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period rifles
Posted by BrownBear on Aug 31 2005
I grew up ranching in the 50's and 60's, and a lot of what would be "standard" depends upon where the rancher was and what he was doing at the time. There were still lots of Winchester and Remington pump 22's around then, with the nod toward older Winchesters.
If the guy was riding around in his pickup, he probably had a 22 in the window rack for small game and such, but he also had a centerfire rifle. If he was on horseback, it would have been his favorite centerfire rifle, whether a bolt or a lever. (These days the Ruger Ranch Rifle 223 semiauto gets top billing as a saddle gun.)
In my region it was pretty well split between Winchester Model 94 lever actions and Winchester Model 70 bolt actions with a scope (usually a Weaver K4). The most common lever action caliber was 30-30, and the Model 70's were split between 270's and 30-06.
When it comes to wing shooting a duck, I would bet on the 22 Winchester pump with iron sights if the guy set out to do it. Iron sights are definitely easier than scopes for this kind of shooting, but if the guy shot a lot and really knew his gun, he could probably do it with a scope.
But that brings up the question of context: Why the heck would he shoot a duck with a rifle? If he was hungry and looking for small game, he would definitelly use the 22 and would sure as heck shoot the duck on the water rather than in the air. If he was stranded and hungry and desperate he would use whatever he had in his hands, but still wouldn't take a shot on the wing unless there was no other choice. If there was a pretty sinorita in sight and his neck was all swole up, taking the wing shot would make sense, but eating it would be the last thing on his mind.
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