I can think of the Model 70, of course, and the Savage 99.
What was the top Marlin and Remington.
What else?

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Model 94 in 30-30

Whut lawandorder sed.

Hands down the '94 probably took more meat for the table than any other.30-30.For sure.

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Dum vivo cano

You all pretty much covered it.

you forgot to mention Krags.

Though I'm not someone who remembers the 50's, all of the firearms mentioned bring back fond memories. I particularly have a fondness for those old Savage 99's.

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I deer hunted through the late 50s in wisconsin. Lots of shotguns with slugs. Winchester 94s followed by marlin 336`s, remington pumps, savage 99s.

Lots of Bring Back Surplus Rifles were customized by Quality Gunsmiths back in the 50s and early 60s. Everything from Enfields to M1 Grands. My uncle was a Gunsmith in Portales, NM and a master machinist. That's is what was his bread and butter trade, customizing Surplus Guns.

Jungle Work

Remington 760
Winchester 70

That's what my dad used.Gave it to me when I started hunting.I have no idea what it originally was.It has a mauser fn action.I had a Douglas barrel installed, refinished the stock and installed a weaver K-4 scope .I still use it when I decide to chase deer or elk.I think old dad hunted once or twice back in the fifties.

1903 springfield is in the list. Mil surp was cheaper than commercial production so you can bet hunters took advantage of that fact

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it just needs more voltage

My dad cut down a K-98 mauser and used that many years. You would see a lot of cut down 03 springfields. I seen winchester 95s, old various marlin levers etc. I bought a new wichester 94 30-30 in 1956 or 1957 and still have it.

for quality it was probably the Weatherby

My Dad used a Model 94 (30-30); Grandfather a Savage 99 (octagon barrel in Savage .303) and my first was a Savage 99r (300 Savage) all for whitetail in Mn. Win model 70 (.270) came later when I started hunting out west . I sporterized a Mauser 98 in 8mm in between.

In my family, Dad had a Winchester Model 64 (rifle with a pistol grip stock and a 94 action) built in 1950, 30-30 of course, yes, I still have it. My grandfather had a Savage 99 carbine in 30-30, which he bought new in 1935, I have it, too. Both are still like new, except some handling wear to the stock finish on the 99. My Mom used a Winchester 1892 Saddle Ring Carbine in 25-20 - yep, got that one, too. I started out with the 64 in the late 50s. We moved from Wisconsin to Arizona in 59, beginning our era of Weatherbys and Model 70s, due to much longer range shots typical in the West, beyond the practical range of the 30-30

I would only add the Rem. 722 and the multitude of Springfield 03 and 03-A3 rifles and Mauser 98K rifles used as is or modified to a more sporting profile. Also the Krag rifle, in cavalry configuration as well as shortened infantry models. The be all to end all had to be the Win. 30-30.

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Only ones I'd add are the remington 721-722 series. I'm too young for the 50s by more or less 30 years lol.

The Winchester Model 94
Winchester Model 54
Winchester Model 70
Marlin 36
Savage 99
Remington 14 and 141 pump
Remington 8 and 81 autoloaders
surplus 03 Springfield & Krags

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Vaya con Dios

Lordy---I didn't know they made anything but the 94 in those days. Everbody had one.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

Remington 700.

Winchester Model 94 .30/30
Marlin Model 336 .35rem.
Savage Model 99 .250/3000
Remington Model 721 .30/06
Winchester Model 70 .270

Also popular (inexpensive military surplus)
Springfield Model 1903/1903A3 .30
Enfield Model 1917 .30
Krag .30/40
SMLE .303
Mauser Model 98 8mm
Arisaka 7.7mm
Carcano 6.35mm

Model 94 in 30-30. Open sights. The world war II vets liked open sights.

Weren't most of the surplus Krags sold off in the 1920s and 30s? Certainly they'd still have been around in the 50s - I have one now that still works, but the period ads that I can remember were full of Mausers and the like.

