I’ve owned a lot of great guns, but none are more dear to my heart than a practical, old Remington 700 named Elvira.
It wasn’t love at first sight but a relationship that was born of necessity. I was never a fan of synthetic stock stainless, rifles even though I owned one for my “truck gun.” I considered myself old school, preferring the feel of a nice walnut stock and the luster of a quality blued finish. The previous deer season had left me reconsidering those values. Five straight days of torrential rain spent on an open stand trying to keep my rifle somewhat protected, then wiping it down every night trying to keep rust from setting in and worrying that the wood stock was going to be damaged was enough. I made it through the season without the rifle being harmed but decided that I would start the search for a rifle that I could use during inclement weather without as much worry.
As happens most years, shortly after modern firearms season for Whitetail Deer here in Kentucky, used deer rifles started showing up for sale. A friend of mine who often took advantage of these bargains called me and told me that he had something that I might like. He knew my taste in rifles and had a beautiful walnut and blue Remington 700 in 7mm Remington Ultra Magnum that he thought I might like. While looking at it I noticed a synthetic stainless rifle laying in the back seat of his truck. Remembering my previous season, I asked about it. It turned out to be a Remington 700 BDL SS. He told me it was chambered in 7mm Weatherby Magnum and he figured that he was stuck with it because of the high price of ammo. After a little painful deliberation, I went with the stainless one knowing that the ammo would be expensive for either, and I couldn’t afford both. The 7mm Weatherby came home with me. The rifle came with a cheap scope and half a box of ammo.
Before firing it, I removed the scope and put on a new Leupold Vari X III 4.5x14x50. I paid more for the scope than I did the rifle, but it was a good investment, because it has performed flawlessly ever since.
The ammunition was Hornady Custom 154-grain, and it shot under 1-inch groups, with two shots touching and one flyer. J.J. Reich from Vista Outdoor came down to turkey hunt with us and brought me some Federal Premium ammo loaded with Nosler 150 gr bullets that did the same thing. Under one inch should be good enough for a rifle that was only going to be used in inclement weather, right? You would think so, but that flyer and the cost of the 7mm Weatherby Magnum ammo drove me to start down what would become a very long and rewarding road of reloading. I had been wanting to try my hand at reloading for a long time, and this pushed me over the edge.
Armed with a good source of brass and a new love of reloading I went to work in an attempt to get rid of the flyer. Shortly into load development and after wearing the phone out calling my reloading mentor Paul Johnson, the new rifle was shooting groups under 1/2 inch with no pesky flyer. A load of 66 grains of IMR 4350 ignited by a Remington 9 ½ M primer pushing a Hornady 154-grain SST bullet produced a group of 0.306 inch.
Daniel Boone carried a rifle he named “Ticklicker” because he claimed that he could shoot the tick from a bear’s nose. Davey Crockett carried a Flintlock that he called “Old Betsy”. The second year I hunted with this rifle right at the last minute of shooting light I killed a beautiful 15-point buck. Someone asked me what I shot that buck with. I jokingly replied “Elvira, The Mistress of The Darkness”. The nickname stuck, and she has been known by that name ever since.
Elvira has accounted for 18 bucks, and the number keeps growing. I killed my largest buck to date with her, a 13-pointer that scored 168 B&C, and numerous others. Many of them are more memorable than the biggest ones. In 2018, I was hunting by myself when a beautiful 9-pointer walked into the field about 600 yards away and made his way to a cedar tree, which he thrashed. He came a little closer and began feeding at around 400 yards. I steadied Elvira and waited for him to come closer, thinking how much the bullet would drop at that range and where I should hold (I still haven’t replaced the Vari-X III with a scope that you just dial up the range.)
It became apparent that he had no intention of coming any closer, so I steadied the horizontal crosshair level with the top of his back and the vertical one at the back edge of his front leg. I took a deep breath and squeezed Elvira’s trigger. I was back on target by the time the bullet made impact and watched him roll and run. He made it about 50 yards.
I’ve lost count of the coyotes that I have taken over the years with Elvira. Some folks believe that shooting coyotes during deer season will scare off the deer, but I haven’t found that to true. Song dogs are detrimental to the turkey population and are rough on young fawn, so any coyote that presents itself as a target gets a taste of one of Steve Hornady’s SST bullets courtesy of Elvira. While they might not be designed to perform as a varmint bullet, the coyotes will never complain if I can do my part. Last year, Elvira and I killed seven coyotes during the firearm season.
In 2010, Mark Six, founder of Greens Run Game Calls, was turkey hunting with us when he found out that he had been drawn for a Kentucky cow elk tag. At the time, Mark didn’t own a rifle that met the requirements to elk hunt in Kentucky and had no idea where to hunt. I knew some folks that would allow us hunting access and offered the use of Elvira. Since it was a cow only permit and Mark wanted it to eat, we had discussed it and decided that if the opportunity was presented, he would try to harvest a midsized cow that wouldn’t be too old or tough.
