Your first deer rifle?

[jwf93]

Ruger M77 MkII in 7mm rem mag. Got it around 2007.

 

[Splitear]

Not a rifle, but I killed my first deer and gobs of them afterwards with a Remington 1100 12 gauge with a smoothbore slug barrel. That gun was stolen about 15 years ago. Since then I've been using a Browning A5 12 gauge and a Remington 760 in .300 Savage. I did restore and old 870 this winter with a smoothbore slug barrel, I'll likely tote it to the woods with me this fall.

 

[Tallest]

Ironically, I never hunted or harvested any deer with the first two "deer rifles" I bought. Right out of high school I bought a Marlin 336 30-30. I went hunting a couple of times with a buddy I worked with, but never got a chance to shoot anything. Financial struggles caused me to sell it before another hunting season came around. A couple years later, I bought Ruger M77 30-06, and again, never got a shot on any deer with it.

Several years later, when I got permanent access to good hunting land, I bought a Ruger American 7-08, and things really started to take off. That gun loves Ballistic SilverTips, and I have a enjoyed shooting a lot of venison with it. It's not the only gun I have, but it's my first deer killer, and I don't know if there's a better Whitetail cartridge out there.

 

[jfk69]

Marlin 336 in .35 Remington in 1977. Killed my first buck with it in 1979 and it’s probably killed 50-60 since then, even after I moved on to other rifles. I killed the buck in my profile last November with it.

 

[T-town]

Rem 700 BDL .243
1973 make
1st wedding anniversary gift my dad gave my mom. I started hunting and killing deer with it in 1986.

 

[yogru]

Thompson/Center New Englander 50 cal muzzle loader. Left handed model. Got the .54 cal replacement barrel for it later on. Killed my first 12-15 deer with it starting at age 12.

 

[KnightExtreme]

Remington Model 78 30.06(Blued) back in 1989, a friend was a LEO and got a discount from a Gun Shop he went to buy a rifle as he had an upcoming Antelope Hunt in Wyoming. (He used my Model 78 took a good Antelope). He did not buy a rifle but I did, this Model 78. Still hunt with these days but also have a Remington Model 700 BDL (Stainless) also in 06. Both rifle shoot the Remington Accutip 06 165gr BT Ammo. Both Rifle have Burris Fullfield 3 x 9 x 40 scopes with Burris Signature Rings.
Both have served me well...
KnightExtreme

 

[Armchairhunter]

Ruger M77 in 30-06 with the "boat paddle" stock. Hardest kicking gun I've ever shot! Friends dad bought it for me when I was 13 since my dad wasn't a hunter and didn't know anything about guns. Took my first deer 3 days before my 14th birthday with that rifle. Didn't keep it long before I sold it and bought a Rem 700 in 7mm Rem Mag.

 

[SilentPursuit]

Winchester .358 lever action. Was my dad’s and I shot my first buck with it.

 

[Silviuswolf]

Not a rifle but my first deer gun was a mossberg 500 12gauge. Coming from Michigan I didn’t get to use a rifle until they came out with the 450 bushmaster.(straight wall only.)

 

[sheajeff]

Mine was a pre 1964 30 30, I killed a lot of Michigan whitetails back in the day,

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

Lee Enfield 303 British, assembled out of spare parts by my neighbor at the time who was a fair to middling basement gunsmith. I was young and poor and really didn't know a lot about big game guns, and it was free, so I did not even think twice. I put a $49.99 Bushnell scope on it (I think the thing even had plastic lenses instead of glass), and off hunting I went. Lots and lots of hunting, LOL. Eventually I got the rifle bug and have been through a bunch of guns since then, but I hunted with that thing for many years.

Until fairly recently, my wife and I had killed more big game animals with a 303 Brit, looking through a 49 dollar scope, then all of the nice rifles we've owned since then combined. Dozens of deer, several elk, a couple of bears, etc. My wife even knocked over a mule deer from approx 300 yards out with a 180 Winchester Power Point.

All the things you would think would make a rifle inaccurate were wrong with it; wood stock touching the barrel, crown look like it had been beat with a ball peen hammer, horrifically bad scope mounting system, headspace was so bad that later when I started reloading I could only get two firings before case head separation, the parkerizing was long since mostly worn off, and the gun look like it had been run over by a truck several times and then left in the woods over a winter or two. But it was a solid 1.25 MOA gun with Winchester Power Points, and a 3/4 MOA gun with handloads.

 

[Ringbill27]

Lee Enfield 303 British.

I owned one for a few years. Nice shooting rifle. Both my father in law and brother in law still hunt with theirs every year.

 

[Tennpin]

My first gun was a 742 in 308 I hauled hay all summer to save up that money.

 

[GSJJV]

Purchased my first rifle, Ruger M77 300 win mag in 1991, never killed a deer with it though.
Then won a Weatherby Mark V 300 win mag and took a WT and mule deer buck.
Then purchased a Kimber 270wsm which I currently still use today and between me and my 3 kids have taken 19 Coues WT bucks.

 

[KcRoyals85]

sporterized 1917 gew 98 in 30-06. It was 11 lbs unscoped and quite a hog to carry around

 

[Flatland Fit Man]

308 Winchester XPR. Bought it In College, cheap and shoots tacs

 

[SlimTim_MN]

300 Savage!

 

[RBell24]

My first dedicated deer rifle was a Marlin 30-30. It was a shoulder thumper for an 8 year old. I was promoted to a 30-06 the following year so my younger brother could use the 30-30. He didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did.

 

[Roostergun985]

My first deer rifle was a mossberg 100 atr 270. I killed a pile of deer with it and kind of wish I still had it.