The generation before me" all dead and gone" at bbq' s and such ,talked like 30-06, 357 mag and chevy's with a six pack was all that mattered. Any young people not know what a six pack is?
How have hunting rifles changed as you've gotten older?
- Thread starter Hokkmike
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Sitting waiting for a deer to blunder buy is all the grandchildren and I can do on my little 50 ac.
And there lies the question of the day: is it worth hunting with a soulless, superbly accurate rifle when a beautiful "work of art" rifle will get the job at hand done just as well? Not to me. We've got to remember that 2 MOA WAS an accurate rifle when Townsend Whelen provided his opinion.
375supermag
Member
Hi...
When I started hunting 55 years ago, everybody knew that a lever action .30/30 was the perfect rifle for white tails and nobody needed a telescopic sight to kill a deer.
55 years later, a .30/30 is considered barely adequate for rabbits at point blank range and everyone hunts with a synthetic stocked rifle chambered in a caliber that could knock out a light tank at 300yds.
Thing is...deer are still very easy to kill with a .30/30 out to 100-150 yds and none that I have seen are wearing body armor.
When I started hunting 55 years ago, everybody knew that a lever action .30/30 was the perfect rifle for white tails and nobody needed a telescopic sight to kill a deer.
55 years later, a .30/30 is considered barely adequate for rabbits at point blank range and everyone hunts with a synthetic stocked rifle chambered in a caliber that could knock out a light tank at 300yds.
Thing is...deer are still very easy to kill with a .30/30 out to 100-150 yds and none that I have seen are wearing body armor.
redneck2
Member
I used a .30-30 on a black bear hunt because it was plenty adequate. But I use a 7 mag for deer simply because I may get a shot at 300 yards.
A 7 mag will kill at .30-30 ranges but a .30-30 won’t be adequate at 7 mag ranges. Now, you can argue that one should try to get closer. Well, if the deer is standing in the middle of an open field, that’s kinda tough
For years we were limited to shotgun slugs. If I’d been able to hunt with a rifle fifty years ago, I’d have killed 3x the deer I have.
Not all situations are created equal
d2wing
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Is there some point to this? My first gun was a hand me down broken single shot, and hunting rifle was a borrowed .35 Remington. The first rifle I could afford to buy was a 30-06. Years later I became for prosperous if that's what you are getting at. My older brother only ever owned sporterized Milsurps.
d2wing
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I was drafted but people got deferred for all sorts of reasons. I have no idea why that poster brought Vietnam into the conversation. But I would just let it pass. Take care brother.
My first hunt was a turkey hunt around 2000/2001 and the guys I shadowed all used wood stock, deep blued shotguns.
2001 I went on my first deer hunt in WV with my great uncles and some cousins. Everyone had a Rem 700, Rem 7600 or Winchester/Marlin 30-30 with an actual hardwood stock with nice checkering, deep bluing and a normal scope. I was handed a 30-30 and pretty much told figure it out. I wandered around the mountains for 5 days with that gun. I fell in love with lever actions because of that and that's why my deer gun is a Marlin 1895.
Now days everyone thinks you need CDS dials, BDC reticle, target turrets, Mcmillian stocks, bipods, etc. What happened to leaning against a tree for support, wrapping the leather sling around your arm and shooting deer?
2001 I went on my first deer hunt in WV with my great uncles and some cousins. Everyone had a Rem 700, Rem 7600 or Winchester/Marlin 30-30 with an actual hardwood stock with nice checkering, deep bluing and a normal scope. I was handed a 30-30 and pretty much told figure it out. I wandered around the mountains for 5 days with that gun. I fell in love with lever actions because of that and that's why my deer gun is a Marlin 1895.
Now days everyone thinks you need CDS dials, BDC reticle, target turrets, Mcmillian stocks, bipods, etc. What happened to leaning against a tree for support, wrapping the leather sling around your arm and shooting deer?
Chuck R.
