What is the most hated deer rifle you owned ?

[Peddler 76]

Wow... lots of great and interesting replies on this thread. I have been around the sun many times, and presently working on the 78th trip. With that said, many of the rifles that have been mentioned on this thread are familiar to me. At the age of 15, I can remember purchasing my first "ever" large caliber deer rifle. It was a .303 British Lee Enfield SMLE 3 (?) for $10. The rifle had a brass butt plate on it. This rifle gave me a true lesson on how it felt to be kicked by a mule. Loosened up my back molars and made room for my wisdom teeth for sure.

I am thinking that above all of the deer rifles that I "ever" owned, and the rifle that I hated the most was a Harrington and Richardson model 300 in 300 WinMag. This rifle had the worst recoil of any rifle that I have ever owned or "ever" fired in my lifetime!!! The rifle was light weight, with a pencil stock. After a few rounds through this rifle I had to send it back to the factory because the stock cracked. This was the kind of rifle that one could take to the range and put rounds out on the bench and ask if anyone wanted to shoot it. There maybe would be one or two takers and then no one would touch this thing!!! And... never any repeat takers, even for free ammo. After reading many of the replies on this thread comparing what one rather prefer to do about shooting a particular hated rifle, or...... ?? I know I would rather hug a rabid porcupine in a phone booth with a locked door than ever shoot this rifle again!!

Would you like to try this?

 

[264WM]

It was a Marlin 30-30 that sprayed bullets all over in a 3 foot circle and kicked like a mule. This was back in the 60's. My brother aimed at a bucks heart and hit it in the head and he was resting on a fence post.

 

[Alibiiv]

Ruger m77 with the skeleton Zytel stock. I had 2 of them, one in 270 one in 7 mag. Loved how they looked and felt. Both were 5 moa guns from the bench at 100yds. It wasn't me because I had 3 other rifles that I could keep under moa to 500.

I bought one of these in .300 WinMag to take on a Canadian caribou hunt. When I got the rifle it show 3-5 MOA at 50 yards. I called the factory, the technician there told me there was nothing they could do for me because it was within factory specs. I told him that no one buys a .300 WinMag with the expectations of its accuracy to be 3-5 inches at 50 yards and asked for a supervisor. Supervisor told me to get the gun to them and Ruger would make it right. I had two weeks before leaving for this hunt and told the supervisor that. Ruger got the rifle and had it back to me within a few days of them receiving it. The rifle was a tack driver when I got it back.

 

[Kiowa Cowboy]

I don't really have a hated rifle story. Just a preference based on my experience.

I hunted with an 80s vintage Winchester M70 25.06 that my dad bought at a Gibsons. My dad, my brother and I shared it until my brother and I graduated college. When I could afford to buy a rifle I studied the ballistics charts and fell in love with the 257 wby mag. My local gun store had a Rem. 700 LSS in 257 wby mag. I purchased it. It is a fine-looking rifle. It shoots fine. I killed 7 pigs and 2 deer with it the first season. I did not like the performance on the deer. Both were shot broadside. Both shots were pass thrus. I found both deer, but I was not pleased with having to track them. I realize 2 deer is not a legitimate sample size and I really did not give it much of a chance. There are probably plenty of 257 wby rounds that would have dropped them in their tracks. I still have the gun. The biggest issue was the price per round. I like to shoot my guns, but not when every round fired costs $4 to $5 per squeeze. I purchased a Sako 25.06 and never looked back. For coyotes, pigs, and deer the 25.06 has served me well. I mainly hunt with Remington Corelokts 100 grain or more recently with Hornaday whitetail in 117 grain. I love being able to see the round impact the critter. Most of the time I can see right where the round hits the animal. Since I am used to that, I guess that is what I prefer. The 257 wby mag is a great round, but it just not for me. I rarely ever shoot at anything other than coyotes and pigs over 300 yds. Last fall I purchased my first 30.06 Rem 700 and so far I like it. I can't necessarily see the impacts, but the recoil is not bad. And it is certainly suitable for everything I intend to hunt. Since 25.06 is a 30.06 derivative, when I start reloading hopefully that will make things easier. I don't have any real complaints, mainly just a preference for low-cost and lower-recoiling guns where I can see the impact on the animal. Don't get me wrong the recoil of the 257 wby is not bad at all and maybe over time. The 25.06 seems to be goldilocks round for me and suits W. Ok very well.

 

[Taj]

Ruger m77 .308 rsi tang safety, the most inaccurate rifle I ever owned, it was beyond description how bad it was.

When those early Rugers first came out I still had my shop and was building a lot of bench rest rifles and varminters. I had many a customer come into the shop and ask if I could do anything about the lack of accuracy with them. We did everything from glass bedding, bolt lapping, recrowning, and on and on but some of them would never achieve any real accuracy. 2 to 3 MOA was acceptable to Ruger in those days and they refused to do anything about it. They were using mostly Wilson barrels and Ruger never refused a barrel due to quality (Lack there of). I remember one barrel that I was going hand lap to try and improve on the way it shot. I poured a lead lap at the muzzle and almost fell on my face when the lap hit about mid barrel because it jumped about 3 inches due to a very loose spot. It's hard to polish a turd.

