Your first deer rifle?

Joined
Jul 23, 2024
Messages
9
My dad bought me a Ruger American Standard in .30-06 10+ years ago when I was getting started. I don't come from a hunting family and we just went off the recommendation of the clerk at the Bass Pro. Knowing what I know now that would NOT be the cartridge/rifle combo I would choose for a new hunter LOL. I have never really enjoyed shooting that rifle and it just sits in the safe now. I've thought about selling it, but can't bring myself to do so. Thought about getting a B&C stock for it, but struggle to justify the purchase now that I have other hunting guns.
 

Dogone

FNG
Joined
Dec 25, 2023
Messages
73
Shot my first deer with a win 94 in 25-20 cal. Was one of many rifles around farm left by a deceased uncle. I didn’t know what a patheticly weak calibre it was. But it was legal at the time. Any cf over .22 cal was good to go. 55 years later most cf .22 are legal but the 25-20 is specifically not legal.
 
Joined
Dec 13, 2023
Messages
484
First rifle I killed a deer with was my grampa's Marl8n 336RC .30-30 Win.
The "first" rifle I bought (traded for) was a Parker Hale .270 Win. Swapped even up for a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 Mag.
Swapped the PH later for a brand new PH in .270 Win. That was 1977-78(?). It's in the safe with a 3-9×40 Leupold.
 

KenLee

WKR
Joined
Jun 9, 2021
Messages
2,692
Location
South Carolina
My success w 740 & 742 was exactly opposite. Got exactly 1 deer w that rifle. Missed a multitude.
I talked to an old gunsmith before I bought it. He said "you either get a good one or a bad one. If it's bad, don't bring it for me to work on." After a few years, I told him I had a good one :)
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2023
Messages
10
I had a New England Firearms single shot 30-06. Felt like it was 40 lbs to my 11 year old self and it kicked like a mule. Hunted with it for about 5 years.
 

Flben

FNG
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
26
ruger mini 14 with a red rag taped to the stock for a cheek riser.. then a browning a bolt in 30-06 for my 12th birthday in 1992. Still got the a bolt and carried it all over Kodiak in the early 2000s
 
Joined
Sep 4, 2018
Messages
10
First, and the rifle I use most often, is still one of the cleanest Remington 742 in 30-06 that I've seen. A gunsmith did an excellent job turning it into a carbine, glass bed the stock, and bead blast the finish to a matte. It shoots about as good as a semi-auto rifle can shoot and looks the part. It's done it's part on many a whitetail, and it's not going anywhere.
 

BPT0586

FNG
Joined
Jan 13, 2025
Messages
7
Location
Missouri
Shot my first deer with a borrowed Marlin 30-30. The next year dad got me a 700 stainless/syn DM in 7mm-08 that I proceeded to stack deer up like cordwood with for the next 15 years. Still got it, but I use other rifles mostly. Just because I became a rifle nut.
 
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