Sitting home alone and just got to thinking about my first few center fire rifles. What are your stories?

My dad bought a Marlin 30-30 with a 4X Weaver scope around or about 1970 from my first cousin that was moving from South Carolina to Alaska. At that time Burke county, NC was one of the only counties in the foothills/mountains of NC that had a deer season. I was allowed to hunt by myself with that rifle at age 12 in 1974. In October of 1975 at age 13 my dad bought me a Remington 700 BDL 30-06 with a 3X9 Leopold scope. I wanted a 270 but my uncle which was my dads oldest brother said " if you can only have one rifle in your life that is capable of killing all North American Big Game Animals it is the 30-06 " He was a marksman or some kind of special shooter in WW2 so I got a 30-06. That 30-06 is still the most accurate rifle I own ( the Leopold scope crapped out about 12 years ago, fixed and crapped again).

What are your stories about your first few rifles?

1st cf rifle} Win. 94 .30-30

2nd} Marlin 336C .35 Rem.

3rd} Marlin 336T "Texan" .30-30

4th} Remington 760 carbine .30-06

Mine was a .243 Ruger Stainless with the boat paddle stock in 1995. I put a Tasco scope on that the store owner charged AU$249 for. A few months later I saw the same scope in another store for AU$70. I guess I was young and naïve back then. I replaced the zytel stock with a walnut stock and put on a VariX ll 2-7x33, my first ever Leupold scope. That rifle got used a heap from everything from rabbits to pigs and goats.

Then I bought a new Winchester Featherweight .30-06 with a bent barrel and had it rebarrelled to .257 Roberts and the .243 didn't get used much after that. I rebarrelled the .243 in 2018 to 6.5 CM and it's still wearing the same Loopy scope (and it's still working 100%)

Next rifle was a fifth hand Remington BDL .222. I put a 3-9x40 VariX ll on but replaced that a while back with a VXlll 4.5-14x40 which really helps sniping rabbits, crows, cats and foxes. Sadly I don't get to use it much as I spend most of the year chasing bigger game but I like to spend the July holidays whistling a few foxes just to shoot the .222. I like 40gn plastic tips.

Next rifle was a Remington BDL in .280. I think that was in 1998 as there were three models to choose from, the BDL, Mountain rifle and I think the Classic. It must of been when the .280 was making a bit of a resurgence. I ordered the Mountain rifle but the nongs sent up the BDL instead. Being younger and keener I took the BDL but sometimes wish I had of got the walnut Mountain Rifle. I put on an M8 6x36 and I used that rifle a whole lot. Eventually I replaced the wood stock with an HS Precision (brown with black web) and replaced the scope with Loopy 3.5-10x40 in gun metal grey. I always liked the gun metal grey finish and thought it would go really well with the HS Precison stock. That rifle is now my dedicated wet weather rifle.

Then came a Ruger Ultralight in .308 (2-7x33) and a Model 54 Winchester in .250 Savage (6x36) and another Ruger Ultralight in .250 Savage (2-7x33) and a custom stocked BRNO 600 in .30-06 (3-9x33 compact) and then A Ruger No.1 7x57 (6x36) and a ………….

……..and it goes on and on.

Thinking back I'd probably have paid my house off a lot quicker If I didn't spend so much on gun stuff and reloading components but you gotta live and have fun along the way. Getting into guns, reloading and hunting is the second best thing to happen in my life I reckon. First best thing would be my job choice.

My Dad is responsible for my rifle loonyism. He didn't know it.
@ 1960 - I was 10 yo - he borrowed a Sporterized Mil 303 B from a family friend. It looked REAL good to me.
He sat it at the front door to go hunting the next AM.

THAT did it. I've always loved rifles ever since.

I didn't get any CF rifle until 1972 because we had not had any deer to hunt.

1. Win 94 - 30-30

2. Rem 788 - 243 > didn't care for the rear lock up.

3. Rem 700 - 270

Never went back to the 30-30.

