What are your opinions on using your old guns. I hunt deer with my 300 H&H model 70, or 94 30-30 once in a while. But I have aspirations to hunt on Kodiak for a bear and also Hunt for Moose sometime in Alaska or Canada. I have a pre 64 magnum action that we have rebarreled to 375 but I’m getting the urge to just buy a decent pre-64 375 and hunt it. If not for nostalgia but because I like the rifles so much. Is it crazy to think about talking a blued, wood stocked rifle to wet rainy environments? What says the crowd?

I'd probably use it as is, or if I was worried about a vintage stock getting messed up, drop that M-70 in an Echols Legend and save the OEM stock. I'd coat the metal very well to prevent rust and be careful with it.

Those guns were built to be used.

DF

I use all mine, my 50's fwt.270 is beat to heck, but still shoots well and makes the deer woods every year.

I hunt mine as well, although to be honest on days where the weather report doesn't include rain.

I would probably baby them more if I had a son to hand them down to.

I wouldn't use my high dollar rifles on a rough hunt or when the weather is bad. However, I get them out when its just an easy walk to the stand and the sun is shining.
Phil

Used 80-95% M-21s, 42s, and M-12s - field and range - over decades. Don't take the 98%+ guns to the field, tho.

My '06 M-54 goes out, too. But mostly use stainless/synthetic/laminate stuff.

Would use the leverguns out back but am just about unarmed with open irons at age 65.

Buy it, hunt it, and take good care of it.

Sell the re-barrel.

Missplacedinnebraska: I have Hunted SE Alaska on four different Hunts and been to Kodiak Island twice for outdoor adventures.
I made the mistake of taking a pre-64 Model 70 in 30/06 on my second Mt Goat Hunt to SE Alaska, the conditions there were so horrible and wet with horizontal rain and sleet that my Rifle suffered immensely from that 10 day misery fest type venture. I mean you could just as well have slung that Rifle over a shoulder and stood in a shower for 10 - 12 hours a day!
I would never (and have never!) again take a "quality" Winchester to SE Alaska or Kodiak - take'em if you want but they are very likely gonna suffer.
I was buying a license at a sport shop in Kodiak one year and they had guns for sale - the used gun rack of Rifles looked like a rust bin with nary an unblemished (severely!) stock or pleasant bluing on any Rifle there.
The air is a bit to the salty side there in Kodiak for sure.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

If they are already used with minor wear and tear, a little more isn't likely to change the value, even on an expensive rifle.
I've hunted levers from the 1870s, 80s, and 90s and early 20th cent. It's a great feeling to walk around the woods with a gun that most people don't even recognize or have even heard of the cartridge. Find that 375 Model 70 and go hunt and enjoy every minute you're carrying it and looking at it when you are sitting on that log in the sun.

I've hunted with my pre'64 M/70's every opportunity I get since buying my first one in 1975, don't take them on rough hunts though. Harvested last season's buck & doe with my Featherweight .30-06, used the re-bored Super Grade .35 Whelen the year before.

There is a place for, reason for synthetic/SS rifles.

I’d be hard pressed to put a nice pre-64 thru those conditions.

Just me.

DF

I shoot almost all of my collector rifles. After all they were shot before I owned them. However I would never hunt them. I enjoy them but they are investments. I have plenty of other guns to hunt with that are worth half as much. I may hunt with an older Browning A bolt Medallion this year in 284. Dam thing can really shoot and the 284 round deff has the cool factor going for it.

I only hunt PA.
But each year I find a day or two to take out my Springfield T/D carbine (circa 1880), my Sharps 50-70 conversion carbine(circa 1863, 10th Ill Vol Cav), and my Winchester 1886 Extra Lightweight (circa 1910).
Always sparks a comment from guys that I encounter.

I prefer to hunt with collectible, vintage guns. I am a dinosaur after all. I took two pre 64 Win 70's to Africa, a 30-06 Fwt and 375 H&H. I hunt with the Fwt in PA as well as a nice old Marlin 336 in 30-30. I also use a sporterized Rock Island M1903.

shoot it, take care of it...pass it on.
or baby it, wipe it, oil it, stick it in a closet, pull it out, stare at it, then decades later hope someone will buy it.
pretty much sums it up.


me? i shoot mine.

