Old, cool, impractical but still fun to shoot calibers

[farmermail]

Going through the safes the other day, came across some cool, old, not very practical but still love to shoot them guns:

Ruger No. 1 in .218 Bee. Really fun caliber, pain in the you know what to reload, bullets are so short they pinch my fingers when seating.

Custom Howa 1500 .221 Fireball. My favorite varmit round, hands down. Straight 8 IOR Bucuresti on it, Jewel trigger, absolute tack driver.

Sako in a .222. Triple duece is still one of my favorites, made a thumbhole stock for it. Barrel was shot out years ago, still puts up a 3/4" group. I have loaded thousands of rounds for this one.

Lever action Marlin in .256 Win Mag. Very fun to shoot, really tough to find brass. Haven't shot this one in years. Need to pull it out and let the kids have some fun with it.

Y'all have any that take you down memory lane? Or still shoot regularly to impress your friends?

 

[JollyRoger]

Not really a unique or interesting cartridge, but I’ve got a Remington 742 (I think that’s right) in 30-06 that belonged to my dad. I don’t shoot it much, but it’s still a cool rifle and brings back good memories.

As a kid I thought he was some sort of wizard with that rifle. Hitting milk jugs off hand at what I thought was incredibly far out there. One of those rifles I’ll never sell.

 

[Wrench]

I have an xp100 in 221 fireball and a m77 tanger in 257bob.

 

[83cj-7]

My grandfather’s FN deluxe in .300 Savage with 4x Leupold. Killed a few deer with it and it’s very accurate. My dad remembers my grandfather ordering it right out of the Sears catalog and going to pick it up!

 

[BAKPAKR]

I have my uncle’s Savage in 32-20 and my dad’s sporterized Brno Danzig 1914 in 8mm Mauser. My dad used the 32-20 on his first buck. After it was handed down to me, I used it for a buck in a spot that was within a couple hundred yards of where Dad got his. Dad used the 8mm on his first couple of elk. I think I am going to try to get a whitetail with it this week.

Edit - I thought Dad said the 8mm was a Brno but I pulled it out to take hunting, looked it over, and saw it was labeled “Danzig 1914”.

 

[Byrdman]

My dad has my grandpas Winchester 1892 in 38wcf (38-40) I would love to get my hands on and shoot a whitetail with. Ammo is still out there but definitely not easy to find any more.

 

[MallardSX2]

I’ve got a savage 22 hornet that is just about useless for anything other than woodchucks.

 

[Wrench]

I also have a BLR in 284win. Not so much old (89'ish) but amongst the most rare blrs.

 

[EdP]

Here in Va where we can hunt turkey with a rifle, I would love to have a Sako in .222.

 

[TaperPin]

You have some really fun combinations!

As a young kid I picked old 30-40 Kraig and 45/70 bullets from an area known for Calvary target practice - it was fun to dig up history and has always stuck with me. I’d like to find a Kraig since they were very popular western hunting rifles right after WW1. A guy on YouTube replaced the barrel on his with a new match quality barrel and his old 30-40 now shoots little groups - how fun.

Some old photos of relatives hunting bighorn sheep prior to WW2 had at least one 250 Savage - that’s on the wish list.

An uncle had a 222 truck gun and we had some good memories poking around, checking bobcat traps, shooting prairie dogs, and whatnot with it. Since it was THE benchrest round way back when, I’ve been on the lookout for an estate sale custom barrel and finally picked one up. It hasn’t been headspace on my receiver yet, but I’m optimistic it will be a real good shooter.

 

[tater]

I was given a Rem 788 in .222 a few years ago. It belonged to my best friends dad and growing up i was mesmerized by that rig.
Ridiculously accurate gun, and it is ready for this winters predator campaign.

 

[Timp2]

A relative has a collection of pre/early 1900’s Winchesters in .38-40, .32-20, etc. Probably the coolest guns I’ve shot with the history behind them and definitely not calibers you get to shoot everyday

 

[eLightfoot]

I’ll bite…
I’ve got a Marlin 336 in .219 zipper, made brass from 25-35 and shoots really well.

A weatherby varmintmaster in .224 wby mag. I have brass for it but never loaded or shot it yet.

