Your First Rifle?

[Red Rabbit]

Younghunter's post about his 280 got me to remember my first rifle. We have posted about our favorite rifles and cartridges, but not our first,iirc.

 

What was your first rifle? Why or how did you get it? Chambering? Have you kept it or traded it away? Is it a family rifle for the generations?

 

My first rifle was a Remington 700 BDL chambered in 280 (monikered 7mm Express back then) and purchased around 1984. I chose the cartridge because famous Texas deer writer John Wooters chose it for his first custom gun. I almost was persuaded to get a 270, but wanted it to be different than my friend's 270. Used it to shoot many whitetail in Texas and my first three Coues in Arizona. It was traded towards a Browning Stainless Stalker in 7mm Rem Mag when they first came out back around 1990. I just had to get the weather resistant stainless and tupperware stock that the Browning offered. Since there was no family sentimental value to the rifle, and its accuracy was deteriorating, it succumbed to the trade.

 

My Dad did not hunt, so this first rifle was purchased on my own; No rifle to be handed down from my Dad. My cousin got my grandfather's pump 30-06 which he used in Wisconsin for deer, when he passed away.

 

Doug~RR

[DotShot]

Well for me, my first rifle was a Winchester Model 88 chambered in .308. THe rifle had originally belonged to my grandfather and had been passed form him to my father. I can remember many deer hunting trips in which i watched my dad shoot numerous bucks with this particular rifle. On one such trip in unit 24A we were hunting around Tom Oshanter peak and my dad climbed up on this big boulder over looking a canyon and the rock shifted, he fell, and the stock on the rifle broke in half. After the hunt my father told me that if i saved enough money for a replacement stock i could have the rifle and thats exactly what i did. After replacing the stock I killed my first deer with it and went on to kill many, many more with it. THe rifle now belongs to my oldest boy (13) who also has killed his first deer with it, as well as his first Javi (which by the way was due to the advice i received from this very website). Everytime i look and the rifle it brings back many wonderful memories of hunts passed and excitement thinking of hunts yet to come. This year the rifle will get its first experience in the elk department as my son was drawn for his first elk hunt this year.

[stanley]

Great topic Doug!

 

Good story Dotshot! Very cool that your boy now is using the rifle....

 

My first was an Winchester 1894 30/30 that my dad handed to me (it was his...). I killed a couple of deer with it prior to 'moving-up' to a .308 I bought myself in college.

 

The 30/30 actually has an interesting history; My father was a geologist/engineer for the Kennecott copper mine in Ray (Kearny). Back in the early 60s before I was born, he and some other guys were cleaning-out an old storage shed and came across a crate of un-touched Winchesters. They were apparently purchased by the mine in the early 1900s to defend against a possible attack by Pancho Villa. Well the attack never came, and the rifles sat in storage for decades. When my dad and the other guys found them, they turned them into the Controler and he didn't really know how to account for them, as well as the fact that the corporation had absolutely NO use for them at that point.

 

Well, they let my dad and some others purchase the guns for $20.00. This was in 1962, I think. It's an awesome model with the full buck-horn sights, etc. Outstanding condition since it sat in the crate for 50+ years.... I still have the gun today, and will never let go of it.

 

S.

 

 

PS: My oldest now hunts with the .308 that I purchased in college. I've moved on to a .7MM.

[firstcoueswas80]

on my 12th, 13th or 14th birthday ( dont remember which one) my parents bought me a savage 99e 308. the gun was very nice, had a steel but plate and a tasco 3-9x40. the rifle didnt really fit me and when i shot it, it kicked the snot out of me. i developed very very poor shooting habits back then, i would flinch and jerk the trigger like you wouldnt believe. i killed my first two elk with it.. a spike bull (my first big game animal on my first ever time applying in az) and a cow elk ( the very next year, unit 1 juniors hunt AWESOME HUNT) i never killed a white tail with it but carried it on my firts few hunts. when i was 15 or 16 i saved up and bought myself a new rifle. one that fit me better. i bought a remington 700 bdl mountain LSS. this rifle replaced my 308 and i took my first two coues with it. since then, i have bought and sold many rifles including the 308 i traded the 308 for a 243 for my brother when he said that he wanted to start hunting. i still have the 30-06 and it will not go anywhere ( even though some anomyus member here keeps telling me i should sell it and my 7mag and get a kimber montana) my 30-06 is about to be stripped of its scope and become a safe queen until i can afford to buy a new scope for it. i have a 300wsm coming in that will be taking the place of my 30-06 as my elk/bear rifle.

[BuckNasty]

My first rifle was, and still is, my great grandfather's 30-40 Krag. I don't know if it was used in WWI, but it dates back to the era.

 

My brother and I share some other guns, but this one remains our first long gun. And while my father, brother and I carried several guns in the field last year during our hunt, I ended up using it to take my first big game animal, a bull elk. The iron sights sure didn't help with my first experience of "buck fever". But at 80 yards, the gun was up to the challenge.

 

We got a sense of satisfaction knowing that grandpa's gun got the credit and that he's around to hear about the hunt.

 

We've decided since then that we won't always get a chance to be so close, so we are going to get a Rem 300 ultra mag...as soon as we get drawn again for big game that is!

[scoutm]

My first rifle was a daisy BB Gun. I took more game (Toads) with that gun than any other I've ever owned. We had an old man down the street that would pay me $.50 a toad because he loved fryed fog legs so much. Of course that was back in the day when $.50 bought you a soda, bag of chips and a candy bar.

