My Dad was never a hunter, but my uncle was in the woods all the time. My first gun was an Ithaca M66, a little lever-action single shot 20 gauge. After toting that around in the woods and convincing my parents it was not enough gun for deer, I convinced them to let me get a rifle. Not knowing what to get I wrote Jim Carmichel at Outdoor Life about what I should get. He suggested a Remington bolt-action in .243. My uncle sniffed and said get a .270, so that's what I did. I worked all summer to earn the money and got a Savage 110 in .270. That gun is long gone, and now I shoot mostly sxs. Of my three boys, the middle can't get enough of it (clays, pistol, small game), and the oldest likes girls and surfing better, but he's the best shot. The youngest, who is 8, is just starting. I can't get out of the habit of smelling the burnt powder from spend hulls. They smell better in the Fall.
