# Anybody hunt with "woods rifles"?



## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

It seems like nowadays fire breathing 3,000 + fps super magnums are all the rage as well as high dollar scopes with special bullet drop compensation features and such. Out here in the west we definitely have the terrain to make setups like this useful but I figure at least some of us hunt some thick spots where these type of rigs would probably prove less useful than your granddaddy's old gun.

When I say "woods rifle" I mean one that meets the following criteria: light and compact, light recoil, allows for fast follow-up shots (bolts could work but would be at the bottom of the list), quick target acquisition is a must, enough umph to put animals down and keep them down without violating the light recoil rule. Calibers that could fit the bill here would be .35 Remington, .357, .44 mag, .250 savage, .25-35 Winchester and of course the .30-30.

If you have any rifles like this that you hunt with post them up and lets hear your tales. I have a Winchester model 94 .30-30 from grandpa that I'm gonna start using to hunt certain spots with. I'm also gonna use it if my buddy can put a lion in a tree on the Zion unit with his dogs for me to use my HO tag on.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

My first centerfire rifle was this little Marlin 336SC in 35 Remington I bought from my oldest brother for $25.
I killed 5 deer with it before heading off to Vietnam and 3 after returning. I killed my last deer with it the first year I was married and then switched to muzzleloader after that season.

It's a very quick handling little gun, but that 180 or 200 grain bullet really knocks those bucks for a loop and I don't recall ever having to use a second bullet to kill a deer.

I lent it to a neighbor when his kid turned 16 and went on his first hunt and his boy took a nice fat 2 point with it. That was the last time it was fired. I'm hoping my oldest Grandson will use it for the 2014 season.

I've never shot any of the bullets with the pointed rubber ends, Lever Revolution I think they are called, but I did buy a box once just to have them on hand. Since then I have heard I can't adjust the open rear sight down enough to get it sighted in at even 150 yards. Maybe someday I will give them a try.

I really love the full buckhorn rear sight and the hooded front sight! They make for quick "on target sights" and I guess that is what makes this little beauty so good in the thick stuff!


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I have a 1951 Winchester model 94 30-30 and a 1950 something Savage model 99 in .308 both fun lever guns.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Good stuff Bears Butt. I love the Marlin 336 and would love to have a relic like that in .35 Remington someday.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Fowlmouth said:


> I have a 1951 Winchester model 94 30-30 and a 1950 something Savage model 99 in .308 both fun lever guns.


Two absolute classics. The model 94 I have from grandpa is close to the same year as yours. I've shot a jackrabbit and a couple rockchucks with it. Hoping to kill a mountain lion, bear, deer, etc. with it someday. Maybe even a cow elk!


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

You were doing good until you threw in that "light recoil" rule. Most "woods rifles"...we always called 'em brush guns...where pretty big, fairly slow, most often flat point or round nose bullets combined on a smaller, fast pointing rifle...like you described. These little guns most generally had a recoil you wouldn't discribe as light. Bears Butt's 336 Marlin in .35 Rem is a prime example. Your Grandpa's 30-30 will be a fun gun to use...although it is technically a "saddle gun"(assuming it's a carbine), it fits your requirement as a "woods gun" perfectly...go for it!


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

BP said: You were doing good until you threw in that "light recoil" rule

I think what colorcountry was saying was, the recoil of a gun in 30-30 or 35 Rem, is not like the hard and fast 3,000 plus guns out there that really hurt your ears when they go off and pound you backwards like a sledge hammer.

My 35 rocks you pretty good, but it's not even close to the pounding I get from my 7mm Rem Mag.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

.30 Remington Model 141

115 yrds or so


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Does my .50cal hawkin count?


-DallanC


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I'll be breaking out my dads old .300 Savage for the 2014 deer season, then I'll grease it up and put it away. It hasn't been shot in over 50 years so it is about time to get it out of the safe. 

After that I'll use my old Winchester 71 in .348 on a couple of hunts.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Bears Butt said:


> BP said: You were doing good until you threw in that "light recoil" rule
> 
> I think what colorcountry was saying was, the recoil of a gun in 30-30 or 35 Rem, is not like the hard and fast 3,000 plus guns out there that really hurt your ears when they go off and pound you backwards like a sledge hammer.
> 
> My 35 rocks you pretty good, but it's not even close to the pounding I get from my 7mm Rem Mag.


Yeah. I know a .35 Remington wont kick as light as a .223 or anything but it is definitely a mild-mannered cartridge compared to a 7 mag or most anything else people shoot today.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

wyogoob said:


> .30 Remington Model 141
> 
> 115 yrds or so


Nice to see that old relic being put to good use.


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

I have grandpas winchester 94 30-30 and am planning on hunting with it a little sometime soon. Sweet gun. I took down my first deer with grandpas 30-06 a4-04. Cool thread!


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

I already posted this photo before, but this is the buck I killed this past season with my 1941 manufactured Model 94 30-30......










