The Top 5 Favorite Firearms of Craig Boddington

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Thanks to our brilliant Founding Fathers—who instituted our unique Second Amendment, American citizens (in good standing) aren’t limited in the number of firearms we can own. Most hunters and shooters the world over lack this awesome privilege. So, for us, this is a theoretical discussion. Still, it’s one we frequently indulge in around the campfire. What if you could have just one, two, five…or a dozen firearms?

This question is different: What are my five favorite firearms? Implied: If I had to give up the rest, which five to keep? Or if I got warning of approaching fire or flood, which five would I grab first? The former speak almost entirely to utility. To some extent, he second speaks to value. Not the same question. “Favorite” speaks to many things, including personal attachment.

I’m not a collector, long since not a competitor. I have more guns than I need, more than I can shoot on a regular basis or clean as often as I should. Rifles, shotguns, handguns. Many are purely utilitarian. A few have collector value and some are heirlooms, passed down through family or owned by absent friends. Important to my mindset: After getting cleaned out by burglars when I was a young editor in LA—and being crushed by the loss—I try not to get attached. But, as a gun freak, I can’t help it.

Knowing myself, I probably put utility and personal attachment ahead of value. If I had to make quick decisions these are the five guns I would probably reach for. One handgun, three rifles, one shotgun. 

Winchester Model 12 Skeet

Kid from Kansas, I grew up with shotguns. We hunted quail and ringnecks over good dogs, and I shot American trap. I have shotguns from my dad and grand-dad. I have my last trap gun, a sporting clays gun, turkey guns, an eclectic mix of action types.

My favorite shotgun is a much-battered Winchester M12 12-gauge skeet gun, factory vent rib, choked WS1. I bought it in about 1971 from great Kansas trapshooter Dave Bledsoe, a mentor at the shotgun range where much of my youth was misspent. Early 1950s gun, it had good wood, but I’ve worn the checkering smooth.

Although right-hand-eject, I’ve never had a shotgun that fit so well or came up so fast. It throws an even pattern like a barn door. When we were working together and hunting a lot of valley quail, Bob Robb dubbed it the “Death Ray.”

During those LA burglaries, it had the good fortune to be in the trunk of my car, so it’s my only firearm dating to my early days. That alone endears it, but there’s much more. On wild bobwhites, it’s taken five birds on a covey rise. It’s also taken geese, turkey gobblers, a wide variety of upland birds. Although I was mostly a trapshooter, it accounted for my first 100 straight at skeet, and in 2008, it earned me High Gun at the Grand National Quail Hunt. Across 55 years, I’ve shot the action loose, should get it tightened up, but if any political or natural apocalypse made me trim the herd, the Death Ray is the shotgun I’d keep.

S&W Model 29 Classic

Hunter: At least one handgun, right? Personal defense, plinking, practice, maybe some hunting. Tough choices. I have my paternal grandfather’s 1916 Model 12, also his Colt Official Police .38 Special. In the 1930s he was taken into an alley at gunpoint. He survived, bought that Colt, carried it the rest of his life. Also have Dad’s Colt Woodsman, purchased on the eve of WWII.

I shoot both, would hate to give up either, but my all-time favorite handgun is a S&W M29 Classic Hunter, 6.5-inch barrel. It’s my second M29; my first, 8 3/8-inch barrel, was stolen. Years later, I replaced it with this one. I like the extra forward weight of the underbarrel lug, love the Hogue grips. It’s a bit big to carry concealed, but not burdensome in a belt or shoulder holster. Most importantly, I shoot it well, and I can shoot it with light target loads all the way up to big-bear capable heavy-bullet loads. It’s my favorite hunting handgun, and, since I was asked, my favorite handgun.

Todd Ramirez 7x57

Mostly a rifle guy, this is where it gets difficult. Love my lever-actions, but I can shoot hogs with almost anything and must consider versatility. I’ll never let go of a 7x57 on a left-hand Mauser action, built by great Texas gunmaker Todd Ramirez in 2004. Joe Average in size, most factory stocks fit me well, but this is the only firearm I own that was built from scratch to my specifications, including being measured for stock dimensions.

It's on the pattern of a British “stalking rifle,” stocked in good walnut, short fore-end with barrel-mounted sling swivel, good express sights, detachable scope mounts on the receiver rings. Todd and I decided on 7x57. Partly because such a traditional rifle deserved a classic cartridge. Mostly because I’d already been a 7x57 fan for 20 years. Mild, yet effective far beyond its paper ballistics, the 7x57 is my favorite whitetail cartridge, equally effective for African plains game up to kudu and zebra.

I’ve carried the Ramirez rifle on six continents, even used it on a water buffalo in Argentina (with 175-grain solids). It wears a1.5-6x42mm Schmidt & Bender scope that I haven’t touched for years, never changes zero. In mountains and open country, I prefer a flatter-shooting cartridge, so it’s not a rifle for everywhere, but it’s my favorite.  

Heym Model 88B .450/.400

Although unlikely to take another elephant, I’m not done with buffalo, so I’d have to keep one big bore. I have a beautiful 1906 William Evans .470 with some provenance. However, it has a right-hand stock, isn’t set up for a red-dot, and I’d be reluctant to modify it. Also, the .450s to .500s kick like beasts and I don’t need them for buffalo.

The .450/.400 is my favorite big bore cartridge. There were two, non-interchangeable, in 3.25” and 3” case. I have no experience with the slightly faster 3.25” version, plenty with the .450/.400-3” (aka .400 Jeffery), .450 case necked down to nominal .40-caliber, .409-inch bullet. I’ve used it in Ruger No. One single-shots and several doubles. Our .450/.400-3” double is a standard Heym Model 88B with straight stock, no cast for right or left.

With a 400-grain bullet, the barrels come together at 2050 fps, energy not quite 4000 ft-lbs. You feel it when it goes off, but it’s easier to shoot than the big bores. Which means we’ve shot it more and are more proficient with it. I say “we” because Donna and I have both taken elephants and buffaloes with it. Perfect for buffalo, adequate for elephant.

Although the cartridge dates to 1902 and was once popular, it was a rare bird when I talked Steve Hornady into resurrecting it as part of his new Dangerous Game line. That gives me sort of a proprietary interest. Ours is the first Heym 88B so chambered. Recently I had an Aimpoint red-dot sight added, greatly increasing utility and versatility. It is not our best or most valuable double, definitely the favorite and most useful.

Blaser R8

With few restrictions on firearms ownership, I’ve never been excited by the switch-barrel concept. In North America, mostly one-animal hunts. Go to the gun safe and pick the best choice. In Africa, how do you know which barrel to start a hunting day with?

So, it’s not the switch-barrel feature that drew me to the Blaser. Although I liked the speed of the straight-pull action, I wasn’t crazy about the original R93. I liked the feel of the redesigned R8 stock better, love the consistent accuracy of Blaser’s barrels. I got one in 2010 when the R8 was first introduced in the States, have used it much ever since. Most of my mountain hunting since then, much African hunting. A triple on wolves in 2013 would have been impossible with a turn-bolt. Most recently, a good Alaskan brown bear in spring ’24.

The Blaser R8 ranks high on any short list of my favorites, but for this exercise, the switch-barrel feature applies. Currently we have barrels in .270 and .308 Win, .300 Wby Mag, .338 Win Mag, and .375 H&H. Bolt heads can be switched out, but we have two left-hand bolts and magazines for the various cartridge families. If I had to cut back to five favorites, I’d add a .22 centerfire barrel, another bolt head if needed, but the Blaser R8 would make the final cut.

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