Anyway, the old timers regarded pre-64 Winchester Model 70s are nigh on perfection. There is a collection of them at the NRA museum in VA. For a gun actually in then current commercial production, that was probably as nice as it was going to get.

My favorites were the Winchester 94 in 30-30, Winchester Model 70 in 30-06, and another in 257 Roberts. I hope the scum bag that stole my 257 killed himself with it!!

Old as I feel, I was only 12 when that decade ended. I didn't have the financial wherewithall to buy the guns of my choice. Yes, dad had a 1917 and a M98 Mauser. His deer gun was a 12 gauge with slugs.

But we did have a subscription to the American Rifleman. From the end of WWII, before I was born, all the way past the 1950s (and 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s). Yes I still have every issue, neatly boxed on shelves in the basment for easy retrieval. So I spent the later 50s racing home from school to beat Dad to the mailbox for the latest edition. It was kind of a game to get it and read as much as I could before he'd hide it from me.

The best gun of the 50s? Obviously a M70. My dream? One of them with a BalVar 8 scope. Now I know the shortcomings of the external adjusting mount, but back then a guy could dream (and charge $1 to cut the neighbors grass, an insufficient sum to ever purchase one.)

But then about 15 years go I'd developed some bad habits. The worst being to cover a gun show from end to end, top to bottom. Except the island of tables were we set up shop. For whatever reason, I never spent adequate time in our own neighbors displays. That day the show was over. It was well after noon on Sunday, about half the vendors were packing up and trying to get the drive home out of the way. For whatever unknown reason I still had a pocket full of money (and a smile on my face.) Entrances into the islands are just a foot or more opening between the tables. I'd used the one way in dozens of times that weekend. Had to be careful because the gun with the endcap had a rifle display set up so you had to lean the other way.

As I was going out for another scouting run, I noticed a M70 in the rack. It'd been there the entire time. The vendor was even starting to pack up his table. So I stopped and asked him permission to fondle the gun. Shore'nuff, it was the rifle of my dreams from 40 years before. My earliest memory of what a proper sportsman should own. Right down to the low serial number and the BalVar 8 scope and mount. I found some room and tossed it up to my shoulder, aiming at some object up in the ceiling. Scope was clear, not canted in its mount. Then I looked at the stock, unfortunately modified just a little. Different checkering than I'd expected, but the low serial seemed to indicate a 1st year gun.

Then I noticed I was being watched. Common sense and buying skill took over and I put it back, saying "nice old gun". And I took off for a hike to not disclose my lust. I only got a few tables when my partner, John, ran me down. Guess he knew how to read me. Said "why didn't you ask him how much". I lied (lying to John was fun, but stupid because he could see right through it.) I told him I wasn't much interested. I came back a little while later, ammo in hand. I always buy ammo. The vendor with the rifle asked if I was interested. I'd seen the price tag of $700, so I just said it was too much. The vendor knew a lie himself, but realized it was proper to lie in price negotiations. He said he could come down a little. I was a fool and let my eagerness show. I said "how much down?" He dropped the price by a $100, I told him still too much. But $550 would be good. He jumped and said OK. Its how I came to own 2672. None of this pre 64 stuff, prewar is where its at.

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Dick Burg

8mmx06 was a popular conversion I remember reading about.

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Front sight and squeeze

My Dad had a Model 700 in 300 H&H and I had a Remington 721 300 H&H. I gave $80.00 for mine new.
I still have both of them.

So did that make you the offical marksman for the WHP at that time then

My dad has an FN Supreme .270 from the 1950s that's a dandy. Still wears a Bausch and Lomb Balvar 2X8 with adjustments on the scope mount.

I really like sporterized 98 Mausers, sporterized '03 Springfields, and pre-64 Model 70s. Oh, and Savage 99s from back in the day.

Winchester Model 88 Lever-Action

Winchester Model 100 Autoloader


I remember both being fairly popular during that period although the 100 did have a recall issue at one time.

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Lost in the 50s

My deer rifle in the 1950's was an Eddystone M1917 that had been pulled out of its military stock and dropped into a Fajen ready-made sporter stock. I think I paid $25 or $30 for it.

