun or SAA, and only rarely see someone with a lever action rifle.

I think you may have it backwards. More likely there are guns in the east that you don't see much in the west. Years back I remember someone out west on a forum excited about finding a Marlin 35 Rem. He said he'd been looking for one forever, and you never saw them where he was. A couple people agreed and said the same. This all seemed very strange to me as there were probably a dozen of them at my favorite store at the time, in various condition / price... nobody was clamoring to buy them.

Yet the big stuff they probably don't need abounds.

We DO have the "Amish Machine Gun"...

Semi auto Remingtons are the official deer rifle of Upper MI and yes they suck in every way..

What are the 7mm STW, 300 Ultra ridiculous?

Model 71? It is hard to say, the usual western elk rifle is a bolt in .270,06, or .300 or 7mm. Some things are not really suited to the ranges and animals. How about .44 mag SA and similar? So far more people have answered what is not found outside the midwest,. That .35 Rem Marlin is a better woods gun, and a bit small for elk so that is why you find few of them in the plains or rockies. I am one of the guys who always wanted one, and when I finally got one I am disappointed with the nearly non existent throate, button rifling, and the Mrlin jam if your cartridges are not pretty close to factory length.

Maybe we need to define western, rocky mountain west, desert areas, Alaska, California/Wash/Oregon. When I think of west I think of the rockies, probably as much because of growing up on TV western as anytthing. Remember that probably half our hunters come from the midwest or east or south. Then there are the anamolies like scoped inlines, rifled shotguns, flintlocks, and even the scoped big bore pistols (I always wonder who someone will carry a great big pistol that weighs nearly as much as a rifle and is less handly)

I have an Amish Machine Gun in 35 Whelen. It came to me by way of PA.

When I was growing up in the late 50's & 60's the lever gun ruled the woods of Michigan. Mostly 30/30, 35 Rem's and 32 Specials. I still have a very nice Winchester Model 64 in 30/30 along with a nice Model 94 AE in 30/30 that my son used to shoot his first buck and a Marlin 336 in 35 Rem..
With the advent of the scope, bolt actions began to appear, 308's, and 06's were the most common.
My first bolt action deer rife was a Rem. 700 BDL in 270, lot's of people didn't know what that caliber was.
Today I think just about any caliber available is found in the woods up here, still some lever guns, bolt actions and the AR platform is also showing up with the newer calibers.
I have a beautiful 1962 44 Special ,Colt SAA that came out of Michigans UP, that was a back-up gun for deer and bear hunters, those were fairly common back then.

I grew up with old traditional hunters who used 30-30s. They generally were very patient and would engage at bowhunting ranges. They would look for sign of a big bull and just park at a crossing till one came by, even if it would take them 2 weeks. They would cook tea and eat salmon strips and pilot bread.

There were a number of Weatherby Mark Vs and Colt Sauers in circulation in the Copper River Basin and Valdez areas during the 70s and 80s and the 798ers would leave them in Alaska when they moved out. They are all but gone now. I think we get a lot of push feed model 70s in 06 to 338. These come up with military guys who have their dad find them an Alaska gun.

Model 71s and 1886s are pretty rare these days. Collectors also like older Savage 99s. There are three rifles that really enjoy a premium up here and it would surprise many of you. All plainly just work.

1) Ruger Mini14 Ranch rifle with factory folding stock- Loved in the villages, loved by the local militia "tackleberries", these rifles will sell for 1 grand. Way over book.

2)Ruger 44 Deerfield semiauto 44 mag carbines. They will again sell for over book. Ruger would do well to remarket them as Alaskan Backpacker Backup guns.

3)Ruger 338 Win Mag 77 with boat paddle zytel stocks. These are common up here but there is a good demand for them and they sell for more than book.

Model 70 Winchesters are found up here but they are normally beat to crap. There are a lot of sporterized mausers and they often have all kinds of issues.

That’s interesting, 3 Ruger models,... they work.

All Rugers work and work well. May not be the fanciest of guns, but ole Bill Ruger KNEW how to make stuff WORK. And make them cheaper too. I’ve never owned a Ruger that didn’t work & work well.
IMO, he was the John Browning of our era.

It seems there is not much reason for 30-30's out west or the some of the magnums out east. I could be wrong though. As for Wisconsin. There really seems no real most popular gun anymore. Was a time it was the lever action, then the good old 760 / 7600 / 742 in 30-06 was the thing. I use a .243 in regular gun season lately but have been switching to a 45-70 gov. single shot in an Encore later in the season , just to have muzzleloader season switch me to my TC Encore but this year will be my TC Hawken with a 50 cal. roundball with Goex black powder . I seem to drift to other guns as the years go on. Never use my Rem. 700 in .270 Win. anymore.

