Age of your hunting rifle.

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Pathfinder45

New member
How old is your hunting rifle, the one you will hunt with this season. I know some folks have so many options to choose from that one day it's this rifle and the next day it's another. I could have hunted today with a nice model 70 Classic Sporter from the mid 1990's but instead have been using a 30WCF that's about 72 years old. Something about the old 94 just feels right out in the timber of the high Cascades. Who else chooses to hunt with an old rifle, and how old is yours?
 
70 some odd year.
This year it's going to be a Type 38 Arisaka 6.5

Last year was an 1899 Remington Lee 30-40 Krag.
Only 114 years old.
 
undecided

Still up in the air about what "heavy" I may rifle hunt with this year......I've invested a lot of time and effort getting a Mark X Mannlicher in '06 up to snuff, and have not yet killed a deer with it. I believe it dates from the 1970's, say 35-40 years old maybe. Hunted it last season too, but another rifle was along when the buck showed up. One of the problems last year was the vintage Redfield 4x was not pulling enough light at dusk to satisfy me, so I would only the hunt the AM's with the Mark X. Another was the rifle is awfully pretty, and I was reluctant to hunt it hard, up trees in climbing stands, deep in the muck, etc. Its got a Leupold 6x on it now, and is much better at dusk, so it should get more hunting time this year.

One rifle that will go to the woods is a Ruger bolt, stainless/synthetic, in 7.62x39. Shrugs off hard use, light, short, (20" bbl) and easy to carry, and more than enough punch for use in the thick stuff where shots are short, but drags are long. Little rifle has had some trigger work, and I broke in the barrel when new. A cream puff to shoot, and wonderfully accurate with W_W factory ammo or my 135 gr reloads. Wish I could find some more of those Sierra SSP slugs!!!!! The Ruger wears a Leupold 2-7x.

What I REALLY want to do is take a deer (or more) with my bow. Got skunked last year with the bow, first time in 25+ years!!!
 
Not hunting this year because it takes 4 months of training to get a WBK, but if I were back home and able to, I'd be reaching for my 50's era 30-06, a Husqvarna built on an FN m98 commercial action.

Jimro
 
the last three days of the early muzzle loading doe season here, hunters over 65 years old can use any legal centerfire rifle and i carry one of my old winchester lever actions. this year i will carry a winchester 1876 in 45-60 made in 1883. eastbank.
 
I dunno. When were model 1909 Argentine Mousers made? Just pulling your leg, I'm not deer hunting hunting in Western Oregon anymore. The deer all move into town the last week of September...

Tony
 
My Winchester Mdl 70 270 was made in 1952.. I started reloading ammo for it in 1953 using H 4831 powder and 130 grain bullets ,Still do.
 
The one I use the most often is a Mossberg 800A made in 1964.
I bedded the rifle two seasons ago and it cut my groups by .5 MOA.
It has a no name 4x scope that works well enough for game in my local woods.
Not bad for $250.
 
65 Years old. The K-31 will (hopefully) take it's first Whitetail this year. Probably gonna use Irons this year and get a clamp on mount for the next. The load I'm using is a 150 Grain Hornady SP Flatbase bullet over 45 grains of H4350. I'm able to keep within 2 inches at 100 with Irons.
 
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1979 Winchester 670A in .243Win was the first rifle I owned. My parents gave it to me for my 13th birthday and I shot a Pronghorn with it in 1980. Saturday, my 12 year old shot his first Pronghorn with it. I have a Rem700 in .30-06 that is a 1978, but most of my hunting is with a 2003 Weatherby UL in .338-06 or a 2006 Rem 700 in .260 Rem.
 
3 year old Vanguard S2 is what I hunted deer with this year. I loaned my oldest rifle, a Savage 99, to my youngest son in hopes he would get his first deer with it just as I did. I don't know how old it is, my grandfather gave it to me when I was 12 and that was 30 years ago :eek:.
 
For muzzleloader season here in NH I will use my 1997 Knight Disc in 50 cal and if for some reason I dont score with that, (since here in NH we only get 1 gunpowder tag) I will take out my fairly new (not sure what year it was made but I got it last year) Model 7 in 7-08. When I head down to SC the beginning of Dec I will be taking along my Weatherby Vanguard 2 in 243 and my Model 7 in 7-08.
 
I use whatever I feel like any given day from my 150 plus year old damascus barreled 16 gage double barrel shotgun to my Uberti Walker that I just picked up last year. Sometimes it feels right go grab great great granddads ole Winchester 25-35 too.
 
I use a 270, model 54 Winchester that was built in 1925. This gun has been carried so much that the checkering on the fore arm is worn flat. For those who don't know it was the fore runner to the model 70. I bought the rifle in 1957 at Coast-to-Coast hardware for $30 dollars. At the time I wanted something better like a 740 Rem. But that was all I had or could afford. It got a Williams peep site on it and serves me very well. At 70 it still serves me well, and has helped me harvest a lot of game. I do have some nice rifles and they have good scopes on them . But the way I hunt is to walk and sit. When I' m sitting, holding that rifle many pleasant deer hunting memories come into mind. Just like an old diary, that's why I carry it! I'll carry that gun right up to and including my last hunt, which at my age is closer than I want to think about.
 
Well, the core of the rifle is 96 years old. It's a 1918 stamped Swedish M96 wrapped in a newer stock and topped with a scope.

Not sure it that counts, but it's the same rifle I have hunted whitetail with since 1995.
 
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