How much are you willing to spend on a knockaround rifle?

$200 at most, but less if possible. I like the beat up, full of scratches and dents.

Gives it character and history of people who have used it before me.

My Weatherby Vanguard is my go-to woods rifle- the Mcmillan poly stock was a little beat when I got it. Think I paid $350 for it some years ago.

On the other hand, it is wearing a $1200 scope, so........theres that, lol.

About $500

This role is filled perfectly in my opinion by sporterized mausers. Cheap, but built to be abused by soldiers in adverse environments with little to no maintenance. 3 or 4 hundred bucks can get you a pretty robust specimen.

For plinking, its my 22. lr Ithaca 49 single shot rifle, $99 out the door.
For hunting, its my T53 Chinese Mosin Nagant fits the bill, and in the way back machine, $145. (That was some years ago for sure)

I don't know how much they cost, but I like Ruger American Ranches for beat around guns. Mine have taken some good use and still work like a charm. I like 10/22's for beater 22's. I have about five of them that I have picked up over the years for usually around 100 bucks. A couple of them are fancy, but the others are just stock with a good scope.

I honestly don’t know if I own a rifle that I paid less than $700 for at this point. Most of my rifles are ARs of some flavor or Ruger No. 1s. I’m not particularly rough on them intentionally, but my pig hunting rifles get muddy, dinged and scratched in the dark. I don’t like to scratch up a rifle, but it doesn’t hurt my feelings too bad if they develop a little character.

Ruger American price.

I have some rifles that are “safe queens” that didn’t cost much and others that cost thousands that are “tools”. Not really a money thing for me. More like paying good money for a pair of boots you like vs getting a cheap pair that hurt your feet. I still remember when a $250 gun was a lot of money, since those days, I have spent more than that on a dinner. Heck, my first 2200 square foot house cost me less than my last truck. $200 is only two tanks of fuel for it and it’s gone forever. 10 times that for a gun that will last decades of even hard use and proper maintenance is a heck of a bargain.

I do like inexpensive guns that work though.

$200 Mossberg with $100 Bushnell

That's about where I like it, give it take

The surplus stuff, though cheap, never gets cheaper, so I don't like to beat them up too much.

What ever it cost, "IF" I really want it...

I've always been that way, I just save until it happens!

DM

I will spend more for something I intend to use hard.

The carbon stock isn’t to look cool, it’s so when my clumsy arse falls on it I don’t break it in half.

The pricey euro scope holds zero if, when, I mean when, I drop my rifle while fumbling my coffee tank.

The nitrided, super expensive action doesn’t bend to jam or have the bolt handle break off on my chest as I, inadvertently, fling myself gymnast style over a fence, face first onto my rifle and the frozen ground.

The match grade, extreme weather, wonder-snuff ammunition will still hit were I expected it to, even though I forgot to put it back in my pocket to warm up, after dumping said pocket’s entire contents into the creek(pronounced “crick”) because it would make just such a nice photo...

And two thousand for a rifle, plus another again for the scope isn’t bad nowadays. With the intent of surviving myself for a good number of years...

I buy all of my rifles with the intent to use them. The harsher the conditions, the more important quality becomes. I have some less expensive rifles that shoot quite accurately, but they are only used at the firing range to punch holes in paper. When I'm on a hunt 1500 miles from home, 7 miles from the road, in rugged conditions and in bad weather I want a rifle and scope that I can depend on to work. A few dents, scratches, and surface rust are just part of the character of the rifle.

The rifles for which I have spent the most are built for the hardest use. Any given weekend I’m running $4000-7000 rigs into barricades and wedging them against limestone boulders. The least expensive centerfire rifles I have taken afield in recent years have been around $1500.

^ that’s the “tool” part I was referring to. Gun games can be a bit different in requirements than other tasks.

That said, I keep a $150 Winchester 94 on the mule at the farm because it’s the same tool it’s always been and works for the job it does.

Nothing's better than a tool (firearm) that is ugly from honest wear, it stands tribute to the trials and tribulations its user(s) have overcome.

DM~ said:

What ever it cost, "IF" I really want it...

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This. I will gladly pay for performance, and use it as it's meant to be used. If that means that an expensive rifle/optic combo package gets scrapes and dents - so be it.

I buy all of my rifles with the intent to use them. The harsher the conditions, the more important quality becomes.

Click to expand...