The west is a lot more varied than the stereotypes suggest. It's not all mule deer and antelope in open country. Yeah, we have Colorado wheat fields, but we also have west coast temperate rain forest, sage, pine forests ... each lending itself to a particular type of gun, but also a lot of "edge" between different kinds of cover where a less specialized gun is "better" because it covers more bases well enough rather than doing one thing best.

I suspect the east is much the same.

What I see, more than east vs west, is differences over time.

Tom

Good point, perspective matters. I was mostly posing the question as an East Coaster living in the West Coast and wondering if there were any particular gun models i could more easily find here before i head back east. I'm tickled so many people jumped in to discuss.

A lot of the old gun writers used to promote the common stereotypes for both the West, East and South and what rifle you should see and use in those locations. I always thought that was a bunch of bull. They sold the same rifles almost everywhere and people move around all the time when jobs change taking their rifles with them.

In the 60's when I was in high school I worked as an installer/repairman for the phone company in a small town in SE Georgia. Shotguns were considered the norm then for deer hunting in the SE. Being interested in guns, I noticed what people had on display in their dens and saw it all. From original Henry's and Winchesters that had long been retired to modern bolt action rifles, semi autos and pumps. There were a lot of Winchester 92's, 94's, 88's and Marlin lever actions of all types. I also saw nearly any kind of rifle that could be stuck in a duffle bag by a returning GI. One little old lady, that had to be 90, had a loaded Browning machine-gun on a tripod displayed in a glass coffee table in her living room. That thing was impressive.

Back in the 60's if some friends of mine were going to the rifle range it would be common to see 8X57, 7mm, 30/06, 257 Roberts, 44 magnum, 308 Winchester, 25/35, 303 British, and 35 Remington. It's what we all had and I knew some that always had to have the latest thing out like the 6.5 Remington mag or a 7mmS&L. I would be willing to bet that in almost any comparable town in any state the same assortment could be found.

But in the 60's if we were going deer hunting, we all used a shotgun.

Most all of the gunshops in Mid Tn just have ragged out shît or plastic garbage remingtons.

Never, in 30 years have I walked into a pawn or gun shop and seen a savage 99 on the wall. Or any '94 in anything beyond 30/30.

Yes they do. When I moved on Monday, 3 Rugers went with. Mini 14 tactical, GSR and a MKII and of course my Glocks

Love my Ruger GSR. It’s an accurate SOB.

I saw a lot of wierd stuff in the woods growing up. I had a Winchester 94 .30/30, but a cousin had a 742 Remington in .243, another cousin used a Winchester 70A in .243, another cousin used his father's 1891 Argentine Mauser, and a buddy's father from school had a really eclectic bunch of stuff, a Winchester 88 carbine, and a 100 carbine, both in .284 Winchester. Those are wierd, period, in n/c Missouri in the 'early 70s. I still only know one other person who ever had a .284. One kid from school borrowed a Winchester 94 in .32/40 to shoot his first buck.

It didn't take long, and we were all "moving up" to the .30/06, .270, 7mm Mag, and so on. One of my cousins still buys wierd crap, though, a 7mmUltraMag (the long one) and one of those silly .243 WSSMs, which he has trouble finding ammo for. He usually just shoots a 6mm Remington, and it kills deer just as dead as his .338.

For the most part, a .30/30 is no longer common in N/C Missouri any more, you see the .308, .30/06, 270, ,300 Mag, and 7mm Mag, mostly .270s, though. They work, don't kick much, and are easy to find ammo for. Yeah, they could order online, except some of those folks don't even get online, even now.

I like the .30/30 still, and have used it in the past five years, but mostly I just use a .270, It works.

The usual belief is that the Eastern states offer short range woods hunting and the Western states long open shots. Under that model a 444 lever would be more of an Eastern gun, not Western.

Old Colt SAA not too common back east.

Long range is not only a Western thing there are a surprising number of long range shooters in PA, as a kid in the 60's growing up in Wyoming County PA I could not imagine hunting were you could see more than 100 yards but when I started to hunt with my uncle in Potter County I meet the guys that shoot mountain to mountain. That opened up a whole new world of hunting. Also that part of the state had plenty of pipe lines to hunt another thing we did not have back home at that time.

I see an old Savage 99 or Winchester 88 in our local N. TX Pawn Shops every once in a while. And a few Winchester 94’s in 30-30. Old time farmers like my GrandDad used to carry them in their pickups.

"Regional guns" seem to be more uncommon as time goes on.

When I was running Cast Performance Bullet Co I saw that most of our 444 Marlin bullets and 45-70 bullets were sold in the great lakes area and the east coast. Funny, but that how it was. I expect it's based on populations size, not use or need.
I am 100% certain the 444s and 45-70s used to kill game in the northern Rocky's and in Alaska are more common, whereas the 444s and 45-70s owned in the east and around the Lakes are used for fun and sometimes white tails or bears, but people like what they like ---------and that's what they buy them.

In Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming I do see very old small bore lever actions and sometimes pump and auto rifles in 22 High Power, 25-35, 25 Remington, 219 Zipper 250-3000 and so on, and I see them in greater numbers then I've seen them in other states. The reason is that they are family heirlooms and "Grand-dad" or Great-Grand-Dad" shot wolves with them in the turn of the century and all through the depression era. Wolfing was a way to earn some money in those days, and those types of rifles in those calibers were the best for killing them without destroying hides. Because it was ranchers and some farmers going back 100 years that owned most of them, and those families still have holdings of land to this day the old rifles stay in the families more around here then in other places.

But I find it curious how many 458s, 454 Casulls, 338 mags, lots so "uber-Mags", and 416s sell in the east. These folks mostly have no need for such power, but they LIKE the guns. And that's a VERY good reason to buy them.
A slave is allowed what he needs but a free man buys what he wants.

Neal, grandaughter shoots an 88 in .308 and her little brother shoots a 99 in .243. Courtesy of their grammie. She can’t hunt anymore.

Very Cool Bob!!!

Yeah its pretty hard to define "west". Up here Alberta is certainly in the west albeit east of me. What I find the Alberta boys seem to go for for obvious reasons, lots of prairie out there.. is a 7mm or 30 cal magnum in a rifle in a Sendaro type platform although it could be a Ruger or a Winnie too. Odds are they're go-to rifle will have a bipod on it and it'll live there. This just judging by Alberta guys that I've seen hunting out here.

In BC its all over the map. There's a ton of Savage 99s around they were super popular probably in the 50s and 60s maybe up in to the 70s. After that i'd say the average guy would get set up just like the Alberta boys sans the long barrel instead a 22" and without a 'pod. P

Having said that there's lots of levers, semi autos a fair single shot following as well in both places. These and everything else though might make up 30-40% of what's around the rest are bolt actions.

I grew up knowing there were only several guns made! The Win 94, the Savage 99, and the Springfield 30-06..I never knew anybody with a Remington pump or auto.

years later, I opened a gun shop and got to know a lot of guys from the north east and they all seemed to have grown up on 99 Savages and 94 Wins. But, then I was introduced to the Remington Semi Auto's and Pumps. I had a hell of a time selling one of them. They were a novelty then and from what I see they still are here in my part of Montana.

Some of the nicest lever actions I have ever seen all came from the Eastern US.

I suppose Remington 721's 722's and Mod 70 Winchesters and Ruger Mod.77's got to be the most common before I closed my shop in 90.

Of course the 98 Mauser is still the king! Also, I forgot to mention , there were also a lot of Marlin lever actions around.

In Western Oregon kids mostly packed a 30-30 of one kind or another, every other deer hunter was packing a mdl 99 or a BLR. There was definitely a weatherby crowd, seemed 9 out of 10 elk hunters and guys that hunted Eastern Oregon either used a 7 RM or a 3006, 70’s and 700’s.

Today anything goes. No telling what a guys going to hunt with.

That's because it's not rare at all.

I love Winchester 94's. It's been my experience that those rifles in 25-35 are an incredibly uncommon find here in the East and the ones on Gunbroker are commonly in the western states. I also note how many stories I've heard through the years of some Rancher lady who killed all her Elk with the 25-35. It has always led me to believe the 25-35 was more of a hit out west.

Not sure about the western States, but I do know that there are not many pre-64 M70s and commercial FN98 type rifles here in Eastern Canada.

Those old farmers and ranchers knew what they were doing, unlike us city slickers with our loudenboomen shoulder breakers. So you find .2535 250 savage and the ilk

Sure enough, that was where I first heard about a 30/378 Weatherby. Guys were shooting across a reservoir from benches in a parking lot on the other hillside. Said they were members of the "1000 yard club). They wanted to come through my work to get their deer.

Having lived on both coasts and few places in between, I can't say I know what a more common Western gun might be. Or eastern. I think it might have been my first time deer hunting in San Diego county CA and I borrowed my bro's '94 in 30-30. Dad gave me a sporterized .303 Enfield he used in NY back in the 50's, I've used it out here in the west.

I guess I've read too many writers like our own JB, and hunt with quite a variety wherever I'm hunting.

Geno

Try finding a 264 Win. Mag. in western NY state. They're around but very rare. Saw several within a week last time I was in Wyoming.

Bob, my brother shoots an 88 in 308, and (in the fall) I use a 99 in 243. They work well.
Last year, I hunted with the Krag (no luck) and have not decided between the Krag and my Marlin 30-30 for this year, yet!

That said, my last 4 elk were taken with a Ruger #1 in 30-06 - I'm an ought6 fan!