About 8 years ago a really great friend of mine, and the father of a friend of my wifes passed away. 6 days after his funeral she came by and handed me two of his rifles, I assumed for me to clean and relube as I had done for 10 years prior to his death. She said, he wrote in his will, that they were to be given to me, since I had taken such good care of them for him all those years, and had never accepted any money for my efforts. I could not believe he would do such a wonderful thing, but I told her I would keep them and then pass them on down to my sons eventually. I gave one of them to my oldest son right away, as he is a lover of the old lever action cowboy style rifles. It was a Savage lever action rifle in 300 savage and had a 3X9 Tasco scope on it. He removed the scope and started hunting with it the following year. I kept the other.....a Winchester Model 70 Pre-64 bolt action in .308. When I checked the serial number, the gun had been manufactured the same year I was born in 1958. The gun came with an original factory Redfield that was adjusted for windage and elevation using the scope rings. This gun at 100 yards is a hole in a hole shooter. I took a nice mule deer out in West Texas the following hunting season using the Winchester. I had never shot anything at 200 yards but made a perfect double lung shot on the mulie at 206 yards using the Winchester. It is now and always will be my favorite rifle, thanks to a good friend. Prior to that a Winchester Model 94 in 30-30, that my Dad bought for me when I was 10, held that distinguished position. I cant tell you how many kills I made with that '94, because if it was game I shot it with the gun. Too numerous to count.
bigmike45