Lucky Fire Arms

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Glockula

Glockula

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Another thread got me thinking. I have a good stable of hunting rifles and can reasonably pick from 6 different rifles. Sometimes we are just in the mood for a lever over a bolt. Conditions, range and terrain will dictate rifles/calibers as well. Anybody out there have a rifle, shotgun or hand gun that is a better game getter than others? One that game just can't stay away from.

For me it's my Weatherby Vanguard VGX in .270win. I really wanted to get one with my Savage .308 this year and carried it a lot. I get in a stand with a bit more distance, grab the.270 and a 9 point steps out. One shot with a 130 SGK through the base of the neck at 185 yards and one more in the freezer.

Anybody else?
 
I used my Husky 7x57AI for decades and used it to take western game (elk, moose, pronghorn, mule deer). I used it to get 13 animals in Africa also. However, in a fiasco one morning I misplaced it in a swamp during a thunderstorm. Now my "go-to" gun is a Ruger 77 fluted bull barrel in .25-06.

A whole passel of rifles can shoot very accurately with the right handloads. I don't believe in lucky rifles just good opportunities.
 
I have a 700 in 243 that has killed a mess of deer over the 20+ years I have owned it, even though it wasn't the only rifle I used for deer. I have a Ruger American in 6.5 that I killed my last deer of the 19-20 season with, and its really competing with that 700 for my affection. As far as shotguns go, I have an old Ithaca 37 that I am very fond of. The problem with it is unlike my boring, soul-less Mossberg 930, it only has a modified choke barrel and only fires 2 3/4" shells, so with the exception of shooting at doves in the early fall, that 37 pretty much waits patiently in the gun cabinet hoping to be used once in a blue moon.
 
Lucky rifle??? Naw, that’s pure superstition. My old Case folding hunting knife is lucky though, and that’s REAL!:D
Truthfully, I do have one superstition about every big game rifle I've owned over the years - I've never really considered a big game rifle “mine” until I’ve gotten blood on it. But that’s because getting blood on a big game rifle means my old Case folding hunting knife has approved of it.;)
 
.308 Norma said:
Lucky rifle??? I've never really considered a big game rifle “mine” until I’ve gotten blood on it. ;)
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That's for sure. I have, however, had one rifle in the past that I considered an unlucky rifle. I carried this rifle on several hunting trips and no matter what I did I could never take a really good animal with the rifle. I took many small animals but never a good animal, and no matter what I did the big animals would disappear. I could change rifles and my good luck would come back. I gave the rifle to a good friend and he has owned it for about 25 years and to this date I don't think he has ever taken a big animal with it. It was an FN Mauser 270 Winchester. It was so accurate it was scary and the action was as smooth as silk. Must have been a target rifle only.
 
My Mossberg 600ct 20ga. Part of its charm is the adjustable choke which I can dial in for whatever I need in about 2 seconds. Treetop squirrel, full. In the rabbit thickets, open up to improved cylinder. Turkey, crank it down as tight as it goes. That gun was my granddaddy’s gun, and I worked my butt off to get it by mowing his yard all year when I was about 12. Sometimes it’s like he is sending the critters my way.
 
My M39 Nagant. I seem to always luck out hitting things with it that doesn't correspond with the paper targets that I shoot. It was my lone gone years gone by and I hunted everything with it. Heavy yes, but if its all you have heavy doesn't bother you as much.
 
I have had one rifle that acted lucky, but it in no way can compare to my redhawk. That 44 is responsible for half of the deer I've killed. One year in deer camp I was complaining to my uncle about how my rifle was more for looks cause the 44 always got used. He suggested the stupidest thing. "Just leave the 44 at home then?" I immediately informed him of the error of his opinion, he laughed, and the next day I knocked over another buck with the redhawk while my 300wm sat within reach... That redhawk IS lucky...
 
Oh ya, I have my "Lucky" hunting guns. "Stubs", my self Bubba'd No4 Mk1 is my go to deer rifle. I always say I'll take out one of my other, nicer/fancier rifles...after Stubs puts a few in the freezer. Opening day = Stubs lol!

And my old Mossy 500 for hunts requiring a shotgun, grouse, pheasant, gobblers etc. It's 30+ years old, ugly as hell, but dead reliable and Lucky!

