what was your first deer rifle? do you still have it or use it on occassion?

.243 remington mohawk..still could shoot a dime at 200 yards...use it for doe headshots...

670 Winchester in 300 Win. Mag. shot over 40 head of deer with that gun.

I didn't answer my own question-My first was the controversial 30-30 winchester- that I wish I had kept...I was broke in college and there was this pawn shop...

30-30 WINCHESTER GREAT FOR SEVERAL EAST TEXAS DEER

My first was the Mod 94 30-30. I cant count how many deer I shot with that. Two buddies of mine and I all got them for christmas the same year (parents had it set up). Had the side mount for scope. That was the best deer rig in the whole elementary and junior high! Well...three way tie for first! Then I traded it on a Browning SS 7mm Mag which I still have. I am going to buy another 30-30 soon to have.

I dont see any controversy on the 30-30. The best deer rifle of all time if you ask me. Look how many deer have been taken with that caliber.
JR

A sporterized 03A3 Springfield 30'06 with a Bishop stock on it. I paid a $75 for it in 1965 with a dim Weaver promo scope on it. My Grand Pop, a horse trader if there ever was one, took it as a down payment on the SAKO 243 with a 3x9 Redfield and let me pay out the rest over 12 months. I shot the SAKO for about 12 years and wished I'd never let it get away. It's worht 5 times toaday what I paid for it in 1967. I learned most of everything I know about reloading, shot placement, and a general overview of shooting with that SAKO...and its the reason I won't use another 243 sized rifle on White Tails....once again better choices are available that were not available then. I "graduated" to a series of 270 Ruger's, then back to a long list of SAKO's in 6 different calibers - enough to finance a business venture and like a DA sold them, then back smaller to a M70Fwt 257 Roberts after a spinal cord injury for the Roberts lighter than a 243 recoil and better killing performance, and back again to a 270 and larger stuff. Today a 270 is smallest caliber I shoot.

No flys on a 30/30 or its history...but I don't drive a Model T and complain about not having power steering, air conditioning or cruise control either. There are way too many better choices out there today to DEPEND on a 30/30 for a deer rifle as we once needed to. 30/30's are fun to shoot and will always have a place on my gunrack...just not the first place in what I pick up heading out the door.
The short run of Remington 788 30/30's I remember from the late 60's were outstandingly accurate guns especially when handloaded with pointed bullets...which you could do since the ammo was in a vertical magazine and not a tube fed gun. I still think 788's are butt ugly and never owned one, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder...and when a buddy from those days consistently put 5 rounds of 30/30 under 1/2" I was suitably impressed...and still wouldn't buy one! Oh well those guns today are worth 4-5 times what they cost then. Who knew!
Ron

Old Remington savage 300 Model 722, been in the family for about at least 50 years, and I still have it, but I haven't used it in several years, I'm afraid something will happen to it.

303 British Enfeild(sp.) that my dad gave me. I took it to a gunsmith down the road and he told me what he does with the 303's he comes across......he burns the stock and uses the barrel as a fire poker!! Imagine the shock from a 14 year old back then. He said that my rifle most likely had at least 10,000 rounds put through it in it's lifetime from the military. on't know if that's true or not and never did find out. The gun disappeared from my parents house when I did and I haven't seen it since. Garage sale I guess, maybe fire poker.

Savage Model 340 chambered in 30-30 Win. I wish I still had it!

Winchester Model 670, 30.06 with a fixed 4 power scope. Sold it to my brother in law which he's still got!


Spanky

Mine was a remington sportsman model 78 30-06. My grandad gave it to me after he had it for 15 years and now it sits in my gun case with a lot of good memories.

Glenfield model 30A in 30-30. My wife bought it for me on the first Christmas after we were married. Until that time I had never deer hunted. This September will be 24 years for the little Misses and Me. Still have the rifle and ALWAYS will. Both my sons learned to hunt with it and if I have grandkids, I hope they will use it also. My youngest still uses it. If any of you have read my other posts- that is the rifle he used to harvest the nice Corsican ram about 2 weeks ago when we were in Texas.

My first deer rifle was a Marlin 30/30. I got it for Christmas when I was 7 years old. I never killed anything with it. I started using a Springfield 30/06 when I was 10 that belonged to my dad. When I went off to college I traded off the 30/30 for a 7mm Rem. mag. Boy was I glad to finally be rid of that thing.

Shot my first deer with a Marlin 30/30. Grandfather has it now. Went to a Mini 14 for several years after that. Still have it but bought a Browning 7 mag which I use now. My wife shoots the Mini 14.

Rem model 600 6mm....short gun, but accurate as all get out with the new scope I put on it...it had a fixed 4 power Weaver when I bought it used back 26 years ago...I was 11 and had a Saturday Job cleaning out a friend of my dads car was....$10 for half a day work...went to the gun shop and paid $10 on it weekly....then I bought a 20 gauge 870 wingmaster still have both and still shoot both from time to time....would not trade or sell either, ever....though i have been offered $750 for the rifle and scope set up three times by one guy......

WileyCoyote you must be my long lost twin.I bought my 03A3 in 1962 with a 4x weaver on it for $65.I have had 3 or 4 different scopes on it over the years.Dang thing weighs a ton,but i still use it.I don't squeeze the trigger much anymore,but I still use the gun[ by the way,it still has it's big front sights on it].

My firs hunting gun was a .30 caliber M-1 carbine that wasnt realy mine, it is my dads that he got from his dad, and we all kinda shot our first deer with it. My first rifle was a remington modle 700 Sendero chambered in .270, with a luepold 3x9x40 on it. The M-1 is starting to have some acuracy issues, but the sendero is still and always will be a tack driver.

matt

Bolt action 20 guage shotgun with open sites, shot buckshot out of it.

sako .243 with weaver 3x9x40 still used it up until 6 months ago when burnt in my mom and dads house.

Biz, that breaks my heart. I am very fond of that caliber and gun combination and also had one when I first started hunting in the late 60's and shot for many many years.
See if you can find another one that the Insurance Company will pay for!
Ron

Winchester model 94 in 32 special and I still have it 40 years later.

My first was a Remington .243, shot about 20 deer with that gun after my dad handed it down to me, after he used it for about 10years. He has it at his house. he loves that gun, I don't think he's ever gonna part from it.

i still have the action and its still good,took it to tanard springs costom gun shop,to get a custom .243 built,but cant catch them there.