Sentimental Rifle

W

wildsage

Guest
How many of you have a rifle that you still use because it has sentimental value??? My favorite elk and deer rifle is my ole Remington 721 30-06 with a 3 power Weaver scope - It belonged to a very good friend of mine that passed away 30 years ago. I have owned several rifles over the years including a 300 WSM and I also currently own a Remington 7 mag but I always go back to the 721. With me I guess I just feel comfortable with it as it has been my gun of choice all these years. Works for me and has never let me down just have to recognize it's capabilities with a 3 power scope.

Wildsage
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-16-11 AT 03:43PM (MST)[p]1980 Ruger M77 270 with a Redfield 3-9x Scope. Had to replace the stock a few years ago from a four wheeler accident, scope was dinged pretty bad. Just about made me cry, loosing that stock. Thought about replacing the scope also, glad I didn't, I was able to get it shooting like new.

Sentimental? Sure and confidence in a setup that has proven itself for almost 31 years. And the best part, is that that gun cost me $180 and the scope $200. I have gotten my money out of this gun.
 
My Grandpa gave me his rifle and shotgun before he passed when I was in high school. I shot them quite a bit and took a deer or two with the rifle. In my early twenties I decided they carried too much sentimental value and I put them in the safe and only take them out once in awhile. I have plenty of other rifles that I use as tools. I think a guy can have both.
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-16-11 AT 04:52PM (MST)[p]Out of two safes full, I would say that I have only two that are extremely sentimental to me. One is a Lefever Nitro Special 12 gauge SxS that my Grandfather bought the year I was born (1947) for $26. It is now possibly worth four figures and never comes out of the safe other than to be wiped off and appreciated. The other is a sporterized 03A3 30-06 my Dad rebuilt and gave to me as a surprise when I bought 20 acres up in northern Michigan in 1973 and didn't even have a rifle to use. I killed a nice 8 pointer in a blizzard up there opening night that first year and have probably taken close to 50 deer with it alone. It is now in a Ramline black synthetic stock and the walnut stock my Dad made from a blank piece of wood for it is in the safe with it. I use other rifles out in Wyoming every year, but it always comes out of the safe for my hunt up north and I took a nice 6 pointer with it again this year.
 
I HAD a Remington 721 30-06. My dad got it used when he was 17-18 years old. He had a new stock, glass bedded and trigger worked on. He shot many deer in Utah with it until he gave it to me on my 17th birthday. I loved that gun!! I shot several deer in Utah and some in Nevada. I recently had to let it go!! To my middle son on his 18th birthday. It still has the TT leather sling my mom made for my dad in the early '80s.

He shot this deer a few days after gave it to him.
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When my Dad gave up hunting he thought up a complicated draw system to ensure fairness, to see which of us boys would get which gun. I ended up getting his Browning/Belgum 12 Gage shotgun. My Mom had bought it for him when I was very young and money was very tight. He had an adjustable Poly-choke installed on it. I remember him making some amazing shots on pheasants with it. It's still in very good condition and I still use it when given the opportunity. My oldest brother got his 30/40 Crag he had worked over. It had the old flip up hind sight, and boy did Dad know how to use it! My other brother got his newer 30-06 bolt action. As I was growing up, Mom always carried an old 25/35 lever-action Winchester rifle when hunting deer. She never did shoot at anything that I can remember. Some years ago Dad realized that I had a liking for that rifle and gave it to me. He had hand built a new stock and fore-piece for it. It actually looks kind of funny with brand new wood on an old silver, buck horn sighted lever action. I'm not sure if it ever had a bluing on it, but I doubt it. He saved the old stock and fore-piece and those came with it also. I always thought it had been handed down through the family, but Dad told me he had just bought it from someone. After thinking about it, I wasn't too disappointed. It had developed a history with my Mom. I got to carry it for her whenever we took a walk, while hunting.
 
Well, I for one do see the difference between a gun and a hammer. I am afraid I have several sentimental favorites:

a rem 222: my first rifle given by my dad as a Christmas present. From varmits to turkeys, still a good little gun.

a win Model 70 270: first rifle I bought for myself in 10th grade. For everything but elk this has been my "go to" rifle. Took a 183 mulie at 150 yards and a 165 mulie at 450. It will flat out shoot!

a rem 243: Last gun my Dad ever owned. This is my whitetail "meat gun" and hog gun.

54 calibur T/C renegade percussion muzzleloader. Put this one together from a kit 20 years ago and own a couple of inlines now, but still have to bring this one out from time to time.

No, I don't sleep with my guns (except on a wilderness hunt), but then I don't spend hours playing with my hammers or buying them new accessories or hours cleaning them...

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)
 
My only sentimental rifle is a Remington 721 30-06 as well.

