buying my 1st rifle

[newguy]

Hello everyone. I've recently become interested in shooting and I have been shooting several times before, and I think I am ready to get my own gun. I want to start small with a 22 to get the basics down.

What are some good models. I was thinking about a remington. I would be willing to spend around $150 for the gun and a scope for it.

Any suggestions on what I should get?

Thanks

 

[cwalker3]

Welcome to the forum Newguy. My first rifle was an AR-15, which is almost a .22, just more complicated. My first and only .22 is a Ruger 10/22 and I would definitely recommend it. Inexpensive, accurate and if you feel inclined, easily modifiable. I put a cheap Simmons scope on mine and can put 10 shots within 2" at 100 yards. But be forewarned, some guys get addicted to them. Though that's not neccessarily a bad thing I guess.

 

[Daedalus]

My only 22 is a Savage 64F I bought at walmart for 115$ with a a 3-7x scope. It is a neat little semiauto with a removeable 10 round magazine.

 

[WalkerTexasRanger]

Welcome to THR and a wonderful lifelong sport. My comments will begin with you are making a very good decision starting with a .22 to "learn the basics." Not to mention, .22s are a blast to shoot and you will have this rifle for a lifetime. You will probably have a little trouble staying in the $150 range including a scope, but might find a Ruger 10/22 and a scope for close to $200. I have three Remington .22, starting with a Model 24 made way back in the 30s. It still shoots accuratly and functions perfectly, so I dont think you could go wrong with a Rem either. They are just a little more in price than your budget.

Look around here at the for sale, auctionarms.com, rimfirecentral.com, you will find something that will work. Ask questions all you like, we will always offer suggestions.

Again, WELCOME!!

 

[Art Eatman]

Welcome to The High Road! Come on in, feel free to wander through the world's largest outdoor sanatorium! Hope the words of advice and wisdom (?) will help.

The thing about .22s is that they can be picky about brand and type of ammo. Once that problem is solved, whatever you find can be quite accurate. Starting out, then, you might buy a few single boxes of various brands, and keep records. Some do well with standard velocity; others with high speed, and some prefer the fastest. You just never know until you try.

I tend to recommend a bolt-action to learn on, just because they tend to make you focus more on hitting. It's too easy to drift into "fun" with a semi-auto, and self-discipline is a large part of becoming a true rifleman.

Art

 

[teppo-shu]

Welcome, newguy. Do a search for "Romanian trainer" and read about the Romanian training rifle. Never owned one myself, but they're always said to be very accurate, and well UNDER 100 bucks.

I've owned a Marlin 60, very reliable but not quite accurate for my tastes as I grew up shooting a little Ithica .22.

I'd recommend getting a little bolt action, like the Romanian, or a CZ, Marlin, or Savage. Bolts are more accurate, and will let you learn to become a better shooter first. A lever action like the Marlin, Winchester, or Henry wouldn't be a bad start, either.

Good luck! And let us know what you decide.

 

[David4516]

It's hard to beat the Ruger .22 rilfes. Alot of people will recomend a Ruger 10/22 as a first rifle, but I'm not so sure thats a great idea. I learned to shoot with semi-autos and picked up a nasty habbit of wasting ammo. I would pull the trigger really fast just to see how quick I could empty the clip...

While I've never shot one (but I really want to), I think my recomendation would be the Ruger model 96 in .22 LR. It has the same look and feel as the 10/22, but is lever action. One neat thing about it is that you can use alot of 10/22 parts in the Model 96. They use the same mags for example...

I have to be honest though, unless you get a single shot, I dout you'll find a rilfe and a scope for $150, you'll probably need to spend $200, maybe a little more...

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Welcome to THR!

I suggest a bolt action rifle to start with. It will be accurate, reliable, and the manual operation isn't conducive to "spray and pray" shooting.

The aformentioned Romanian .22 trainers are a very good value. If you want a new rifle, though, Marlin and Savage make very good bolt actions. So does CZ.

If you can stretch the money get a good scope, not some junky low-end scope for under $50. Weaver and Nikon make good scopes meant for .22s, which retail around $100. Cheap scopes have lousy optics and often don't have repeatable adjustments. They can be quite annoying. If you cannot affor a good scope, look into getting a receiver "peep" sight that mounts to the dovetail on the rifle's receiver. Williams makes good peep sights at reasonable prices.

Web sites:

Marlin Firearms
Savage Arms
CZ USA
Williams Gunsight Company
SWFA (Good place to buy scopes online.)