Along the way I had a few really good rifles BUT gun writers poo pooed the post 64s till I thot I had second rate rifles.
Wish I'd kept a Win 670, 243 and later a 70, 243 etc.

Gun Writers are not always right. At least WERE not.


Jerry

My 1st rifle (still have it) was a pre-war 30/30 Savage 99F (takedown) that my father gave me in 1973 when I turned 16. It was given to him around 1938 by a member of the hunting club that my grandfather used to caretake/guide for. It was the first centerfire rifle of his own.

In '86 I found out that I was going to get stationed in Alaska for a couple of years, and decided something a little larger was called for. My 2nd rifle turned out to be a brand new Remington 700 Classic 350 RemMag (still have that one too).

While in AK I tried out a custom built 270 Win on an FN Mauser action as #3, but it didn't work out. Within a year that one moved on and was replaced with a NOS Remington 700 BDL in 7mm Express. That one moved on too in about '98 when I replaced it with a Rem 700 Classic .280, that I still have.

#4 was a Savage 99C in .308, also bought while in AK in '87 or '88. Nice, accurate rifle, but sold it to one of my cousins when I found a pre-mil 99F in .308 that I like better. I still have the 99F, and my cousin still has the 99C. (He also has a 99F in 300 SVG and a 99F in .358 Win)

My Dad gave me his Remington 760 30-06 when I was 13. He bought a 7600 Carbine for himself. I hunted with nothing but that until when I was 17 I bought a Marlin 30-30 off him. I killed more game with those two rifle than any of my 100+ rifles since.

First rifle was a 270 Remington BDL I payed for in college
followed by a Ruger 77 257 Roberts for graduation then a Ruger 22 Hornet, and the fourth was a 700 BDL in 7 mm Mag. From there they just seem to keep multiplying.
GreggH

M700 BDL .300 Win mag
M96 6.5 Swede
Ruger M77 tanger .308
M70 Featherweight 6.5 Swede
M94 30-30
M700 .308
Marlin 1895 45/70
Marlin 336 30/30
M70 Supergrade .300 Win mag
Browning X Bolt .270
Steyr SBS .270

When I was 12 my dad bought me a Model 70 300 WM and vx1 3-9. It’s still my elk rifle with the same scope after over 20 years and lots of rounds down the barrel.

My first was a Marlin 336 my dad had purchased in the early 60's. It worked but what I really wanted was a bigger gun like I been reading about. I saved my lawn mowing & muskrat money and on my twelfth birthday I put money down on my first shotgun. My Dad paid it off for my birthday. I then went on to get a Mini-14 which I promptly put to use bagging coyotes which funded the purchase of a well used Interarms MkX in .30-06. I still have them all, and they've been used by my sons to get started with, except for the '06.

My first was a Remington 788 in 243 Winchester, given to me on my 12th birthday in 1979. Used it for two seasons.
Traded it for a Remington 700 BDL in 270 in 1981. Used that rifle until 1992 where I traded for a Remington 700 SS in 270.

Was not until 1997 when I purchased a 2nd big game rifle. Remington 700 KS in 338WM.

Hunting/looneyism was always there, just did not manifest 100% until early 2000's.

Winchester M70 XTR 30-06 Sold
Ruger M77R 25-06 (Now bedded in Brown Precision)
Remington M700V 223 Sold
Remington M7 6mm Remington Sold
Remington M700V Synthetic 223 Sold
Ruger M77MKII Stainless/Synthetic 338WM Sold
Remington M700 Stainless/Synthetic MR 25-06 (Later bedded in McMillan Rem Classic Edge fill) Sold
Browning BLR 81 308 Sold
Kimber 84M Varmint 22-250 (Now bedded in Wildcat and ceracoted)
Remington M7 Predator 17FB Sold
Kimber 8400 Montana 300WSM
Kimber 8400 Montana 25-06 Sold
Kimber 84M Montana 6.5CM
Winchester M70 Stainless/Synthetic 375 H&H
Kimber 84M Hunter 308
Kimber 84M Montana 223 (Now being rebarrelled to 17 Remington)