This deer was part of a bachelor group of 3 bucks that I caught out feeding at first light opening day. They were about 400 yards away when I spotted them but I was in the open and knew I had no shot, so I just sat and watched them feed. Shortly, another hunter from a distant ridge also spotted them and started shooting. The other hunter missed and the deer scattered. This deer ran towards me and held up in a patch of pines on my left. I waited for him to come out but he never did. After a couple hours of waiting, I went in after him. He was no more than 10 yards away when I flushed him out and I thumped him on the run while he was dodging behind a pine tree with a single shot to the neck.

My grand dad used to chide my dad and uncles for using their fixed 4x Weaver scopes mounted on their 270's and 30/06's saying such modern gadgets were only for "them that got no sneak!" He preferred his old .30-30 and I think he killed every bit as much game as the rest of them.

Still working on my sneak grandpa....


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

DallanC said:


> Does my .50cal hawkin count?
> 
> -DallanC


Yes, yes it does


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

My first 2 deer seasons, I used my grandpa's Savage 99 in .308 That was a fun rifle to shoot. I wasn't successful in filling my tag with that rifle, but I'm hoping I'll end up with it someday and put it to good use!


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## Mavis13 (Oct 29, 2007)

I hunted as a boy with grandpas model 99 in .300 savage open sights and all.
He let me keep it and I'd still use it if I hunted centerfire deer.
I might start my boy out with it next year.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

I have a model 600 Mohawk in 308. Does that count? Took my first deer with an old 336 30-30. Bought a 721 in 30-06 the next year and have never looked back. I have always wanted a Winchester model 100 but haven't found the right deal yet. -------SS


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## Jackalope (Oct 30, 2007)

Early 40's Winchester Model 94 .32 Special my Dad used when he first started hunting. Gave it to me When i got married. I'm hoping to finally use it this coming year instead of my muzzleloader for deer. 

Also Winchester Model 94 30-30 my Grandpa used as his saddle gun. Love the hooded front sight. Not sure on the year I think late 40's.


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## tapehoser (Sep 10, 2007)

On my first elk hunt I used a Model 94 chambered in .44 Mag. I was using pretty hot handloads, so I knew they'd do the job if I kept it under 125 yards.

Currently, and for the last 7 years, I've used a Marlin 1895 chambered for 45-70 Govt. I shoot either 300 grain Nosler Partitions or 350 grain Winchesters.

I never have to worry about hitting something far away because the thing will hit the dirt within 300 yards and hits everything like a freight train. My favorite all-time gun for everything under the sun. Except bunnies.


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## stimmie78 (Dec 8, 2007)

It may not be old, but my Remington 7600 pump .270 fits the bill. It's great for any needed follow up shots. My first buck was a long uphill shot. I shot and he rolled downhill 3 times. As we were walking up to it he jumped up and started to run. A quick rack of the pump and a second shot in the neck dropped him instantly.


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

Hunted pigs once with a .357 magnum lever action carbine... one shot kill at short range. It made a believer out of me.


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## dmaestas (Jun 29, 2013)

I beat the trees with a lever action .35 occasionally on deer hunts


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## lifes short (Sep 11, 2013)

My brush guns left to right Marlin 30-30. 150gr rcbs cast Bullets 1650fps
Win 94 32 Special (Grandpas old gun) 170 Hornady FP's 2100fps
Marlin Stainless Guide Gun 45-70 405 gr rcbs cast 1600fps







Grandpas 32 Special 
Bear was walking acrtoss a clearing at about 80 yds. Shot it through the shoulder. It reared up on back legs so I racked another round in and shot for the chest hit to the right into front paw and out elbow it dropped and started running, racked another round in and bear dropped dead in about 10 feet. First round took out heart. (170 gr Hornady Flat point)







Marlin Guide Gun 45-70 Stainless (Home cast 405 Grain Flat Point GC)
The picture is of my home cast bullet before and after. The bullet hit a 269 pound boar hog in Texas. He was facing me at about 30 yards, I aimed right between his eyes. The bullet hit right below his left eye went through his head down his neck through his whole body and was recovered just under the skin of his right rump. Went in 405 gr recovered 378 grn







Marlin 30-30 ( Home cast RCBS150Grn Flat nose)
Got this gun last year to work on cast loads with. I am loading this at about 1650fps. Pic is a doe I killed with it this year in back of truck. My son is pulling his doe to truck also.







The 45-70 is my choice for close in work.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

my dad grew up in southern Arizona, his dad, uncles and he all used lever guns. winchester 94s and savage 99s mostly. 
When I lived in southern Iowa they had a late season anterless rifle hunt on years when the deer were extra thick. I shot most of my does with .45-70 in a handirifle and one with m38 mosin nagant carbine loaded with 203 gr soft points chugging along at 2200 fps. neither were fast actions but both killed with one shot. I miss hunting the woods.


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## 2litl2l8 (Jan 16, 2008)

Remington Model 14 Pump, .30rem. Made in 1913.

Originally my Great grandpa's gun. It was given to my Grandpa when he was 14 and working for room and board on a farm in Idaho. His absent father just showed up one day with it. The day after his Dad gave it to him, he shot an owl with it and the farmer kicked him out. I had it with me on the deer hunt this year but never got a shot....always next year.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Nice story and rifle 2l8. Bet that .30 Remington makes for a good owl thumper. :grin:


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