Sentimental hunting rifles

Well its been a while since I posted this. Since then Ive also started handloading. Ive spent a fair bit of time, money and gas trying to figure out what my 6MM likes to shoot.
Ive tried IMR 4451, IMR 4064 and RL 22. Ive used 95 Gr sst, 90 gr eld-x, 95 gr vld and 80 gr bt.
(Smaller holes are the 6mm rem.) As you can see its been shooting all over the place.
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A local gun nut happened to give me some loaded ammo with the extra bullets I used to experiment. He cant remember the recipe...
And what do you know? The random ammo gave me the best groups...middle row center, and bottom row right.
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Time to try IMR 4350.
 
Depending on the twist rate of that rifle (Remington has some trouble with 6mm marketing due to this at one time) you may need to drop to tHe lighter lead range. I was thinking that the 80’s would be ok in it, but I seem to remember a fellow I know having to drop to a 58gr to get results.... and you may want to try some flat base high BC Berger’s. THey have a few different weights to try.
 
I have 4 sentimental rifles. Rossi 37 pump 22lr. Stevens 200 in 2506. Baikal mp221 4570 and an interarms mark x in 458wm
First the lil pump. Straight english stock and octagon barrel in mint condition. Its just a blast to shoot. Ejecting shells upwards has burned quite a few cleavages with hot brass over the years. Just makes me smile shooting it.
The stevens 200 was the first centerfire rifle i bought myself. Ive taken all game in ontario with it minus elk and moose. My longest and best shots have been with this rifle.
The baikal while not a fancy sxs of romance and class its a great gun and one that likely saved my ass while hunting alone in an area with no cell reception. Its built off the same frame as my trusted baikal 12ga sxs so it swings perfectly. I had a black bear charge me in some tall alders. As the branches parted ways i shot when i saw black fur and the right barrel sent a 405 gr slug in the right place to kill the bear 12' from me.
Lastly while i was low on funds and getting married i met a local gunsmith with much in common and we got to talken at the range and he made me a deal on his personal moose rifle. A gorgeously worked over interarms mark x with a 26.5" douglas barrel. The stock features hand cut basket weave checkering and several mahogany inlays. The fit and finish is superbly done. It fits like a true custom. He sold it dirt cheap to me on the promise id hunt with it. To date its taken 2 black bears. I paid for it with money recieved from wedding gifts. I figure the wife got 3 rings in her set and i only got 1 i should get 2 rifles and i did. A 17 mach2 for squirrels and a 458wm for cape buffalo in the future
 
I'm sentimental about the Savage Model 5 Deluxe .22 rimfire I bought in 1976; it was made before 1960 and I paid $60.00 used with a scope. That put a LOT of rabbit and grouse meals on the table, as did its stablemate, my Winchester 62A pump. Not having kids, I gave them to my nephew so they can have sentimental value to him too. I gave him a Savage 99R in .250-3000 for the same reason.
He will be the recipient of the two rifles I still have that I'm sentimental about: my first brand-new centrefire, and go-to gun, a 1992 Browning A-Bolt in .280 Rem, and a 1958 Marlin 336 A DeLuxe in .30-30 Ackley. Both have done yeoman service for me, and I'd like the young fella to have those too.
 
The buck I took with my 1974 vintage Marlin 336 in 35 Rem. I plan to pass this on to my daughter.

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The buck I took with my custom Cooper Model 54 in 308Win. Also hope to pass this to my daughter.

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Just because the rifle was a budget rifle in the seventies doesn't mean they don't shoot!
I used one in 22-250 Remington topped with a Redfield 3x9 to win quite a few turkey shoots back then.
6mm Remington also shoots quite well when pushed into target duty. Let's see some groups.
 
I have 2 rifles that are special regarding family, one is my dad's 94 30-30 and the other is my 9422, it's the only rifle of mine that my dad shot before he passed. He really loved that 22.
He would ask me if I was bringing that 22 lever out to shoot let him know. I miss him.

