How did you get there?

[TX_Mike D.]

This is a question on your preferred cartridge to hunt with. It is not meant to get into a contest of which is better than the other, but more of what got you to choose that particular head stamp. I'm curious about how you chose the first rifle you personally picked out all the way to how you got to your current go to based on how/what you hunt.

My brief (probably too long) story: I didn't grow up in a family that hunted much, but I always had an interest in it. My stubborn mother actually told a family friend that he would take me hunting with him when I was around 12. Thankfully I wasn't a total pain in the @$$ for him to drag around, and he took me multiple times. We're still pretty close and I invite him to hunt with me to this day. His grandkids keep him busy these days, but he's always welcome in my hunting camp if he's able to make it. After that first trip I wanted my own rifle. I was set on a .300 Win Mag. Then more research got me to a .300 WBY mag. My mother agreed to chip in for my first rifle as long as I do all my chores and make good grades. The family friend explains to both of us that each of those cartridges are more than needed for white tail deer where we usually hunted (hill country Texas). I start reading every hunting magazine I can find between studying to keep my grades up for "my" rifle. I stumbled upon an article on the 7mm-08, and how the author had been picking up brass from his kids shooting everything in the lower 48 effectively with it. I was sold and decided it was what I wanted. At the time it was being factory manufactured but was still not the easiest round to find (this was in the mid 1990's, so you more seasoned guy's that knew it's potential were probably already playing with it).

Turned out to be a great pick. That rifle is still my go to for Texas whitetail. Probably a lot of that is due to sentimentality. I own a handful of different calibers now and enjoy them all. The journey that got me to my first was something I have fun reminiscing on. Especially since there wasn't much family history hunting.

How did you choose your first? What is your next?

 

[Lionheart]

My first was the 30/30 Marlin my uncle let me borrow. My dad was only a bird hunter but my uncle leased a few hundred acres for deer. My cousins and I knew every inch of that ground. The first rifle I bought for myself was a Smith & Wesson 30/06 (made by HUSQVARNA). Beautiful gun with blond stock. Wish I still had it.
Another early gun was a Browning B-78 in 6mm Rem. That thing was beautiful but had a bad habit of going off unexpectedly!
Then the trail gets muddy as I enjoy trying new things.
.270, .280, .264WM, .300WM…and all the short mags…you name it I have probably owned one.
I settled on an Accumark in 7mmSTW..,most of the stuff on my walls fell to that rifle.
Thanks to you fine folks I am now officially down the TIKKA .223 rabbit hole lol.
Who says an old man can’t learn new tricks?! I do admit I was initially very skeptical but I’m a logical person…and the pictures don’t lie.
I was effortlessly ringing steel (in the heart) at 400 and 500 yds earlier today with
my 17” threaded, suppressed T3x (BHA 77gr TMK’s of course).
My buddy was incredulous…you are doing that with a factory gun and factory ammo he said with a look of surprise on his face.
And with a 3-9x42 $600 SWFA scope?
WITHOUT EVEN DIALING…just holding over?
Yup I replied a little smugly I’m afraid…wanna try it?
After I gave him the dope he proceeded to ring steel with a big grin on his face.
He could not believe how smooth the action was and how good the glass was on a scope he never heard of…
He is probably ordering from Europtic and SWFA as I type this lol…
Sadly, I can’t take that fine system to Kansas…so I am getting a .243 and .260 ready to go.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Edwin
Next is .22 CM ( should be together soon…Stocky’s VG, TIKKA action, Sendero profile 18” CF barrel from the folks who supply Weatherby)
Fast twist .243’s and .22-.250’s on the radar…or 6mm CM? Who knows?

​

 

[Marbles]

Well, grew up in Arkansas and pretty much everyone hunted with 30-30s (my dad did not hunt). My first rifle I bought for hunting was a 30-06 because I believe that was the minimum to hunt Alaska and I knew I wanted to do that. It was a used Rem 700 and I decided it was junk and got a Rem 7600 pump in 30-06. When I did move to SEAK, I decided blued and wood was less than ideal at got a 30-06 Sako 85 black. The action and barrel were nitrided, but the DBM was blued and I got tired of dealing with that, so got a 30-06 Kimber Montana.

