While much has often been said about our more expensive rifles, I can't remember a thread where the focus was on inexpensive rifles or shotguns that an owner has used to take the most (at least for them) wild game.

So then, excluding firearms that were given to you, what is the most inexpensive shotgun or rifle that you own that has rewarded you with the most wild game?

Mine would have to be my Remington Model 700 ADL that I purchased back in the late 80's. I couldn't have paid more than $300-$400 for it and yet cannot remember all the deer and hogs I've taken with it.

Remington 788 in 7mm-08 bought in 1982 for $209 including tax. No idea how many deer it has taken or how many people have shot deer with it

Remington 870 Express 12 gauge. Bought one when I was in my early 20's. Wood stock and parkerized metal. If I remember correctly, it was about $180. I wore the finish off that gun. Took hundreds of quail, dove, pheasant, ducks, and rabbits with it, along with a few turkeys. By far the most bang for my buck of any firearm purchase.

788 308 with scope purchased from Carter's 1973? for $88. I was in Jr high and $$ was tight. Wish I'd have been able to buy more. I sent a letter to Remington to purchase an extra magazine. Still using it!!

Papalote

Winchester Model 12, 16 ga., 1935. Bought approx. 1978, $250 from a pawn shop in Wichita, Ks. Had already been re-blued so collector value gone.....Had chokes added in 1986 as well as another re-bluing.

Baikal MP18 single shot 12 gauge. I bent the barrel against a big log until it centered the pattern exactly where I put the bead.

Some of ya'll know I am not a big deer hunter, not for lack of want I just got a late start in life deer hunting. Now i have found some spots but I don't have time for it. Only killed one deer and since sold the rifle- a .243 american i got for $180

But I have lost count of the cottontails and squirrels I have taken with this old rusty single shot. I picked it up on store credit from a pawn shop before I moved back to Texas. I keep it under the back seat of the pickup.

Of all time? Probably a Daisy 880 pellet rifle to be honest.

Yes, I'm sure many pawn shop finds will find their way into this thread.

Remington 700 in 30-06 from a pawn shop. $150. I’ve killed a stack of pigs and an antelope with it.

Glenfield Model 60 I got when about 13-14.....worked my butt off for a week helping a neighbor. I wouldn’t take cash for payment. She surprised me with it and I’ve killed many animals, bottles, and cans with it...

For shear numbers a Mossberg 183T bolt action 410 shotgun.
1st and only firearm my parents bought me. No idea cost but
had to be less than $100 in early ‘70’s.
A lot of small game and birds fell to it when I was young.

I bought a Tikka 695 Whitetail 7Mag in 1998 for $475 which included the Sako OptiLock rings. A steal of a deal. In 2006 I killed this B&C buck in Sonora, MX with it and 160 partitions. I've literally killed a couple hundred head of big game with it.

I wish you had said gun instead of rifle or shotgun. My old Tube fed Marlin 22 mag has probably put more meat on the table and more money in my pocket than any of my other rifles or shotguns but my old K-22 is way ahead of them all. Screwed up and got myself between gates when I had hunters out so I had to stay on the ranch. Ended up getting a dozen quail, 5 nice Bull frogs and 3 cottontails for they're supper that night all with the old K-22, checked when I got back and I'd shot 23 times. Give me a 6 inch K-22 and I'll keep the freezer full of food.

1964 Ruger Bearcat. I've been carrying it for 40 years. Thousands of trapline kills, rattlesnakes and no telling how many rabbits for the pot. Got it at a little pawnshop for about a hundred bucks.

H&R Topper 30-30/20ga from Gibson’s or TG&Y. It was a two barrel set. While the 30-30 didn’t see much action the 20ga killed everything for years. Primarily birds, but everything was at risk from this teenage boy.

Not a cheap gun for the time but I have shot more game with my .270 Ruger I got in 1997 for $475. Topped it with a Redfield tracker that set us back and additional $185.

The Ruger was $50 cheaper than a remmy 700 BDL plus came with rings so it got the nod. Had some work done to it over the years and it’s a very sweet shooter.

I can’t count how many deer I’ve killed with it, I stopped trying to keep track a long time ago. I don’t use it much any more but this year I have hunted with it a bit more than in previous years. Took it out a few weeks back for a walk about and ended up drilling two hogs with it. It just fits like an old glove.

Paid 235 for a marlin 30-30 when I was 12, I’m 31 now and I have been killing pigs and deer with it yearly. Also have a 6.5 Swedish Mauser that some put in a synthetic stock. Bought it for 250 and it has quickly become one of my favorite deer rifles. Have only killed 5-6 deer and several coyotes with it. Including two mule deer doe this year In Nebraska.

Not a rifle, but my .357 blackhawk has killed more pigs than i could count on my whole family's fingers and toes! I carry it with me most of the time in the field, and any pigs that I stumble upon close range get fet 158gr of lead.

Wow! What did he score if you don't mind.

That is impressive Jgraider!

The first rifle I bought after college in 1989 was a used Rem 700 ADL 25-06 with a Simmons 3-9 from a friend's gun shop for $200. With that rifle I've taken most of my deer, many coyotes, bobcats, armadillos and one pesky goat. I still have it.

