Affordable long rifle

[biokillr]

I would like some opinions on an affordable(cheap) long rifle. I am not very knowledgable in this area but I would like a long rifle to start with. I am not in a financial situation to spend much. I would like a bolt action. I have also not decided on a caliber.

Thanks in advance

 

[OARNGESI]

Mosin nagant sounds perfect for you 200 WILL GET YOU A RIFLE SLING BAYONET AND ALOT OF AMMO

 

[LoonWulf]

If your interested in milsurps id have to agree, the nagant is hard to beat for the price. If your looking for a sporting rifle, or its hard to get 54r ammo in your area, you might want to take a look at a used hunting rifle. I some times see some decent ones in the 200-300 range.

 

[303tom]

I would like some opinions on an affordable(cheap) long rifle. I am not very knowledgable in this area but I would like a long rifle to start with. I am not in a financial situation to spend much. I would like a bolt action. I have also not decided on a caliber.

Thanks in advance

http://www.jgsales.com/mosin-nagant-91-30-round-receiver-rifle,-7.62x54r-caliber.-p-1041.html

 

[jjr0419]

I've recently seen savage axis .30-06 at walmart here for under $300

 

[tacdad]

for a cheaper new rifle look at the Stevens 200 or Savage Axis. GREAT bang for your buck. You can pick them up at almost any gunshop for about $350. You can also get them in just about any standard caliber out there in long or short action. I own a Stevens in .308 win. and if I do my part it will shoot under an inch at 100 yards. There are a ton of people on here that would say the same thing.

 

[brnmuenchow]

Mosin nagant sounds perfect for you 200 WILL GET YOU A RIFLE SLING BAYONET AND ALOT OF AMMO

Yup.

 

[denton]

I have a Finnish Mosin, and they are usually the most accurate of the Mosins. If you replace the sights with Mojo sights for around $60, most of the time you can do 2" groups at 100 yards with them. Russian Mosins tend more toward 3-4", with some happy exceptions. Russian Mosins can be had in my area for about $130. That's hard to beat for a rifle in the 308 to 30-06 power neighborhood. The problems are that they are heavy and that mounting a scope is not very easy.

I would tend more toward picking up an inexpensive modern bolt action rifle, either new or used. With some looking, you can get something with a scope for around $350 or so. For just exploding pop cans, breaking rocks, and target shooting the 223 is very hard to beat. If you're going to hunt deer, then pick from 243, 260, 7mm-08, or 308. If you get a 30-06, you probably won't enjoy doing a lot of shooting at the range, but you'll be able to hunt anything in North America.

For basic fun, you might look around for one of the old Savage or Stevens bolt action 30-30s. Those can be had for $200 or so. They are mild, fun to shoot, and potent enough for deer out to maybe 125-150 yards. The other really fun alternative is the Marlin lever action in 357 Magnum, the handgun round. Those are extremely fun to shoot, very mild, and still enough for deer out to 100-125 yards. If you reload, they are very cheap to shoot. But those will run about $400. In 22LR, take a serious look at the Henry lever action rifles. They run about $260 new and are a lot of fun. They are big enough for rabbits, skunks, and raccoons, very mild, and a nice firearm.

 

[BrocLuno]

I'd start with nice used 22 rifle. Great way to build skills. Ammo is dirt cheap. Shot placement most important. Rifle could be as little as $75 from a local pawn shop. Hard to beat that, even with a Mil-Surp

 

[ColtPythonElite]

What do you want to do with it? Unless big game hunting is in your plans,my advice would be to buy .22 rifle. Guns are like pets, you have to feed them. You can feed a .22 for 1/5 the cost of feeding a Mosin.

 

[travisd]

A Savage Axis is a great rifle and can be had for cheap. I paid $350 for mine in .223. Very accurate and cheap ammo. Is alot of fun. Cant beat a good .22 either.

 

[biokillr]

I am not new to shooting in general I have an ar an ak and several .22 rifles. I'm looking for a longer range rifle( not a 1000yd gun). I might do some hunting with it at some point. I mainly want to work on my longer range shots and get familiar with the larger caliber bolt action rifles. This is just a starting point. I like the .308 caliber.