Savage 99 in 250 Savage

At 12 my first rifle was a 94 carbine .32 spl. that was my dad's.
At 15 I bought a Savage 340 .222.. Mostly a wood chuck rifle..
16 I got my grandfather's model 54.30-06... Later had this custom stocked and scoped.. Big mistake, but still a beautiful rifle..Use this for most of my big game hunting til I was about
21..Used it off and on all these years.
17 Mauser .270 had it only a few months..
18 Enfield rebarreled to 7mm RM.. Traded this for the custom work on the model 54..
20 Build a custom stocked 700 in .300 WM. This is still one of my main big game rifles.. Now on its 3rd barrel. I have carried it all over the country,,
21 Bought a custom stocked Sako in 7mm RM.. Killed a few deer and traded it on something..
I suppose I have bought one or two new to me rifles about every year of my life.. I have had most of the common calibers, .257, 7mm, 300 and 340 custom barreled Weatherbys;
.338s, .375 H & H.
Now have stuff from 17hmr through .45-70.. It has been fun..

My first big game rifle was a Marlin 336 in 30-30 that my folks bought for me when they realized I had the hunting fever in 1977. I put a 4x Redfield on it a few years later. I think the next big game rifle I bought was a Remington 742 in .308. I soon learned that was an ammo wasting SOB so I traded it for a Ruger 77 in either .308 or 30-06.
In between I bought a Remington 788 in .222 with a 6x Weaver. I used to strap that across my back with my Ruger Mark I .22 on my hip and ride through town on my 1980 Yamaha DT400 to go woodchuck hunting. People would have a schitt fit over the sight of that nowadays!

A tang safety Ruger M77 in 7x57 ended up giving this to SIster-in-law for Christmas one year.

Next was a SAKO laminate in .270. Shot the bejeebers out of that rifle. Wore the throat down but as long as I seated the bullets further out it shot well.

Wish I still had it.

Lots more followed.

My father bought me my first rifle and shotgun, a Remington 742 .30-06 and a Belgian Browning A5 12 gauge, both used but in very good condition. He was a potato farmer in northern WI and never grossed more than $15,000 a year, yet he provided for a family with 5 kids and my mom was the classic 1960's / 1970's housewife. I didn't kill anything with those guns, eventually trading or selling them off for something else. I wish I still had them.

Model 70 3006 that my girlfriend ( now wife) gave me for Christmas in 1977 in Nome. Her parents were the pastors of a church there at the time, I was in the Army, stationed on Fort Wainwright. I got the rifle she got a fur coat thought that was a fair trade. Still have the rifle and the lady.She gave me a model 70 in 375H&H in 93, I might have to keep her around.

Dang son. She sounds like a good'un!

Yep met her in 68 in Fairbanks and married her 10 years later. Been together more then 40 years, I would be kinda lost without her.

First centerfire rifle was a Rossi 92 chambered .44 Mag that my wife bought for me to hunt deer while we lived in PA. Killed my first several deer with that rifle in the PA deer woods. All with one shot. My dad killed his first few deer with it when we moved back to KY. Oldest grand son now has possession.

Second rifle was a Ruger Ranch rifle that I bought because I did not want to spend the extra $$$'s for a Left Hand .243 BDL. (dumb...) Eventually sold it off and bought a right hand Rem 700 in .243 with one of the stiff plastic stocks (Rynite?). Killed a truck load of KY deer withthat rifle. Had the barrel cut to 20" and put a youth stock on it. Son and his buddy shot the bajeepers out of it. Traded it off for something I can't remember.

Current "keeper" is the rifle I posted over on the Campfire Rifle thread. LH Rem 700 chambered in .270. Never say never. But, this is one that after 20 years of buying, selling, and tinkering with rifles, just seems to click....

