Marlin 1895 Guide Gun

Gavin8008

New member
Hey guys,

My son is finally old enough to go hunting with me and being able to shoot some bucks for himself he is 19 and will be 20 in a few days. I'm a Marlin and Remington guy so I want him to follow in my foot steps for big games I always use my Marlin 1895 SBL and I have been thinking about getting him the Marlin 1895 "Guide Gun" it is rare to find but I came across to available so I think it will be a good pick for him. Just wanted to ask y'alls take on it based on experience or anything that could be of help.

 
I've been shooting a 1895 since 1976, I have well north of 5000 rounds through it and LOVE it! I shoot all handloads through it and most of them pretty stiff loads. I've used a 300 grain jhp on 90% of the deer I've shot. Never needed more than one round to put one down for keeps. My pet deer load runs 2488fps@10 ft from the muzzle. With proper handloads it will handle anything that walks, crawls, or flys!
 
Finally old enough at 19 almost 20? Where are you located? What kind of big game are y’all hunting?
When I was a kid, you started hunting deer at 12 years old. Once you could drive to get to the woods, you hunted on your own. Between 12 and 16 getting dropped off and then picked up at a specified time worked too.
 
I’ve heard of states that have age restrictions, always seemed strange to me. Down here you can hunt whenever dad thinks you’re ready. Generally start off about 6-7 sitting with dad and him monitoring the gun safety and shot. By 10-11 you’re on your own. I would walk my boys to their stands and make sure they were good before going to my own. By 12 they were heading their own direction from the truck by themselves. Thank God we had cells phones back then, I’d keep mine and the wife would give hers to them. Brennan got on a roll one morning and dropped 3 does. I sent a text and told him to unload, climb down, and start dragging. He said he was lined up on #4 when the phone vibrated and he decided to look at it real quick cause the doe wasn’t leaving the white oaks anytime soon, lol. He had 2 drug downhill to the road by themselves time his momma and I got to him.
Gun of choice was a Ruger .44mag shooting 180gr hollow points. Neck shots was the aiming point and anchored every deer he hit.
 
6 and 7 years old carried a BB gun on the community cornfield pheasant drives. At 8 was carrying a unloaded 20ga on those walks, got to load up when just dad and I trying to flush a ditch bird(mom had the best eyes, would tell you exactly where the bird was sitting). First bird was the BB gun about 6 feet away during a cornfield drive. Shot it in the head, sitting in the row ahead of me. By 12 I was hunting on my own after school, weekends. Pheasant, duck/geese and Red fox mostly. By than hybrid corn was growing 7' + tall, put an end to the cornfield drives. Than grass control herbicides cleaned up ground under the corn and pheasant numbers started dropping.
 
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