My dad has one that he used all the time when I was a kid, and I bought one just like it when I was 15. I shot every animal under the sun with it for years till I moved on to faster and more fancy rifles.

I just gave it to my 10 year old boy just a few months ago. He loves it and thinks it's the best rifle in the world. I get a kick out of how much the boy likes the gun I grew up with. I hope he passes it along to his kid some day.

I don't have another rifle in the safe I wouldn't part with except that one. They are all hammers to me!

DeerBeDead
 
MY Dad died in 07 and I inhereted these favs from him.
A 1951 Marlin Model 336rc 30-30. My go to brush gun.
A 1952 Marlin Model 39A 22. My rabbit and plinker.
A 1950 Stevens Dbbl barrel Model 311 series H in 410G. A fun rabbit gun.
My Winchester 1200 I bought myself at age 16 at Allied War Surplus in 1967.
And my favorite. My Dads Winchester Featherweight Pre64 in 308 calibur. 1954. That I hope to take my first 6x6 bull someday.
This is topped with a (Weatherby) 3-9 scope with tip off mounts.

Ah, the memories we have growing up in a family that loved to hunt as a family. My we all carry on such rich family traditions!

Ray
 
I don't think I could sell any of my guns. They have all been given to me by very important people in my life.


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harryhuntr,

A hammer? Really, a hammer?

You need to get some nicer guns bro! LOL

Zeke
 
Winchester Pre-64 Westerner 264 Win Mag....
Springfield 30-06 that my Dad bought in 1947...
Ruger M77 300 Win Mag...My go to gun!!!

Later, L.T.
 
I gave two of my rifles away which I was most sentimental about.

Two of my daughters ended up with rifles with which I've killed most of my wild sheep. One daughter just needed a good gun. The other daughter drew a sheep tag and now has another hunt booked. She "needed" one of my sheep guns for her hunts so now the gun is hers.

I built a custom Sako, English wood, 24 lpi checkering, classic stocked beauty for my son. I don't suppose he looks at it like a hammer. It's more like art that you can kill stuff with! LOL

Zeke
 
My father gave me his Remmington model 721 270 with a weaver 4x on it 38 years ago when I was 15. I replaced the weaver 4x with a Redfield 6x and use it to this day.
 
eFer....LOL!
You are too much dude.

No really, of the dozen hunting rifles I have, I have climbed more mountains and killed more game with my Mk V ultralight .300 wby than anything else.
I'd trade it today for one in .257wby.
My best friend gave me a Weatherby Vanguard as a gift last year and out of respect for him I wouldn't get rid of it, so I guess that is sort of sentimental now that I think about it.

I do think my kid has more attachment to my stuff than I do and that's the only reason I might cling on to something.
A lot of you guys have dads that you hunted with and the guns that he carried in the field have special meaning to you.
I can understand that.
Mine never hunted with me as a kid.

My sentimental attachments are saved for the people I hunt with and the photos I have remembering those times together.
I never said I was normal.

:)
 
I have a savage model 99 in 300 savage that my great grandfather gave my grandfather when he came home from ww2. He hunted with that gun for the rest of his life and killed more big bucks with it than I will probably ever see.
 
Double H, you will never give your son a greater gift then your rifles. You have done a wonderfull job showing your son how to hunt and fish that lasts a lifetime....My father is gone now but everytime I go hunting he is with me in memory. All the memories and advice come flooding back when I'm hunting. You may not put much stock into these things but I'm betting your son will. Take care.
 
My father was not a man of fancy taste. He bought us each a World War I/II Lee Enfield (British) 303 cal. at an auction to raise money for a hockey rink when I turned 14. Those two guns were little more than hammers, poor ones at that, not because of the caliber or the construction but because they were worn out. I killed a number of deer with mine but when I moved to the US in 1975 I left it in my sisters closet and I've never seen it since. No more sentimental than a tire off my fathers truck.

However, I've got a few rifles now that I feel differently about because when I see them they trigger warm memories of days and moment of excitement spent with my sons. I have a .50 muzzleloader that was built by Cannonball, it's killed a ton of deer and a few elk. I've got a 7mm Browning BAR that my oldest son seems to believe holds the entire family history intact. A octagon barreled 30-30 Winchester made in 1907 that I've never shot at anything but a rock and a sheet of paper. It has sentimental value to me because while my father didn't have the time to teach me to hunt, two other old men took me under there wing and they both carried 1894 octagon barreled 30-30 Winchesters, worn down to shiny silver and this gun satisfies my desire to be like them when I grow up. I love that gun for what it represents in my life.

I've got a few others, each with it's own legecy. Sold some mean ones too that I want to forget I ever pull up to.

