We've spent considerable time bashing or defending this cartridge or that one, so maybe we should start a little discussion on those rifles and/or cartridges that we consider sentimental favorites - the ones we use even when we have better choices at hand, just because we like them or they bring back good memories or we have an attachment to a particular rifle.

I'll start - I still love to carry my Marlin 336 in .30-30, just because. It's a pretty lousy choice for Montana, but I enjoy the balance of the rifle and the memories hunting the dense cedar swamps of northern Michigan, where it was in fact exactly the right rifle for the situation. I try to use it at least once a year, when I have a B tag in my pocket. I like the nostalgia. It makes me feel good.

I must say that my favorite big game rifle is my Rem. 700 Classic in 35 Whelen. An old friend gave it to me as a gift before he passed away. Although I am a die hard Savage fan, that Rem is one sweet rifle. I still haven't shot a deer or bear with it, but that isn't the gun's fault.

Marlin 336 30-30

I've killed more deer with one of those than anything else.

I may be the only person on this forum to take a M-92 in .25-20 to Africa hunting. It's fully adequate Duiker medicine and worked on Springbok as well.

any Lee Enfield rifle in 303 I just love the things you cant kill them with a big stick

My old friend, my .300 Weatherby Magnum Mark V Deluxe I got in 1963. It has never let me down. Lawdog

Got 2. Mowed yards to get my marlin 336 30-30
in 1961. Dad gave me my Mod 70 30-06 for Christmas in 64. They ain't fer sell.

My Grand Dad's Winchester M94 30-30. Well used, well loved. Slick action after those 75 years.

Have passed it to my youngest son. Hope he gives it to his.

Sentimental favorite-- A marlin 336 35 Remington that dad taught me to shoot with in 1966. He bought the gun new in 1951. I still take it to the fleld when deer hunting and think I will have a short shot.

6.5 Carcano roger

My P.O. Ackley rifle in 7x57 Mauser is the one with the most memories in my safe.

I figure that every cartridge we need had already been invented by 1920, so I stick with the 7x64, 8x60, 9.3x62 and .404 Jeffery.

I have a couple of favorites:

My stainless Model 70 30.06. My dad and I were talking about what I would like if I were to get one. I mentioned this rifle and he added to his collection. I got it when he passed on.

My nickel rifle, a Winchester 25.06 featherweight. It was offered to me for $500.00 with a Leupold 2-7 scope. I traded in 5 baseball cards that I paid a penny a piece for when I was a kid and got more than enough for the rifle. I've since broke the stock and replaced it with synthetic so I'm not afraid to use this rifle when the weather gets nasty.

5,6x52R 6,5x54MS and 10,75x73.

257 Roberts
308 Win

quote:

Originally posted by KurtC:
I figure that every cartridge we need had already been invented by 1920, so I stick with the 7x64, 8x60, 9.3x62 and .404 Jeffery.

I'm with Kurt! My sentimental favorites are the ones I have taken to South Africa.

.30-06 - Ruger M77 MkII
8x57JS - Rem 700 Classic
9.3x62 - CZ 550 American
.375 H&H - Ruger M77 Magnum

-Bob F.

Hello the Campfire
This is a tear jerker for me as my dad passed away several years ago this October. I have his mod 12, a mod 64 Winchester he hunted deer when he was stationed in Texas in the Air Force. These are the ones I carry for memory. Dad was a mostly shotgun, pistol shooter, he built several rifles as an amature gunsmith. I have passed one of those to my son. I miss talking guns with him.
Judge Sharpe

My "little Springfield".

This is an easy one. Top rifle in pic: M-70 30-06, purchased for me in 1959 by my grandfather, veteran of many whitetail hunts, don't use her that much anymore but the one I'll be buried with-

I have to say that out of all the rifles that I've owned, I've had the most fun with the Winchester 1892 32-20 WCF Sporting Rifle with warm loads. I've been able to nail varmints with this rig out past 300 yards putting my scoped bolt action hunting companions to shame. At the end of the day I had tallied up 2/3 of all the kills in our group of 4 people.

Fun....

My first centre fire rifle which was an Enfield .303 that I bought for 30 bucks, used for seven years and sold for 30 bucks. Hell of a moose gun in Northern Ontario.

