Hunting Rifles/Guns When We Were Younger

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Picher

New member
As I approach 70, I think back to the hunting rifles/shotguns I owned when a teen and young adult.

My first was a Stevens 87A Semi-Auto 22LR. It wasn't extremely accurate, but killed a lot of small game, mostly squirrels and rabbits. Next was a Marlin 39A Mountie with a receiver sight that was unbelievably accurate and fun to shoot. It took lots of squirrels, mostly reds around the camp.

My first centerfire was a Savage 110, first model with the straight stock. I got a Bishop semi-inletted blank and carved/rasped/sanded it into a stock that looked like a Weatherby, then epoxy-bedded it and mounted a 2.5X Weaver on it. I only shot one deer with it, but killed numerous woodchucks, even one at 500 yards (second shot)!

Next up was a Rem 700, .22-250 that won my heart. It was extremely accurate and won me many turkeys. I shot several deer with it too, using Nosler 55 grain solid-based Zipedo bullets. It was lousy as a deer caliber though.

My first shotgun was a Beretta single, 20 Gauge, that kinda folded. It was very light and kicked like a 12. Next one was a 16 gauge Savage, 311 double. Couldn't hit anything with that thing. Then, bought a Sears/Ted Williams/High Standard pump, with adjustable choke and vent rib. That one worked well for me and killed quite a few birds and shot many rounds of skeet.

Anybody else have stories of their first hunting guns?
 
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I shot my first deer at about 8 or 9 with my grandfathers single shot 16 ga. Had to make several trips to the store (a mile away) picking up pop bottles so I could come up with the $.25 to buy three shells.

It was years later I figured out this was designed for Black Powder only. No wonder it was shot loose.

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My first rifle was a Marlin model 30 (30-30 lever action) it was given to me when I was about 7 years old. I still have it and shoot probably a deer every year with it to keep it going. I shot my first deer with it when I was 11 and have shot tons with it. There was years that I shot 13 deer in one year. Now I only shoot about 5-6 a year.
 
my story is pretty basic. I started hunting with the 243 I inherited from my dad and used a model 60 I got for christmas one year for mostly just killing popcans. the only thing I hunted as a teen was deer. once I joined the navy and started getting more interested in guns than hunting and once the guns came the hunt followed, last year I got my sportsmans package for the first time(combo hunt/fish license, deer, turkey, elk, bear, mountain lion, wolf, muzzle loader, steel head and salmon) and I think I'll get it every year from now on. now I have an abundance of guns to choose from for all those tasks.
 
Like Picher, my first rifle was a 22 and a Stevens. It was a model 87D. Next, like Picher, was a Marlin 39A, though mine wasn't the Mountie version. I still have both, though the Stevens needs to see a gun doctor. It has occasionally jammed ever since I slipped on some ice along the banks of the Mississippi River and almost slid into the river. Busted my tail and the stock of the rifle. That was probably in about 1963, give or take a year or two.
 
I still have almost every rifle that I've ever bought. There were a few that I didn't keep long but those are almost forgotten.

I stared with a late production but not last ditch Arisaka rifle that my grandfather bought off a friend of the family that brought it back from the war. Unfortunately he had it in possession at the time of the armistice so the mum was ground off. Anyway it was passed on to my brother and he sold it to me for 20 bucks he owed me...

I was a 18 year old kid in the mid 1970's and these rifles weren't worth squat so I bubba'ed it by grafting on a longer section of buttock with a recoil pad. I was able to find and afford 2 boxes of Norma ammo and later a Lee loader for it. It accounted for my first couple deer and a couple more while loaned to friends. I started calling it the ugly stick before the fishing pole of the same name came out...

I haven't shot it in a while so maybe it's time to load up some rounds for it...

Tony
 
I got a Browning semi auto .22 when I was three. Killed my first squirrel with it when I was seven. I later traded it back to dad for a Winchester. :rolleyes: I got a 98 Mauser in 30-06 when I was 12 and an 1887 Winchester 12 gauge the same year. I still have the Mauser and the 87. I had the Mauser sporterized years ago to hunt across bean fields and when I have the urge to use a scoped bolt action I still use it.
 