This is a great way to express it.

KsSkaEnthusiast said:

Personally I do not have a rifle i would consider particularly nice and all of them are able to get dirty at this point. But I see some who pay much much larger amounts than i have and i applaud their disregard to vanity. When i see someone with a brand new model 70 featherweight in the field and i weight it against the tc venture i paid 200 dollars for I have to give it to them, they are not afraid to rough up things much nicer than mine. If i were looking for a premium rifle id probably take an older beaten up model 70 that I can find for about 450 with all the field scratches and wear already stricken onto it but i feel as though that's about as expensive as i would go.

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I don’t see any rifle as something I won’t use (it’s why I no longer collect) so really any price point is a knock around rifle for me. But I also refuse to spend more than about $500 on one.

I can see both sides of the coin. My frugal instincts make me want to grab something old and not especially collectible that someone else already beat up a little bit if I’m taking it into the woods and weather.

On the other hand, especially on a fine day, there’s nothing wrong with using a beautiful piece for the purpose for which it was intended, IF you have the ability to repair or replace it should an accident happen, which is probably inevitable at some point if you use them regularly and extensively. My own number is about $700. (What I have in the gun, not replacement cost. I view my guns as enjoyment not as investments.) But even beyond the dollars, is the question of how easy the gun might be to replace if necessary. If I damage a new CZ I could go out and find another without much trouble. But a neat old pre-64 Winchester with gorgeous wood, well... good luck replacing that easily, even if in theory it’s affordable enough. The trick would be finding one.

The only occasion in my life thus far to actually subject a rifle to deliberate knocks was back in the early 1980s. I'd just finished my 4-year degree and was in job hunting limbo for several years, two of which I spent with my dad trying to grow almonds on about 11 acres belonging to a family friend.

There was a PVC pipe bungied in my usual Case tractor that served as a scabbard for my very first rifle, a Marlin-Glenfield M25 bolt action .22 that the old man got me for my 16th birthday at KMart for $30.



The orchard hadn't been harvested the previous year, and the ground squirrel population had skyrocketed with all that free food. Actually, we ended up spending more time cutting up fallen trees for firewood than tending productive trees, but we still tried to grow as many almonds as possible.

I typically made ace on every varminting trip, and often bagged a couple more while disking between the trees -- hence the practice of keeping the rifle in the tractor. I learned to hate those danged squirrels! There was a cemetary just south of the orchard, so I mostly used CB Longs to keep the noise down and refrained from shooting during graveside services.



The rifle's stock had been badly beaten and the muzzle nicked, so some years later I shortened and recrowned the barrel, and had a new front sight and a second stock lug installed so I could replace the hardwood stock with a synthetic model intended for Marlin's tubular mag bolt action. I had to cut a new magwell for the box magazine, but otherwise the stock was a drop-in. I also replaced my old Weaver scope with a newer Barska rimfire scope in a very solid unitized airgun mount. I treasure the rifle, both in remembrance of my old man and of a very happy birthday.

As I've tried to explain to my kids - it's not about having money, it's how you spend it. My eldest stepson spends at least $100 per week eating out - if he simply cut that in half, he'd have $2600 at the end of the year to buy whatever object he wanted. He has an $800 smartphone that he has to upgrade every two years - if he waited one more year before upgrading, there's another $800 in his pocket for something else.

For most of us, we have enough discretionary income to afford most any common firearm - it all comes down to where we wanna put our money. In his case, he wants to eat out with friends and is willing to sacrifice bits of kit to do so. Other folk (like me) would much rather cook at home and spend the money on quality hard parts.

I'm a bit confused. The title of the thread references "knockaround rifle" but then the text describes a hunting rifle. For me, a knockabout rifle is something used strictly for utility, around a ranch or farm. Something to take care of the occasional pest and/or target of opportunity. Which is what the Ruger Ranch Rifle is made for, as are most .22's, depending on need.

That said, I won't own a gun I wouldn't take afield. Whether it's a $75 Mossberg .22 or a $4000 Merkel shotgun, they all get used. I don't believe in this nonsense that any gun is "too nice" to use. It's an order of magnitude weirder that someone would think a standard production bolt action rifle would qualify. For what it's worth, the rifle I've hunted with the most since I got it, is this hand built flintlock that cost me nearly $3000. It is an honor and a privilege to impart wear and battle scars on such a fine rifle.