My Dad and Grandpa were shooters more than hunters and when I wanted to start hunting, my Dad took me out. I carried his sporterized Springfield and he carried his Dad's sporterized Enfield. My Dad always said his Springfield was no good because of a pitted barrel. I shot my first two deer with that Springfield and thought it shot fine 😁

Later on, the first hunting rifle I bought was a Rem 700 '06

My first was a Westernfield (Montgomery Ward store-brand) .30-30 carbine, my father's at the time--which was actually a Marlin 336. Killed my first deer with it, the first year I could legally buy a tag in Montana.

Next was a Savage 99 EG in .308 Winchester, which my father bought me after killing that first deer. He said I could pick out any rifle on a local store's used rack that cost $50 or less. The price of the 99 .308 was actually $55, but he sprang for it anyway.

Killed a few deer with the .308, but it had a metal buttplate that gave my skinny young shoulder a flinch. Eventually sold it, a few years after my father passed away at 44, to pay for a lightly used Remington 700 BDL in .243, which cured the flinch. Killed a bunch of deer and antelope with that rifle, as well as prairie dogs and coyotes.

A year or so later also bought a 700 ADL in .270 Winchester, which turned out to be one of the most accurate big game rifles I've ever owned. With its favorite handload it would put three 150-grain Hornady Spire points into a little more than an inch--at 300 yards. Killed quite a bit of big game with it as well, including my first elk, but eventually shot the barrel out and traded it for something else.

While in college at the U. of Montana, I hunted elk for several years in the thick, steep country 100 miles or so west, near the Idaho line. Eventually bought a sporterized 1903 Springfield, and used it with the first Nosler Partitions I ever handloaded, the old, lathe-turned 200-grain "semi-spitzers," which worked great in the black timber on both elk and deer.

Lost them all during a divorce, then started over again just before I married Eileen with another .30-06, a tang-safety Ruger 77 that also turned out to be very accurate (though not like that .270). Hunted with it exclusively for several years, and Eileen also hunting with it some as well. But thanks in large part to her, I started making a decent living writing, and became a full-fledged rifle loony, ending up buying, selling and hunting with so many rifles over the years that it would take me a while just to track them all down in my handloading notes! But will always remember the lessons those first few taught me.

My dad has a Savage 99 in 300 that I started hunting with that when I was 7. I killed about 9-10 deer and one elk with it and when I was 12 I got my own 1st rifle, a Winchester M70 in 270 with a Weaver K4 on it. My 2nd rifle was a copy of a Hawken muzzleloader I made when I was 12. My 3rd was a Mauser, also a 270, which I made from parts myself when I was 14. Almost all the deer elk antelope as well as horses and cattle were killed with those two 270s or the 58 cal muzzleloader because my dad sold the 300 Savage when I was 13.

Until I got my 375H&H I don't think I ever shot any big game with any rifle other then those 270s or the 58 cal muzzleloader, and was shocked when I got to be a late teenager and read that the 270 was not powerful enough for all the elk I had killed, so the killing of cattle and some horses too left me wondering how I could have been so successful (was it just luck?) with such a "small gun" that so many "experts" said was too light for anything larger then a deer.
The other confusing thing was that, at that time,.... I had never fired 2 shots at any game, any cow or any horse with either my Mauser or my M70, and 100% were one shot kills. But as a country boy who grew up a bit isolated I didn't know there was another way to do it. Thats what my Dad and Uncle told me to do, and told me how to do it, so that what I did. I was under the impression the rounds in the magazine were for other animals, additional animals, not the one I'd shot 1st. I shot carefully with the 270s and also the muzzleloader, and my dad and uncle always said "shoot when you KNOW you will kill, not if you think you might kill."

My 4th was a Mauser in 375H&H which I got when I was 22.

It's been a land slide from there.