First gun was a Marlin 336 30-30 to Deer hunt with. Boy was I excited. That Christmas I got a Marlin 49dl semi auto 22 AND a FIE single shot 20 gauge . I was truly in hog heaven. The 20 gauge got far and away the most use followed by the 22 rifle. I still have all 3 guns. They don't see much action but I break them out occasionally for old times sake. You could hunt about anything with those three guns.
 
I've still got my first rifle, a 45 year old Remington 700 in 25-06. Saved up for it by cutting yards.......$112 dollars. When I finally had the cash saved up mom drove me over to Florida Hardware to get it......

Today.....it looks like heck......but shoots real good.......
 
My first gun

I bought my first gun through my older brother, It was/is a Remington 1100 2 3/4" 12 gauge. My first rifle was a .243 Remington 7400. Back then we hunted with dogs and deer where running. Second to fifth shots were common. Later "still hunting " became the norm and I switched to a bolt(ruger 77 Mark II .243).
 
First firearms were:
J.C. Higgins single shot, bolt action, 22 s,l,&lr.
Hawthorne single shot hammerless 16 ga. full choke.
Sporterized 30/40 Kraig.

All by the time I was 16. Great firearms and I still have them today.
 
First rifle - Savage Model 3 .22 Short, Long & LR mfg. in the 1930s

First big game rifle - Remington Model 8 .35 Rem.

First shotgun - Remington Model 1100 12ga.
 
Marlin 30-30 lever action it was my dads, I took my first deer with it and then a few years later someone broke in his house and stole it.
 
When I was 15, I saved every dollar I made working at various jobs and doing chores for folks, then topped it all off with three weeks at the neighborhood Christmas tree lot after school. Earned enough t buy my first rifle, a Winchester 94 in 30-30. My dad laughed, cajoled, and ridiculed me because they had Remington 788s for just a few dollars more, but I had my heart set on a 94.

My first 22 was a Nylon 66 I got from a friend. It didn't work, but I cleaned it up and got it running again, and it did yeoman's duty for about a decade until I bought my Rem 541T.

My first shotgun was my brother's Savage 311 in 16 gauge. I moved up to a Ted Williams autoloader for a while, and finally got a Browning Citori from a buddy who needed the $$.
 
first rifle was a Mossberg Model 42 (22lr) good for squirrels & rabbits.
first shotgun was a Stevens 311 (20 ga) good for dove, quail, pheasant, & ducks
my first big game rifle I bought when I was 18yrs old; a Marlin 30AS in 30-30, I never did get any game other than coyote and jack rabbits with it.
But those are some great memories !
 
My first rifle was a Winchester 190 semi auto 22 lr. Got it for Christmas when I was eleven. When i was twelve I worked all summer for my dad (construction). The deal was a summer for a hunting rifle. I spent every spare moment at the pawn shop drooling over the guns on the wall. I was sure surprised when we went to coast to coast and ordered a brand new Winchester 94 in 30-30. Lots of others have come and gone since then but those two will stay with me until I'm in the dirt.
 
My first rifle was a Red Rider BB rifle. (7-8 yrs old) Had it about a month. Got in trouble with it. (broke a window running with it when it cocked) that immediately went bye bye. My father broke its stock off right in front of me with his bare hands. Oh was He hot about the window breaking.!!

Next rifle came alone after I helping a neighbor put up hay one Summer. (10-11 by then.) I paid for it myself. It did require some help from my father of course procuring it for me. (a straw purchase as its called today). A brand new in the box JC Higgens 22 bolt clip model. Only rifle I ever seen that would strip its clip of a bullet and upon closing its bolt it would actually put a kink in the bullets brass as to make itself jam. Happening so often I actually ended up hand feeding it one shell at a time. Had that rifle for about a year or two. My father pawned it in a tavern one Fall afternoon for a round of drinks for He and his deer hunting buddy's including me.