DC
 
>Double H, you will never give
>your son a greater gift
>then your rifles. You have
>done a wonderfull job showing
>your son how to hunt
>and fish that lasts a
>lifetime....My father is gone now
>but everytime I go hunting
>he is with me in
>memory. All the memories and
>advice come flooding back when
>I'm hunting. You may not
>put much stock into these
>things but I'm betting your
>son will. Take care.

Wow.


As I typed my second response, I was starting to think the same thing.
I once talked to him about selling my trusty .300, the one that has trekked miles upon miles of mountains.
As he hiked and struggled behind me for many years that was the rifle that he saw me carrying.
That does mean something.


1a.jpg


Thanks Kingfish that's powerful.
I learn a lot of things here.
I'm wrong sometimes and appreciate your opinions.
You guys are good people and I thank you.
HH
 
HH, That's what sets us hunter apart from everyone else!! We share a very special gift only hunters can understand and usually it's generational. The greatest gift I have ever been given in my life were my kids and then the love of hunting and fishing...Nice job my friend your son will always love you for making him a hunter and fisherman....
 
I have my Father's 300 hundred savage.I have good memories as a young boy following behind Him and sitting around the campfire with freinds.
 
I have my Dad's Remington ADL 30-06. He bought it the year he went into the Army/Veitnam in 1967. I remember as a very young kid being facinated with that gun. He would get it out right before the hunt and clean it. I was right underfoot watching the whole process.

Later when i was a bit older and could go with him on hunting trips it was the first rifle I ever shot at the age of 6 or 7. I rememebr my dad sitting down and sitting me on his lap helping me hold it up. When I was in Junior High I took a leather making class and made a rifle sling for hium with is initials stammped on it. It still carries that sling to this day 30 years later.

I saw several head of deer and a couple elk fall to this rifle over the years. It's had it's share of bumps and dings including a cracked stock but waht it lacks in beauty it more than makes up in sentimental value. I told my Dad about 5 years ago as he was getting where he didn;t want to hunt anymore, that I don't care who he leaves what to in his will as long as I got the 30-06. He told me to go ahead and take it and if he needed it he knew where to find it. It is the one of two firearms I own of the several I have that will never be sold. It might get handed down to one of my kids but never will be sold.

Mark
 
My father-in-laws Win Model 12 20 gauge and the Montgomery Ward 20 Gauge bolt action that my father bought for me 44 years ago.
 
2 guns...

A model 1100 remington auto shotgun that my dad got back in the 60's and then gave it to me.

Second is a 1950 32 special my grandpa gave me when I was 15.

My son shot a hog with it last year; pretty neat!

I'll never sell either one of them and they will go to my kids one day.
 
Funny I thought I was the only one with a 303 british that would be on this post!! I agree with previous posts, I never thought much about sentimental guns until cancer got dad. That first fall after he died that A bolt 06 he bought me when I turned 16 became the only gun I will hunt big game with. He used a Ruger 270, the first year we could hunt my cousin killed a deer with it. When dad died we talked about how that a bolt of mine was so important to me now, and he asked me about that ruger, dad used to haul us all around hunting and I guess that gun meant a lot to him so now he owns it.

Personally I think this post reflects a lot about the differences in todays hunters. I use that a bolt, carry a buck 110(got when I was 12), hunt the same areas he took me, still hunt with some of his friends, and every year the drive to camp for the opener without him is one of the toughest drives I take.

To other guys guns are hammers, killing is the only important part of hunting, the newest and best are the only way to go. They don't hunt the same areas because that score and a trophy pic are the only thing that counts. Tradition has no place in hunting for them. Too bad, because to most of us, tradition IS hunting.
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-19-11 AT 09:27AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Feb-19-11 AT 09:26?AM (MST)

LAST EDITED ON Feb-19-11 AT 09:24?AM (MST)

I would have to say my Winchester model 1300 shotgun. I got it for Christmas back in the late 80's. To this day, thats the Christmas I remember the most. I've managed to keep it looking pretty new some how. There ain't many Pheasants to hunt in Central Utah anymore, but I still use it every year. It's pretty quick on skeet with the short barrel.

If I could give any advice it would be that even though at the time selling a rifle makes sense, 99% of the time you will regret it afterwards.
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"To other guys guns are hammers, killing is the only important part of hunting, the newest and best are the only way to go. They don't hunt the same areas because that score and a trophy pic are the only thing that counts. Tradition has no place in hunting for them. Too bad, because to most of us, tradition IS hunting."

Hoss,
You obviously know goddamn little about me personally.
The Hell I don't hunt the same areas year in & year out.
My home turf is pretty special to me.

You ever seen the posts with me & my kid?

Does it look like killing is the only important thing going on there?

Since that remark is obviously pointed at me, why don't you re read my post.
I put my emotions directly towards the PEOPLE I hunt with not cold, material, inanimate objects.

