This is perhaps a bit of an off the wall suggestion, but, if the rifle is to be used as an "all around" rifle and hunting won't be it's main niche, well....
I bought my 11yo Godson a
Hi Point 9mm 995 Carbine based on my brother's recommendation, about 9 months ago. (my bro runs a local range and has shot pretty much everything on the market). The 995's are dirt cheap- under $200 brand new, but they are also
very reliable. They supposedly call it
"the Cadillac of crap." LOL.
In testing the claim, while at the range i have given my godson all manner of +P, +P+ (which they are rated for) and standard pressure hollowpoint factory ammunition, from corbon powrball, corbon sierra, fed 9bpLE+P+, Federal HST, even max. pressure Buffalo bore 115gr JHPs, and the darned little carbine eats it all up and spits it out without a hiccup. Hundreds of rounds of the stuff over the course of the first month the kid owned his 995 (plus hundreds more FMJ, of course).
Has never jammed even a single time.
We only went to an indoor range, and the kid usually shoots it at 7 yds (he likes to shoot small groups), but at 7yds, using a cheap-o $50 red dot sight, the kid can put one bullet after another after another through the same ragged hole. My Godson has only been shooting for less than a year, he's a typical city/suburban kid.
Now while 7yd single hole accuracy doesn't sound impressive per se, FBI stats indicate virtually all civilian self defense shootings occur at a range of 7-10
feet.. At that range the 995 is a surgical instrument. So if the weapon is intended for any kind of a SHTF role, even as a backup...it's good to go for that role IMO.
I've only ever shot it on a 25yd range, but at 25yds and the red dot it still prints un-rested 1" to 1.5"-ish groups with a wide variety of ammo. So for east coast brush hunting, it should give plenty of accuracy to at least 100yds. (especially if you find a load your particular 995 really likes)
As far as the utility of the weapon, it is very light, has virtually no kick even with the hottest rounds (which are of course much more powerful with the rifle length barrel), and is actually shorter than an M-4 carbine even with the stock fully collapsed.
Here's a pic of my Godson's 995 next to my Bushmaster carbine just after i bought it (my Bushie has been extensively modified since the pic was taken
)
It is a very small weapon, and for the $$$, it is about as good a weapon as one could ever possibly hope to find. I would definitely take my godson's 995 over an SKS(i have owned one, and my cousin, uncle and brother have also owned SKS's, and i've shot all of them).
If the weapon has a downside it is the fact that it's mags are proprietary (if only it used S&W or Glock or whatever name brand mags!), and they only hold 10rds. Promag makes 15rd mags, but you have to mess with the feed lips to get them to work right IME, and even then they'll only work with FMJs or Corbon Powrball. I figure out of a 995's longer barrel the nominal 1475fps 100gr powrball rounds are up in the 1600+ fps range.
I'd not want to take a hit from one of those.
Using heavier 147gr bonded core JHP's it should be acceptable for use on deer sized game as long as your shot placement is good and you're using an appropriate ammo type. A 9mm 147gr+P bonded core hollowpoint or JSP sizzling along somewhere around 1300+ fps out of the 995's long barrel should easily do the job on a white-tail, coyote, or what have you. Not the best choice, sure, but it would definitely get the job done.
The 995 is a truly remarkable weapon for as cheap as it is. And if you lay out another $60 you can get a stock that makes it look almost exactly like a Beretta Storm.
Normally i am very keen on top end gear, be it guns, cameras, or cars, but in this one case, the 955 is a cheap product that in my experience is perfectly serviceable.
If the weapon is to be used solely for hunting, you can buy a 20" semi-auto Beretta 1200 12 ga(benelli M1-super 90) police trade in for $300. With a rifled choke and sabot slugs, or the smooth bore and brenneke slugs, you can kill pretty much anything with that, but of course range will be limited.