 

[kudu]

Welcome newguy

I would recommend starting out with a bolt rifle, so you will get the basics of making the first shot hit what you are aiming at. Not to say you can't get a quick second shot off with a bolt gun, but you won't be thinking about all the other shots you can shoot up with a semi-auto, or getting another shell ready for a single shot. Lever guns are OK but not as accurate in my experience.

Get something that will last and that is durable, and a few thousand rounds of ammo to start out with, that ought to last about a week.

 

[Bainx]

Well howdy, Newguy. I have one of the Romanian 22 bolt action rifles and it is quite fun to fire. However, it can be the dickens on feeding a round from its magazine. For this reason, I would recommend the low-hassle Marlin 60 or Ruger 10/22. Hey, even without a scope, these things shoot very accurate up to 50 yards.

Shoot safely.

 

[Biff]

I would recommend you check out the Marlin bolt-actions, as they are a very good value. Also, take a look at the Henry lever-actions.

 

[hksw]

Hey newguy, welcome aboard.

You've made an excellent decision in starting off with a .22 lr for your first gun to get the basics down. A lot of good suggestions pro and con for this and that posted from others. It'll be up to you to decide which segment you fall into. Do you have enough self discipline to keep your trigger finger from going full auto with a semi when you're training yourself? (It's always good to do so at the end of the day, though, just for the fun of it.) I think a good compromise would be a magazine fed bolt action.

 

[theCZ]

Like other folks, I'm gonna recommend a CZ, specifically the CZ-452 model (any variants). People talk about a 22 being accurate at 50 yards, but I really don't see any reason that a 22 shouldn't have 100 yard capabilities. My 452 gets 1.25" groups at 100 yards from a bench without wind. I have yet to see a factory 1022 do that well.

 

[Brian Williams]

Ditto the bolt action. I bring up the Savage MKII, great gun, can be had in many different flavors, stainless, synthetic, blue, wood, w/ or wwo/ scope, heavy or light barrel.

http://www.savagearms.com/markiif.htm

But I would like a

because it has a heavier barrel.

 

[newguy]

Thank you all for your suggestions and welcomes, I will be sure to take them into account when I make my selection. I will let you know what I decide

I think i will try to get a remmington, but i will have to look more into it.

Thanks again for the help,
newguy

 

[jdmb03]

My first rifle was a Marlin 795 .22lr, fitted with a tasco scope. It cost me under $150.

 

[MeekandMild]

Welcome newguy!

My first .22 was a Savage o/u single shot, over a 20 ga shotgun. It still shoots 7/8 of an inch to the right at 25 yards the same as it did nearly 50 years ago! I got used to it after the first couple of months.

 

[ojibweindian]

Spending $150 for a new .22 and scope is a little optimistic. You can stay within your budget if you don't mind getting a used gun.

Gun stores and pawn shops are full of used .22's, from all the major manufacturers, that aren't short on quality.

If you just gotta have a new .22, I'd suggest a Marlin. I've got a bolt action Marlin with which I am quite pleased. With scope and rifle, it set me back, after taxes, right at $200. You can get the rifle itself for $150, after taxes, then save up for the scope.

 

[Frenchy]

The Romanian .22 trainers...

Are a surprisingly accurate little rifle with history and a great price.

 

[Sharpshooter223]

I highly recommend the ruger 10/22. How did you get a 2" group at 100 yards cwalker? Shilen barrel with stingers at an indoor range? just clowning but would really like to know how you hold groups like that with a 10/22 I know a stock 10/22 holds about an 8" group at 100. newguy a ruger 10/22 at walmart in just wood and blued barrel is right at $200. Put a decent scope on it and you won't be dissapointed at all. Also I've tried just about all the .22 bullets and I've always been impressed with the federal rounds. It's about $9.00 for 550 rounds and always outshoots the remington and winchester and pretty much everything besides match ammo. As far as match ammo I recommend the stingers. And another reason I recommend the 10/22 is it's easy to upgrade I believe it's the most popular .22 on the market and it's easy to find parts to upgrade it. I had my 10/22 for about 4 years and about a year ago I equipped it with a "Houge" stock and barrel kit I bought for a mere $110 and was every bit worth it and I slapped a bedding kit and a trigger kit on it for about $50 more and was shooting tacks at 40 yards and was holding a 3" group at 100 yards with federal rounds. Never tried the match rounds after I got the barrel on it. Finally got rid of the gun 2 weeks ago to go to the ruger 77/22.

Still regret getting rid of my 10/22

 

[SteelyDan]

I'll agree that one can do better than the Ruger 10-22. But if you're just starting out and you want to make a "cautious" choice that can easily be upgraded in the future, the 10-22 is kind of the standard against which all other .22s are measured.