Thread: Our favourite ever firearms..

I have a few rifles I treasure a BSA Viscount 7x57 a mint Monarch 30-06 various BP cartridge & muzzle loaders but my favourite is my Winchester Mod 88 - 308, barrel is down to 19" now and just swapped the 4x Leupy M8 off it for a Zeiss 2-7. Had that rifle going on 40 years.

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

now heres a question for you earlier Remington fans that has always intriqued me -I saw a Rem in a Taihape sports store early eighties - and have not seen same since - Okay we had the 700 BDL I have one with its yuk plastic forend - then there was the 700 ADL no floor plate -well this was a 700 with a very nice stock and floor plate -stock was very nicely shaped -different to an ADL but I cant remember what model the store was calling it - delux maybe

Might have been a Classic this is one in.222.
They put them out in different calibres each year.

yup I went online and that is likely what it was yours is a thing of beauty

Yes it is a nice little rifle.
But weighs pretty much the same as Winchester Featherweight.
The bigger hole down the middle of the barrel must reduce weight.

Originally Posted by mudgripz

Interesting - after 40+ posts there are few trends emerging regarding our favourite arms..

1. They can be any type of firearm - centrefire or rimfire or shottie. Old or new. No particular type.
2. Favourite firearms are rarely pricey models. More often it will be less expensive arms eg 303s, Baikal, Marlin semi, Ruger 10/22 etc.
3. People seldom choosing the big Name brands as favourites- most choices are low to medium price arms. Yes there are also some well setup Sakos etc and that's also good.
4. People's favourite arms are usually described as very good at their purpose. Favouritism based mostly on efficient performance. Functionality wins - regardless of name or price.
5. Also very clear that when confronted with possibly selling a favourite firearm, we should not just think twice about it - we should think half a dozen times about it, then put it back in closet and sell something else. Avoid the regrets. Favourite fireams hold more than just an economic value - they're a pleasure to own and use. That's called life.

Just trends - not rules... there are none with personal choices.

I'd add a couple more arms to my own honorable mention list. I intend one day to pick up a Lithgow model 12 22LR - learned to shoot with one and remember it as an accurate, efficient Aussie 5 shot bolt action. Good wee units and a few still around. Also may pick up one or two rifles I haven't yet owned - either a Remington 511 Scoremaster 22LR 5/10 shot mag bolt action, or its tube counterpart the model 512 Sportmaster. Fine 22s from 1930s thru 1960s - will have one of them in the closet sometime.

Greetings All,
We do not choose favourite rifles, they choose us. It can be long and diligent service, association with others, some who have passed or any of a vast number of other reasons. We often have other rifles that are lighter, shoot flatter, are more accurate or a range of other attributes but the favourites remain just that. They are personal to us and we should make sure that whoever cleans out our rifle safe after our passing feels free to dispose of them however they wish.
Regards Grandpamac.