For me its my Mannlicher Schoenhauer 9.3x62, - from my late Dad. My earliest memories of hunting were when I went out hunting Kudu with him, aged 6 , together with this rifle in good old Rhodesia.

Sentimental Favorite = My Granddad's M1-30 Carbine.

My Win Mod 670 30-06 that I bought in '83 for $75. Handloads turned it in to a 1/2" shooter. And a Rem 870 3" Mag that I bought in '78 while home on leave from the army. Both guns have many thousand rounds thru 'em.

Model 99 savage in 300 my dad killed a couple hundred of deer with, his my brother has that one.

I brought one just to have and have killed a couple of dozen with it.

I would be hard to get a better deer rifle for northern Wisconsin.

But then it was fun shooting a couple with my 416.

My little Ruger carbine in 358Win.
It's a model 77RLS, with Leupold 1-4x scope.

Savage 110 with a 4 digit serial # that was rebarreled from .30-06 to .22-250 with a 26" Douglas barrel and an old style Weaver steel tube 10X scope and an epoxy bedded Fajen bench rest stock. It still shoots under an inch all day and has probably killed more critters than anything else I own. I'm still shooting some of the Peters 250 Savage brass that I started with in 1964....that kinda makes me feel old!!

Mine is a Mauser 66 in .243 that my dad gave me when I was 14. What a sweet action.

I wanted to move up from my old model 94 30-30.

I still have the 30-30 too.

250-3000
6.5x57
358 Win
9.3x62

My (late) father's "sporterized" 30/40 Krag cabine.

He bought it for $12 in 1958.

I remember the transaction going down in the kitchen. I was 8 years old @ the time

He bought it from his best friend "Fat" Miller.

I personaly like my savage in .270wsm and it will always be with me .

Great thread!!
The first year Remington came out with a stainless synthetic mountain rifle. It is the first rifle I bought after college in 270 Win.
It has been many places, performed flawlessly. I keep thinking I should maybe upgrade her, but the rifle shoots so dang well the way it is. Holds it zero from year to year. I have probably put a couple thousands rounds down the barrel and shot so many deer with it I have lost count.
It is the first rifle I started serious reloading for.
My nephews have borrowed it to shoot their first deer.

The second is a 338-06 that I had built on a 700 action. It has been a very constant companion on my last few elk hunts. It does the same thing on elk that my cherished 270 does on deer.

I have other rifles that I play with and collected, but when it is crunch time. It will ALWAYS come down to those two.

I also hold a special place for my Dad's Remington 760 gamemaster pump in 270 Win.
He has done so many things with that rifle, it will always be cherished.

I have four:


My father's 30-40 Krag, which was the first rifle I ever restocked and handloaded for. Before he passed away I refinished the stock (and trimmed it down) and had the rifle reblued like new to see how he would like it. Aside from my first 30-30, I used to "borrow" his Krag all the time and took several White Tails and a Mule Deer with it.


A 35 Whelen, that I built up and stocked from a 1903 Springfield Mk I. I have taken more game with it than any other rifle I own. It was my first serious hunting rifle after the 30-30 and my dad's Krag.

An original 256 Newton, which introduced me to the 6.5s and the beauty of multiple locking lugs (long before Weatherby) and double set triggers.

Lastly, a 6mm Lee Navy that I picked up dirt cheap because of its broken stock. I built a stock from a Fajen pre-inletted Argentine Mauser. Since it was not original any more I mounted a peep sight on it. I made cases from necking up 220 Swifts and found a Speer No. 1 reloading manual that actually had loading data for some Speer 105 gr bullets. Quite a project at the time (I was only 17 years old). I remember "shooting" the first 20 rounds with a string tied to the trigger and standing far away. Then I sighted it in and took a White Tail with it that fall.

Barstooler

I have 3:

A pre-64 Winchester 94 in 30-30 that I killed my first deer with.

A Savage 340 in 30-30 that belonged to my great-grandfather

An old T/C Contender w/10" .22LR barrel, my second pistol. Many small game animals meet their maker when it softly speaks.

You could not pry these out of my hands.

Remington 721 in .270 win.