ReadyontheRight
Member
What action, brand, caliber, etc. has the greatest sentimental value to you and why?
I have three:
1. My Dad always Deer hunted with a "new" Remington 742 that was totally rebuild once and eventually replaced by a 7400. 30-06 of course. With Weaver K4 Scope. Used hard and cleaned hard. It was the "grown up" deerslayer rifle. Everyone who went through the family deer camp seemed to get one when they could afford it. I shot my Dad's when I was pretty young and got a shiner from the scope because I didn't listen before firing. Scopes still kind of freak me out.
2. I started out shooting an old Remington single-shot bolt-action .22 when I was seven. After constant safety instructions and tests from my Dad, I would spend days walking around the woods with a pocketful of "birdshot" loads for chipmunks and a few .22 shorts for squirrels and the rabbits I never saw in those days. Got a few Grouse by shooting them in the head. Taught me trigger control and to focus on the front sight. Hard to imagine a seven-year-old wandering around with a rifle where I did now.
3. The first centerfire I shot extensively was a Remington 760 pump action in .244 Remington with open sights. It was the "first" rifle for the young deer hunters in camp. What a sweet little rifle! I never got a deer with it, but I shot a lot of rounds before every season and got pretty accurate with it shooting offhand. I spent a lot of time in deer stands with that rifle. I also had it for a few seasons as an adult and once loaded it up as a security measure during an incident which involved watching some weirdos in my backyard while waiting for the cops to come. Extremely comforting to hold a rifle you know when people are doing strange things right by your house at 3am.
Pistols never entered my family's sporting or self-defense life until the gun-grabbers decided to start making laws about owning them. Suddenly the attitude shifted from "long guns are safer" to "get a pistol while you still can". The Colt 1911 I got after starting a family (couldn't leave a rifle in the closet anymore with youngsters around - you can stick a pistol in a handly little safe) rank right up there, but it's the rifles of my youth that I keep coming back to.
I'm very thankful my Dad had the foresight to introduce guns to me and other young shooters in the family and that he still drums gun safety into the heads of everyone he meets who has a gun in their hand. I've met a lot of shooters who had to figure it all out themselves as teenagers or adults. Some without guidance didn't make it.
I hope you all make your own traditions, safety lessons and memories with any youngsters you can.
I have three:
1. My Dad always Deer hunted with a "new" Remington 742 that was totally rebuild once and eventually replaced by a 7400. 30-06 of course. With Weaver K4 Scope. Used hard and cleaned hard. It was the "grown up" deerslayer rifle. Everyone who went through the family deer camp seemed to get one when they could afford it. I shot my Dad's when I was pretty young and got a shiner from the scope because I didn't listen before firing. Scopes still kind of freak me out.
2. I started out shooting an old Remington single-shot bolt-action .22 when I was seven. After constant safety instructions and tests from my Dad, I would spend days walking around the woods with a pocketful of "birdshot" loads for chipmunks and a few .22 shorts for squirrels and the rabbits I never saw in those days. Got a few Grouse by shooting them in the head. Taught me trigger control and to focus on the front sight. Hard to imagine a seven-year-old wandering around with a rifle where I did now.
3. The first centerfire I shot extensively was a Remington 760 pump action in .244 Remington with open sights. It was the "first" rifle for the young deer hunters in camp. What a sweet little rifle! I never got a deer with it, but I shot a lot of rounds before every season and got pretty accurate with it shooting offhand. I spent a lot of time in deer stands with that rifle. I also had it for a few seasons as an adult and once loaded it up as a security measure during an incident which involved watching some weirdos in my backyard while waiting for the cops to come. Extremely comforting to hold a rifle you know when people are doing strange things right by your house at 3am.
Pistols never entered my family's sporting or self-defense life until the gun-grabbers decided to start making laws about owning them. Suddenly the attitude shifted from "long guns are safer" to "get a pistol while you still can". The Colt 1911 I got after starting a family (couldn't leave a rifle in the closet anymore with youngsters around - you can stick a pistol in a handly little safe) rank right up there, but it's the rifles of my youth that I keep coming back to.
I'm very thankful my Dad had the foresight to introduce guns to me and other young shooters in the family and that he still drums gun safety into the heads of everyone he meets who has a gun in their hand. I've met a lot of shooters who had to figure it all out themselves as teenagers or adults. Some without guidance didn't make it.
I hope you all make your own traditions, safety lessons and memories with any youngsters you can.