 

[LoonWulf]

Well, the .308 offers nothing the 54r dosent have, except a modern bolt platform lol. If your enamored to the .308, then look at the lower end sporting rifles, Axis, stevens 200, Xs7, hell since they handle so poorly ive seen 770s for about 200 bucks, and every once in a while ill see a 700 around 3. The mossberg ATRs are about 300 new, the only one i ever handled SEEMED pretty decent, but alot of folks have given them bad reviews.

 

[wnycollector]

I checked out a .308 Marlin XS7VH at a gun show two weeks ago. It had a very nice adjustable trigger and a 26" heavy barrel for only $300. Toss on a Bushnell 3200 elite 10x42 scope on top of it (~$200 at Midway) and you should have a very nice budget rifle capable of reaching out a long way.

 

[mortablunt]

Mosin-Nagant M91/30 in 7.6x54R. It's the bestselling gun in America this year, it's powerful, reliable, and accurate. For $150, you can get a rifle, sling, cleaning kit, bayonet, clips, and some good 80 rounds of ammunition.

 

[Kachok]

Skip the Mosin-Nagant. They do not stack up against a good Savage or Marlin IMHO. They are heavy, bulky and have all the egronomics of a cinderblock. That said they are accurate enough and powerful enough for deer hunting. But far from my first pick. A budget Savage Stevens or Marlin will perform vastly better, weight three pounds less, and are available in much more available calibers like the 30-06, 270 win, and 308 all great genral use calibers. The 7.62x54 is available in soft point ammo but 99% of the time it is sub standard stuff not up to core-lokt standards for sure.

 

[GuysModel94]

Just purchased a Marlin XL7 in 30-06 (laminate stock) and absolutely love it. For $348.- it's one of my best buy's ever. An adjustable trigger at this price used to be unheard of. The Syn. stock was just $299.99.

 

[biokillr]

Wow thanks for the information. The Stevens 200 is looking pretty good.

 

[shiftyer1]

The 91/30 is definately a LONG rifle.......and it shoots far too!

 

[charlie echo]

I shot a Mosin-Nagant. I'd get failure to fire too often. Are those Commie guns?

CZ (Brno) V24 8 MM Mauser (German/Czech) or 7.62x51 MM Lee-Enfields (British/Indian) I can trust to hit vitals into any standing threat or game under 100 yards open iron sights.

 

[denton]

There a lot of excellent chamberings available. A couple of thoughts on your choices---

You want something to practice with. OK. That rules out the 30-06, which is an excellent big game rifle. But by the time you've shot 25 rounds at the range, the fun is over. You need something that will let you shoot 25 rounds and still be wanting to shoot more.

The 308 and the 270 are two common cartridges that you might like. Either will hunt very well, and neither has excessive recoil.

Personally, I'd be looking for something a bit lighter. Your sweet spot might be something in the 243, 260, or 7mm-08 range. 243 sometimes gets a bum rap over wounding game. My theory is that it's very easy to get a 70-80 grain bullet going a lot faster than a cup and core bullet was designed to do. Shoot a 100 grain Partition at 2950 FPS, and you won't have those problems. The 260 is a delightful round, but not very common. The 7mm-08 is fun to shoot and with the right bullet is adequate for anything except bear.

The other good choice is the old Stevens/Savage 30-30 bolt action. They are about 2 MOA guns, plenty good for sharpening shooting skills, adequate for fairly close-in deer shots, and they won't beat you up at all. I reload cast bullets for mine, which makes it a cheap to operate proposition. I put a Williams peep sight on mine, and really enjoy it.

 

[Grunt]

Nah, those are Czarist guns. Seriously though, the Mosin-Nagant is not nearly as bad as haters make them out to be. Sure, they are long but you did say you wanted a cheap "long" gun, right? While not as accurate as some civilian rifles, they do tend to be more accurate than some of the shooters I've seen shooting civilian rifles. Kind of like the one guy I seen years ago with a Remington 788 that was getting 6 inch patterns at 100 yards and thought it was pretty good!:banghead: Yeah, they are probably going to be heavier than a civilian rifle but that's what the gym is for. Yes, they do recoil a bit more than an AR-15 so you just have to harden up a bit. In every case, I have found them to be rugged, reliable, simple to use, inexpensive to buy (but not cheap in quality) and ammo can be had for pennies. Accuracy can vary from alright as in my M38's case to excellent like my 91/30PU and M39. I mean, anybody can go out and buy a used rifle that has maybe shot a deer or two but how many people can say that their deer rifle has likely shot a freakin' Nazi in his dome piece as well?

