First rifle?

[mightyfofaad]

ORIGINAL: hunts2long

Wondering what everyone had for their first deer rifle and if they are still hunting with it....mine is a Remington Model 740 Woodsmaster .308 that I got new in 1959...($149.95). Have spent 20 to 30 days a year with it, except for 4 years while in the Navy...Dad used then...Good Luck this year and be Safe....hunts2long

My 1st rifle was a .22 naturally; It was the Remington Youth model. I still use that model when teaching basic marksmanship to both youngsters & adults.

I've gone thru many .22's over the years until I found a German made Ithaca Model 72 Saddle gun ... now out of print, so to speak. You can see a photo of it under the thread Let's See Your Deer Rifle, post #11 in the Guns & Ammo Section.

The look & feel of this gun, especially the smoothness of the action ... is almost pornographic. I have already instructed my wife, that I am to be buried inside my Dodge Challenger SRT, with my .22 Ithaca. [:)]

My 1st Deer rifle was a barrowed Marlin .35 cal. 336C. I later went on to buy my own. I still like that best for heavy wood & like my favorite .22 Squirrel gun, shoot it with open sights. Oddly, that's the only one missing from the previously mentioned post. To others who use this cartridge, I recommend Buffalo Bore 220 grain ... they're much more powerful than other brands ... but twice the cost too.

[Mlong84]

My First Rifle was my Glenfield .22. My first high powered rifle was a marlin 336. Both were gifts from my dad.

[Vikinghater]

First rifle was a model 94 30/30 . have had a number since then including a ruger 77 in .308 (wish I still had that one)  Anyways I have a rem 700 bdl in 30/06 (wish it was .308) that the wife bought me for my birthday.  Someday I will buy another rifle but I have not settled on what yet.

[mightyfofaad]

ORIGINAL: Vikinghater

First rifle was a model 94 30/30 . have had a number since then including a ruger 77 in .308 (wish I still had that one)  Anyways I have a rem 700 bdl in 30/06 (wish it was .308) that the wife bought me for my birthday.  Someday I will buy another rifle but I have not settled on what yet.

Just curious ... with regard to the .308 vs. 30-06 ... why?[8|]

[rem700]

here is my 2cent  ballisticly the 308 and 30 06 are the same. but the 308 is very very very accuracy. the 308 is a shot action gun so the gun is alittle lighter. 308 has less recoil.     

[shaman]

For whitetail deer hunting, the 308 WIN and the 30-06 are nearly identical.  As a reloader I have found the '06 a bit easier to do load development, but that's about it.  There are mavens and bigots on both sides of this issue, and it's one of those classic perennial arguments.  Both sides have valid points.  If you like a rifle in one, there's no inherent reason not to like it in the other. 

I have trays of both waiting for me down on the reloading bench right now, and I'm shooting identical bullets, powder and primer.  The difference is the 30-06 is taking 47 grains of H4895  and the 308 WIN is taking 42 grains.  As I remember, both are reduced loads about 5-8% off MAX by measured velocity.  Conceivably I could be loading both to the same velocity, but one is my tree stand gun and the other is my long-distance bolt action.  One is a short action, the other is a long action.  Both are minute-of-deer accurate.  With both of them, if I wanted to dump more energy on the deer I'd grab the 35 Whelen as I was going out the door.

Some days I feel like a nut and sometimes I don't.

[nhdeerchaser]

I'm not trying to sound like an idiot here, but what's the difference between long action and short action?
It's funny, but a friend of mine has a .308 in a pump 7600. That thing kicks like a mule! My bolt action Remmington in .30-06 kicked far less, and I was shooting 165 grain bullets to his 150 grainers. What gives? It was the reason I was gonna trade my .30-06 and 200.00, but opted to just sell him my '06 instead. That baby hurts!

Mike

[buckfarmdude]

I just bought my first rifle this year, a Remington 700 .308 SPS. I've hunting with a Model 7 stainless .243 since I started hunting (it's my aunt's rifle, she got me started hunting). My younger brothers use that one to hunt now. That rifle has killed a lot of deer. 

[shaman]

ORIGINAL: nhdeerchaser

I'm not trying to sound like an idiot here, but what's the difference between long action and short action?
It's funny, but a friend of mine has a .308 in a pump 7600. That thing kicks like a mule! My bolt action Remmington in .30-06 kicked far less, and I was shooting 165 grain bullets to his 150 grainers. What gives? It was the reason I was gonna trade my .30-06 and 200.00, but opted to just sell him my '06 instead. That baby hurts!

Mike

The answer is easy.  Look at a 308 WIN round and 30-06 round-- one's longer than the other.  You need a longer action to shoot the longer round.  The short-action rifle has less metal and is somewhat lighter than the long-action rifle.  It's Newtons 3rd law. The whole thing is high school physics-- you've reduced the mass of rifle and kept the force being applied to the bullet approximately the same. There is an equal and opposite force being applied to the rifle and your shoulder. The rifle can now accelerate both more and faster-- more recoil.  You can also download a copy of Pointblank and calculate exactly how much more if you know the weight of the rifles and a few other bits of data.

You can probably alleviate a lot of that recoil by adding a pad.

The stock configuration itself can be an issue.  If the stock does not fit properly, it'll feel like it's thumping you more.  The poster child for this is the Mosin Nagant-- a ugly short stock meant for burly peasants with heavy coats on in the snow.  It thumps the snot out of you, until you either lighten the load or put a recoil pad on it.  Everyone thinks the Mosin is a shoulder buster.