After reading the small caliber threads, and knowing my limit on game was only 200 yards, I got a 308 Tikka. I found this improved my shooting some and I liked the Tikka, so I got a 223 Tikka. Then I realized I had a bit of a flinch, so got a 243.

I hunt with both the 243 and 223, but I like the 243 best, I can shoot it well, and it is bigger than the 223 and just makes me happier.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I grew up in Southwestern Virginia and everyone hunted. I started off with a Marlin 39a “Mountie” and a pre-64 .30-30 Winchester. I gave that pair to my oldest nephew to get him started right.

I don’t think it was the best way to do it, but after sending my older brother out with us a few times, my Dad basically told us to “go hunting” starting around seven or eight. I got a wild turkey with the .30-30 when I was nine and a doe when I was 10. First buck at 11. Mind you… this was a kid just wandering around the woods by himself while Dad hunted on the other side of the farm.

Somewhere around age 12, I got a BRNO 7x57R over 12-gauge combination gun using money saved from gifts and good grades. I used that to take several more deer. It lives in the back of my gun safe now.

At 14, I got a .270 built on a Mauser K98 action. It was heavy and I never seemed to have any luck with it during deer season. I think it took me 20 years before I finally got a deer with it.

At 15, I got the love of my life, a long-barreled .25-06 built on a J.C. Higgins FN action. It’s accounted for more game than I can count. Memorable moments include two bucks and two wild turkeys on a Thanksgiving Day; two wild turkeys with one shot on another Thanksgiving Day (I was aiming at a running turkey, planning to blow its ass off. Just as I fired, another turkey put its head in the line of sight. Blew that one’s head off and the rear end off the other one.); and a summer where I shot 51 groundhogs with it.

It’s getting light out now, so I think that means it’s time to take her out to see what’s going on in the woods. Happy hunting!

 

[sierracharlie338]

Hell I’ll play. Shot my first deer around ten or twelve with my dads 243 that was given to him as his first deer rifle. I killed a lot of deer with that rifle.

Around 14-15 I was gifted my first rifle a 257 Roberts. To this day one of my favorite calibers and caused the deeply rooted love of the 25 caliber. It is currently rebarreled to a 257AI and waiting for new stock due to the wood stock being cracked and causing accuracy issues.

As years went by I ventured into every thing from 308 to 300wm/30 Nosler up to 338 Lapua, but spending the most time behind a 308 in different setups. If a 50 wasn’t the price they are I’d probably have one of those but I just refuse to pay that kinda money for something I can’t utilize to its potential. The 338 is border line if I’m being honest

Somewhere around my early 20s I got into ARs and concurrently ran them along side the bolt guns. This seemed to create a fondness for the 223/556 round. Cheap, easy to shoot and can shoot tons of it out of a single rifle.

As I’ve gotten older and now have an almost teenage daughter that loves to shoot I have found myself trending back to the 6mm/25 and 223s. Not getting beat up by recoil sure makes the process much more enjoyable and allows my daughter and I to even shoot the same guns making range trips much less of a hassle in terms of gear.

This year my daughter will hunt for her first animal with her Tikka 223 chopped to 18 with a DD wolf hunter and shooting BH 77 TMKs.

 

[3325]

I didn’t get to where I am because of notions about velocity, energy, trajectory, BC, SD, or anything else that might be categorized as “performance.”

I started with an ‘06 and used it for years. I selected it simply because it was and is an American classic. No other reason.

I now shoot .270 Winchester. It also was and is an American classic. I came to it in a roundabout way. I saw a rifle with a Mannlicher stock. It just happened to be in .270 Winchester. I bought the rifle because I liked the look of the full length wood stock. Once I started using it, I started to prefer .270. While it is a solid performer, it really isn’t all about performance. It’s as much for its history as anything else.

About the only thing that might move me away from .270 would be the right 7x57.

While I don’t want poor performance, it really isn’t all about performance with me, as performance is usually defined. Most shooters will never shoot up to the performance capability of their rifle/caliber/ammo choice anyway. So endlessly debating this vs that usually amounts to what the late, great Jeff Cooper liked to call PII: Preoccupation with Inconsequential Increments.

