Doc7
Member
Hello all,
I am strongly considering purchasing my first centerfire rifle. I have come up with the following list of attributes, in decreasing order of importance to me. They are preferences and not requirements.
1) First centerfire rifle for myself and want to practice enough to ingrain good habits, and not ingrain bad ones. This will also be a rifle that I put in the hands of first time shooters after introducing them to my 22LR rifle(s) and 22 revolver, to go to the next step (most of the people who visit the range with me are first, or close-to-first, time shooters). Therefore recoil must be manageable for new shooters (so a .270, .308 is out because I wouldn't expect a new/first-time shooter to be interested in firing multiple strings of fire without developing a flinch with recoil associated with those calibers)
2) Accurate round that I can use to practice long range rifle work, let's say 100 to 300 yards. My current range has a 100 yard max so most shooting will be at that distance, but I do want to stretch it out at other ranges. I'm not currently interested in 500-1000 yard shooting except for occasional fun, and it is not a requirement for the rifle to be a ballistically superior round at those ranges.
3) Ammunition and components are available at typical outlets. I don't want to be hoping to stumble across ammo (although, right now that's what my 22 is like). I want to be able to feed this thing so if we shoot 100 rounds in a day at the range with new shooters I am not keeping a close eye on ammo count thinking about how it will be hard for me to find more.
4) It is a round that is relatively beginner-friendly for a Reloader, with appropriate reloading equipment and manuals. I don't want to be trying to make a wildcat cartridge, etc
5) Light weight but still appropriate for caliber/recoil purposes. I think I am looking for a synthetic stock with this rifle. I got a laminate stock on my last 22 bolt action and with a scope I'm looking at 9 LB Plus. WOW that got heavy quick with nothing except a 4x scope on it. I don't want this rifle to be that "heavy-for-caliber" even if I scope it.
6) Would really like to have a rear peep sight and a front post, (i am OK with after-market installations) along with a quick detach scope or low magnification red dot optic. This way I can show a new shooter (or take it out to longer ranges) how both sighting systems work. I am thinking a "Scout Scope" or Intermediate Eye Relief is what I would need to use here to allow both to be mounted at the same time. It is OK if the sights are not co-witnessed, ie, only one can be used at a time (Scope can be used, but irons can't be until the scope is removed - as long as I can use the scope without removing the irons).
5) Hunting capabilities. I currently plan on using 20 gauge slugs for deer, so unless I end up with a rifle in appropriate caliber we are talking coyotes, really. With a 20 gauge assumed range of 125 yards, I'm pretty limited on deer rifle caliber options that a) cover the 125-200 yard range for deer, and b) also meet preferences 1 and 2. So this is the final and least important preference. I can pick up a dedicated deer rifle later on if my 20 ga isn't doing it for me.
Caliber wise I think I am looking at .223, .22-250, .243, maybe 30-30? Any other suggestions? I don't know if a lever action round really meets the "moderate-range riflework" of #2 (i always have imagined 30-30 as a deer rifle not a paper puncher), i would love to be corrected if I'm wrong) and I don't know about Availability and Reloading Capability for pretty much any centerfire rounds as I have no experience in this arena.
I stumbled across the Mossberg MVP Patrol rifle recently and think that it actually meets a lot of these preferences.
How does a rifle like that compare to something like a Remington 700 for these purposes? Is it pretty much because of the Picatinny rail offering more sighting options and other than that there is no real difference when it comes to meeting my preferences? I'm trying to decide if there is a real reason for going with something like a Mossberg rifle (which I typically consider to be a Shotgun brand) as opposed to a more traditional model.
This is a lot so I'll stop typing now... thank you!
I am strongly considering purchasing my first centerfire rifle. I have come up with the following list of attributes, in decreasing order of importance to me. They are preferences and not requirements.
1) First centerfire rifle for myself and want to practice enough to ingrain good habits, and not ingrain bad ones. This will also be a rifle that I put in the hands of first time shooters after introducing them to my 22LR rifle(s) and 22 revolver, to go to the next step (most of the people who visit the range with me are first, or close-to-first, time shooters). Therefore recoil must be manageable for new shooters (so a .270, .308 is out because I wouldn't expect a new/first-time shooter to be interested in firing multiple strings of fire without developing a flinch with recoil associated with those calibers)
2) Accurate round that I can use to practice long range rifle work, let's say 100 to 300 yards. My current range has a 100 yard max so most shooting will be at that distance, but I do want to stretch it out at other ranges. I'm not currently interested in 500-1000 yard shooting except for occasional fun, and it is not a requirement for the rifle to be a ballistically superior round at those ranges.
3) Ammunition and components are available at typical outlets. I don't want to be hoping to stumble across ammo (although, right now that's what my 22 is like). I want to be able to feed this thing so if we shoot 100 rounds in a day at the range with new shooters I am not keeping a close eye on ammo count thinking about how it will be hard for me to find more.
4) It is a round that is relatively beginner-friendly for a Reloader, with appropriate reloading equipment and manuals. I don't want to be trying to make a wildcat cartridge, etc
5) Light weight but still appropriate for caliber/recoil purposes. I think I am looking for a synthetic stock with this rifle. I got a laminate stock on my last 22 bolt action and with a scope I'm looking at 9 LB Plus. WOW that got heavy quick with nothing except a 4x scope on it. I don't want this rifle to be that "heavy-for-caliber" even if I scope it.
6) Would really like to have a rear peep sight and a front post, (i am OK with after-market installations) along with a quick detach scope or low magnification red dot optic. This way I can show a new shooter (or take it out to longer ranges) how both sighting systems work. I am thinking a "Scout Scope" or Intermediate Eye Relief is what I would need to use here to allow both to be mounted at the same time. It is OK if the sights are not co-witnessed, ie, only one can be used at a time (Scope can be used, but irons can't be until the scope is removed - as long as I can use the scope without removing the irons).
5) Hunting capabilities. I currently plan on using 20 gauge slugs for deer, so unless I end up with a rifle in appropriate caliber we are talking coyotes, really. With a 20 gauge assumed range of 125 yards, I'm pretty limited on deer rifle caliber options that a) cover the 125-200 yard range for deer, and b) also meet preferences 1 and 2. So this is the final and least important preference. I can pick up a dedicated deer rifle later on if my 20 ga isn't doing it for me.
Caliber wise I think I am looking at .223, .22-250, .243, maybe 30-30? Any other suggestions? I don't know if a lever action round really meets the "moderate-range riflework" of #2 (i always have imagined 30-30 as a deer rifle not a paper puncher), i would love to be corrected if I'm wrong) and I don't know about Availability and Reloading Capability for pretty much any centerfire rounds as I have no experience in this arena.
I stumbled across the Mossberg MVP Patrol rifle recently and think that it actually meets a lot of these preferences.
How does a rifle like that compare to something like a Remington 700 for these purposes? Is it pretty much because of the Picatinny rail offering more sighting options and other than that there is no real difference when it comes to meeting my preferences? I'm trying to decide if there is a real reason for going with something like a Mossberg rifle (which I typically consider to be a Shotgun brand) as opposed to a more traditional model.
This is a lot so I'll stop typing now... thank you!