I started deer hunting when I was 11 years old, killed my first buck with a hand-me-down Winchester mod. 94. The year was 1954. Two years later, my dad traded an old outboard motor for a used Remington mod.721 in 30.06 which he gave to me. I still have the '94, the 721 is long gone.

Savage 99 (EG) in 300 Savage that my dad bought for ‘himself ‘ but was really to get my older brother and I big game hunting. My dad, not a big hunter, shot it very well.

After using it for several years, and deer, my dad scored me the cash that allowed me to buy a lightly used Husqvarna in 25/06( I was looking for a 257 Roberts but they were a few $ more) which I used, quite successfully on many different types of game.

Both acquired 45+ years ago......and I still have both.

If I was smarter I probably would have stayed with those two exclusively

Yes I had a Wood stock ADL in 30-06 before the syn. trend got started. That ADL
was 1 of 2 MOST accurate rifles out of the box I had owned. The other was a BDL
6mm Rem.

I know those were before 1986 because I moved in the Spring.

I’ve read that the ADL wood stocks were more rigid than the BDL and others
like them. I dunno.

Jerry

My first rifle was a Weatherby Vanguard in 1980 in 300 Win Mag. I still have it. I purchased it for about 350.00 in 1980 with proceeds from the first $1000.00 PFD. I have never shot anything with it. But it's a very nice rifle and its very accurate. People are always impressed with it.

My second purchased rifle was a 375HH Interarms Mauser in a Brown Precision synthetic stock that I bought at a gun show for 500.00 in 1991. I shot one black bear with it. I still have it but need to fix the Brown Precision stock that has cracked. I probably will fix it up after I retire as a project.

My third purchased rifle was a 243 Winchester Remington Model 600 that I purchased up in Ambler from the Gardner Gentlemen at the Kobuk River Lodge for 300.00 in 1995. I gave it to my wife as a wedding present. She uses it to this day. It has only killed two caribou but it is a nice little rifle.

My Fourth purchased rifle is a 375 HH Model 70 NH Classic Stainless that I bought from Kmart in Fairbanks. I saw it go on layaway three different times before I purchased it for 783.95. I have shot it several times and its pretty accurate.

My Fifth purchased rifle is a Weatherby Varmint Special in 22-250 with a Bushnell 10X. I purchased it for 436.00. It is extremely accurate. I have just shot varmints and targets with it.

I purchased a used Remington 760 in 1958 in .270. It was a fine gun but I soon discovered that it wasn't up to shooting varmints at longer ranges and it's trigger was badly wanting. I kept the Weaver K-6 that it had and traded it for a pre-64 M-70 also in .270. I was much too young to know much about how to accurize rifles and soon discovered that that too wasn't up to the varminting I wanted to do. In actuality, I'd have been far better off buying a good .222 and borrowing my uncles 30-30 for the once a year deer hunting I did.

In 1965 I purchased my first new rifle......a M-70 in .225 Winchester......wow....that was a shooter and I shot it a lot....prairie dogs were in serious trouble. Eventually I shot out the barrel and tried to rebarrel it to 22-250 but that didn't get me the accuracy I wanted so it soon belonged to someone else.
A Savage M-99 in .308 came my way and I used it for deer to good success. The list just piled up since then.

In retrospect, my first rifle should have been a M-70 in .243......a dual purpose gun, but It seems some of us must learn the hard way.

I'm now days away from 74 and have owned almost everything from .17 HM2 to .404 Jeffery. I've learned great respect for the .223 chambered rifles I've owned and a pretty maple stocked post-64 M-70 fwt in .30-06.....most of the rest just fill spaces in the gun cabinet

Savage 340 in a 30-30. Wish I had never sold it..

First was a Winchester 70 Westerner .243 with a Weaver 4x. Christmas present from the folks in '81 or '82. Best Christmas present I ever got and it changed my life forever.

After that I got bit by the "odd cartridge bug" and the next three were a model 70 .300 H&H, a Ruger 77 6.5mm Rem Mag and a Schultz & Larsen 7x61 S&H.