 

[ofbandg]

One of the first rifles I ever built began with a P14 Enfield action which I put endless hours of work into making it a more modern configuration. I was proud of the finished product but Enfield barrels were hard to come by. It took me months to find one and when I did it was in .270 Win. It was used but it looked almost new. I had built the action for a magnum caliber so I took the barrel to a gunsmith who was known to be good with older actions and barrels and asked him to check it out. I said if it meets his standard rechamber it to .270 Weatherby. He called me a few days later and said it was done. I spend a small fortune trying to get that rifle to shoot but it wouldn't do better than 3 MOA - and often much worse. I changed every component in my loading mix a dozen times, swapped scopes a few times, reworked the bedding, re-adjusted the trigger, changed the torque on the stock screw, and lost hours of sleep trying to figure it out. Finally I took it to another gunsmith and told him I was at wits end trying to solve this problem. He slugged the barrel and told me the bore was 2 thou over sized.

 

[AkleyFan]

My most hated rifle for deer hunting is a Ruger M77 MKII with Zyrtel stock (boat paddle) in 300WM. Horrible bruising from that rifle. My Dad fired it ONCE and swore he would never touch it again!

Cheers.

That's my most cherished rifle - I hated it until I bedded the action, after several people told me I couldn't bed that Zytel stock. It went from kicking me all over the place and shooting 2" @ 100 to recoiling so straight that everyone that shoots it can spot their hits. It shoots .5" @ 100 now with my reloads. Love that rifle! Send me yours and I'll tune it up for ya, or I'll hold on to it and make certain it doesn't bother ya'll ever again

 

[Alibiiv]

When those early Rugers first came out I still had my shop and was building a lot of bench rest rifles and varminters. I had many a customer come into the shop and ask if I could do anything about the lack of accuracy with them. We did everything from glass bedding, bolt lapping, recrowning, and on and on but some of them would never achieve any real accuracy. 2 to 3 MOA was acceptable to Ruger in those days and they refused to do anything about it. They were using mostly Wilson barrels and Ruger never refused a barrel due to quality (Lack there of). I remember one barrel that I was going hand lap to try and improve on the way it shot. I poured a lead lap at the muzzle and almost fell on my face when the lap hit about mid barrel because it jumped about 3 inches due to a very loose spot. It's hard to polish a turd.

Please see my reply #143, I got the same response from the. But... they did fix it, don't know how but that rifle shot bug holes when I got it back. I couldn't believe the representative when he told me that over the phone. I told him no one buys a 300 WinMag with 2-3 inch, 50 yard accuracy expectations.

 

[wats338]

Weatherby MkV Ultralite in 270 Wby. The very best that rifle would shoot was 1.5 MOA despite lots of time at the reloading bench. More often than not the results were more akin to a shotgun. Worked with Wby gunsmiths to fully evaluate the rifle, and did many small improvements to attempt better consistency without any real success. Also played the optics game with swapouts to more expensive glass and mounts, again without any measurable success. In the end, I sold it because even though I was getting a hunting-grade accuracy my confidence in the rifle was gone.

 

[Lenny Foffa]

None I ever hated. One or two I Learned from.

 

[WYO300RUM]

Never had a rifle I couldn't improve on with loads or stock work. You do what you can afford until you have purchase custom actions and barrels. It's a crap shoot until you figure it out. I've never had to buy custom until I could afford it when I was about 50 years old. An inch didn't worry me before that. Just saying....

 

[Palix-Dog]

Savage 99C in 308. It didn't fit me right and kicked me like a mule. Plus it shot 6 inch groups at 100yds.
Should have kept it though as a collectors item.

 

[Varmintnv]

I had 2 Ruger M77 tang safety rifles, one a .270 the other a .25-06. I tried almost everything to get those rifles to shoot, new stocks, bedded actions, trigger work, and nothing gave me a sub 1.5" group. Sold them both and bought a M700 KS Mtn. Rifle in 7mag from my dad.

 

[Duffman]

My first deer rifle my dad got me was a .243 Win on a Win M70...Hated the fact that it was about a 3-4 MOA gun.
Took 17 shots at deer one year when I was about 13 or 14 and that's when I decided it was time to get better equipment.

Funny…….this is my story almost exactly. Did yours have a weaver 4x scope? Maybe I bought that *** . Couple years later I bought a brand new stainless m700 in 270 win and vx2 3-9. Thought it was the last rifle I'd ever need. 30 years later it shoots maybe kinda almost moa with my best hand loads, but that thing was a tack driver compared to the old .243