David
 
I have 2 rifles that are special regarding family, one is my dad's 94 30-30 and the other is my 9422, it's the only rifle of mine that my dad shot before he passed. He really loved that 22.
He would ask me if I was bringing that 22 lever out to shoot let him know. I miss him.

David

Condolences on the loss of your dad... my father is quite ill with an incurable disease and does not have long for this world... we are very close, we spent so much time together in the woods and on the water... I am going to be wrecked when he passes.
 
Condolences on the loss of your dad... my father is quite ill with an incurable disease and does not have long for this world... we are very close, we spent so much time together in the woods and on the water... I am going to be wrecked when he passes.

I lost my dad in 2018, he was my best friend and my zeal for hunting/shooting and collecting guns hasn’t been the same since. I have the guns he carried for years, not to mention the last few we bought together. Just about every piece of hunting/shooting gear I have we bought doubles of at the time. Having two of everything really broke my heart when I was packing his stuff up after he died.

Patrick
 
I only have two, my Grandfather’s M94 .30-30 that was his moose rifle and my Cooey .22, also from my grandfather. I’ve done some crazy things with rifles on a few continents but always fought off the urge to become attached to the metal and wood and attached myself to the experiences instead. I have huge respect for people that keep heirlooms but there’s too much hippy in me from my dad’s side to attach to the material for life. So I buy and build pretty decent rifles, enjoy them for two to ten years, and pass them on. By letting them go I can keep the funds liquid to enjoy some pretty interesting things.

My time on this planet is fleeting and so are the rifles’ time with me in measure.
 
I only have two, my Grandfather’s M94 .30-30 that was his moose rifle and my Cooey .22, also from my grandfather. I’ve done some crazy things with rifles on a few continents but always fought off the urge to become attached to the metal and wood and attached myself to the experiences instead. I have huge respect for people that keep heirlooms but there’s too much hippy in me from my dad’s side to attach to the material for life. So I buy and build pretty decent rifles, enjoy them for two to ten years, and pass them on. By letting them go I can keep the funds liquid to enjoy some pretty interesting things.

My time on this planet is fleeting and so are the rifles’ time with me in measure.

some wood and metal is worth getting attached to...…..
 
some wood and metal is worth getting attached to...…..

I found myself I could bring myself to sell my Winchester 490 I owned since able to purchase a rifle.

However my father's hierloom to me, the Winchester 30-30 carbine circa 1956. Na Ah! Stays with me.....

Edit: My father lived in occupied Belgium and when he came to Canada, he realized a dream that he had since a young boy. Holding that fine lever rifle with war memories still fresh from his teenage years really had considerable meaning for him.

During German occupation owning a rifled firearm, be it even muzzleloader or airgun was to bring on a sentence of death.
 
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Just because the rifle was a budget rifle in the seventies doesn't mean they don't shoot!
I used one in 22-250 Remington topped with a Redfield 3x9 to win quite a few turkey shoots back then.
6mm Remington also shoots quite well when pushed into target duty. Let's see some groups.

Well finally got er to shoot!
Bottom left. IMR 4350 at 41 gr with 80 gr Nosler BT. 6mm rem

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This is my dad's hunting rifle that was passed down to me. Needless to say its on the never sell list

Winchester Model 70 featherweight xtr in 30-06 made in 1983

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I have a cil Anschutz model 300. it was my stepdads rifle. I remember shooting lots of grouse with it.when I was younger. he actually sold it to his friend who later offered it to me to buy. I jumped on it right away.that's one I will never sell.
 
This be my one. A Cooey model 39 that I bought from a friend back in '69 for 5 bucks. I reshaped the stock, thinned the front sight to a pin type & stoned the trigger
to a hair. The wee beasty has covered more miles in my hands & taken more critters than any other rifle I've owned. Won a pile of impromptu shootin' matches with
'er as well. She be with me till I croak.;)
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This thread topic would make a good coffee table book. Writing it would be fun, you'd just travel across the country fondling peoples heirloom rifles.
 
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