Have a marlin 1894cl in 25-20, super awesome gun to shoot and have fun with

Another marlin in .375win, great hog gun. It gets used

Just built a 6mmAI with a 7.5t barrel on an old Sears 53 action. Made a new walnut stock for it too. Going to be the new deer rifle

 

[ozyclint]

How dare everyone call my .222 impractical! It's old and cool, not impractical.

 

[Mojave]

256 Win Mag is very cool. Especially in a Marlin lever gun.

My two impractical ones aren't at all fun to shoot.

10,3x68 RWS and 9,3x64 Brenneke.

The 10,3 is a newish cartridge from about 2016. In the Swiss canton (region, state, county) of Graunbunden (Grenz) you can only use rifles of calibers larger than 10mm. Most guys shoot the 10,3x60R or 400/450 NE 2 and half inch. Lots of companies make rifles for it in Europe for the Swiss market, Blaser, Steyr, Heym, Sauer, Mauser, Merkel and Kreighoff. But it is a single shot. It is also common for people to hunt with the 416 Remington Magnum with light weight mono-metal bullets weighing around 200 grains.

In 2016 or so Peter Venow ( who actually doesn't live in Graunbunden) developed the 413 Venow and it was registered into the CIP system (SAAMI for Europe) and RWS makes ammo for it. It is really just a 416 Taylor with .413 bullets instead of of .416. The plus is that there are already tons of very high BC .413 bullets available for the 10,3x60R. Most of these are 200 grains or so and monumental.

I actually have two of these barrels, they are for the Blaser R8. I bid and won on two separate auctions not knowing I was bidding on two separate rifle barrels. Yes they both kick.

The 9,3x64 is from the 1920's. If you took a 338 Winchester and spun the belt off and then necked it out to .366 you'd have it. Similar ballistically to the 375 H&H.

This is a commercial Mauser 98 from Voere rifles in Austria. Pretty hogback stock in good walnut and I have a synthetic thumbhole for it. Yes it kicks!

 

[farmermail]

I have my uncle’s Savage in 32-20 and my dad’s sporterized Brno in 8mm Mauser. My dad used the 32-20 on his first buck. After it was handed down to me, I used it for a buck in a spot that was within a couple hundred yards of where Dad got his. Dad used the 8mm on his first couple of elk. I think I am going to try to get a whitetail with it this week.

32-20 is a really neat round, goes back a long ways. Good luck!

 

[farmermail]

How dare everyone call my .222 impractical! It's old and cool, not impractical.

Hey, I am a duece fan boy. I still have a .222 mag, boy that was THE cartridge for a bit until .223 came around.

 

[farmermail]

A relative has a collection of pre/early 1900’s Winchesters in .38-40, .32-20, etc. Probably the coolest guns I’ve shot with the history behind them and definitely not calibers you get to shoot everyday View attachment 803370

Ok, you win. Those are just wicked cool.

 

[farmermail]

I’ve got a savage 22 hornet that is just about useless for anything other than woodchucks.

True, however it does make great red mist on groundhogs and gophers.

 

[farmermail]

You have some really fun combinations!

As a young kid I picked old 30-40 Kraig and 45/70 bullets from an area known for Calvary target practice - it was fun to dig up history and has always stuck with me. I’d like to find a Kraig since they were very popular western hunting rifles right after WW1. A guy on YouTube replaced the barrel on his with a new match quality barrel and his old 30-40 now shoots little groups - how fun.

Some old photos of relatives hunting bighorn sheep prior to WW2 had at least one 250 Savage - that’s on the wish list.

An uncle had a 222 truck gun and we had some good memories poking around, checking bobcat traps, shooting prairie dogs, and whatnot with it. Since it was THE benchrest round way back when, I’ve been on the lookout for an estate sale custom barrel and finally picked one up. It hasn’t been headspace on my receiver yet, but I’m optimistic it will be a real good shooter.

.222 holds a lot of memories for me. When I scoped the barrel, about fell over how bad it is and yet still shoots pretty good. Can't bring myself to rebarrel it yet, was my father in laws gun, just can't seem to lose the sentimental attachment to it.