[bmf1321]

I've had many bb/pellet guns growing up and took plenty of rabbits/birds/sqirrels with it. Later i grew up and bought a remington 700 .223 to start varmint/big game hunting and still have this gun. It has taken many animals including javelinas, coyotes, bobcats, badgers, skunks, racoons, jackrabbits, and just about anything else that dares come near me in the desert. For deer/elk, i bought a winchester model 94 in 30-30. I later upgraded to a tikka 300 win mag. The 300 is probably my favorite gun. I would recommend pellet/ bb shooting to any youngster getting started as it has prepared mne to move up to larger calibers.

[azcouesandelk]

My first rifle was actually my sisters rifle and still is so I dont count that one. It is a remingtion model 7 chanbered in .243

 

My first rifle that was actually mine was given to me by my grandpa. My dad and my grandpa bought matching rifles in 1974 in a baitshop in Brainard, Minnesota. It is a Parker-Hail 300 win mag. I put a burris fullfield II scope on it I have 1 elk with it under my belt.

 

Here is the beauty.

 

 

I just love the dark wood on it and did I mention it has a mauser action

[Avion]

The first rifle I got to hunt with was a Marlin 30-30 lever action with iron sights. Man did send a lot of lead through that thing. The first rifle I bought was a Sears and Roebuck .270 and have shot 12 coues deer with it. I have since past it on to my 15 year old son and he drives tacks with it. The rifle that I use now is a Remington model 700 in 7mm mag stainless with composit stock. It shoots great but miss the .270.

[coueshunter]

My first rifle was/is a .300 savage model 99. My dad bought it used for me from a fireman buddy. It was built in 1947 and originally had a weaver K-4 scope on it. I still have it today, have passed it down to my sons. I killed 4 blacktails and one muley with it till I upgraded to my first new rifle, a win mod 70 .280 in 1984........Allen...........

[CouesUnlimited]

For the past 8 or so years I used a Win .243 and it had gotten my brother and I many many deer, but it was my dad's friends rifle. We used it b/c my dad's .264 Win mag was too much for us when we started huntiing when we were younger. But I have upgraded to 300 Win Short Mag. I have gone to the range acouple of times and found it's sweet spot. It can really reach out and touch them targets, but I feel more comfortable with the old faithful .243. I guess it will just take some more trips to the range and a couple deer to get that same feeling.

[CritterGitter]

Gee!!! This topic brings back memories. Embarrasingly, my first rifle was a .303 Enfield carbine. I bought it because that's what my Dad had and I thought it was cool. Boy was I wrong on that one. The thing had a 18 inch barrel with a flash guard on the end of it. It was so inaccurate, I had to limit myself to 100 yards. About 1 season was all it lasted and it was traded for a few dollars toward the .243 I've used for about a decade. Now, its the .300 win mag.... I doubt I'll go back.

[KGAINES]

Aside from quite a few bb guns my first rifle was a Remington 700 adl 243, I got it for Christmas in 83, my dad bought it from my uncle and gave it to me as a present. It was the first rifle in my home since my dad’s guns were stolen in the early 70s. He only had like three at the time and didn’t use them much that I remember, but as a kid you usually remember when your dad tells you that you will have these one day, I was told they would be mine from since I can remember until they were stolen. The two I remember most were an octave barreled 30/30 (I think) and a 30/40 krag the other was a 22. Kind of a funny thing about my dad and his guns he bought new shotguns, but never replaced his rifles, when I was 20 I helped my uncle start his business in TN and came back here a couple of days before fathers day, on fathers day me and my dad were at wal-mart I think and I was looking at guns, I asked him what he thought would be a good all around gun for me, he checked a couple and said he liked a savage 30-06, I bought it, when we got home I gave it to him and told him happy fathers day, it was his first rifle since his were stolen.

[COUESAZ]

My first rifle is still the rifle i use today. It is a rem 700 adl in 25-06. It has served me very well from the day i got it from my father 26 years ago. The only thing that has changed on it is the scope and the sling over the years. If it works why change right.

[billrquimby]

My first rifle was a Savage Model 99 in the now-obsolete .303 Savage caliber, which is ballistically almost identical to the .30-30 Winchester. It had a curved steel buttplate. I remember paying $30 for it, which was a lot of money for a 11-year-old boy who had to pay for it by selling the Yuma Daily Sun at $0.025 per copy. With it, at age 12, I shot my first mule deer where Lynx Creek Lake now sits near Prescott.

 

Virtually everyone hunted with open-sighted lever action rifles in 1948. I don't think I ever saw anyone afield with a bolt-action rifle until a few years after that. When I had a "new" Weaver 2.5X scope (it had a crosswire and a heavy post) mounted on my old Model 99, everyone in my family thought I was nuts. "Nobody can hold a rifle with a scope steady," they said. "You won't be able to hit a running target."

 

My first Arizona whitetail was shot with a .270 Winchester on an FM Mauser action in 1955. It was sold by Sears under its house brand, J.C. Higgins, and came equipped with a 4x scope for $89.99. I later had Harry Lawson restock it with his Cochise thumbhole stock. I shot nine of Arizona's Big Ten animals with it, and fired perhaps 2,000 rounds through it in metalica silueta matches in Sonora, before its barrel went south in about 1965 or so.

 

I've acquired several dozen centerfire rifles (I still have every gun I ever owned) since then, in just about every caliber made -- from .17 to .458 -- but have settled on a 7mm Remington Magnum with a Czech-made Mauser barreled action and a stock I made myself from a piece of walnut we cut in Texas. It has a 3-9X Leupold compact scope. I've taken 60-70 head of big game with it on six continents.

 

Bill Q