Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters APRIL - Ask Wayne van Zwoll Questions About "DEER RIFLES THAT ENDURE"

Hi Folks:

I am pleased to announce that the latest exclusive Campfire column by Wayne van Zwoll (WvZ), entitled "DEER RIFLES THAT ENDURE" is now available for reading (please click link above).

Please use this thread to ask WvZ questions about the piece. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks again, Wayne!

Not a question, but a comment: I loved that article. It reminded me that it is about time I took my inherited Marlin 1893 out to kill another deer, and I may do just that over Easter. The last deer I took with that rifle was a fallow I bounced out of cover at only a handful of yards, and dropped from full gallop. The rifle points and swings so naturally that it was like dropping a flushed bird with a shotgun.

Great article. Old rifles have a soul! If they could only tell their stories.

As a big fan of classic rifles, I thoroughly enjoyed this article.

The anecdotal hunting stories mixed in with the historical facts made for a great read. Thank you, sir.

I love the Winchester 94, Marlin 336, and Savage 99. Most of my hunting has been done with those three.

Nice article, well written. This year I am hunting a 60 year old rifle, made when I was 2! Hopefully it will help me feel a little more like dad and grandpa are hunting with me.

I thought the Krag came out in 1892.

oops... I misread the text of the article, hence my post. I saw the line: "...the .303 Savage, which appeared in 1895. Three years earlier the Krag-Jorgensen..." and read it as "...the .303 Savage, which appeared in 1895. Three years earlier than the Krag-Jorgensen..."

so, never mind....

I too enjoyed the article. My son and I both hunt with .30-06 rifles, his is a Model of 1917 that was "sporterized" long ago.

The only rifles I hunted with last season were a .30-06 and the .30-30 Glenfield. I enjoy using the older rifles and cartridges.

Guy

nice read Wayne!

Kinda to quote my old buddy Kaywoodie:

" Don't trust a rifle made after 1947..."

Lotta wisdom in there...

I share Wayne's "come home" to the "old but still good" rifles and calibers of decades ago. As I aged, my goals of using the latest and greatest faded over to those of my father and my youth. There is something more satisfying in using a rifle that is over a hundred years old and a cartridge that is considered obsolete when the animal in the hunt is yours. My last elk was taken at 174 yards with a 40-82 WCF single shot and my last deer also with a single shot in 30-40 Krag. I have yet to be sucessful with a 1886 in 33 WCF, but there is always next year. A good read indeed.

Wayne, Great article!
While some of the younger generation are discovering $1500 AR's in 30-30 wannabe calibers, I have become enamored with take-down Savage 1899's and the 300 Savage caliber. Truly a great rifle to carry, surprisingly accurate, and most important, the caliber is very effective on game. Mine was built in 1931 and wears an old Redfield peep. I carried it on a Florida hog hunt last month. Pretty good chance this will go on a moose hunt next fall.
The rifle shoots both 150 and 180 grain bullets with good accuracy. I have settled on a moderate load of Varget pushing 150 grain Partitions.
In a more contemporary note, one of my grandsons used a Remington 700 270, that I bought around 1974, wearing its second barrel and 4th stock, to take his first whitetail buck, last fall. That rifle has a lot of miles and much of what I know about reloading, was learned with it. I have not always been a wise and conservative shooter. Yet, like the 1899, it is reliable and is building its own karma.

While I routinely hunt and shoot sporting clays with 100 year old doubles my vintage rifles have been confined to Pre64 M70's. I recently added a M94 38-55 with a full octagon barrel and a M71 348 to the mix and am looking forward to getting both of these into the deer woods this fall.

In these days of the synthetic stocked rifle in .300 Super Duper Magnum with a Hubble type range finding scope it's nice to know that what worked 100 years ago will still work today.

I enjoy reading anything written by Wayne van Zwoll. Another informative fine read and thank you, Sir.

That was very nice.
Thanks Wayne.

Thank you, Dan. The 1893 Marlin is one of my favorites!.... WvZ

Much obliged for the note, Hammerdown.... WvZ

Thank you for the kind words, Adk! Good hunting! .... WvZ

GSP, I like old M70s too. Alas, just about all lever-actions and bolt guns built before 1964 have become frightfully expensive. The price of procrastination in buying old guns can be high and painful!..... WvZ

Thank you for the note, Fishdog. I too like the .300 Savage. It's taken a lot of game bigger than the whitetails it's commonly paired with in print! .... Wvz

Thank you, TCRken. I've not used a .40-82, but, like the .33 Win., it seems a well-designed cartridge. Clearly adequate for elk! .... Wayne