What center fire rifle caliber did you start shooting with?

[Mr White]

The first centerfire rifle I ever shot was a .30-40 Krag sporter, about 30 years ago. The first centerfire rifle I ever owned was a Model 94 in .32 Win Spl., about 8 years ago.

 

[possum]

winchester model 70 in .270

 

[Odd Job]

Actually I fired an 88mm artillery gun before I fired my first centerfire rifle. IIRC it was a Royal Ordnance 25-pounder, Mark II/I. That was in my last year of school in South Africa. Before that I had only fired .22 rifles
Then the next day I fired the R4 rifle. So I voted .223

 

[stevelyn]

.30-30 Win.
Same as any other Appalachian savage.

 

[ugaarguy]

Oddly it was a friend's Winchester M70 in 270. My first centerfire rifle was an SP1 AR-15.

 

[Essex County]

A 9.95 7.35 Carcano, back in the late '50s............Essex

 

[Still 2 Many Choices!?]

.223/5.56mm AR-15

Bushmaster M4gery with AK muzzle brake. This was me after I got it home !

 

[spankaveli]

just bought my first rifle. 30-06

last 2 years i hunted with my fil's sks but didn't see crap so those dont count

 

[lwrnc1963]

My first centerfire rifle was a Remington 788 in .308 win. I bought it when I was 18 at the local Coast to Coast hardware store when I first moved to Montana. Up until then my rifle experiance was rimfires and muzzle loaders because I grew up in Indiana where centerfire wasn't legal for hunting.

 

[hank327]

.303 British out of a "Smelly", SMLE. No. 1 MKIII*. produced in 1918

 

[Xander27z]

7.62x39 in Romak Ak-47

followed by
5.56/.223 BM AR-15

 

[de]

When I decided I wanted a deer rifle my Dad who didn't hunt went to the closet and brought out a brand new Winchester Model 94 in 3030. Except it wasn't new. He had bought it new in 1957, took it hunting once, fired it 7 times and wiped it down and put it in a closet. When he gave it to me I was about 20. I'm fifty-six now, and He died this past Saturday with me sitting beside his bed. That rifle has a lot of wear on it since he gave it to me with the box of shells that he bought at the same time he bought the rifle. And it's worth more to me than any rifle I have ever owned, or will ever owned. It will still bust a gallon jug of water at 270 yards, every time. I pray that God will allow me to see that front post thru the Lyman receiver sight for as long as I am phyically able to hunt and shoot. I have many rifles, but the Winchester, in truth, is really all I need.

 

[lionking]

God bless your dad and you de.My 30-30 was a present from my dad at Christmas years ago.It holds special meaning just because of that.

I've never sold any gun away,but I sure will never sell the Winchester.Every time I hold and shoot it I think of Xmas at 15.

Every week when I talk to him on the phone he almost always asks,"didyou go out shooting this weekend?"When I said yeah,with the 30-30 he said,"still got that"?I said *amn right,I always will.

 

[Eat Beef]

Touching, DE.

My first, at age 8, was a .243, out of one of Daddy's Rem 788s. He bought them because they were cheap, but they were (and still are) fine, accurate rifles.

The first rifle I owned was (is) a Rem 700 in 270. I spent a whole summer raking and hauling hay for that one, and my life savings up to that point (13) on a 3-9 Leupold. High cotton!

I think you're right, a lot of my generation (30 somethings) cut our teeth on 243s, but older and younger generations had other options (or lack thereof).

I can see myself buying a rifle for my son in a few years, but I doubt that many folks my parents age and almost none my grandparents age would have even thought about buying a whole nuther rifle for a child to shoot. Over consumers, we are.

 

[crew590]

7.62 x 39 is what I started out on

 

[ReadyontheRight]

.244

 

[Koobuh]

7.62x54R

My first gun was an M44, though I had fired a shotgun during highschool for trap practice. I regret selling that rifle above all else.

 

[SSN Vet]

30-30

Marlin 336

 

[TheArchDuke]

7.62x54r


It was all my brother had. haha

 

[bartsimpson123844]

.223(5.56mm) for me.(Mini-14) But, I just bought a Russian 91/30 Mosin Nagant and like it way better.

 

[Lambo119]

Thanks de

de, I have my Grandfathers guns that are not high dollar but no amount of money could buy them. I would bet money alot of us know exactly what you are saying. I plan to pass them along to my daughter sometime in my life when the time is right. (I just hope she won't grow up to marry a anti. )

 

[ordonnanzgewehr]

Since my very first centerfire rifle was a Chinese SKS, 7.62x39mm

 

[Moonclip]

IIRC, a Chinese paratroop SKS and 7.62x39. I think you will find this a lot with the younger crowd and 30/30 and maybe 30.06 with the older crowd.

I live in an urban area and like handguns the best so I didn't fire or own a centerfire rifle until I was like 18-19

 

[sixgunner455]

M16, 5.56MM. I'd shot a lot of stuff, but that one was the first one that I really shot.

 

[pbhome71]

HK-33 in 5.56mm