Member
Well for one thing some parts of the country where deer hang out have a shortage of trees
2nd thing, some of those deer inhabit some pretty wide open spaces.
Buzznrose
Member
Older I get, the heavier they get.
One of my first hunting guns was this .410 it still works for squirrel today. Back in the day most hunting rifles looked like this.
But for deer I used to use slugs through a shot gun, now I use this an AR chambered in 350 legend.
But for deer I used to use slugs through a shot gun, now I use this an AR chambered in 350 legend.
.308 Norma
Member
Nope. Not "everyone."
Yep. Exactly!Well for one thing some parts of the country where deer hang out have a shortage of trees
SwampWolf
Member
SwampWolf
Member
That's kind of sad, me thinks.
SwampWolf
Member
I would add the Ruger Model 77-but wait; it got adulterated and "modernized"along the way. So, yeah, that pretty much leaves the Model 700-but wait; do they even make them anymore?
Tinman357
Member
Many changes. Back when I hunted a 30-30 and a Win M70 in 308 was all you needed in the lower 48.
Now you need a 300 mag with a $4k scope for tree rats.
It's true! Ask any gun salesman or read a hunting magazine.
Now you need a 300 mag with a $4k scope for tree rats.
It's true! Ask any gun salesman or read a hunting magazine.
Catpop
Member
Corn helps
Not so much in missouriCorn helps
Marlin lever guns. Well now the working man Marlins will be high dollar.I would add the Ruger Model 77-but wait; it got adulterated and "modernized"along the way. So, yeah, that pretty much leaves the Model 700-but wait; do they even make them anymore?
SwampWolf
Member
That would be Klein's Sporting Goods, the same mail order firm where, on 3-20-63, Lee Harvey Oswald paid $21.45 for a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle with a four power scope that he used to assassinate President Kennedy with. As a kid in the late fifties, I remember ordering a Horrocks & Ibbotson glass spinning rod from Klein's that I spent the whole summer saving for. I still have that old rod, along with the Mitchell 300 spinning reel that I spent another summer's worth of savings for.
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SwampWolf
Member
You can still do all of that and more in a "free" state, like Ohio. No waiting, no limit on how many firearms I can buy if my happy card isn't maxed out and my method of sneaking a new gun into the house still works and I can buy a gun from my neighbor down the street. Of course, and especially because we are also a "Shall Issue" concealed-carry state, the incidences of gun violence have sky-rocketed; unlike states like California, New York , Maryland and New Jersey where a plethora of anti-gun laws have proven to be effective in keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals, especially from the hands of those duplicitous neighbors you speak of.
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I started deer hunting in about 1973. Before that, I hunted small game - squirrels, quail
and doves.
I started deer hunting with Dad’s Winchester 1400, mostly using 00 buckshot.
When I was in college I was working so I saved up and bought a Marlin 336 30/30 on sale at Kmart for $92. I put a $30 Tasco 4x scope on it.
Then about 1984 I bought a Remington 7400 in 30/06. It jammed and I didn’t care for it.
I sold it and bought a BAR in 30/06 and hunted with it for 15 or 20 years.
I then bought an Abolt Stainless Stalker in 30/06 which I used up until 2 years ago when I pretty much quit hunting.
Along the way I bought several Win 94s just because I liked them and would sometimes use them when walking in the woods.
and doves.
I started deer hunting with Dad’s Winchester 1400, mostly using 00 buckshot.
When I was in college I was working so I saved up and bought a Marlin 336 30/30 on sale at Kmart for $92. I put a $30 Tasco 4x scope on it.
Then about 1984 I bought a Remington 7400 in 30/06. It jammed and I didn’t care for it.
I sold it and bought a BAR in 30/06 and hunted with it for 15 or 20 years.
I then bought an Abolt Stainless Stalker in 30/06 which I used up until 2 years ago when I pretty much quit hunting.
Along the way I bought several Win 94s just because I liked them and would sometimes use them when walking in the woods.
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