New to rifles need suggestions

[saltyphotog]

I am new to the shooting game, been into shotguns for a while, but I was considering a rifle. I will use it mostly for target, but also deer occassionaly. My question is what would you all advise as a good fun shooter. I have heard good things about the AR 15, SKS, and Ak-47's, but I was wondering what the experienced shooters prefer. I am on a budget, but am willing to splurge a little on a nice gun. Ammo cost is more of a concern for the long haul. Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[rangerruck]

I would suggest a bolt action for your first rifle. You can go to a gunshow and find some great deals. i was just at the Pasadena gun show, and a guy has a left handed Savage, circa 1965, left handed, and looks perfect , for 300 bucks. another guy hand a blonde stocked old savage in 30/06 for 175! You can get a brand new savage package gun with boresighted scope for about 400 bucks, and savage is quite accurate. If you wanna spend a few more bucks and get a rifle you will keep for life, go with a cz, It will also probably be the most accurate rifle you will ever buy as well.
get a rifle chambered in a milsurp cartridge, such as 762.39, 223,308, 30.06, 6.5 swedish, 8mm mauser. the best round here overall is the 6.5 swede, it is a long distance shooters dream, they are mislurp and new made, new they are about 8 bucks a box, you can get a new cz or a refinihsed kimber or howa for about 4 to 500 bucks, they have a light kick, and you can shoot everything from varmints to muleys with it.

 

[gunlover_06]

new rifle

+1 on the 6.5x55 swede i have one and absolutely love it although i also have the other calibers listed as well except for the 308 and thats next on my wish list. do what rangerruck said and get a 6.5x55 swede you wont regret it at all..just my .02 worth,
what ever you dicide on enjoy the sport.

 

[Art Eatman]

Rifle shooting is indeed a different deal from shotgunning. the least expensive way to learn the basics is an inexpensive bolt-action, magazine-fed .22 rimfire. You can work on the eye-finger-sights coordination at low cost. "Just plinking" is fun, as well. For all practical purposes, .22s never wear out.

Any cartridge from the .243 on up to the .30-'06 is plenty good for most lower-48 game, although the .243 is a bit light for, say, elk. Take your time while you're doing the .22 thing and look around. Feel and fondle and all that. There is little practical difference among brands of rifles insofar as inherent accuracy. The $$$ difference, usually, is in exterior fit and finish.

Doing as much looking at gun stores with large selections, and at gunshows, as you can. Sooner or later, you'll hear that small voice that says, "Take me home!"

You have the same deal with rifles as with shotguns, as to how the stock fits. Length of pull, drop at heel, etc.

Art

 

[zero_chances]

i just bought a Marlin 336 at a pawn shop for 200 bucks. it is in brand new condition. i had a lot of fuun shooting it last friday. Its a 30-30 caliber, so it will dop a deer.

Btw, a box of 20 shells, is 11.95. At Galyans/Dick sporting goods, they have a box of 150 once shot reloaded shells for only 35 bucks.

 

[Mauserguy]

I personally would stay away from the more exotic cartridges like the 6.5MM Swedish. It's certainly a fine cartridge, and will accomplish everything you could ask of it, but if you are concerned about ammo costs in the long haul, I would get an SKS. They are cheap right now, and the ammo is relatively innexpensive. Also, a SKS is a good plinking gun that can be pressed into service as a hunting rifle if you need it to be.

I would consider getting a second rifle, though. A SKS is a good plinker, and can be extended into a deer rifle, but you may want a scoped rifle, as such I would go with a Savage or similar gun as a second rifle. I would go with the ubiquitous 30-06 Springfield cartridge. You can find them everywhere, and they will do anything, except maybe Cape Buffalo.
Cheers,
Mauserguy

 

[rockstar.esq]

So I'll be the one to break a trend and say that the 6.5 Swede although a fine cartridge, if you're the least bit concerned about ammo availibility you are up a creek in most areas. The mil surp ammo isn't loaded with hunting bullets (expanding type) and is therefore not legal to hunt with. The classic advice is the 30-06 because it is suitable for all game in North America, comes factory loaded in possibly the greatest selection of any cartridge, and it is possibly the most popular cartridge in the world. Consider that even some hardware stores will have a box of .22LR, 12G and 30-06 but little else. My personal choice is the .308 Winchester because it boasts a VERY similar ballistic profile in a shorter case. Additionally, the .308Win led to smaller targets at 1000 yd championships that had been previously ruled by the 30-06. I enjoy the .308 because it's NATO version 7.62x51 is availible in military surplus ammo packs for cheap plinking, and the premium ammo is availble at Wally worlds everywhere. The AK/ SKS concept as a hunting rifle has it's advocates, primarily for those who shoot in deep woods senarios akin to those where lever actions typically rule the roost. The 7.62x39 has struck me as very similar to the 30-30 ballistically, in both cartridges, accuracy has never been amazing (nor does it need to be for this application). Just something to consider if target precision is something you are even vaguely serious about. I will heartily endorse the Savage reccomendation as my .308 Win is a Savage 10FP-LE2 which is a police marksman variant of their standard model 10. If money is VERY tight, I'd reccomend a Mosin Nagant or a M44 as the 7.62x54R is ballistically similar to the 30-06, and ammo costs < $3.00 / 20 rnds. Barnual loads soft point bullets in this calber as does Winchester, however you will have to order them online as most gun shops only stock the milsurp ammo. I purchased my M44 for under $100.00 and restocked it with a polymer monte carlo style stock for under $70.00. Do a search on M44 or scout rifles and you'll get a great feel for what can be done with these fine old rifles.

