Your priceless cheapo

I guess the one that comes to mind is the Chinese Tok that I bought new for $105 years ago. I can't say that I "love" it, but the infrequent times I've taking it out to shoot I'm reminded how well it runs. I have some cheaper guns, .22 mostly that never see the light of day anymore. Just waiting for a gun buy back program.

My Marlin 795. Second gun I ever bought, and was the one that went to the range with me every time for quite a while.

My first gun ever was a Heritage Arms Rough Rider .22LR/.22Mag(WMR) when I was 16. That was 10 years ago, and I will never sell it. I havent shot it in years but because it is a great firearm, it has sentimental value, and it falls into my latest type of collectables (western/cowboy style firearms) I have plenty of reasons to keep it.

Honorable mention goes to my Raven Arms .25ACP from the early 1970s. It has a chrome finish and faux pearl grips. My first job was at KFC and after we were robbed one Friday night I decided to carry this everyday even though I was only 18 at the time. I still have it, and believe it or not it is pretty darn accurate for what it is and I have never had a single jam. The bullets will punch through a 2x4 with ease, so I dont have any doubt that it would penetrate deep enough to count.

I bought a cheap "philipino beer can" Charles Daly 1911 a long time ago as a beater. Turns out it's accurate, reliable and feeds every type of ammo I've tried to put through it. Probably 10,000 rounds later, it's only got about 1 1/2 inch of rifling left in the bore but still keeps about 2" groups at 25 yards.

I second the rough rider!,

But my First IO ak will be forever treasured...she runs like a top

My #1 true el cheapo gem is my Mossberg model 46b .22. It is worth about $75 but it will never be parted with as long as I draw breath.

My Hp22a. Love it for what it is.... cheap, fun
My Raven. Like mentioned above, fun, accurate and reliable for what it was made for.
All of my Llamas. Real guns for real cheap prices and great range fun.

I have a sweet spot for these kinds of guns, too, and still have the Jennings J22 I bought back in 1987. Never gave me any issues (and I used to shoot it quite a bit the first few years), but I admit I haven't taken it shooting in decades.

I also have both the HP22A and the HRR. Neither is going anywhere. Funny; right before sitting down to log on, I got the Heritage out of the safe just to handle it some!

Years ago I had a Raven that I bought new for less than $50. Wasn't going to win any beauty contests but the gun worked and at the time it was affordable.

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My favorite cheapo is my $100-ish 1940 H&R single-shot break-action 20 gauge.



It might have been the $100 1940 H&R single-shot break-action 12 gauge, but I cut that one to 20" and it kicks like a mule, so....

Several years ago there was a batch of Romanian .22 training rifles available. I found a particularly sad example, with all but one of the rear leaf sights broken off, a gouged stock, a weak extractor and missing magazine. The bore, however, was perfect and the rest of the action seemed OK. I think I got it for $30.

I'm a sucker for guns like this, the way that some people can't resist sad unwanted animals at the pound. Usually I repair them and make them more presentable, but not this one.

Turns out this gun is a perfect match for the Colabri powderless .22s I like (the old, lower-powered version they don't make anymore). The remaining rear sight is spot-on with these things at 30 feet, which is just right. The empty magazine well serves as a perfect ejection port, the extractor would just drop them straight down with no trouble at all. It's easy to load as a single shot, once I'd learned the habit of rotating it 90 degrees while inserting the shell.

I shoot this gun more often than any of my other rimfires, mostly taking down pine cones and shooting hovering carpenter bees out of the air, shots I wouldn't dare with a full-powered .22 (the colabris were less powerful than my air rifles). No hearing protection is required either, which makes a pretty big difference for casual shooting like this. I carry it around the yard whenever the mood strikes and don't care if it picks up another bump or two. I've dropped hundreds of carpenter bees with this thing.

Of all my rifles, this is the only one that never had one of those low-powered rounds get stuck in the bore. I'm guessing it's a bit oversized, another fault that became an accidental plus.

It's just as ugly as the day I got it and I never fixed a thing. Turns out it was perfect all along.

Surprisingly, the cheap gun I was most fond of was the Kimmel AP-9, the Tec-9 ripoff. It was terrible in all aspects, except I apparently had the only two in existence that didn't jam. It could be shot with accuracy, if you got used to the sights and terrible trigger, but I ran enough bulk 9mm (back when it was super cheap) through it to be pretty good at point shooting it.

Good for nothing, but fun. I should have kept them.

My first Hi Point C-9 was less than $100 and has been absolutely flawless with any type of ammo. It is a truck gun that gets shot regularly. I now own 3 C-9s.

My Taurus 22-PLY,,,

My Taurus 22-PLY,,,
It fits the "cheapo" category,,,
Two years ago I paid $201.00 new from Buds.



The little thing likes Wal-Mart Federal Bulk,,,
It's never jammed on me,,,
Not even once.

I liked it so much I bought the .25 ACP version as well,,,
I named them Scylla and Charybdis.

I'm at my office right now,,,
But I'm going to the range in about an hour,,,
They are both in my car as I carry the .25 and plink with the .22.

The year before last I was attending a Rimfire Steel Challenge match,,,
About halfway through the ejector on my Ruger 22/45 broke,,,
I finished the match using the 22-PLY and did very well.

After the match several shooters asked to try the little thing,,,
I know for a fact that two of the people got a 22-PLY for themselves.

It's a cheapie in price,,,
But a winner for performance.

Aarond

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My 1993 Marlin 60. First gun I bought when I turned 18. It's pretty beat up now but still runs like a champ. Paid Less than $150 for it new at Service Merchandise.

It would have to be my HR 1950s single shot 16 gauge my dad gave me when I was 12. I've used that thing to kill most everything here in illinois and still take er out every year

My Rock Island 1911.

My Mosin 91/30. Cheap to shoot, accurate, reliable. Isn't a task I put it to that it doesn't master.

Ruger 10/22 for me. It goes about it's business in a workmanlike manner for a working man price. At $200 I wouldn't call it a cheapo but it has everything you need and nothing you don't for a good price.

My cheapo is a Ruger MKII target. I think I payed $150 for it used about 20 years ago. I've had more fun with that one pistol than anything I own. 22 LR is an obsolete cartridge now I guess.

Me and Ivan, my Mosin Nagant M44 get along just fine.
He hits more or less what I point him at even if my aim isn't that great. Nice and solid. And he cost me $69.95.

Another for a Jennings J22. Was at the LGS years ago and a guy tried to sell his to them. They offered him like $15 for it. Out in the parking lot we talked a bit and he offered to sell it to me for $25. I said OK after seeing that it was not even shot from what I could tell. Got it, 2boxes of CCI Stingers, a IWB leather holster, and two spare MAG's. Not a bad deal for the late 70's IMHO. I can keep all the bullet holes on a paper plate at 6-7 yards and find that amazing for what it is.

Carried it for a time as a BUG with no harm other than holster wear.

I have an old 9 shot NEF 22 revolver that was given to me 20 years ago. Then maybe 10 years back I loaned it to a neighbor and forgot about it. Neighbor passed away and his kids returned it to me as they disliked guns. So now it sits back here again. Actually for a small short barrel revolver it shoots OK. Then there is a pair of old top break revolvers with nickel peeling off that I use as baby wall hangers. If the city ever has another $100 gun buy back those suckers are gone and I'll buy ammo with the money.

Ron