Shortly after the JC Higgen's fiasco. My father came home from work one evening with a long narrow box under his arm. A brand new Remington Model 512 tube feed 22. Oh what a beauty that one was. I shot bushel baskets of rabbits and partridge with that rifle over the years. One cold January evening after checking on a rabbit snaring line of mine. I left my 22 sitting in the porch entry to our home. Come morning it was gone. We/ I always knew who took it. But my father was apprehensive to place blame on the individual responsible. (neighbor guy)

By this time I had no longer had a need for a 22 cal anyway. (15-16 years old) what I wanted was my own deer rifle instead of using my Fathers Marlin 336 SC model 30-30. {Which I had to be so careful with.} Peeled some year old nasty pulp one spring. Made a few dollars at that crummy job. I bought myself a new rifle from Klien's sporting goods located in Chicago. A near new model 1891-7.65 cal Argentinen Mauser. Oh what a rifle that one was. That rifle was near as tall as I was at that time. But could that rifle shoot!! There was nothing in the woods that could get away on a dead run sideways even if I sighted on it. To this day I remember those unusual bullets it used. 150 gr. Steel jacketed (psp) having a lead core from Norma. Went from shooting bushel baskets of rabbits to truck loads of deer with it. Day time night time made no difference. If it was brown it was down!! I sold the meat to a restaurant owner who blended it with cheap hamburger for his customers cuisine. Just a little old road side cafe out in the middle of nowhere's that pleased everyone who stopped in with it's huge meaty hamburgers that tasted so good. To keep up with the demand on me for more and more meat. Had a fast 56 Ford with a T-bird 292 engine connected to a stick w/ overdrive. Their was no Game Warden that could keep up let alone catch me at that time on gravel roads. Believe me they did try more than once too. I remember once. I stopped in for a pack of cigarettes and some gas from the one and only pump He the restaurant owner had out-front. I over heard a State Highway Patrol cop complimenting the owner how good his hamburger was. "Best damm hamburger I've eaten in a long time." That was his exact words. (If he only knew?) lol.

High school days came to and end. Had no interest in going beyond that point with my education. {unlike so many of my classmates did at that time. Go on to college trying to stay out of the clutch of Uncle Sam's draft and the Vietnam War.} I joined the Corp did my tour and came home to my sweethearts open arm's who anxiously awaited my return. Immediately bought another rifle. A brand new and improved model 742 Remington 30-06 carbine. Still got it. Looks like new. But it's a cased one these days. I check on it every now and then. Just to see how the old gal is doing. So there you have it OP Boy to Man and all those rifles and times along the way while growing up.

S/S
 
rifles

I hunted with a Remington Model 14 in .30 Rem for my first two seasons, then took over a M88 Win in .308 for about 10 years before I semi-retired it as an heirloom. I shot a ton of groundhogs with a Rem 591M in 5mm rimfire before they quit making ammo, and the little rifle got a new lease on life when the Centurion ammo came out recently!

Dad and I hunted rabbits with .410 shotguns, and I ended up with a borrowed .410 pump which I suspect was a High Standard one season, had some cheap engraving on the side and a top tang safety. We took a LOT of rabbits that year when the beagles were in their prime, and Dad was too.
 
My first shotgun was a Stevens break open single barrel with FULL choke. I missed rabbits with it many many times. But my Metal Shop teacher in Jr. High fixed that for me. He cut about 4 inches off the muzzle end and remounted the bead with a dab of silver solder. After that, I hit running and flying game with much better results.

I hunted with a borrowed Winchester 30-30 for two seasons with great success. Eventually, I saved enough to buy a Marlin 30-30 carbine with a good scope. 30-30 is a KEEPER!

Jack
 
Sure Shot McGee: Great stories! Hopefully, the statute of limitations will keep you out of court.

Other stories are also very interesting. Keep it up!
 
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