 

[saltyphotog]

Thanks for you help

I was looking at the remington 7400 in the 30-06. Anyone fired this gun? Also what are your thoughts on the synthetic vs. wood stocks.

 

[EvisceratorSrB]

A nice bolt action rifle will be good. My experience with 4 different Yugo M48 8mm's have all been great. Accurate for long range, plenty powerful (although you can't go hunting with these guys), and VERY reliable. 8mm is plenty cheap, although with hard primers youll get a misfire here and there.

For self loading, I'd either go with an SKS or a Ruger 10/22, whichever caliber you prefer. The 7.62x39 is plenty powerful for most hunting in the Americas. Also a fun plinker The 10/22 .22lr is even better for plinking and the .22lr is plenty available and cheap!

My Yugo M48 was $250 but you can find it cheaper. A 10/22 would be about $250 as well. The SKS you can find even cheaper, at around $180 for a Yugo 59/66.

All the rifles mentioned above would be good choices. I would recommend a bolt action rifle for your first rifle, however.

 

[Sika Stalker]

6.5x55

The 6.5x55 is a prefect caliber for both deer hunting and target shooting
im using it in a tikka T3 bolt action with 140grain bonded bullets for deer and 108grain hollowpoints for targets with little pratice you can get the bullets to clover

 

[DWARREN123]

Just looking and listening to people until something comes up that you really want. There are so many good rifles and calibers out there that it is sometimes so very hard to decide.
Good luck in your search.

 

[KC&97TA]

I was looking at the remington 7400 in the 30-06. Anyone fired this gun? Also what are your thoughts on the synthetic vs. wood stocks.

I have a Remmy 7400 .243, it's a good gun, when clean and not in below 0 weather it has always operated, tends to jam when it's really cold. They do make 10 round mags for them if you look around, but it's not an assult rifle by any means.

I'd tell you to stick with a cartridge that is common, look what walmart sells and what you can pick up at the local gas stations.

Nothing beats a good Bolt gun with a scope for hunting, .270, .308, 30-06 are great rounds for hunting and not too expenisive. A bolt gun will last you your entire live, if you're buying shells, if you start to reload and experiment with 'hot loads' that's when you'll wear the barrel out.

For plinking, assult rifle style, the 7.62x39 used to be dirt cheap, now it's comparable to .223. I consider these rounds and .243 too small for hunting medium game, although they work great on fox and coyote.

AR-15's are great rifles, but the cheap ones don't always work that well, you want a quality AR rifle if you're getting into one, RRA or Bushmaster make very good rifles and they're going to run you $750-900, with practice your accuracy can go out beyond 500 yards. The SKS's will only run you around $100-200, they're cheap accurate to 200 yards and can take some abuse. AK's cost twice as much as SKS's, and run about the same accuracy, plus they have the name appeal as one of the oldest assult rifles in the world.

Synthetic vs Wood is alot of personal choice till you get to the high end sniper rifles that are bedded. A good floating barrel (that means it's just connected to the reciever and not screwed or bolted to the stock) is what you're after. Synthetic handles up better to crashing through brush and ridding in the gun racks of ATV's. Wood is prettier in my opinion, but won't take the abuse plastic will.

 

[mountainclmbr]

I would say that AR15 and AK47 variants are not even close to ideal for hunting. Not just looking at accuracy, the cartridges are not available in very good hunting rounds. You will probably spend as much on practice ammo as the rifle, so I would recommend something like a .308 that still has inexpensive surplus ammo. The action I would recommend is bolt action, but semi auto, pump or lever could be fine too. Most will shoot much better than an AK-47. The 22 cal AR15 is too light for deer IMO and illegal in many states for hunting deer. The 30-06 is also a fine round, especially if you may want a heavier bullet for larger game

 

[Eightball]

Mosin 1891/30. Ultimate budget "fun gun/deer gun". $70 or so gets you into the club. Mine's plenty accurate with the irons--1 MOA (estimated) 100 yds, offhand. Get some SP bullets, and it'd be good for deer (yes, they exist). Is it ideal? No. Is it fun? yes. Is it cheap to shoot? How does 880 rounds of 7.62x54R for $65 sound? SKS and AK are nifty, but ammo cost=going up. And, you can have multiple Mosins for the cost of 1 AK--one you "bubba-ize" and make into a nifty deer item (if you can get it drilled and tapped--I personally don't like "scout" scopes, but YMMV), and one in it's "stock" configuration to be a bounce-around fun gun. I love mine--all serials match, for $70 , not $200. Find one with a good barrel, and you're set.

 

[dfaugh]

Another vote for an accurate (NO 10/22s ) .22 for a first rifle.

You can shoot all day for for $10. There's no recoil, that might help develop bad habits. All the "techniques" for good shooting still apply. And what you learn will transfer to a larger caliber, when the time comes to pick something.

I have both a Marlin Model 60(semi) and 25N(bolt), both (but especially the 60) are way more accurate than they have a right to be for what they cost. Both have inexpensive scopes mounted, and they work just fine.. If you wanna spend a bit more the CZs seem to be great (No first hand knowledge, but I've never heard anything negative about them.)

You want as accurate as possible so you can judge your improvement.

Many recommend Milsurps for first guns. But, in my experience (I have several) they aren't the best choice. Yes, they are cheap, and so is the (milsurp) ammo. But, none that I've had were very accurate, especially with milsurp ammo. Much better with commercial ammo, but that's more costly. And most, in their original configuration, kick pretty hard. I shoot mine fairly infrequently for those 2 reasons. But, a .22 will always go to the range with me, and I'll always shoot it the most. Since I've been shooting the .22 alot, and on a regular basis, my shooting with all my rifles has improved immensly.

My .02