Opening morning found us easing along an old trail on a reclaimed mountaintop removal surface mine. As we rounded a corner, we were face to face with a small herd of cow elk standing about 40 yards above us. One of them looked to be twice the size of the rest and was wearing a tracking collar. Mark quickly raised Elvira to his shoulder and pulled the trigger. The elk stood on her back feet, took 9 steps backward and fell with all four feet in the air. I accused him of killing the grandmother of all Kentucky elk. Mark decided then and there that Elvira was a “Stone Cold Killer”.
While still hunting nearly 10 years ago, my little brother took a nasty fall landing on his scope. A test shot revealed that his scope wasn’t hitting anywhere near his point of aim. Since Elvira and I had tagged out I let him take her hunting. The result was a nice 8-point buck on the ground at a little over 200 yards—his farthest kill then, and Elvira had another admirer.
Steven Asher—m my wife and I call “Stepson, even though he is no relation to us—had a similar experience where a huge bodied mature 8-pointer collapsed in his tracks. The immediate collapse of the buck and ease of felt recoil added him to the long list of people wanting to be the recipient of Elvira in my will.
While hunting alone a few years ago a small two-year-old 8 point was chasing does and I was enjoying the show. When he stopped about 60 yards in front of me, I placed the crosshairs on his shoulder and eased the rifle down. I had no reason to kill him, because I knew there were better bucks on the farm. He stopped again and turned at the perfect angle to take out the far shoulder at a little over 100 yards. I settled the crosshairs, then took my finger off the trigger and told Elvira “That would be a pie shot, but you don’t want to kill him”. The next time he stopped he was at 250 yards facing me head on. Elvira had already placed the crosshairs of the Leupold dead center on his chest. Once again, I convinced her not to shoot. I told her what a mess the 154 grain SST bullet would make at that angle, and besides, we really didn’t want to kill that buck.
He then turned, quartering slightly away, and Elvira didn’t wait for any of my excuses. The little buck crumpled in his tracks. My cousin Henley McIntosh the local County Attorney asked me why I killed such a young deer. I told him my story, and he laughingly replied, “You should have checked it in under Elvira’s name, everybody knows how she is!”.
Our local Sportsman’s Club holds a “Deer Rifle Match” once a year. The rules require that the rifle must be legal to hunt with in Kentucky but cannot be a heavy barreled rifle. You generally see light barreled 22-250, 223 243, and of course 6.5 Creedmoor rifles there. I took Elvira for one year just to see how she could stack up. While we didn’t win the match, we finished in a very respectable 3rd place.
I have several other rifles that I am fond of. Trying to satisfy my addiction to reloading I built loads for several rifles that I could hunt with. I have a 7mm Remington Magnum that will shoot groups under one quarter inch. There are rifles in 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08, 6.8 Western, 270 Winchester, 25-06 Remington, 260 Remington, all that will outshoot Elvira (don’t tell her I said that). Most of these are easier to find factory ammo for. Some of these rifles have newer scopes, which have the capability of dialing up for longer ranges. Some are stainless while others have Cerakote. There is no valid reason that they shouldn’t be taken to the deer stand each fall.
Over the years I have bought newer scopes, some with illuminated reticles, a couple of Leupolds with the CDS system that would eliminate the need to figure out where to hold at longer ranges, but I just can’t seem to make myself try to fix what isn’t broken. A few years ago, a friend of mine offered to “Dip” Elvira with a camouflage covering, but since she is a fairly uncommon rifle I declined his offer, thinking it might adversely affect her value. My wife laughed at my response, saying, “Like you would ever sell Elvira”.
Every year when deer season rolls around, I look over the current residents of the vault, consider the weather conditions along with where I plan to hunt, and after careful consideration, I pick up Elvira and head to the stand.
The value of a rifle depends on a lot of variables. Brand, caliber, scope, condition, rarity, and others, but sometimes a rifle’s value depends on how badly the prospective buyer wants it or the current owner’s willingness to sell. Even though Elvira is probably a low production model based on her chambering, I doubt that she would be considered rare or highly collectible. Being chambered in an obscure caliber could either raise her value because of rarity or lower it because of the high price of the ammo as well as difficulty in finding it.
The primary factor that affects the old Remington’s value is the determination of the current owner to keep it. My wife often refers to Elvira as “The other woman in our marriage”. I have threatened to have Elvira buried with me, but that would be senseless because I am sure someone would dig me up to get her. There is an old mountain saying that “Every man is entitled to one good gun, one good dog, and one good woman”. Living in this politically correct age we won’t discuss the woman, and I have had more than one good dog.
When it comes to guns, I have had more than one good one, but if I had to pick only one, that is an easy answer for me. My wife, most of my family members and probably at least twenty or thirty of my friends could quickly answer the question for you. Elvira!
Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt of Gun Digest 2025, 79th edition.
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