The very first one I bought was a tang safety Ruger 77 30-06 with a fixed 4x Weaver already on top.

Hunted with a shotgun age 12 to 14.

First rifle at age 14 a new Winchester 94 30-30 for hunting PA, gun cost $67. Mom paid half and I paid half with $$ I made that summer.

Second rifle at age 26 new Ruger 77 safety tang 30-06 with Redfield 3x9 Lo-Pro Widefield, most accurate gun I ever had.

That is what my first centerfire was except with a 2x7 Widefield. A friend of mine bought it for me for helping him build his house. I think he wanted me to get into deer hunting so he would have someone to go out to Wyoming with. I was all in favor of that and we made several trips for Mule deer and Pronghorn. He has been gone for ten years now, but I still have the rifle. I mostly hunt Whitetails in Wisconsin now with .308s, but may get out west again when I retire.

Jerry

First rifle I used to shoot a deer was Grandpas Rem 141 in 35 rem. The year was 01. Then the Christmas I was 18, dad bought me my own rifle. A Ruger M77 MKII chambered in 260 rem. Will never get rid of that one.Was great to have my own rifle because there were 3 boys, one born in 84, one in 85, and 1 in 87. As you can imagine you were never sure which rifle you were going to have the privilege of hunting with!

The first centerfire rifle I bought was a Winchester bolt action for $50 at a flea market when I was 14 yoa. I thought I was ripping the seller off at that price. The seller was probably thinking the same thing plus hoping I wasn't part of a sting operation. I was quite disappointed as I could not find ammo anywhere for it.

I think I got the better end as it turned out to be an all original Winchester 1895 Lee/Navy. I still haven't fired it but some day I might.

My first usable rifle was a 98 Mauser rebarreled to 6mm Rem. I used it for several years and I still have it. I believe it has a slower twist though maybe not as slow as the 244 as 100 gr boat tails do not group well at all nor do many 100 gr flat based bullets though 100 gr Remington Core-Lokts do very well at all ranges and Hornady soft points do OK.

Third rifle was a Browning A-Bolt in 300 Win mag. I intended to buy a new Savage 110 in 30/06 for my first elk hunt but found the Browning on the used rack for only $10 more. It is one of my favorite rifles though it has been a decade since I last hunted with it.

The second rifle wasn't bought for hunting though it has taken one doe. I found a Remington Model 8 in 25 Rem ata pawn shop with dies, 2+ boxes of ammo, and ~150 empties for only $150. The first rifle I used deer hunting was a Model 81 in 300 Savage so this appealed to my nostalgia. It started me on a quest acquiring these guns along with their contemporaries.

I started out with military rifles because they were cheaper. When I was 12, my dad got me a sporterized 6.5 Carcano carbine that I used for my first few mule deer. Then, at 15, I bought a 03 Springfield from Montgomery Wards for 29.95. I worked on the trigger and modified the stock and used that rifle through high school and beyond. It worked well with an aperture sight.

A decade later I began to buy factory sporters starting with a Rem 700 30-06. I also started mounting scopes on my rifles at that point. Now I have more rifles than I really need, but it's fun to have some variety.

In high school, I built this Springfield .270 with McGowen barrel, Herter French Walnut stock, had the bolt handle altered. I glassed and free floated it, did the Rosewood inlay and period cool skip-a-line checkering. It shoots really well. I still have it, don't use it because it's pretty heavy.

.270...? I know, not cool, but I was young back then...

DF

Posted this yesterday but I guess there was a glitch in the system and it didn't stay. I am not surprised with the 30-30/35's for a first rifle but and surprised about the number of 6mm/243's.

SMLE Mk III that I bought when I was a teenager. It eventually refused to open after firing a Federal cartridge. (It had fired most of the box without problem.) I took it to a gun shop and wound up trading it for a a No. 4 Mk 1* that someone had tried to turn into a No. 5 Mk 1. After that came a Remington 788 in .243.