 

[Kachok]

Beginer rifle cartrages.
243 good sissy kicker for a child or beginier shooter, good trajectory and dual purpose deer/varmint. Ammo is everywhere and not bad pricewise $17.95 a box at the local Walmart. While the 243 is suatable for deer sized game I always recommend that people don't take off angle shots since most commercial 243 ammo has somewhat limited penatration due to it's light bullets. Recoil rateing 10lbs
25-06 a little more punch and kick then the 243 and a trajectory that rivals some of the magnums, ammo can be a little harder to find. $22.95 a box for core-lokts at wally world. Recoil 12 lbs
6.5x55 The king of sissy kickers, less recoil then the 243, but hits hard downrange with a much heavier more efficient bullet (ususaly 140gr) trajectory is not quite as flat but the penatration is usualy much higher. My personal favorite caliber, it is used around the world for everything from rabbit to polor bear, it's unusualy high twist rate allows for very long javlin like bullets that penatrate deep enough for even the largest of game, giving it a disproportinate killing effect for it's level of energy. No guns or ammo at wal-mart but I buy good import ammo for $13.50 a box online. Recoil 10 lbs
260 Rem similar to the 6.5x55 just with more punch in most factory loadings. Solid performer but like the 6.5 guns and ammo are harder to come across. $24 a box at my local gun store. Recoil 13lbs
270 win, high performance round, like the 25-06 it has minimal drop for long range shooting and is my top pick for open country hunting. Recoil is not bad but might still give a newbi a jolt. Guns and ammo are everywhere and inexpensive 17.95 a box for core-lokts. Recoil 15lbs
7mm-08 is a superb choice, a little more kick then the 260 but a full step down from the 270 or 308. Like the 6.5x55 and 260 almost all commercial lodings are 140gr which is ideal for deer sized game. Not hard to find guns or ammo but not super easy either. Recoil 13 lbs
308 win, is a top contender, cheap import and surplus ammo, short action and it is suitable for larger game thanks to its 30 cal bullets up to 180gr. Nothing outstanding about its performance but it has no weak points either. Recoil 15 lbs
30-06 This is the largest and hardest kicking caliber that I would recomend to a newbi, a bit stout with the heavier bullets, similar in performance to the 308 with lighter bullets but the real difference is in it's ability to use the super heavy 200-240gr bullets which make it a better choice if you list of game include anamals larger then elk. 06 rifles and ammo are everywhere and run $17.95 a box for come-lokts. Much like the 6.5x55 the 06 is a jack of all trades, and unlike the 6.5x55 you don't have to handload to unlock it's potential. Recoil 17 lbs
I hope this helps with caliber selection. Whatever you do don't start off on the magnum bandwagoon. Most kick in excess of what a beginer can handle, and are overkill for deer sized game within realistic ranges, plus the ammo costs twice as much as standard cartrages so they really are not worth it unless you handload and have some place to hunt where 400+ yard shots are then norm, which is very rare to say the least.

 

[Kachok]

I am not a Mosin hater, they are a great historic weapon, completly functional and accurate enough for genral hunting use. However they are hard on the shoulder thanks to the steel butt plate, they require special scope mounts, they use an oddball caliber that you likley won't be able to find any proven factory ammo for (core-lokt, Ballistic tip, Fusion SST.....etc) They are too long and heavy to make carrying though the woods enjoyable. So I would never dream or recomend one to a rifle/hunting newbi, now a seasoned hunter who handloads and does not mind carrying around a heavy rifle, that is a different story for sure.
My 6lbs 42" Savages and Tikka will do vastly more then any Mosin and are pleasure to carry and shoot, and I can go to any decent store and find a wide variety of quality ammo. (not as good as my handloads though )

 

[Mike J]

If it were me I would probably be shopping the used racks at the local pawn shops/gun shops. Of course before doing this it would be a good idea to do some homework on what new & used rifles of the type you are interested in go for. I don't know where you live but between when deer season ends & spring will probably be about the best time to buy if you have the money. It doesn't hurt to let people know what you are looking for either. I have had folks I worked with offer to either sell me a gun or tell me about guns other folks have for sale.

FWIW: I don't hate Mosins either & I do believe one would work but I like to buy rifles for calibers that I can go buy a box of ammunition at any Wal Mart or Mom & Pop gun store that is convenient to where I am.