Most all rave about Phil Shoemakers "Old Ugly" Grizzly rifle, but few want to make one for themself.....

Not near the collectibility of a M70 but I took my Rem. M-30 on my Maine moose hunt in 2016. Took 25 years to draw the tag, had the gun rebored to .35 Whelen. Had to use an old Weaver 3x9 because nothing else I had fit the rings. Satisfying to say the least.

My B/U gun for the hunt was a Savage 99, .358.

I was going to say, thats a sporter 1917, not a pre 64 model 70. Nice rifle man. Those are always my go to's. Not because i have any collectible rifles i keep in the safe, but because i prefer that action over all others...

I don't have any rifles that I don't hunt with. Buying a rifle as a safe queen as an investment is usually a poor investment unless it is very rare

All my guns are old. Well except for one. It’s only about 35 y o.

It does one’s soul good to have a couple of special guns, whether or not someone chooses to hunt with them is another matter.

Quite true!!!!!

winchester's are made to hunt, no safe queen's

They are also "collectible". Thats why you should take care of them. Also, seeing how some are more collectible and valuable than others, it would be wise to be mindful of where and how you hunt them.

100% of my hunting is with pre-64 model 70s, from local coyote calling for 6-7 months a year to Kodiak Island for goats and bears. While I have a few that I purchased strictly as investments that I've not even shot, my others are for hunting. I'm in the minority here in that I use the factory stocks strictly. I think the synthetics are way over priced, and not necessary IF you prepare the inside as well as outside of the stock properly. I've been to Alaska 4 times including 2 to Kodiak and have taken the same rifle each time, Yes, I took the time each night to properly clean it including the bore, but it still looks not much different that when I started the hunt. I would have been on Kodiak in the last month had it not been for corona virus. I guess game and fish will be re-scheduling that hunt. I will be taking a different M70 on this hunt: a pre-64 .375 with factory stock, prepared both inside and outside. I use my rifles, but not abuse them. I use pre-64s because taking all things into consideration, I believe they are one of the best hunting rifles ever produced, over-all superior to anything being made today, and for me, they are a joy to use. If you want to own them just to admire or shoot in the sunshine, that is fine, but I own them to use and appreciate how they function.

I'm a proponent of hunting with your pre-64s but the above post by VarmintGuy is spot on, in my opinion and experience. I've hunted AK quite a bit and my experiences reflect exactly what he wrote. If you're hunting SE AK, for sure, your rifle won't come back the same. However, that being said, John Barsness (Mule Deer here on the Campfire) has written quite a bit about how the "weatherproof" a blued/walnut rifle for wet environs. If you can waterproof the stock (Spar Varnish) completely and put a rust proof coating on the steel and then be religious about wiping your rifle down at the end of the day, then, and only then, MIGHT you bring your rifle out halfway unscathed. If you really want to do it, it can be done, even in SE AK.

I hunt them all, including a couple nice custom rifles (I’m the older definition of custom, with real juglans regia and blued steel).

I love fine guns, and understand the many levels of pride of ownership. But I’ve never understood the collecting business. For big money, there are a lot nicer things to put on the wall and admire. Compare that to guns that just live in a vault. Different strokes.

Spar Varnish the stock of an original M70 and collector value goes out the window.

Collectibility tied to originality is an American thing on mostly American Guns, think WInchester, Parker, Fox. I have a 1927 Ithaca NID 12E, all original, rarely leaves the safe, I have other guns to duck hunt with like an old post-war JP Sauer.

Over in Europe they realize guns are to hunt with and "freshening up" a tired gun is part of regular maintenance.

In the last 5 years I bought a tired old Francotte and tired old Purdey. I had them freshened up and now hunt them.

Yep.

Just good common sense.

DF

I have some older firearms specifically for use in rugged conditions. Well as rugged as I’m going to get my gimpish corpus into! LOL! I don’t see myself getting into many such situations anymore. So I’m pretty good.

