Your First Rifle?

[Red Rabbit]

neat story, Kenny.

[firstcoueswas80]

my dads first rifle has a story behind it as well. you all have read about me talking about my OLD remington model 721 .270. Doug has seen this thing shoot and it shoots awesome with factory ammo! well this is the story: back in the day ( like 40's 50's and/or 60's) my grandpa owned a grocery store in Michigan. he would get people coming in asking fora bottle of whiskey and not having money for it, so my grandpa would take in rifles, pistols, shotguns what ever in on trade until they had enough money to come back and pay for the whiskey. well the guy who gave my grandpa this .270 never came back. my grandpa hunted all over the country with this gun, taking black bear, moose, grizzly, caribou, black tail deer, white tail, mule deer etc. you named it he had taken it with that gun. well the gun got passed down to my dad and he took his first several deer and first elk with it. the gun has been in the family and all though it is old and beat up, that is the best thing about the gun. there is a scratch on the left side of the gun that is about 6 inches long 1/"4 or so deep. that is the best part about the gun, and the story behind that is even better. he was up in canada i belive hunting bear. one night a bear actually came into camp and scared the horses. the horses got off of their tie line and one of then got into the pots and pans. this horse sent a pot at my grandpas leg and if he hadnt had the .270 there to take the pain, he probably would have lost his leg! this is the rifle i took my lion with. this rifle means so much to our family, it will never leave

[BASS]

Casey, my great uncle use to have a .270, but he got drunk and forgot where he left it. He said it was supose to me be mine, so if you would please give it back I will give your grandfather the $5 we owe him.

 

Neat story.

[firstcoueswas80]

better add on a few 0's. that rifle aint goin anywhere!

[drgonzales]

My first rifle was an open sighted 1911 Eddystone 30-06 of my grandfathers from WW2. He also had a Savage 99 .243 and .308 lever action, the rifles were identical, you had to read the engraving to tell them apart. My dad still shoots the .308 and has taken a lot of coues, muley's and elk with, the .243 was supposed to be mine but my Tata traded it for a mule before he died so my Nana could haul wood. That is why I am looking for one to buy. I remember my first year hunting with that rifle me and my cousin Dave had mule deer tags and this rifle must have weighed about 100lbs ( to a couple of 10 year old kids) I bet that rifle is about 6 feet tall. We didn't have another rifle so we had to share it. We fought with each other trying to make eachother carry the rifle while we were hunting but fought for it when we saw a deer. We both ended shooting deer with that rifle about 10 minutes apart.

 

My first rifle and probably my fondest memory of hunting. I still have that 30-06, one time I took it to have it cleaned in Phoenix and the guy behind the counter said he would trade any brand new rifle with any scope he had for that rifle and it spooked me so I took my rifle home and bought a safe to put it in.

 

Skinner

[More D]

Great Stories! It's amazing how much history and important memories can be in a rifle.

 

 

My stories are not so exotic but as far as I can remember my first was a Daisy BB gun that I terrorized the neiborhood with, man I had that thing for years untill I decided it needed a good cleaning. I ruined it because I never could get it back together correctly. Funny enough my mom surprised my for christmas about 4 years ago with the same model . I was happy and surprised they still made it.

 

 

The first firearm was a tube feed Marlin .22 that my brother and I shared, we liked it alot be we couldn't hit the dirt with it because we never learnd to aim. We just used to pull the trigger as fast as we could . That was quickly taken away and we were handed an OLD, no serial # old, Springfield Meteor single shot .22. I think our dad traded a co-worker for it for $20 bucks he was owed like 20 years ago. We quickly learned to make the shots count with that one and plus we were only given like 15-20 shells each.

 

 

My first big game rifle I ever owned is the one I still own and hunt with today. It is a Model 70 in 30-06. I saved for what seemed like a year and only saved like $120. I worked for my uncle on a few jobs and earned another $100. He must have felt sorry for me because he asked me one day to show him the rifle I wanted. I had a it all picked out at the wally mart down the street because all the other gun shops sold them for sooo much more. He gave the difference an we took her home that day. I have taken my fair share of game with it from jackrabbits to deer, no rifle Elk tag yet. My wife on more than one occation has urged me to get a new rifle but all the memories and the fact that it does every thing so well, it will even shoot better than me, I just don't want to. Oh I still buy some thing just not another deer rifle .

 

 

 

 

So Mule Skinner did you skin that mule because he was the reason you didn't get you .243??

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BowNut]

My first was my Rem. 721 270 Win. My dad bought it form a guy at work that did some snipper training with him before he retired from the Highway Patrol. Needless to say it is a shooter. It has had some work done to it and shoots better than I will ever be able to shoot it. I still use it to this day. I have had a few other rifles since I got this one but it is the one I prefer to hunt with. Some day I may find another one to shoot but nothing will replace it. My son is next in line to have it maybe next year I will try a 270 short mag. and pass it on. MAYBE!

[firstcoueswas80]

good to see some one else has a 721 in .270!!! i see the bullets on the stock are 140 accubonds, hand loaded or the federal flavor?

[out2hunt]

My first and I still shoot is a win. model 70 in 7mm mag with a leuopold variex 2 gold ring series in 3x9x40.Bought the whole set up in 2004 from a pawn shop for 385 bucks.I didn't start rifle hunting till I was thirty years old,guess cause I love bowhunting so much more.

[BowNut]

good to see some one else has a 721 in .270!!! i see the bullets on the stock are 140 accubonds, hand loaded or the federal flavor?

 

 

Those are hand loads Fed.cases,Fed. primmers,140gr.Accubonds with 49.5gr. of IMR 4350. For some reason this rifle has never liked hotter loads. But I just let it shoot what it shoots best and don"t ask it for anymore!

[ichiban43]

Embarrasingly, my first rifle was a .303 Enfield carbine.

 

Don't be--I know a guy in Idaho who hunts Elk with one with good success. He even had a T-Shirt made up that said something about not laughing at his 303 Brithish Gun.

[mikep35]

My first rifle was a ruger 22.My first deer rifle was a savage 30/06. The first gun I ever purchased is my baby. A 25/06 ruger m77 MarkII. Which happens to be what I killed my first coues with!

[Ron G.]

Great stories everyone. First gun I used and I guess given (seeing as it still sits in my safe) was a single shot bolt action 22. It's taken a lot of squirrels and rabbits. I don't remember the make of it. I'll have to look. My first deer rifle was a Remington Model 788 in .308 I got back in 1982, when I turned 10. That's been my main deer rifle ever since. Bought a Remington 700 ADL in 7mm Mag from a buddy this past summer, so might give that a go this year in the more open country. In the timber I'll still be carrying my 788. Someday I'll maybe buy a fancy new rifle with a new scope, but for now, the .308 still does what I ask of it.

 

Ron

[drgonzales]

I am a huge fan of the .308. Have seen it knock down many bull elk and bucks at long distances.