 

[rookieforever33]

I had already been into shooting pistols and tacticool stuff. I wanted to deer hunt and in a shotgun state in the 90s that meant 12 gauge slugs. To hunt more I bought a heavy as hell 22-250 for winter coyotes. When I started getting more serious I bought a nice .308. Ive got other cartridges, and hunted with them all, but I could sell the rest and buy ammo for my .308 and be happy for life.

 

[Maverick1]

I inherited my Grandfather’s 30/30 when I turned 12.

When I graduated college I purchased a 270 Tikka.

That was two decades ago.

The end.

 

[TaperPin]

I grew up in Southwestern Virginia and everyone hunted. I started off with a Marlin 39a “Mountie” and a pre-64 .30-30 Winchester. I gave that pair to my oldest nephew to get him started right.

I don’t think it was the best way to do it, but after sending my older brother out with us a few times, my Dad basically told us to “go hunting” starting around seven or eight. I got a wild turkey with the .30-30 when I was nine and a doe when I was 10. First buck at 11. Mind you… this was a kid just wandering around the woods by himself while Dad hunted on the other side of the farm.

Somewhere around age 12, I got a BRNO 7x57R over 12-gauge combination gun using money saved from gifts and good grades. I used that to take several more deer. It lives in the back of my gun safe now.

At 14, I got a .270 built on a Mauser K98 action. It was heavy and I never seemed to have any luck with it during deer season. I think it took me 20 years before I finally got a deer with it.

At 15, I got the love of my life, a long-barreled .25-06 built on a J.C. Higgins FN action. It’s accounted for more game than I can count. Memorable moments include two bucks and two wild turkeys on a Thanksgiving Day; two wild turkeys with one shot on another Thanksgiving Day (I was aiming at a running turkey, planning to blow its ass off. Just as I fired, another turkey put its head in the line of sight. Blew that one’s head off and the rear end off the other one.); and a summer where I shot 51 groundhogs with it.

It’s getting light out now, so I think that means it’s time to take her out to see what’s going on in the woods. Happy hunting!

Your JC Higgins is a great rifle and brought back good memories. For those who don’t know these were sold by sears from the 1950s on and were quite plain, but used a commercial Mauser action and had a reputation as being quite accurate. I had a model 51 in 308 as a teenager and a close friend still owns it. It was more accurate than any Remington, Ruger or Winchester of anyone we knew back then. As teenagers without refined shooting techniques, that rifle with 4x scope and mildly pitted bore was sub MOA more often than not. We didn’t know back then how good it really was and took it for granted. At the time 308 didn’t get any respect in the gun magazines for use out west, and getting all our information from these magazines anything other than new rifles got poo pooed. I already had a 270 Remington and couldn’t ever see using a 308 because on paper it dropped a little more, but a buddy needed a deer rifle. Of all the rifles I’ve bought and sold that is one that shouldn’t have gotten away, although I’m happy it’s new owner has had great experiences with it. Today I see these sell for twice the price of a used Remington, for good reason.

 

[elkhunter505]

Shot the vast majority of my animals with a 7mm Rem Mag that my dad bought from a pawn shop when I was 15 or so. It was the only lefty gun they had. Sprinkled in a few kills with a .30-06, buddies .270, and .300 WSM. Eventually got tired of the 7mm kicking me around all over the place and being a heavy gun. Bought a Christensen 6.5 PRC last year and it has now laid down close to 10 animals between me, my buddies, and my dad. Really really impressed with the gun and luckily I didn’t end up with a Christensen dud. Really interested in a fast twist .243 or something of the like, but choosing to shoot copper bullets really makes me hesitate going too much farther down in caliber. We’ll see if I end up with the RSS in .243 but with copper instead of TMKs.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Your JC Higgins is a great rifle and brought back good memories. For those who don’t know these were sold by sears from the 1950s on and were quite plain, but used a commercial Mauser action and had a reputation as being quite accurate. I had a model 51 in 308 as a teenager and a close friend still owns it. It was more accurate than any Remington, Ruger or Winchester of anyone we knew back then. As teenagers without refined shooting techniques, that rifle with 4x scope and mildly pitted bore was sub MOA more often than not. We didn’t know back then how good it really was and took it for granted. At the time 308 didn’t get any respect in the gun magazines for use out west, and getting all our information from these magazines anything other than new rifles got poo pooed. I already had a 270 Remington and couldn’t ever see using a 308 because on paper it dropped a little more, but a buddy needed a deer rifle. Of all the rifles I’ve bought and sold that is one that shouldn’t have gotten away, although I’m happy it’s new owner has had great experiences with it. Today I see these sell for twice the price of a used Remington, for good reason.