While on the subject And it certainly isn’t for everyone. When I was working at the shop, I generally would not purchase a firearm unless it was at least as old as I am! Just one of my personal caveats. But I also had the luxury of cherry picking. And also fell into some good deals.

To each his own!!! Enjoy your hunt! I try to treat each hunt like it might be my last.

I totally agree with you. You spend a lot of time looking at that gun while hunting. I would like to see some nicely grained or even better yet figured walnut with deep rich blued metal than look at a piece of asphalt and flat black metal. Life is too short to hunt with ugly guns. I also do like to see a well used gun; they have been there and done that. If it is a rainy November in PA Bear Season, they get a nice coat of wax or as a minimum, a good spraying down with Lemon Pledge. An then take care of them at the end of the day.

I will admit that I did ruin a 1946 Win 70 (stock only) on one particularly drenching November Bear Season opener. The finish just started disappearing. The stock was like a sponge when I got home. It leeched water for months. I replaced it and sold that stock to a fellow who thought he could salvage it. I do not know if he was successful or not.

Why not just buy a close to original stock for this rifle? Seal it up well and call it good.

Plan was to drop it in an Echols Legend and put nice sights on it. The contour isn’t the same as factory so not sure how it would all work out. But decent enough thought though. I just found myself wanting a pre-64 375. I had a transition gun once and let it go. If I’m going to buy one I feel like I need to put it to work. So that’s how I came to opening up this thread

I had a pleaasant experience with one of my special "old" rifles. Maybe 30 years ago I built my father a deer rifle on a Springfield 1903 high serial numbered barreled action (original barrel) using a highly figured stick of American Black Walnut in case the mood hit him to shoot a deer. He never did. After he passed, I brought it back to my house and I decided to take it deer hunting one afternoon. Well, lo and behold, a really good buck presented himself and I killed him with one round luckily just as he was going behind an obstruction. The buck was a non typical with 2 drop tines and measured 199 1/8. A very good day with a special rifle!
Phil

C'mon man, a picture of the gun and a picture of the deer!

Good story..

Well, since you twisted my arm, here's the rifle and the deer. And yes, I know my bench is a mess. I cleaned it once then I couldn't find anything.
Phil

Nice twice.

DF

Grew up reading JOC and dreaming about the day I could hunt with a rifle close his. Well I have a couple now and I'm not going hunting with out one! I dont buy to resell, not worried about what there're going to be worth when I'm gone. I have my dads model 70 .264 I'm sure glad he didn't leave it home when he went hunting! My son scratched up an old model 70 300 HH a couple years ago finally got a shot at great mule deer at 415 yds. I smile everytime I notice them scratches!

I hunt with all my pre64s. A 270, 30-06, 300 H&H and .375 H&H plus a M64 30-30 made in 52. But I will admit we don't have the rain Alaska does

I consider all of my rifles collectibles, don’t own any ‘shooters’.

That is a great deer shot with a lovely gun, nice work on both!

Looks like my bench, a bit too clean though...

TenX, great buck, great rifle story...thanks for sharing it!

[quote=sbrmike][quote=ruffedgrouse]
I totally agree with you. You spend a lot of time looking at that gun while hunting. I would like to see some nicely grained or even better yet figured walnut with deep rich blued metal than look at a piece of asphalt and flat black metal. Life is too short to hunt with ugly guns. I also do like to see a well used gun; they have been there and done that. If it is a rainy November in PA Bear Season, they get a nice coat of wax or as a minimum, a good spraying down with Lemon Pledge. An then take care of them at the end of the day.

That's the problem--too much time looking at the gun and not at where you should be looking. I bought two Model 70 Classic Stainless rifles about 20 years ago, a 7 Mag and a 300 Win, and since then I've kept my pre-64's in the safe except very occasionally. Now I hunt all day, never worry about or look at the gun, and know that it looks the same after 20 years use as it did when new.

Please Don't Tell Me How To Hunt or What To Do Ever. That is as polite as I can be.

........ alrighty then.

If you own it, do what you want with it. I shoot all of mine and hunt with most of them.