I have two questions, both involving rifles. Recently a friend of mine expressed interest in buying a firearm. The interest, from what I could tell, stemmed from that seemingly natural call to just own at least one firearm in your lifetime, but at the same time I know his father is a military man so he also has knowledge of shooting. I figured I'd help him find a decent .22 rifle so that he could have something inexpensive to plink with and, then, if he wanted to maybe aim for something better in years to come.
We hit a local used gun shop and I immediately felt like leaving. The prices for used, old weapons wasn't even a bargain at all but, rather, a complete steal. For them. For a Romanian "Training Rifle" it was $130. For a Russian version of the same thing that featured only a few differences it was $175. I told him we ought to bugger off and that I'd look into other rifles.
My first instinct afterward is based on the rifle I own. A Marlin Model 60. It seems that now they're priced around $180-200 or so (I think,) and I know it's a good gun. The question I have is whether the price is right and if there's something else that may be a little less but just as reliable? It can be bolt-action, but preferably not single-shot.
My second question is about getting a new rifle of my own, something high-powered. The problem is that, just browsing a Gun Digest, I cringe at the prices. I didn't expect anything to be cheap, but it seems like they're missing out on pointing out some older models that are just as good, or that those MSRPs are lowered even more than I can find.
So simply, here's what I need to know: What's a good high-powered rifle that I can get that's on the lower-end of the price spectrum for such rifles, and why? Where can I buy it, and for about how much? I'd like to get an idea of what I'm buying, what caliber I should look to get, and what I can expect. I skimmed a question post about the Remington 770, and it either got flack due to its predecessor, praised for its improvements over its predecessor, or called fug-ugly. The truth is as long as it fires well and won't go to crap on me fast the rifle can be ugly as a pig licking p*ss off a nettle. So thoughts on these questions?
We hit a local used gun shop and I immediately felt like leaving. The prices for used, old weapons wasn't even a bargain at all but, rather, a complete steal. For them. For a Romanian "Training Rifle" it was $130. For a Russian version of the same thing that featured only a few differences it was $175. I told him we ought to bugger off and that I'd look into other rifles.
My first instinct afterward is based on the rifle I own. A Marlin Model 60. It seems that now they're priced around $180-200 or so (I think,) and I know it's a good gun. The question I have is whether the price is right and if there's something else that may be a little less but just as reliable? It can be bolt-action, but preferably not single-shot.
My second question is about getting a new rifle of my own, something high-powered. The problem is that, just browsing a Gun Digest, I cringe at the prices. I didn't expect anything to be cheap, but it seems like they're missing out on pointing out some older models that are just as good, or that those MSRPs are lowered even more than I can find.
So simply, here's what I need to know: What's a good high-powered rifle that I can get that's on the lower-end of the price spectrum for such rifles, and why? Where can I buy it, and for about how much? I'd like to get an idea of what I'm buying, what caliber I should look to get, and what I can expect. I skimmed a question post about the Remington 770, and it either got flack due to its predecessor, praised for its improvements over its predecessor, or called fug-ugly. The truth is as long as it fires well and won't go to crap on me fast the rifle can be ugly as a pig licking p*ss off a nettle. So thoughts on these questions?
You can get the rifle for around $100 and 300 rounds of ammo for around $50.