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Yes, they are great rifles. My dad had a J.C. Higgins in .30-06 with a Weaver 4x scope on it. He killed a ton of deer with it. When I used to fly home on leave, I’d borrow it to go hunting. I used it for a few deer over the years. Then, without any rhyme or reason, my dad gave it to my older brother.

 

[rootacres]

So my first was a Bergara 308. It was affordable, shot well, and got me certified on the 600 yd range at my sportsman’s club. That sent me on a trajectory similar to you. I bumped to a 300 WSM (killed my first muley on my first western big game rifle hunt) and then to a 300 PRC with some other calibers mixed in there.

I enjoy the reloading process and now the NRL Hunter games as well. The 300 WSM and 300 PRC are gone. My hunting caliber of choice for the last 6 years has been the 7 SAUM. It has plenty of ethical hunting energy to hunt the lower 48 with mild enough recoil for me to watch my impacts through the scope.

My personal opinion is that your first shot on game gives critical feedback back to the shooter and frames exactly how the remainder of that hunt is going to play out. If I have no clue where that shot went because the rifle recoiled too hard for me to watch my impact then we have a problem. The 7 SAUM has been perfect for this.

 

[TaperPin]

My first centerfire rifles were bought with summer money working for $1.85/hr. Today a 12 year old can’t legally work in many states, but I was excited to buy rifles and didn’t mind it one bit. No money needed for gas or a car, so a new 270 and 22-250 came home with me that summer. All the cool coyote hunters I knew in Wyoming at that time had a 22-250 and 12x scope, and the 270 was just as popular for deer/antelope. Bob Milek suggested a new hunter would be well equipped with a Remington 700 in 270, Weaver mounts and Weaver 4x scope, so that’s exactly what I bought, word for word. 4x sucked for open country, a 12 year old could tell that right away. The next summer a used Remington 243 and the JC Higgins 308 fell out of the sky for prices I couldn’t resist.

To this day I couldn’t have asked for a better collection of rifles to start out with, and for a kid from a poor family I felt pretty spoiled. What do 12 and 13 year olds spend money on these days, video games, trucker hats, over priced shoes, and electric bikes?

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Grew up hunting..started with Grandpa's 30/30...still have it. Save my chore money got a 110 in .270. That pattern repeated its self and by the time I graduated college I had also picked up a couple RM700 in 06 and 300win. Settled on the 06 and hunted with it for years. Killed my 1st elk as antelope with it. 5 or 6yrs ago got a 30 cal can...Went to 18" gun and .308 for a bunch of reasons especially when you reload.

 

[Chris in TN]

I was born in 1975. About 1972 my grandpa bought a new 700bdl in 30-06. When I was a kid he'd let me shoot it with his buckets of surplus 30-06 ball ammo. I'd sit cross-legged against the pole on the corner of his barn and shoot it at a target on a stump about 50 yards away. When I was maybe 12 or so he 'sold' it to me - for what he paid for it in '72.

It killed a literal truckload of deer between then and 2016 when I had it blueprinted and turned into a custom .280ai. It's killed several deer and elk and coyotes since then. But along the way I'd already been experimenting with smaller calibers (6.8spc mainly) and had figured out I didn't like recoil. I bought my kids a .350Legend and built them a 5.56 AR to shoot with and the oldest sometimes hunts with my 6.8spc but I'm not a huge fan of ARs for hunting for a couple of reasons - the safety location is a bit weird and it's hard to charge the rifle quietly, though a side-charger helps a bit with that.

I got them a 6.5cm this summer and it's close to 'goldilocks' to me when barrel life and component availability is considered. I am now looking at possibly tweaking this a little more by building a Remington model 7 (because they're so short) in 6cm. 18" barrel and a reflex can and a Stocky's VG stock ought to be very, very close to the ideal rifle - negligible recoil, short enough to suppress and still be handy in a treestand, enough velocity to kill anything I'll ever shoot at.