I had a soft spot for the A5 as the first time I ever shot it and on probably maybe in the first handful of times I ever shot clay targets, on a pissing down bleak day at the Greymouth club I shot something like 18 or 19 out of 25 and very close to possibles on the other lower rounds.
This was a 15 year old.
I was struggling to see the clays sometimes with the weather and on several occasions was either losing them after the first shot, not hitting them or not seeing them.at all and then seeing them in the distance thinking shit it's still there, firing a shot and breaking them 3 feet off the ground. Loved that gun. Ended up buying it a few years later and shot very well with it. Full choke and dint shoot that often but was good enough to keep.most c graders and quite a few B and A grader's honest
Shot quite a lot of 10/10s, more than a few 15/15s and several 25/25s with the best one getting in a shoot off and missing on the 13th target so 38 and that didnt count round before so possibly higher.
That round also had the dubious honour of me getting too efficient with my loading technique and managed to push the bolt release a split second before my other thumb loading the round was out.
The very sharp extractor tore a chunk off my thumb and it bled like a stuck pig.
This was in the first 25 round on maybe the 10th target
I was pushing my thumb into the camo polar fleece I had just got made but it didnt work well.
There was blood in the gun and other competitors commented on the drips of blood every station lol.
It may have helped my shooting as I wasnt thinking about not missing any.
It was get to the next station, try to stop the bleeding, shit my turn, shit that hurts loading, pull, bang, repeat.
Been shooting at the local soon to be shut club for 5 odd years now and still.havent hit a 10/10. That's with other guns too. Technique and eyesight probably to blame. Hint I am left eye dominant that shoots RH I just dont see the target like I should although the force in me isnt as strong as it once was.
Plus the times down at the bunny hunt although not always a lot of rabbits around shooting a 20 walking up and down a willowy creek getting a handful each time.
I will say it is a heavy SOB compared to most and that bunny hunt I got 60 rabbits with quite a few shots sent down range at times and I did have a small bruise the next day.
Hunting rabbits in scrub and using the 5 shot mag but seeing another one, frantically loading one up the speed loadr when another one pops out only to have to do it several times as another rabbit (or maybe one I missed getting away) pops out.
This led me to making a.mag extension, which were non existent at the time for it but geez it made it heavier to carry and point
Still love that gun and it has such a great noise when that bolt is released. Has a fantastic ring.
When I fixed a niggling issue and got it together to use for the first time in over 10 years since moving to aussie and back, I looked like a kid at xmas listening to that noise (missus must've thought i was losing it), thinking now i will be a force to be reckoned with at the club, but sadly I think I am letting the old girl down and that is not the case.
Did I say I still love that gun?

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings All,
We do not choose favourite rifles, they choose us. It can be long and diligent service, association with others, some who have passed or any of a vast number of other reasons. We often have other rifles that are lighter, shoot flatter, are more accurate or a range of other attributes but the favourites remain just that. They are personal to us and we should make sure that whoever cleans out our rifle safe after our passing feels free to dispose of them however they wish.
Regards Grandpamac.

It seems to me reading this that 'favourite' is a hard thing to pin down.Looking in the cabinet I spotted a M52 Winchester with Bausch & lomb scope,and got to thinking it's not for sale but not fired in many years.I wanted one and it turned up and now just having it sitting there is enough to earn its board and lodgings.
As to passing on guns there seems to be a unwritten police policy of not renewing elderly shooters firearms licenses and have seen several instances of this recently.

I hear you Ted. I seem to do that a little bit.
I will also say that I did jag 2 trophies at the club on the days I did shoot pretty well and the normal really food shooters didnt lol

I've still got the 10-22 I bought in 1980, doesn't get much use now, and I'm going to take the Leupold 1-5 off it and put it on my new favourite the FX PCP slug gun in .22. Nailed a couple of rabbits with it out the window last night at 59 yards with 7cm of elevation, too easy.....
Second oldest I have is the BSA CF2 in .243. carried that bloody heavy thing for days and days in the 80's, looking fruitlessly for deer. It accounted for a lot of goats though. Sentimental attachment - but too heavy to be a favourite.
The T3 in 7-08 - a vast improvement in every way on the BSA in terms of function, if not form. Maybe being lighter it is a bit harder to shoot consistently, I need an excuse after missing 2 stags in 2 years both at 170m.
Maybe the Lee Enfield from 1912, which is pretty close to the same one my 2 great uncles took across the world to Gallipoli. One is buried at Chunuk Bair the other in Wellington, wounded in April 2015, never really recovered and died of the last pandemic a few days after WW1 ended.
But I suspect my favourite will be the next one I buy. For a while anyway, but I probably wont stay in lust forever.... I think it will be a 7mmRM, maybe semi-custom, with a Z5. Unless its 6.5PRC. Or 300WM, need to think more on that. As my knees and fitness get worse I need to get more and more range from the next rifle so I can shoot across 2 valleys.