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Someone mention a model 70 300 H&H? Here is mine made in 1952.

I started my hunting with a Model 94 Winchester in 25-35. Then I hoped one day to become a milionaire so I could buy a Model 70 in 270 Win.

No, there were far better markmen on the WHP than me. Most everybody on the Patrol back then were hard core hunters so there was no lack of marksmen nor high powered rifles safely tucked away in the trunks of patrol cars.

The Winchester model 64 "deer rifle."

It is a fact that there were few deer in my area in the 1950's, and most folks truly didn't have money for rifles- usually a Crescent, Stevens or hardware store single barreled shotgun with buckshot was the deer rifle- out of necessity.

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No one noted that the average hunter who wasn't heavily into guns often bought the Remington Model 721. The 722 was a shorter action for shorter rounds. In 1957, Remington made a fancier version, the better to attract the buyer who might othewise have gone for a Winchester M-70. It is the Model 725. Not a lot seem to have been made. They looked a lot nicer than the M-721.

It was replaced with the other models in 1962 by the M-700, which has been enormously popular, despite a faulty trigger that the designer KNEW had bugs, and about which he warned Remington. The stock M-700 is potentially an unsafe rifle, and there have been accidents due to that trigger. A TV news special addressed that issue.

The Austrian Mannlicher-Schoenauer was available, as were Weatherby rifles. More affluent buyers who really cared about guns might have those.

Remington's M-740 auto rifle sold pretty well, and evolved into the M-742 and later versions.

Probably the best idea was to make up a custom rifle on the Winchester M-70 Featherweight, which is what gun writer Jack O'Connor did.

Marlin 336 and Winchester M-94 were popular, as others have noted. But they lacked long range capabiity and were relatively low powered.

Gramps had his Krag Carbine in 30-40 that he brought back from the Spanish American War. Was a Cavalry Carbine that he modified only by putting a Williams peep sight on it, threw away the peep and used the threaded hole to sight with. That gun fed a family of 9 for decades in MN. By about 1934 he had run out of the ammo he liberated from the Army and started reloading about a billion cases he had kept(the old guy never threw away ANYTHING). He used a little hand press with a couple of dies and allowed the kids/grandkids to help him load about 300 rounds at a time. Last time I helped him was 1960, he kept on killing deer, and the odd Black Bear, till 1980, when he and the gun retired from the field. He is gone but I still have his gun(and some of the reloads!), and it is still damn accurate, and well broken in. It has the slickest bolt action I have ever had, and I include the bolt sniper rifles I used in the service. Hope it never leaves the family after I am gone.

My brief time as an LEO was in the era dominated by rules, regulations, and liability lawyers. We all loved to hunt and fish, but none of us ever thought about carrying a deer rifle on patrol I wish I was born about 40 years earlier. I would've been in much better shape I feel.

Anybody mention the Winchester 71? That's a classic deer rifle even if the deer weigh 1000 lbs.

1952


Now -- 1952 Featherweight 308 model 70

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A real sucker for the J-frames

Grew up in NE PA, started hunting in 62 at age 12. Remember the rifles I saw were the plain vanilla grades, nothing fancy or expensive. M70, Rem 721(mostly 06s), 03/03A3, 95 and 98 Mausers (06, 7mm,8mm) very simply sportered, Win 94 and Marlin 336 (most WIn 30/30, a few 32s, Marlins split between 30/30 and 35R), and Rem 760 (usually 06) and M14/141 (35R most popular),Lee Enfields (jungle carbine was preferred) and one that nobody mentioned, the Sav 340 series in 30/30 (probably saw more of these than I did M70s). There were a few fancier rifles but most of the folks I hunted with weren't in that income bracket. Rifle I have now is a 1940 vintage M70 (06).

The two rifles my Father had from the early fifty's were a Remington model 722 (I think that is the correct model number) chambered in 257 Roberts and a Remington model 760 pump chambered in 30.06. Still have those and use the 257 Roberts to hunt with today.