Regional Firearm tastes....North-vs-South-vs-East-vs-West

35 Remington is uncommonly popular in the East. Both northeast and southeast.All guises too. Lever, pump and Remington 8/81 semis.

Gun tastes change over time, with trends suggesting a lessening of regional differences. We can't ignore the release of U.S. military surplus (mainly M1 carbines) through the DCM in the late 1950's, the arrival of international milsurps in the 1960's, and then, more recently, the ubiquitousness of the AR-15. All these things, plus the appearance of certain guns in movies, have had a great influence on tastes. I see these influences more or less uniformly applying throughout the country.

Growing up in Arkansas in the 60s and 70s most folks I knew had either a Wi. 94 or Marlin 336 in 30-30 or a Rem 742 in .308 or 30-06. I still use my Marlin 336 30-30 when I go back to Arkansas for deer season but I see a lot more AR 10 clones now.

Around here as in most rural farming areas there were three at almost every farm.
A cheap .22 rifle
A single shot shotty in 12/16/20 GA
A 30-30 lever
For those that were less well off it was a 12 GA only

We are a smaller world now. With the internet having so many facets; email/promotions, YouTube, forums, and tweet face insta book. With the exception of heavily controlled areas like CA, MA, NJ, NY, etc I just don’t see regional differences. There may some hunting gun differences due to region because of lack of, or abundance of certain game animals.

Traditional hunting conditions in the various zones often dictates the traditional action and calibers found within.

I would not expect to find a lot of .30-30 carbine levers in the wide open prairies where the pronghorn run wild, since the rifle and cartridge combo are not conducive to long range shots with a crosswind. Nor would a .257 Weatherby Fibermark be common in the Northeast where you can’t see more than 100 yards in the woods, much less see a game animal at 100. There are people who have them in those places, but I’ll doubt they’re in the majority based on the conditions the hunters encounter.

Folks are pretty darn good at finding what works well, and avoiding what doesn’t. When folks get good results, it’s often passed down from generation to generation. .

Stay safe.

I used to marvel at this when the old Pomona, Ca show was up and running.

Largest public show the world will ever see twice a year. Even though it was on the West Coast, as a dealer, you got a real good sense of relative costs/values by geography.

Some of the more interesting were that a FAL was high on the WC but low on the EC and H&K rifles were the opposite.

Sporting is of course dramatically different regionally. Back Minnesota and down Carolina a M1 Carbine was plenty of gun for deer but out here in Arizona it's generally a coyote/javalina gun.

Sometimes it the ranges fired and sometimes the mass of the targets.

Todd.

Growing up in New England, the discussion when we were kids was 30-30 vs 35 Rem (leverguns) vs 30-06 in a bolt gun. 30-06 was secretly admired but publicly viewed askance as a little "showy". We all had 22s. The talk was which we were going to get when we grew up. 308? Never heard of it. 223? Join the Army. If it wasn't 22lr, 30-30, 35 Rem or 30-06, it was "ghey" (period pejorative, my apologies) or weird.

Dating myself.

DocRock said:

Growing up in New England, the discussion when we were kids was 30-30 vs 35 Rem (leverguns) vs 30-06 in a bolt gun. 30-06 was secretly admired but publicly viewed askance as a little "showy". We all had 22s. The talk was which we were going to get when we grew up. 308? Never heard of it. 223? Join the Army. If it wasn't 22lr, 30-30, 35 Rem or 30-06, it was "ghey" (period pejorative, my apologies) or weird.

Dating myself.

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Too true. The old .30-30/.35/.32 Win debate was always hot until the Savage guys chimed in and then SOMEONE would have to advance the .30 Carbine to get them to shut-up.

Todd.

If the rural estate/farm auctions are an indication,here in rural NE Kansas everyone had a bolt action shotgun.

Deer in GA were almost non-existent until the 1970's. Even then the numbers were so low that bag limits were low and seasons were short well into the 1980's. Almost all of the hunters from my dads generation hunted small game and upland birds with shotguns. The only people with center fire rifles were the guys who traveled to western states to hunt and they all had bolt rifles.

There was no big game hunting tradition until about 40 years ago and almost no one hunts with a lever action of any type, or ever has. I started hunting in the 1970's and by that time hunters buying their 1st center fire rifle passed right over lever guns for bolt rifles. A few used semi-autos for a while but they quickly fell from favor. I can only recall seeing one hunter in the last 50 years actually hunting with a lever action and the only semi-autos I see have been recently and those guys are carrying AR's or SKS's.

