Interested in a Bolt Rifle

[Jeeebus]

vs 15 cents at a 22.

That mag or LR you're looking at?

22LR is dirt cheap... < $.03 / round.

If there was a chance of my wife not killing me for buying another gun, I'd love to pick up a M&P15 in 22LR. Could spend a few hours at the range and not lose my shirt on ammo.

 

[corwin]

If there was a chance of my wife not killing me for buying another gun, I'd love to pick up a M&P15 in 22LR. Could spend a few hours at the range and not lose my shirt on ammo.

If you have an AR now just get a replacement upper from PSA for about $380 shipped...I'm sure you could justify the "savings" to your wife

For a bolt gun I'll also go along with others recommending the Savage, had my 30.06 for 15 years now and love it to death

 

[Bulk Beef]

Savage/Stevens is awesome, and a Stevens 200 in .223 runs about $300. No irons, though. Couple hundred towards scope, base and rings, and you would have a rifle that may very well shoot ragged little holes. If you lost your mind and decided you wanted to go hunting with Texashiker, you could easily swap calibers with some pretty basic tools and parts. The great thing about the Savage/Stevens platform is that you don't need to do any chamber reaming to set headspace during a barrel swap.

You could do a Savage .22 for a couple hundred, and buy a shitload of ammo, but most of your shooting will wind up being at 100 yds or less. Great practice for learning fundamentals, though, and cheap enough to shoot A LOT. Still no irons, though.

Come to think of it, iron sights are becoming something of a rarity on new boltguns, and are often considered a maybe nice-to-have, but unnecessary, backup.

You could do a Mosin for under a $100 and buy a couple cases of surplus ammo with the rest of your budget. Cool milsurp factor, full power cartridge, but they're not new, if that's what you're looking for.

You would have a lot of fun with any of these options.

 

[Colt45]

Get a .22 and a billion rounds, save the expensive centrefire stuff for things that need it.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Bolt action 22LR's are about the same price as semiautos. If going .22 I would consider the Ruger 10-22 in semi auto it seems to be the favorite 22 rifle these days and they make tons of accessories for it. And it comes standard with iron sights and can be bought almost anywhere that sells guns

 

[sjwaste]

OP, here is another vote for the MN. A friend and I each bought ourselves one for about $110 (hex receiver, lates '20s vintage). The guns came in 9/10 shape with very little cosmo on them. The guns are great, accurate shooters ... just ask the "White Ghost", that Finnish sniper who knocked off about 700 Russians with his (with no scope) back in the late '30s. My rifle is over 80 years old and the barrel/rifling looks almost new.

On the issue of "corrosive" primers ... the primer used in the 54R round is NOT corrosive. The round leaves salt deposits within the barrel during firing. Salt attracts water and water causes corrosion (i.e. rust). All you have to do is clean the barrel out after each use.

As for the MN being a gamble ... these guns cost next-to-nothing to buy and maintain. They are combat assualt rifles built to be used in absolutely horrible conditions and still shoot. Fro the money these are a great value.

The Finnish Mosins are a different conversation. You cannot get one for $100. They are on another level from the standard issue Russian manufacture Mosin carbine. I had an M38 with a bright bore and sharp rifling, and to be honest, it still wasn't very accurate. For the standard Russian manufacture and issue, there were quality issues because the rifle was made to supply the meat grinder on the front. Be careful, and make sure a gunsmith checks these for shooting - at least check the headspace and the chamber condition. I had one that headspaced fine and started cracking cartridges right at the neck, which can be really dangerous.

You can point to all sorts of exceptions like the Finnish M39, the US-made Remington 91/30, or the sniper issue with PU scope mount (not to be confused with retrofitted importer models, which are just regular mosins tapped for a mount). Those aren't $100 rifles. They are awesome, and some are under $500, like the Finnish ones. I'd recommend those to anyone with the interest and the budget.

That said, the Mosin is a great rifle if you want a large caliber rifle to shoot relatively cheaply - just take the right precautions and maintain it. It may or may not be accurate, that part is the gamble.

If you have $500 and want a surplus rifle, though, there is absolutely nothing that I would recommend over a Swiss K-31. Specifically in the $300-350 range, where the K31 is currently, you'd have a choice between a Finnish MN and a K31 - the latter is an easy choice (for me).

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

I was thinking of self setting gongs. That is part of the reason, why I want to keep it around $500 for the gun itself, because a lot of these targets are a 100-200 range. If I spend more on the gun, then less for targets. I will end up getting hanging hinge type if the better gun is found vs self setting. To tell you the truth, 200 yds is really farther than I could probably do with iron sights anyhow.

Aah the 100 yards accuracy claim. Experienced owners know that such a guarantee, even if true is actually pretty meaningless, but beginners are impressed. The reality is that big game animals are large and hair-splitting accuracy is almost never required. A rifle that will consistently shoot into 2" at 100 yards (2 MOA) is accurate enough. A hunting rifle that will average 1.5 MOA groups with an occasional sub-1" group thrown in for good measure (and an occasional 2" group, too!) is a good one off the shelf

.223 Remington being the original chambering and still by far the most popular. Most sales lists the .223 Remington is the best selling centerfire rifle cartridge in the world.

 

[Tsaico]

Aah the 100 yards accuracy claim. Experienced owners know that such a guarantee, even if true is actually pretty meaningless, but beginners are impressed. The reality is that big game animals are large and hair-splitting accuracy is almost never required. A rifle that will consistently shoot into 2" at 100 yards (2 MOA) is accurate enough. A hunting rifle that will average 1.5 MOA groups with an occasional sub-1" group thrown in for good measure (and an occasional 2" group, too!) is a good one off the shelf

.223 Remington being the original chambering and still by far the most popular. Most sales lists the .223 Remington is the best selling centerfire rifle cartridge in the world.

No, I meant they cost $100-$300 for the stands, self setting, and the actual gongs. If I spend $600 on the gun, I only have $100 left for targets and stands. Won't be fun trotting down the range to set a target every time, and just a stationary gong will get tiresome. But I would rather spend the money on the rifle itself than on fancy targets i can get as I get more familiar with my rifle. Also, I do not plan on actually hunting, just shooting still targets.