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Confidence = luck. If you arent confident in your arm, you have low expectations. Although for 40 years I have consistently filled my tags with different arms, the only one I always had absolute confidence in was my 98 Mauser, which was my dads before me...in its original 8x57 load. Handling, function, never losing its zero with its 1.5 x 5 Leupold, it is the one for me. And that makes it lucky, as well as being the rifle I shot my first buck with and two moose. I would like to take it on a bear hunt next....but I have another lucky rifle for that....my Browning falling block in .45-70 with the same glass on it.
 
Daveboone said:
Confidence = luck. If you arent confident in your arm, you have low expectations. Although for 40 years I have consistently filled my tags with different arms, the only one I always had absolute confidence in was my 98 Mauser, which was my dads before me...in its original 8x57 load. Handling, function, never losing its zero with its 1.5 x 5 Leupold, it is the one for me. And that makes it lucky, as well as being the rifle I shot my first buck with and two moose. I would like to take it on a bear hunt next....but I have another lucky rifle for that....my Browning falling block in .45-70 with the same glass on it.
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Best response yet. I am very OCD in allowing a rifle into the hunting stable and it is a process that isn't short. Normally at least a year. I might get a 400 yard shot on a great buck and don't want to be caught flat footed.

That old. 270 is a sure bet. If I miss its me, not the rifle. Confidence is key.

A little luck doesn't hurt though.
 
Have to agree with @Daveboone on this one. Confidence in your ability is the number 1 thing you need to succeed. Next is clothing that will keep you in the field and comfortable. Past that, for me, is a rifle that points naturally and is consistently accurate at its normal, intended ranges.
 
I have a old Beretta silver snipe 12 gauge o/u that doves/quail and pheasant just seem to die in front of. It’s been a amazing thing to me in all the years I have hunted with it. It will be going nowhere.
 
Daveboone said:
Confidence = luck. If you arent confident in your arm, you have low expectations.
Click to expand...

I agree with this statement but there is another factor. If you are an experienced hunter you can just feel it when conditions are right and the animals are going to be moving. There are times when I get out of the Jeep that I just know nothing is going to happen and I just as well go back home. And, there are times when I can feel the excitement and I know up front that things are going to happen and success is a short time coming. No amount of confidence can change bad conditions when everything just wants to lay down.
 
I have several rifles that will work on deer and my go to gun is an old Savage 10 in 300 WSM. I have some specialized guns for long range work, but the 300 will work great 90% of the time. 165gr Accubond and a 2X7 Leupold has taken more deer than I can remember.
 
sage5907 said:
I agree with this statement but there is another factor. If you are an experienced hunter you can just feel it when conditions are right and the animals are going to be moving. There are times when I get out of the Jeep that I just know nothing is going to happen and I just as well go back home. And, there are times when I can feel the excitement and I know up front that things are going to happen and success is a short time coming. No amount of confidence can change bad conditions when everything just wants to lay down.
Click to expand...
Yup. I can think of several times I had sat in a stand and just known that it was no good, and another site was calling to me. I moved and hit pay dirt.
 
I have a .357 SAA called "ol' lucky", but I don't hunt with it. As far as hunting guns, my old Remington 700 '06 is about as "lucky" as they get. I call it "Faithful", cause the darn thing just don't miss. I have Ruger 77's in .270 and 25-06 too, but they don't get used near as much. They just don't seem to inspire the confidence that the old '06 does.

Mac
 
I have one firearm that I call my "Lucky Gun"........... But that's because I won it in a gun raffle back in 1997. A Ruger Mod. 77 Mk II Target model in .25-06. Also made my longest big game shot to date with it; about 325 yds. and a one shot deal on a Wyoming pronghorn buck. KM77VTMKII.jpg .......... IMG_1735.JPG ....
 
A friend has a lucky savage model 10 in .243. he took his first deer, pig and coyote with it in one weekend. He told me he worked all summer cutting grass and doing crap-work for the neighbors to earn the money for it. It is not used much anymore as he has a BEAUTIFUL Weatherby now, but "old lucky" still shoots great and drops pigs and bambi all day long.
 
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