Sentimental favorite rifle?

thirtythirty · Dec 25, 2009

My sentimental favorite rifle was actually a deer rifle I got for Christmas when I was 14. I was being raised by my grandparents on a small reservation in NM called Pine Hill. My father and mother were both dealing with their demons(alcohol)at the time and I really never saw them much. My grandparents were very old school and we didn't have a lot of money, but they had a lot of love. I wasn't expecting much but laying under the tree with a bow on it was a model 97 30-30. I was on cloud nine for weeks!

Does anybody else have a sentimental favorite rifle? Let's hear about it.

30-30

Foreman4x4 · Dec 25, 2009

Father-in-law gave me two rifles a few years back after he decided he no longer had the desire to hunt/shoot. First is a 1968 Belgium Browning ATD semi-auto .22lr. The second and my favorite rifle of all time is a 1958 vintage Winchester Model 70 .300 H&H mag. I've killed a few deer, two elk, and a bull Shiras moose with the Model 70 and two of my daughters have adopted the Browning.

southendguy · Dec 25, 2009

When I was 13, my Dad gave me his Model 70 30-06. He died less than a year later. I have used it to hunt everything from coyotes to elk in the 32 years since.

Deuce · Dec 25, 2009

My favorites are a browning .308 and Ruger 25-06 both from my dad who no longer hunts. I killed deer with both.

goofyelk · Dec 25, 2009

Model 97 30-30,,Killed both my first deer and elk with it back
in the 70s,,,,got it 35 years ago, still use it.

ToddT · Dec 26, 2009

what is a model 97? I know that winchester made a model 94, so is a model 97 a savage or something? Just curious.

HiMtnHntr · Dec 26, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Dec-26-09 AT 08:42AM (MST)[p]Savage 110 30-06 that was my dad's. Thin barrelled, starts to wander after about 5 shots. It's re-stocked with a B&C synthetic, steel bedded, and topped with a nikon 3-9. It'll produce sub-moa groups. My Dad killed everything from moose to antelope with it through the 70's and 80's. It's still whackin and stackin em from time to time.

BeanMan · Dec 26, 2009

The Ruger 10/22 that I bought at age 14 with my lawn mowing money. I've gotten more good use out of that than probably any other outdoors item I've ever purchased. It cost me $49.99 at the time.

eelgrass · Dec 26, 2009

The Marlin 336 that my dad gave me back in 1964. I killed my first buck with it. Here's a blacktail he took with it back in 1953. He died Christmas eve 2008.

Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.

thirtythirty · Dec 26, 2009

>My sentimental favorite rifle was actually
>a deer rifle I got
>for Christmas when I was
>14. I was being
>raised by my grandparents on
>a small reservation in NM
>called Pine Hill. My
>father and mother were both
>dealing with their demons(alcohol)at the
>time and I really never
>saw them much. My
>grandparents were very old school
>and we didn't have a
>lot of money, but they
>had a lot of love.
> I wasn't expecting much
>but laying under the tree
>with a bow on it
>was a model 97 30-30.
> I was on cloud
>nine for weeks!
>
>Does anybody else have a sentimental
>favorite rifle? Let's hear
>about it.
>
>
>30-30

oops I meant model 94

deerbedead · Dec 26, 2009

My dad grew up in the 50's in Alton, Utah. A little town on the Paunsaugunt that has been a deer hunting mecca for decades. In the mid 60's my dad saved up his money and ordered a Winchester bolt action 30-06. It was a couple years after the pre-64 was scrapped. He told me he paid around $100 for it.

5 years later he gave it to his brother in law from SLC so he could hunt deer with the family. Bro in law hunted a few times with them, and then never came back to hunt deer again.

My dad always told us he wished he could get the rifle back, but bro in law didn't want to give it up.

Fast forward to 2009. On the way to Colorado to hunt deer, my dad brought up the old rifle again, and my brothers decided to see if they could get it back for him. They sent an email to aunt from SLC and told her the deal, and asked if they could buy it back. She emailed back and said they'd just give it back. Or at least that's what my bro's told me.

The bro's put it under the Christmas tree just yesterday and when dad opened it up, he said, "this looks exactly like the gun I bought when I was 16!" I don't think he really thought it could be the same gun, since he'd tried to get it back over the last almost 40 years. He was really surprised to find out it was the exact rifle he'd bought as a kid. I was kind of tickled to see him smile and tell the story about how he got it and some of the deer hunts he did with it when he first bought it.

DeerBeDead