One of mine would have to be my TOZ 17. The same as the first rifle I bought ( on dads licence ) at 15.
Had to sell it a year later to finance an engine rebuild on my Honda SL125.
3 years later I was brave enough to rebuild the gearbox on it myself but at 15, no way.
Bought it purely on nostalgia, but it shoots bloody well.
The Martini Henry is one of my sons toys.

Continuing the thoughts on favourite firearms, there is for me another group. The one's I very much wanted, lusted after, but did not get to buy. Those firearms that will always remain on the wishlist. Until bought..

As a lever action fan for 50+ years I've had many different lever rifles, but there are two I always looked at, desired, but for some reason never got to own. First is the Marlin model 39A lever (in 22LR) and variants. One of the very best 22 levers and now very collectable. Very well made, well regarded little rifle, and very accurate. Up there with my Winchester 9422s. The second lever coincidentally is also a Marlin - the model 336 in 30-30. Perhaps comes from my northern bush background, but would love to have had/have now a model 336. Great little firearm. Have had two Winchester 94 30-30s because I really like their classic design and delightful slim handling - but - the Marlin is also a real gem and I would be very happy to have one in the closet. Winny 94 and Marlin 336 are biggest and second biggest selling centrefire sporters in history - they've got to be doing something right.

Couple of others on the fave wishlist .. a Remington model 552 Speedmaster 22LR - beautiful little semiauto - and the Winchester model 88 lever action. Couple of classics.. Kind of rifles that if I see them on the gunshop rack, I've just Got to go have a look, and have a wee play..

Originally Posted by Northkiwi

I've still got the 10-22 I bought in 1980, doesn't get much use now, and I'm going to take the Leupold 1-5 off it and put it on my new favourite the FX PCP slug gun in .22. Nailed a couple of rabbits with it out the window last night at 59 yards with 7cm of elevation, too easy.....
Second oldest I have is the BSA CF2 in .243. carried that bloody heavy thing for days and days in the 80's, looking fruitlessly for deer. It accounted for a lot of goats though. Sentimental attachment - but too heavy to be a favourite.
The T3 in 7-08 - a vast improvement in every way on the BSA in terms of function, if not form. Maybe being lighter it is a bit harder to shoot consistently, I need an excuse after missing 2 stags in 2 years both at 170m.
Maybe the Lee Enfield from 1912, which is pretty close to the same one my 2 great uncles took across the world to Gallipoli. One is buried at Chunuk Bair the other in Wellington, wounded in April 2015, never really recovered and died of the last pandemic a few days after WW1 ended.
But I suspect my favourite will be the next one I buy. For a while anyway, but I probably wont stay in lust forever.... I think it will be a 7mmRM, maybe semi-custom, with a Z5. Unless its 6.5PRC. Or 300WM, need to think more on that. As my knees and fitness get worse I need to get more and more range from the next rifle so I can shoot across 2 valleys.

That was my first centrefire. Mongrel of a thing. Being left handed even the .243win gave a nice sharp line on my cheek from that terrible stock.

Originally Posted by Frogfeatures

One of mine would have to be my TOZ 17. The same as the first rifle I bought ( on dads licence ) at 15.
Had to sell it a year later to finance an engine rebuild on my Honda SL125.
3 years later I was brave enough to rebuild the gearbox on it myself but at 15, no way.
Bought it purely on nostalgia, but it shoots bloody well.
The Martini Henry is one of my sons toys.
Attachment 207544

Toz 17 was my first rifle too. Got another one now but a single shot.

I Always wanted but never got … a mohawk 600

Originally Posted by Bagheera

I Always wanted but never got … a mohawk 600

I wouldn't mind a remington 788 carbine. If they did one in 222 223 or maybe even a 22-250. Already have a 243 and wouldnt want one in 7-08 or 308.
For some reason a savage or winchester lever in 284 would be nice too.
Also for no other good reason a classic mauser 7x57 with the correct twist barrel.
One day I might get my hands on my fathers 280 ross straight pull but while I'm not looking very hard one of them in 303 would be neato