Most iconic rifles?

Basically all the weapons used on D-day, because it was probably the most impressive display of logistics and courage ever displayed by the human race, and I watched saving private ryan too much as a child....and as an adult.

I wouldn't even know where to start........you could build a sizable collection just on the variants of a single base rifle design.

To me the 98 mauser is both the most iconic and legendary bolt action extant, and i like bolt actions.
If i didnt have to PAY for them.....
I could see making a life long pursuit of collect a specimen of every variation military and commercial, and as many examples of guns made by custom craftsman as i could.
....and they arnt MY favorite rifle design.

Anything Mosin, just because.

You need to give a little more information on parameters. I would start with a Kentucky long rifle but then I muzzle load hunt too. If talking smokeless powder guns only then start with a Mannlicher Schoenhauer or Mauser 98 and go forward.

Get the gun that won WW2, the Garand’s M1.

The word legendary also took me back to late 1800's - early 1900's and Mausers , Mosins, and Springfield's.
As a deer hunter I would go with hunting rifles not that the war horses haven't shot tons of deer. I would go a different path.

1- Winchester 94 30-30
2- Winchester 1886 45-70
3- Remington 700 in 7mm Rem Mag
4- Winchester 70 270 win
5- Remington 760 35 rem
6- Savage 99 300 Savage
7- Weatherby Mark V 300 Weatherby
8- Winchester 100 308 win
9- Remington 660 350 rem mag
10- Browning BAR 30-06
11- Browning BLR 358 win
12- Remington 742 280 rem

Have I run out of money yet??? Lots more great rifles

You could start with the rifles that really "won the west", flintlocks made in Pennsylvania.

The AK-47 is likely the most known firearm world wide.

Lots of others would be known to enthusiasts and be of note though.

Even antigun liberals know of the AK-47 even if they couldn’t pick one out of a lineup with Marlin 60, Remington 870, 10-22, Winchester 1894 and Daisy Red Ryder...

Ironically, for a collection (you can’t have one of everything without one) is about the only reason I have one, not their biggest fan...

Trapdoor 45-70 carbine, Krag cavalry carbine, M1903, M1903A3, P17, Garand, M1 carbine, M1941 Johnson. Basically all US cartridge rifles thru Korea.

upptick said:

If you were looking to build a rifle collection based on the most legendary rifles, what would you include and why?

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The whole series of Winchester 1873, 1892 and 1894 rifles. This includes "The Deer Rifle" - the very supremely iconic Winchester Model 94 in .30-30. Pre-64 of course.

Most iconic....I think in America, the most iconic rifle would have to be the “Winchester”. Were I to build a collection of rifles purely for historical intrigue, it would have to be rifles used in the civil war.

Don’t get me wrong. I love rifles from WWI and WWII. And I have many from that era. There just wasn’t that much of a variety. Rifles had pretty much been standardized by that time. But firearms were going through such a transition during the period of the civil war. It was truly a unique time in weapons history.

Winchester Model 70

Anyone aspiring to carry the title of "Rifleman" must have one

Gotta have a lever action... preferably a Winchester

Winchester 1866, 1873, 1892 & 1894. M1 Garand, Winchester model 70, Remington 700.

I couldn't afford to do it, so I haven't thought about it too hard.

If money was not an issue, one of each -- something like the Pattern Room Reference Collection (or whatever it's called now) at the UK's Royal Armory. I'd start by filling the gaps in my classic hunting cartridge rifle arsenal and milsurp collection and then just keep going. Classic .22 boys' rifles might be fun too. I probably wouldn't collect modern 'value' hunting rifles or try to amass every single AR-15 commercial variant -- these are fine for their purpose, just not different enough to be very interesting.

Since money is an issue for me, I collect videos about interesting historical firearms instead.

Let's see. I have:

1. Kentucky Long Rifle (built by Bob Watts of Stone Mountain, GA)
2. Kentucky Long Rifle built in Berks County, Pa about 1840
3. Model 94 Winchester in .30-30
4. M1 Garand54. M1903A3 Springfield (one by Remington and one by Smith Corona)
5. M1922 Springfield MKII
6. Stevens Favorite -- with a tang sight
7. Model 99 Savage in .308 Win
8. Sporterized M1903 in .35 Brown-Whelen (the most radical form of the Whelen)
9. M1905 Ross in .303 Brit

Offhand could probably turn this into a picture thread.

Winchester 1885 High wall , 1873 lever , Colt Lightning rifle

The parameters are too undefined. Iconic is subjective.

Stan Rosen said:

Offhand could probably turn this into a picture thread.

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I'm all for that.

As an American and a enthusiast of primarily American History:

American pattern Longrifle
Brown Bess
Springfield 1861
Winchester 1866
Winchester 1873
Mosin
Winchester 94
Marlin 39
Marlin 336
Mauser 98
SMLE
Winchester M70
Garand
AK47
Ruger 10-22
M-16/AR-15

and Remington 7600 because I like them but not necessarily iconic to me.

Kentucky Long Rifle et al
Marlin 336
Marlin 39A
Ruger 10/22

By iconic I take it as what rifle do I see when I think of a particular time or event. This is what I came up with in terms of iconic American history.

Pennsylvania rifle / early American explorers.

Brown Bess type musket with bayonet/ American revolution.

Springfield/ Enfield musket with bayonet / American civil war.

Winchester 73 / post civil war western expansion and growth.

1903 Springfield (though not as prolific as the 1917) with bayonet / WWI soldier.

Any non scoped rifle lever or bolt / American big or small game hunter. Repeat after WWII.

M1 Garand or Thompson / WWII soldier.

M16a1 / Vietnam soldier.

Scoped bolt action rifle with no iron sights / modern American big game hunter.

M4 / modern American soldier.

AR15 / seems like every current American rifle owner.

Non American, AK, Enfield, Single shots, no rifle due to no 2A?

upptick said:

If you were looking to build a rifle collection based on the most legendary rifles, what would you include and why?

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Depends on how big of a collection you're talking about. You could make a list of 5 iconic rifles or 3 dozen depending on how broad you want it to be.

Off the top of my head for a few:
A Winchester 94 - classic American hunting rifle.
Mauser K98 - the basis for the vast majority of the military rifles of the early 20th century and the grandfather of nearly all modern bolt action hunting rifles.
M1 Garand - America's ace in the hole for WW2.
AR15 - The Mauser 98 of our generation - common, ubiquitous, and with tons of militaries either adopting a version of it directly or a gun heavily influenced by it.
AK47 - The same thing for the other half of the world.

WisBorn said:

The word legendary also took me back to late 1800's - early 1900's and Mausers , Mosins, and Springfield's.
As a deer hunter I would go with hunting rifles not that the war horses haven't shot tons of deer. I would go a different path.

1- Winchester 94 30-30
2- Winchester 1886 45-70
3- Remington 700 in 7mm Rem Mag
4- Winchester 70 270 win
5- Remington 760 35 rem
6- Savage 99 300 Savage
7- Weatherby Mark V 300 Weatherby
8- Winchester 100 308 win
9- Remington 660 350 rem mag
10- Browning BAR 30-06
11- Browning BLR 358 win
12- Remington 742 280 rem

Have I run out of money yet??? Lots more great rifles

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I really like this list, I'd add a Marlin 336 maybe in .38-55, and No. 5 should be a Remington 141