That buck grossed 213 7/8", netted 204 6/8". Luck trumps skill any day.

I've got an old hollow bolt 77 in 7-Mag that's been with me since the late 70's, sure put allot of rounds through that one. My longest shot on a buck was with this rifle down by Rankin TX. Used to load some 115's in it and shoot yotes. Same load was devastating on the heart lung area of a whitetail. The old tang safety's were as good a rifle as you could buy back then and preferred over the model 70 Winchester by myself and many others. You got a hell for stout straight grained Walnut, nice smooth action and a better bedding system than with Remington or Winchester. If I remember right the older model flat bolts and hollow bolts came with Douglas barrels. The stock trigger was well a Ruger stock trigger, which worked OK for some. This one was worked on by a local gunsmith G.C. Broughton and he got it down to a smooth crisp 2 1/2 lbs. Not sure what he did to get the slack out of their stock triggers but it was magic compared to factory. As I've always said, the weakest part of a Ruger 77 and all models since with the exception of the accutriggers has always been the trigger. They should have sold you a Ruger and tossed in a free Timney.

The Mark II triggers were supposed to be unadjustable. My guy was able to get it down to a crisp 3 lbs. The Timneys in that model are apparently right or left hand specific and at that time they weren’t making it in a lefty version so he had to do the unmentionable and work on a factory trigger.

The ruger triggers were always atrocious until they came out with the LC6 in a Hawkeye. I have one of those and it’s a pretty decent trigger for stock.

I always thought Rugers were underrated and you got a lot of rifle for the price compared to the model 70’s and 700’s

I don't know if it was a name problem or the fact that Ruger used investment casting on so many parts but follar for dollar you got more with the 77.

I've got a stone stock Tang Safety in 243 I might just give the treatment (The way we did it in the olden days) and see how much of an improvement I get. 1 1/2 groups from a stone stock Ruger was about the best you could expect. See what I can do without having to replace the trigger.

I think that at the time the Winchester’s and the Remington has a tad better wood, and the look of each of them was just a bit dressier than the Rugers. At that time not many people shot economy rifles it seemed ( the savage 110 was about the only one I remember ) and the Rugers were just a tab plainer Jane than either of the others and def. plainer than a browning A-bolt at the time.

Still, time has told us these were solid guns, a true hunters rifle and with just a tad bit of work would turn in to really good shooters. My only beef with them is I wish they had 24” barrels on the standard calibers instead of 22”‘a.


I had to bed the action and float the barrel, but with hornady interlocks it will put 3 holes into a neat little clover leaf.

I wouldn't call it the cheapest rifle I ever bought, but I've always changed hunting rifles about like I've changed socks except for this one rifle that lasted the longest. In the late '70's I went to work in '76 for a Sporting goods distributor in Dallas that had been bought out by a Chicago based holding company. Long story short, in the late fall of '79 we got a small shipment of the 1st delivery of the new US Repeating Arms Corp labeled Winchester M70 Featherweight's. 1 case each of 5 calibers as I recall. I picked out a 257 Roberts for some reason, but then I already had several Ruger 77's and a couple S&W 1500's too, +some other stuff too in all the common calibers. I wound up shooting the barrel of that Roberts plumb smooth and is was the only rifle I ever kept for any length of time much less the 20+ years I owned it. It finally got traded off in early 2001. My only Pronghorn was taken at 444 yards with the Roberts in Wyoming on a Weaver Sales Contest trip in 1981 a month before we folded the distributor , and in '82 or '83 my 1st hog came at about 15/20 feet with it, while I was buried up in a 30' tall super dense Briar Patch after I'd hit already him 4 times and the last bullet I had finally A/C' d his brain pan and burned the hide off part of his face on his last charge. I "earned" that hog the hard way, as it took 3 hours to drag him out of the briar....but he ate good! Used to bet I could write my initials on a business card at 100 yards at the old Winchester Range in Dallas with the Roberts and won lots more times than I lost. Picked up a even more rare USRAC 7x57 with factory iron sights from an old friend when I moved down here to Palestine in '16 that is every bit as accurate as that Roberts was...just need to shoot it more...but then I need to shoot all the few guns I have now more too.

Oldest owned gun in my house is a Marlin 39 D. The Chicago based holding company were filing bankruptcy for the 3rd time - think Romney's Bain Capital's business practices only our holding company owner had just bought the Milwaukee Braves and in the process of selling them to Ted Turner. When you file a BK you have to inventory every last fish hook and bullet on premisis. I'd been given the task of inventorying the Ammo Room with 5 levels high steel beam racks of leftover pallets. I spotted a carton up on the 5th level with a Marlin label on it, and climbed up to see what it was ...and discovered a full case of NIB Model 39 D rifles that were no longer listed on the Books or in our Firearms Logs. I wanted to buy ALL 5 of of the rifles at the estimated cost of $75 each but the "AH's" in Chicago got most of them...mine is still in the closet. It is one of 2200 ever produced according to what I've been told. Both sons earliest shooting lesson's came on that rifle. It is a 20" carbine barrel with iron sights in a uncheckered pistol grip stock that was never successful sales wise.
Ron