Thread: Oldest active hunting rifle

Synthetic, your Rem 700 is one of the limited edition Classic models. They did one caliber per year for 10 or 12 years.

Ok, Both my sons have carried and shoot deer and Goats with their Grandfathers 1960's Sav 99 in 243.
Scope was also 1960's vintage Hertel & Reuss 2.75 x 26.5mm post and rail. Sent it back to Gemany a few years back as it started getting cloudy and it came back like new on the inside, polished and re-coated.
In the late 80's- early 90's I shot a lot of rabbits with my Mum's BSA martini action single shot 22 target rifle. (indoor range on Thursday nights and local dairy farms after uni lectures),

Started shooting with a Remington No 6 Rolling Block. Dates to around WW1. Had it out again a few months back and rabbits to 50 mtrs would be dead.
ZQ

Love these positive feel-good threads........ Gotta admit; I'm becoming evermore interested in old calibres for hunting..... I'm being tempted by a (new) single shot 303 as we speak.....

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

Love these positive feel-good threads........ Gotta admit; I'm becoming evermore interested in old calibres for hunting..... I'm being tempted by a (new) single shot 303 as we speak.....

There is a p14 bsa sporter in 45/70 in retardme at the moment.
100 year old rifle with a 150 year old cartridge but it isnt a sharps.
That would be quite a cool one

@csmiffy Yes; I've seen that!

Originally Posted by 30late

Attachment 182977
This is my Ruger m77 243 think i bought about 1979 , recently had an inch chopped of the barrel and recrowned which has got her grouping around 1.5 inches at one hundred so very happy with that . Had a bit of use lately on the range and in light of current ammo shortages mite see some time out hunting again.

Have been offered a Ruger 243 just like this, but somewhat more "weathered". Was used for meat shooting back in the 80's, had a Leupold M8-4x on it, which I now have. Still shoots ok. Still pondering on it, but $400 sounds like a bargain me thinks. Those original M77's were nice rifles.

you fellas with cast do realise there is more scientifical method to test hardness???? using different grades of lead pencils...chart is on net if you look.

Old rifles are far better shooters than most people imagine and also a challenge to shoot that give a satisfaction not found elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Tedz50

Old rifles are far better shooters than most people imagine and also a challenge to shoot that give a satisfaction not found elsewhere.

Attachment 183010Attachment 183011Attachment 183012Attachment 183013

Is that a Remington 14 1/2? One of my favourite rifles, any chance of better photos and caliber please? For those in the know these are very slick guns.

Originally Posted by Synthetic

Not going to win the oldest contest, but the oldest I have is a 1986 Remington 700 in 243.

Comfortably a sub MOA gun. Obviously been very well looked after by previous owners. Trigger definitely been worked on by a professional before, as it's crisper than a modern Tikka. Wood and blueing is great to look at. Action is super slick.
My only regret is putting a Waikati Engineering overbarrel suppressor on it. Effective and quality suppressor that will probably outlast the gun, but so big and heavy it affects the handling of the rifle significantly.

Attachment 182822

Attachment 182823

Yup, he makes fine suppressors. 1-2 sheets of roofing lead between limb saver and butt stock will sweeten both balance and recoil. Cut to shape with chisel. Paint the edges or just bend tape over the edges before screwing the limb saver tight.

Originally Posted by csmiffy

There is a p14 bsa sporter in 45/70 in retardme at the moment.
100 year old rifle with a 150 year old cartridge but it isnt a sharps.
That would be quite a cool one

@csmiffy Back at the start of the 80's l was a 20yr old on my first overseas trip shearing in OZ ,at the end of our run we were invited by a TO to head up to Arnhem Land to go hunting & fishing for 3 weeks . Back then from memory they had just repealed a stupid old firearm law in what were still "frontier" places of the top end of the NT & WA, which limited large bores by velocity or it may have even been black powder origin .

This meant the first Buffalo , Scrub Bull & Jesus Taxi l ever shot was with a 1905 Siamese Mauser converted from 8x52R to 45/70 ,with a terrible sportorized stock, these things were loaded to the gills to try to mimic a 458Mag & even after my time shooting a lot of Old School DG rifles in Africa over the years & still using my own 458M, l have owned for 3 decades for the occasional hunt here to keep the eye in ,those fire breathing Siamese 45/70's, loaded to the max were the worst kicking rifle l have ever shot ,they were real tooth rattlers. The local aboriginals used something even worse.

Originally Posted by Dicko

Synthetic, your Rem 700 is one of the limited edition Classic models. They did one caliber per year for 10 or 12 years.

I have one in .222

now that is a thing of beauty......you sure look after her well.

Originally Posted by Cordite

Yup, he makes fine suppressors. 1-2 sheets of roofing lead between limb saver and butt stock will sweeten both balance and recoil. Cut to shape with chisel. Paint the edges or just bend tape over the edges before screwing the limb saver tight.

@Cordite Yep great supp's for hard use,back in the day when these Old School brick shithouse suppressors were the go ,we would take the recoil pad off, drill a small hole inside the butt at the heal & place small round fishing sinkers until the balance is restored ,a lot of times it would actually improve balance /handling over the original unsuppressed feel.

With our DG rifles in Africa they would also use the Old School shotgun "capsule" recoil reducers ie type that originally used powdered lead, these were still available/used in various sizes by Italian shotgun makers up to when l left in 2015 & if you going to have kids using the rifle may be a good balance /recoil reducing option. From memory l think Fabarm was one of the common cheap versions but there were a few different makes & sizes/weights.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

1907 Husqvarna cape gun in 16 gauge and 9.3x57r.
So far only the shotgun barrel has been gainfully employed, the rifle barrel though close to 38/55 is proving more difficult to develop a satisfactory load for but I'm always hopeful.

Shit I’m glad you bought that!