My kid laughed out loud when he read your remarks.

:)
 
Easy there HH, hoss don't mean no harm, you got to give us Utah guys a little understanding (love) . We just have to smack everyone we can get at, haven't you been keeping track of us for the last 20 years, we're justified, don't you know.

I've read your posts and seen your images. Ain't nobody paying attention on here that would ever doubt your commit to public hunting nor your dedication to youth and the family. Everyone of us could learn a lesson from your example. Your son is a fortunate young man.

And about those hammers, if they haven't shot a few, they haven't shoot many.

DC
 
Thanks DC,
I jumped the gun so to speak on the hammer comment.
In my haste, I really didn't put a lot of thought as to what my kid feels about my gear and the memories it might conjure for him some day after I'm gone.
Usually when one thinks sentimenatal, they think history as in their dad or grandpa etc..
I see the error of my ways.

Sorry for flying off the hammer.

HH
 
Don't have a sentimental rifle,however i do like my Rugar 77 300 Win. Mag. that iv'e had for 30-years. But i do have a model 12 20-Ga.25 inch full choke that was made in 1912,that has been in our family for 80-yrs!
 
I have two rifles that fit in this category. The first is a pre-64 model 70 Featherweight 30-06 that was my grandfather's rifle. It might be the most accurate rifle in my guncase. It's all original. Don't hunt with it very often, but I love that rifle. My other is a Pre-64 Model 70 Westerner in .264 win mag that was my father's rifle. I've re-stocked it with an ugly, unfinished fiberglass stock by Brown Precision. Awesome rifle, one of my main two that I use hunting.
 
My Dad has a model 722 in .257 Roberts that I will inherit that he killed his second buck with and I killed my second buck and a few more with and my daughter has killed her second buck with it also.

My kids call it the second buck gun and all want to do the same (4kids total). My oldest (14) son planned to use it on his second buck but when we got onto a buck and couldn't get into the gun's ideal range he decided he would forgo tradition and shot it with my .300 Wby. A week later we got him on another and he killed his third buck with the second buck gun.

My Dad has many guns, some worth a few bucks and there are only two I REALLY want when he passes and this gun is #1 with a Beretta side by side 12 guage being the other.

Bill
 
I'm sentimental about all my guns one way or another, mostly the ones that were gifts from Dad or Grandpa.

It's funny when you look at the classic pose of a harvest photo most guys want to be holding their weapon.
 
This thread really hits home with me, I have been thinking about my dad a lot as it would have been his birthday in a couple of days and like many others on here I have a few sentimental favorite guns that belonged to him.

The one that means the most to me is a Smith & Wesson K22 Masterpiece that my dad bought around 1958.
This revolver was his personal favorite and mine as well.

5575025.jpg


For as long as I can remember he always brought this gun along on deer hunts, fishing, and camping trips, even Sunday drives up in the Sierra's when we lived in Sacramento. This S&W K22 was responsible for the demise of countless ground squirrels and rabbits.

His pre Winchester model 70 .264 mag also has a lot of sentimental value to me along with a couple of his shotguns but his S&W K22 means the most. and will be passed on to my grandsons one day.
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-20-11 AT 10:51AM (MST)[p]>
HunterHarry.jpg



C'mon Feleno... When I gave you that photo of me you promised you would not share it. Remember what we agreed on?
You don't see me posting your special photos..

What happens at Burning Man stays at Burning man.
 
1958! Bud, that piece looks like it came out of the factory this morning. That little gem looks like it's never seen a holster. Your father must have be a man of great care, and you've picked up his bad habits. Congrats on a taking sure good care of such a beautiful article of your families history.

How in the world are you going to select which grandson get that one?

DC
 
Sharps 1878 Long Range Target Rifle, can not wait to take my first buffalo with this original rifle.
 
Model 70 My dad has one of those K22 and when he went to college gunsmithing courses he re-chambered the cylinder for 22 K-chuck which is a .22 hornet improved with a sharp shoulder I think it was also called a K-Hornet. Cool little gun and another I would like to inherit. Just hope it takes 50 years for my 70 year old dad to leave it to me if you know what I mean.

Bill
 
I have a Remington model 11 that my great grandfather bought for my grandfather back in 1905. Grandpa kept it with him while tending sheep for many years starting when he was 14. Its been passed on to my dad, and now to me. Im fortunate to have a son to continue the tradition. I still use it all the time and it shoots like a champ.
 
my dad gave me my first 7 mag when i turned 13 killed my first buck with it at my dads side , and i thought it fitting to pass it on to my oldest son keihin and like father like son he killed his first elk with me and his grandpa at his side and he hasnt looked back ever since although he thinks he is going to talk me out of the old 338 ultra, maybe so he shoots it as good as me!



'IT AINT EASY BEING ME'
 

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