Sitka Gear Turkey Tool Belt

Favorite rifles in safe and why

Did you have the same problems getting Champion/Ramline fore end to fit your A-5? I had to whittle on mine for hours before it would work. It was worth the effort though. No more worries about wooden stock splitting at the tang screw or barrel ring hammering the wooden fore end to pieces.
I bought the browning factory stalker fore end and stock. Fore end fit perfectly, took a little fitting for the butt stock. Agreed, did it because the original wood was too pretty for hard use.
 
I am a Browning Rifle fan. Growing up hunting in South Arkansas, Browning was an aspirational gun long before we had ever heard of Kimber, Begerra or Christianson. So some of my favorite safe rifles are either an A Bolt in 300 WSM or the Xbolt in 270 WSM. Both guns shoot well and have equipped with great optics.

But the gun that probably means the most to me is a Remington 30-06 that came as a combo from walmart with a cheap scope for around $300 in the late 90s. First gun I bought for myself as a young broke new father in college. That gun has brought home a bunch of meals.
 
Thinking about it, I have never shot a bull elk. Always got cow tags, lot easier to fill and I needed meat in the freezer! My favorite rifle carrtridge for it just depended on how I felt before leaving in the morning. I like rifles, well, bolt actions! They are all I shoot!
 
the Mannlicher stocked rifle was dads. $150 at a gun show sometime in the late 60's or 70's. It's a pre WWI CH Hanel 1888 Commission rifle in 8mmJ. It was built for Mouflon & Chamois hunting in Europe. I have yet to take an animal with it, but it's certainly minute of deer out to about 150 yards with the express sights it currently has. I pulled a note out of the buttstock from the son of the soldier who brought it back from Germany in '45. The note still lives in the stock.

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The model 70 was a gift from a friend who didn't have anyone to pass the rifle on to. It was given to him by an old hunter who used it for pronghorn & deer in NEWY. THe condition of the gift was that I could never sell the gun, and at some point must pass it on to someone else who is in need. It's going to it's new home next weekend with the good folks at DEER Camp- MT to help bring new hunters into the fold

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My grandmother's 1894 32-40. She was cooler than you:
Love it. I have Great Grandma's Cooey single shot 22, and her son's Winchester model 12. Here is grandpa and my great uncles with a pheasant shot near where the current Ridgedale Mall is. Sorry if that reveals someone’s honey hole. Pic from 1930s I’d guess.
 

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Model 99 300 savage. I got my first deer ever with this rifle. My grandpa let me use it and after I shot the deer I returned it to him. It made it back to me 18 years later. He always liked that gun and it was one of his favorites but he knew it was also special to me so he wanted to be sure I ended up with it.
I’ll track down the picture of that day, guessing it’s at my parents.

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With rifles my affection has come and gone over the years. Current object of affection is a Vanguard first lite in 6.5-300.
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Sentimental favorites that will be handed down are my Savage 99 in 300 Savage and a Marlin 444S, both handed down from my father.
With shotguns I have my definite favorites that haven't wavered over the years.
Love my Browning Auto 5 magnum and my Beretta Xtrema 2. Those do 99% of my waterfowl hunting.
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Like the a5 pic!
 
Top 3
Ruger 77 in 338 win mag. Bought in 2015 with some of my fur cheque from coyotes that winter. Since then it’s accounted for 4 elk, 3 moose and must be close to ten bear now. I hunt with that rifle more then any other
2- Remington 700 in 300 win mag. Don’t use it much just for deer hunting but with my 165 hanldoads she shoots fast and flat and hammers deer
3- Remington 700 in 22-250. Back in the day when I did a lot of coyote calling I shot this gun more then any other. It has accounted for my furthest shot and has shot a lot of coyotes over the years. It still gets a few every winter including a 340 yard running shot last December
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