BeeTee
Handloader
- Jul 27, 2011
- 400
- 0
First Elk
I ran across this the other day in the family album. The photo was taken in the mid-1960s (pre hunter orange regs) of an unguided hunt on public land. That’s me holding an antler in one hand and a classic Remington model 721 in 300 H&H in the other that I used to take my first elk.
A gunsmith friend of the family professionally restocked/checkered it for me in the late 1960s using Monte Carlo fiddle-back maple and rosewood, and I had the action rebarreled/reblued using a premium Douglas barrel chambered in 300Wby in 1971. I also bought a new Redfield 2-7x and matching dovetail mounts when the rifle was re-assembled, which it still wears.
Some thirty years from the time this photo was taken, the rifle was passed on to my son. For old times sake, I shot it again last summer and it still shoots sub MOA, and it still looks great and feels so familiar in my hands. My son has taken a couple of deer with the 721, but being younger, he prefers to hunt the rough country in any weather, and a Remington 700 stainless XCR in 300WSM (w/Nosler Accubonds and a turreted Nikon 6-18x scope) is better suited. He also uses a ballistic app on his iPhone in conjunction with a rangefinder. How times have changed.... BT
I ran across this the other day in the family album. The photo was taken in the mid-1960s (pre hunter orange regs) of an unguided hunt on public land. That’s me holding an antler in one hand and a classic Remington model 721 in 300 H&H in the other that I used to take my first elk.
A gunsmith friend of the family professionally restocked/checkered it for me in the late 1960s using Monte Carlo fiddle-back maple and rosewood, and I had the action rebarreled/reblued using a premium Douglas barrel chambered in 300Wby in 1971. I also bought a new Redfield 2-7x and matching dovetail mounts when the rifle was re-assembled, which it still wears.
Some thirty years from the time this photo was taken, the rifle was passed on to my son. For old times sake, I shot it again last summer and it still shoots sub MOA, and it still looks great and feels so familiar in my hands. My son has taken a couple of deer with the 721, but being younger, he prefers to hunt the rough country in any weather, and a Remington 700 stainless XCR in 300WSM (w/Nosler Accubonds and a turreted Nikon 6-18x scope) is better suited. He also uses a ballistic app on his iPhone in conjunction with a rangefinder. How times have changed.... BT