I remember this post from yesterday. I know about the ERROR from yesterday.
Now I wonder how many other posts disappeared.

Jerry

Killed my first deer when I was 13 with a Remington 600 Mohawk in .243 that belonged to my dad. Used it to kill 5 or 6 more. For Christmas my senior year of high school my parents gave me a well used but well cared for Remington 700 BDL in .270 with a 4X Redfield on it. That was the only CF rifle I owned for almost 20 years before I went into Loony mode and started using a bunch of different ones. Looking back nothing else I have tried has really worked any better than that old .270 and I am glad I still have it. I still reach for it on occasion when I am really serious as I have allot of confidence in it. That being said I used three different rifles this past season to shoot Deer, hogs and an Aoudad and none of them was the old 700. I plan to put it back into the rotation next season god willing and I get to hunt.

IIRC, these were the first 10:

1A. - Remington 660 in 6mm REM, still have it.

1B. - Ruger 44 International, still have it.

2. - Venezuelan 24/30 carbine in 7x57, still have the action. I plugged the barrel with snow and blew it up, but Creighton Audette salvaged it and rebuilt it as a 257 Roberts. This is the first rifle I bought with money that I earned hauling hay bales in he summer and maple sap buckets in the spring.

3. - Savage 99G in 250-3000, still have it.

4. - Winchester 94 carbine in 25-35, still have it.

5. - Remington 788 in 22-250, traded it toward a Remington 660 in 308

6. - Remington 660 in 222, sold in 2003.

7. - Remington 660 in 308, still have it.

8, - Marlin 336SC in 219 Zipper, still have it.

9. - Winchester 1985 carbine in 30 USA, still have it.

My first was a re-branded Marlin 30-30, Westernfield maybe, that I bought in about 2005 from someone that really needed money for bills. It was offered to me for $75 and came with a cheap scope and a soft side case. I knew nothing about gun values, but I figured I couldn't get hurt at that price. At that point in my life I had only deer hunted a handful of times back in high school, never killed a deer, and hadn't even hunted for about 20 years. I never hunted with it, and ended up trading it in on a 12ga O/U.

Second, and first I ever hunted with, was a Rem 710 30-06 package rifle with scope. In about 2007 I was invited to hunt in South Alabama and when we got there I realized we would be hunting over large green fields. I didn't figure the 30-30 was a great choice for that and I didn't have a whole lot of money to blow on a rifle, so I bought the cheapest I could find. Killed my first deer with that rifle, and killed 4 deer with a total of 5 shots while I owned it. The miss was my fault, not the rifle's. My dad also killed his first deer with that rifle. I had no idea what a crappy rifle it was until rifle #3 came along. At that point it got traded in on rifle #4 and I still don't miss it.

My third rifle taught me what a true quality rifle was. I won a Ruger M77 MarkII chambered in 280Rem in a raffle. I hunted with it for a while until the collecting bug bit me and I started using multiple different guns every season. Oddly enough, that gun was very unlucky for me. I never saw a deer with that rifle in my hands until two seasons ago when I got a doe with it. My father had been using it a good bit after I got into collecting so I ended up giving it to him for Christmas in 2018. At 70 I figured it was time that he had his own deer rifle. It's still in the family. I don't have any kids so I assume it will eventually go to my nephew along with the rest of my collection.

After getting the Ruger and realizing how junky the Rem 710 was, I traded it in on a Rem 700 BDL Deluxe in 300 Win Mag. I figured since I had the 280 I also needed a Magnum for those 300yd bean field shots on 150lb whitetails. I've since learned better, but that was back in my early days of shooting and hunting. It also got traded off at some point when I realized I had no need for a rifle like that for the game I hunted.

First was a Win670 in 243. Very accurate and killed a lot of woodchucks.
Second was Win70 FWT in 30-06 with a Brown or McMillan stock.

Could have stopped there and just gone hunting.