Due to farming practices the trend has flipped. Where quail and rabbit used to be king they are almost non-existent today and deer are so plentiful they are considered pests. Black bear populations in the mountains have expanded to the point where they are borderline pests. Hogs are a problem all over, but more so in the southern part of the state. Turkey hunting and waterfowl hunting is popular too and almost all shotguns sold are geared toward those species.

Rembrandt said:

Interesting that different regions of the country seem to favor particular calibers and actions not found Nation wide. Perhaps it has something to do with hunting that isn't found elsewhere, maybe cultural traditions from years ago, or places that have strong military installation influences.

If I were to stereotype a particular region certain firearms come to mind. Rather than speculate and unintentionally insult someone, better stick to what's in my own backyard. Midwest conjures up images for shotguns and rim fires. Nearly every farmer had one for game and rodent control. Even gun shops seemed to have more shotguns than other types of guns.

What's in your area?

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Everything. Everything is in my area.

At a recent work meeting the instructor for a training asked how many people owned guns. Out of 60 people, only three folks were non-gun owners.

We like all guns. If it shoots a projectile, we like it. I live in the north in a very low density rural area.

Local laws have a lot to do with it. Here in Ohio, for a very long time you could only hunt deer with shotgun slugs or handguns, so you didn't see a whole lot of larger caliber rifles. A ton of farmers did keep some sort of .22 in their truck for ground hogs, it was a normally a mix between Marlin 60's or a single shot in .223/.22 hornet/22-250. When the ODNR changed the rules .357mag and .44 mag lever actions and bolt actions were in such high demand you couldn't hardly find one. And before that there was the sabot shotgun craze. And before that the inline muzzleloader craze.

Now it seems like a whole lot more people are into shooting as a hobby, so you see much more centerfire bolt actions and of course the AR15's. And I'm still amazed every time I visit my range how many 7.62x39 steel rounds I see on the ground. I'm also amazed that those guys never seem to pick up their empties and throw them away.

Well, as jmr40 notes times are changing. In the nineteen sixties and seventies in my part of the world (central Florida to central Georgia) most everyone had a .22 of some sort, usually bolt-action, but a few semis (not usually Ruger though). Levers and pumps were not common, but were seen on occasion.

Shotguns were common as well. Single-shots for the youngsters and folks were weren't into hunting. Pumps and semis for the ones who did hunt. Usually twelve gauge, but I learned on a sixteen gauge Model Twelve and wish I had it now! Sometimes twenties were seen. Not a terrible lot of deer hunting and when they were it was nearly always shotgun. Seeing turkey was a thing to remember so hunting them mostly did not happen. Hogs were sometimes a thing. Birds, rabbits, coons, possums, armadillos, and pests for sure.

Rifles. Well, there were rifles, but they did not see a lot of use. A wide ranging collection of bolt actions, typically in .30-06, but some .308s, a smattering of lever actions. My father favored pumps. M1 carbines were around, but they weren't shot much as mostly the only ammo to be found was military ball which wasn't usually considered to be good for much, but target shooting. Target shooting in my boyhood was nearly always with .22s.

Handguns were usually revolves and usually in 38/357, but gradually semis showed up. Those were mostly .22s unless it was a woman's purse gun where they might be a .25 or .32. I did have one great aunt who carried a short Model 24 in .44sp - much to my astonishment the one and only time I ever saw it!

Things are much, much different today.

Hi...
I grew up in southcentral Pennsylvania in the 1950-60s time frame.
Everybody who hunted had a .22LR, a shotgun in 16 or 20ga and a lever action .30/30 or .32Spl with iron sights.
My father hunted a lot and he would have nothing to do with a scoped deer rifle or handloaded ammunition, for that matter.
He did have a scope on his .22LR groundhog rifle. He owned two revolvers...an H&R .22LR and a DA .32 revolver that he carried for protection after being robbed at gunpoint one night.

If he saw my firearms today, he would be overwhelmed. As much as he hated handloaded ammunition, he probably wouldn't even know what my reloading equipment is used for.
He seldom had more than one box of ammunition for any of his guns.
I usually have .30cal ammo boxes full of ammunition in every caliber that I shoot.
His idea of target practice(he called it shooting mark) was a box of .22 about once a year. Rifle and shotgun ammunition were for hunting and not to be wasted shooting mark(his term).
My idea of target practice is at least once a week depending on weather and firing hundreds of rounds through any number of guns and calibers.

