Tell us about your cheap, old, accurate rifles

I have 2 Marlin 60s that surprise me regularly. One is a 1979 make topped with a Nikon Prostaff Rimfire II. The other is a 1983 make with the factory sights replaced with Tech Sites. The Dirty Bird target is the scoped one at 100 yards, 3-shot group on the left. The 1" black dot is the Tech Site version rezeroing for a 50 yard match. The rifle shoots good, but the match was cancelled. The flier on the left is me. I do that sometimes with nearly all my rifles. Two shots together and one wide left is the pattern I've evidently developed lately.

Cheap old accurate:
Savage 340 30-30
Remington 34 .22s/l/lr

cheap not old accurate:
Ruger 10-22
Savage axis 243win

Cooey Model 60 .22 S/L/LR with original iron sights. Surprisingly accurate. The value is sentimental. Older than me by approximately half a century, I guess. Family inheritance.

Rem 722 in .222 and stevens 22-410 come to mind. Not necessarily cheap, but not outlandish. Both 60+ years old. Newer Marlin 17VS is a needle threader... 1957 Romanian SKS is relatively accurate, with silver dollar groups at 50yds. It was $150, back when 1000 rds of x39 was 90 bucks.

I have a sporterized M1917 that I found in a pawnshop several years ago for $125. It has a shadow and holes where a receiver sight was once installed. Now drilled and tapped. I've only fired it for groups at 100 yards once, and it was under 1" with the hunting SP version of my M1 standard load. It has a very old, likely home brewed glass bedding on a goofy cheek rest and palm swell stock. I think it was someone's NRA match rifle at some point. Strangely, this one shoots 150 and 180 grain loads to the same POI at my 75 yard practice range at hunting camp where it lives for backup, plinking and varmint duty.

Ruger 10-22, crazy accurate with iron sights up to 60 yards or so. 1898ish Flobert Parlor Rifle single shot .22 with CB Cap ammo - $2.75 new...

I cant flaunt this one enough! 1895 chilean with a swede barrel in 6.5x55 installed. The $220 leupold scope cost more than the gun. It holds tight groups even when the barrel gets hot. Like it so much I checkered it and had it cerakoted.

My $150 Mauser ES 420 22LR

Got an old marlin 17 hmr that I picked up for 230 bucks with a scope on it. I upgraded the scope and glass bed the lug polished up the trigger. I can shoot flies off my 100 yard target. Super fun to shoot

A $150 Mossberg 146 .22 LR at 50 yds. with bulk ammunition and iron/aperture sights.



35W

I have a sporterized 1903 Springfield with peep sights, a Lyman brass bead front sight and a Williams rear. I bought it cheaply 20+ years ago. With the ammo it likes, it will do sub 1" 5 shot groups all day. And its not all that picky about ammo. The bore is rather pitted, but it shoots. My friend was a bit miffed once that I outshot his scoped .30-06. This rifle will never get a scope.

Unfortunately, I don't have any rifles that fit all 3 criteria. But I enjoy reading about the ones that do.

Alaskan Ironworker said:

I cant flaunt this one enough! 1895 chilean with a swede barrel in 6.5x55 installed. The $220 leupold scope cost more than the gun. It holds tight groups even when the barrel gets hot. Like it so much I checkered it and had it cerakoted.

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Looks awesome!

This stupid thing is, well, stupid accurate-

Romanian M69, born in '82. Paid $150 bux for it and another $60 for the scope, IIRC.

Bacon buster said:

Got an old marlin 17 hmr that I picked up for 230 bucks with a scope on it. I upgraded the scope and glass bed the lug polished up the trigger. I can shoot flies off my 100 yard target. Super fun to shootView attachment 969832

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Is that the offender's guts there on the target? My 17 marlin is accurate, but not like that!

Yes. That’s what happens when a 17 gr vmax meets a fly at 100 yards. It was a smiling moment at 18x

Noteworthy is the fact that even though it is a very accurate rifle it does suffer from an occasional flier. I can put four in a tiny space and most often than not the fifth will open the group up into the .4s

I have an early 70s 94 Winchester in 30-30 I give a guy a Benji for probably 5 6 yrs ago. Had to do a little work to it like tighten up the lever and give it a thorough cleaning. As far as accuracy, I can pick off 5 hour energy drink bottles off the fence post with it at 75yrds......about as far as I can see the dern thing with irons and my eyesight....

Mine is the 1942 Winchester 74 22 LR that I got from my dad. I have had trouble with it for decades but I finally discovered a bad rocker spring and replaced it. Now it shoots dime size groups at 25 yards with Lapua Center X. Not what I would normally shoot in it. I am amazed. Not as good as my CZ's but close. I was tempted to use it in a match but the match was cancelled. Sorry no pic.

Sometime in the 70’s before I was born my dad bought a .303 Lee-Enfield. He said it was in a barrel with about a dozen others in a pawn shop, and nearly black from neglect and general dirt and oil. He gave $30 (he thinks) for it, took it home and cleaned it up, cut the stock off about where a standard stock would be and put a cheap scope on it.

I never saw him shoot it but a friend of mine in high school had one just like it and I shot his and really liked it, something about that awful 2 stage trigger. I went home and asked dad to sell me his as he never shot it, he replied with basically, “No, but you can have it. Only shoots about 4” groups at 100 yards, I guess you can hunt with it but he better be close.”

So the next day I took it and put a Leupold VX-3 on it went out in the pasture to the bench and put 5 shots in group about nickel size, slightly larger, I still remember moving the nickel around trying to make it cover but it just wouldn’t do it. Also I’ve since figured out 5 shots is about the limit, after that the thin barrel starts heating up and groups open up quick.


I showed the target to my dad when he got home from work he said, “that at 25 yards” I told him it was 100 and he literally didn’t believe me. So we went out to the bench and he shot 4 shots in a single hole you could hide behind a dime. And all that with factory 180gr Remington CoreLokt

I just kept reminding him he had done given it to me, no take backs. He just kept saying, “I wish I had put a decent scope on it” while laughing.
His mind was blown, and it it still the most accurate gun I own. More so than some near 2k setups I have. I only ever use it for hunting and I killed several good deer with it. That old Leupold is still on it and that group my dad shot is still the best I’ve ever seen from that rifle.

I have been told it’s extremely uncommon for the Enfield’s to be accurate, much less really accurate.

This one is pretty darn good:



It's a Springfield 840, 222 Rem. Shoots under 1/2" with factory ammo. Only cost me $350, with the included Bushnell 6x40 scope.



The little Remington on the top was bought for $50 a couple years ago. Some moron tapped it for Weaver bases (among other atrocities), so I put some on and mounted the ancient ($20) Bushnell 3-9x32 scope. It will shoot five shots in one hole at 50 yards; most accurate 22 I own. The Marlin shown below, while not "cheap" ($375), is also very, very accurate. I bought it last year and mounted the Williams rear sight. Makes a good critter gun, and I think when we start having turkey shoots again, it will bring home some meat.

Mac

Win model 67. One positive thing that came out of 2020, picked this rifle up for $80. My five year old shoots pretty well with it also. I did get a rear sight elevator for it, other than that in great condition for being made in '34 or '35.

My 2 Remington 788s. .223 24" barrel rifle(114.99 new) and a 7mm-08 18" carbine ( 149.99 new). Just loaded up some standard loads and stopped. .223 under a dime and 7mm-08 in a nickle at 100yds.

I do pretty well with this Mossberg.