I don't even know what we should be discussing in this thread- I forgot
No matter, very enjoyable readings of ramblings. I grew up with limited firearms in the family -purely working type guns. My dad had a Winchester Model 54 carbine in 30-06. He never put a scope on it. His only other gun was an old 12 ga pump shotgun. I know he always wanted a much higher grade, like a Belgian Browning, but never did get one. My first gun was a 16 ga hammer single shot break open that I found and started shooting it and hunting birds with it at age 9. My second was an old used Winchester bolt 22. My first "deer" rifle was a pre-64 Model 94 Win 30-30. For several years I used that and the M54 30-06 after my dad passed. Learned some basic shooting skills in the military then later in civilian law enforcement. However, my skills with a rifle were most perfected through my own practice with that first 22. Because of that freedom to shoot the 22 on my schedule and under zero pressure other than the desire to hit what I aimed at, I became somewhat of an instinctive shooter. I'd get home from school, grab 5-10 22s, throw them in my pocket and head out the back door. Shooting stumps, knot holes, empty 22 shells stuck in stumps, occasionally rock squirrels, a few unlucky bull frogs and even carp in the small waterway bordering our back field. I once killed a mallard drake with a head shot on purpose with that 22 at over 250 yards just to see if I could do it- I think I was 12 or 13 yrs old. I shot only one like that because after thinking about it, I realized it was neither sporting nor legal! Actually, the frog legs made for fine eating though. Friends would come over or I would head to their place and we'd shoot and "hunt" with 22s, weather permitting, most any time of year. While I was mostly self taught for rifle and shotgun skills, civilian law enforcement really rounded out my skills- especially with handgun. I had never shot a handgun much before then. I competed off and on within interagency circles and maintained distinguished classification for over 26 years. The only handguns I currently have are a cheap H&R 22 revolver and a 9mm Glock for self defense.
I even had a couple of 243s along the way. Shot (and luckily recovered) a fairly large mule deer once with the 243 and decided, for me, that wasn't the best fit. My next 243 was a custom build I had done specifically for long range coyote work and that it did exceedingly well! I built a few traditional muzzleloaders (patched roundball guns- both cap and flint) over the years and really enjoyed hunting deer and elk with them in thick timber and rough country. Bought myself a bolt Win 70 270 while in school and over the years took countless game from pronghorn to deer to elk to caribou with that rifle. Have collected, studied and shot countless original guns of all flavors and calibers but have sold most except for a fairly good group of original muzzleloaders (muskets) spanning the Mexican War to Civil War era. I really enjoy shooting old original muzzleloaders!
So have pretty much experienced the whole spectrum. Shot tens of thousands of rounds and enjoyed a fairly unrestricted firearms related life. In addition to my first deer rifle, the M94 30-30... for serious big game hunting I have the Win M70 270, a Win M70 338-06, a Win M70 375 HH, 2 Win M70 416 Rems and an MRC M'99 450 Watts. Except for a couple of orphaned single shots, I have no serious bird hunting shotgun but do have a scary accurate Win M52 Sporter 22rf.
Right now if granted an open wish for what, when, how and where I'd like to hunt... I wouldn't select mountain sheep, nor jungle game nor elk nor moose nor big cats nor any DG... I'd pick eland just after the rains, on foot with Bushmen trackers in the Kalahari- Botswana. I'd carry either my 375 HH or 416 Rem.