The first time I remember seeing much in the way of scoped or bolt action rifles for deer hunting was the early '70s. Never saw a 12ga shotgun until I bought an Ithaca M37 in about 1973 or so. Everybody thought that they kicked too much and tore rabbits and squirrels up too much. Almost everyone had a 16 or 20ga for pheasants...that changed almost overnight it seemed. Everybody switched to 12ga shotguns and nobody used the 16 or 20ga anymore. In a couple of years, by about 1975 it was practically impossible to find 16ga shotgun shells anywhere.
Deer hunters all switched from .30/30/.32Spl lever actions to scoped bolt actions in.30/06 and .308 or .270 around the mid '70s. A few years later, it seemed that everyone was using a 7mmMag or .300Mag.
About the mid '80s all the hunters switched to autoloading 12ga shotguns as well.

That was about the same time that it seemed that more people started carrying handguns as well.
First it was .45ACP in 1911s and then the first 9mm wave hit and everybody switched to 9mm.

I doubt my father even knew what a 9mm, .45ACP or even .357Mag was. We were kind of poor and even if he knew about them they were about as unobtainable as color TV which we could not afford either.

Seems it's much the same in Farmland USA, no matter the region. I remember the first time I squirrel hunted with my dad's uncle. He was astonished I was using a scoped .22 and not a shotgun. I travelled up to Kenton, OH from south central OH a couple times for the Kenton Dog Trials. Amazing the number of guns they'd have for sale in the flea market area. You could by truckloads of handguns and centerfire rifles for next to nothing, but a decent .22 or shotgun was a fortune comparitively...that's only been 15-20 years ago.

Southeast

Guns can vary a great deal in one state. In Southern Minnesota people are restricted to shotguns and pistols for Deer. Pretty much everybody has a shotgun. The Northern part of the state is rifle zone and 30-06 and 30-30's used to dominate. Just about everyone in rural areas had a .22lr. And shotguns were very common. With fewer people on farms and culture changes things have changed a great deal.

Growing up in the Midwest it was pretty much basic guns in terms of what was out there at the time. For hunting it was mostly pump action shotguns (usually a Remington Model 870 or a Mossberg Model 500), for turkey, waterfowl, and upland game and .22s in just about any configuration (single shot, bolt action, pump action, or semi-auto), for small game. Handguns were mainly S&W for revolvers (Model 10s for the most part), and a Colt 1911 (when you could find them), for semi-autos.

The NE was known for "woods guns" and "brush" calibers. So lots of lever guns in .30-30, .32Spl. and .35 Rem. calibers. Some pumps and auto rifles, .30-06 being the upper limit pretty much. Military surplus rifles were also seen, being cheap at the time.

Smaller, faster cartridges were thought to be easily deflected by branches and not as popular.

Everyone here in MN in our deer camp uses a 30-06. Obviously that will vary from camp to camp, but 30-06 is still king around my parts.

I know a lot of guys that have an 870. I'm also surpised at the amount of people I know that have a Ruger .22lr handgun. Single Six or Mark.

460Shooter said:

Everything. Everything is in my area.

At a recent work meeting the instructor for a training asked how many people owned guns. Out of 60 people, only three folks were non-gun owners.

We like all guns. If it shoots a projectile, we like it. I live in the north in a very low density rural area.

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Pretty much the same here. I'm long time retired now, but I still remember a guy I used to work with (who I never got along with BTW) talking about how he had to ask his neighbor to come over and shoot a ran-over cat because he didn't have a gun himself. Not having a gun of some kind was, and still is a real oddity to me.
But to answer the OP's question, I'll just address one type of gun - big game rifles. I'd almost bet 30-06s, 270s and 7mm Rem Mags are the three most popular in this part of the country.

.308 Norma said:

Pretty much the same here. I'm long time retired now, but I still remember a guy I used to work with (who I never got along with BTW) talking about how he had to ask his neighbor to come over and shoot a ran-over cat because he didn't have a gun himself. Not having a gun of some kind was, and still is a real oddity to me.
But to answer the OP's question, I'll just address one type of gun - big game rifles. I'd almost bet 30-06s, 270s and 7mm Rem Mags are the three most popular in this part of the country.

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Yep, I hit a big buck fall of 2018. The poor guy was nice, and on the trail of a girl. He was suffering trying to breath. I had a 9mm on me and I was going to dispatch him but he died while I was putting in ear plugs.

Guns are tools for rural living in a lot of situations. It’s like having any other tool around.

I think you have to draw a distinction between hunting and recreational shooting. Here in Deep Southern Maryland, deer hunting is shotgun and muzzleloader only. A Remington 870 with shot and slug barrels will do for everything. On the recreational side, the ARs and a range of 9mm pistols dominate.