What is my perfect rifle? Help!

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IdahoSkies

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I have searched high and low trying to find a rifle to fit what I want. I have come up short so I am turning to the collective wisdom of the cloud. What rifle am I looking for?

Uses: I want something fun for the range, but practical for the environment I live in (Idaho, hence the moniker) that could be pressed into defensive service or used to take to the hills.. I have hunting rifles, I have shotguns and handguns for home defense, I am looking for something else.

The must haves:
1. Has decent range (I live in the wide open west)
2. Serious caliber (have some concern about the .223) and there are big animals out west.
3. Moderate recoil (I have a wife who likes to shoot but not “big” guns).
4. Reliable (not DI system)

The would really like to have:
5. A milsurp or similar style (has seen some action)
6. I would prefer a box/fixed magazine (a mark of reliability as you don’t risk losing your magazine)
7. Able to reload semi-quickly (stripper clips okay, magazines okay but discouraged (this is why it’s the would like as opposed to must have)
8. Semi-auto
9. Could mount some optics

What do I want? I don’t have an answer? What is your suggestion? Thanks for the thought.
 
this is a personal thing,
as really most rifles fall into that category
as for the rest, well you are pretty much out of mil sups with 8
as for hunting, um...
semi's tend to be difficult, a military rifle will have a LARGE capacity magazine, as that's what's valued, depending where you hunt, most places have a limit on how many rounds your magazine can have in it. Finding a modified mag can be difficult.

Finally, a milsup, semi auto with a fixed mag, stripper clip loaded in a 'serious caliber' (guess SKS's are out...)

there one more important question, do you reload?
OH and not direct impingement, which is one of the MOST reliable systems... yeah
dude, go buy a AR in 308 or 6.5, or save your pennies and buy a siaga in .308
you'll be happier from the sounds of it.
 
Ah, and military semi's other than SKS's and AK's start about 600 and go UP, like a good condition G43 is a good find at 2K
 
An M14/M1A or FAL ought to do it besides point 6. You can always carry/buy a spare mag.

If you relax on number 5, a Browning BAR or Remington 7400 would also be options and present more options than just .308.
 
Ruger Scout Rifle in .308. Handy and you can shoot just about any .308 in the market.
 
Its not a milsurp but +1 for the Ruger Gun Site Scout.. Large capacity, great caliber, they look pretty fun and seem do have adequate sights but optics could be easily mounted.. And hey its not a semi auto but 10rds of .308 as fast as you can work the bolt should suffice.. best of luck in your search
 
Here in hawaii we have a maximum allowable limit of 5rnds for hunting big game, the Garand needs special enblocks for that i believe. Every where is different, but its something to keep in mind.
I personally think you would be best served by a comercial semi-auto, ar-10 (there is really nothing wrong wi DI, besides having to clean it, and you NEED to clean all semis regularly), or move to a manual action. You can get pretty much everything you want from an inexpensive bolt mil surp, and if your willing to move from that a slide or lever action will get you there also.

In a semi, any round up too the .30-06 is fairly mild (especially one of the heavier ones). If your looking at a manual the .308 and down are pretty comfortable to shoot. Personally id be looking at the 6.5 Creedmoor, .260, or 7mm-08. All shoot plenty flat enough and with a heavy enough bullet to be good upto and possibly including elk as long as shot placement is good. There are no better deer rounds as far as im concerned. The .243 could also fall into that category, but honestly i like a bit more on animals over 200lbs, not that its a bad choice.

My "light" recoil and fun shooting rifle is a long 7mm remington that weights in the neighborhood of 12lbs loaded. Even launching 162grn Amax at 3100 it comes back more softly then my 6.5-7Lb .243 launching 100s as 2900.

If you want actual suggestions then id suggest an M1A, or an AR-10. In manual, a enfield .303, mauser, or even a mosin nagant.
 
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Something like a Garand or M1A sounds like it would work. Optics on the Garand are problematic and the M1A has detachable mags (which I think are a good thing btw).
 
You want a semi auto in a mid sized ("serious") caliber with a non detachable mag. That kind of limits your choices to an SKS.

Most of the scope mounts for the SKS are crap but it is reliable rifle. It is durable, fairly accurate and shoots a .30 cal bullet. Maybe not ideal for long range but it will kill anything in Idaho. It is easy to reload by hand or with stripper clips. Hold 10 rounds which is plenty IMO. Recoil is mild and the length of pull of the stock is short enough for most women to use. They are fun to shoot. There are also lots of accessories available.

I would think you could probably still buy one for under $300 if you looked around.

BTW, one of my favorite rifles was 16" "paratrooper" model SKS with a light weight Choate polymer stock and the mag cut down to 5 rounds to fit flush with the stock. It was a handy dandy little brush gun and I killed a number of deer with it out to 150 yards or so.
 
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Find a decent Hakim...fills all your requirements

will take stripper clips
8mm surplus is fairly cheap
easy to adjust gas system allows for a wide variety of ammo
very efficient muzzle break reduces recoil to 270 levels or less
caliber is capable of taking anything in North America
semi fixed mag
extremely reliable and robust

or you could spend a little more a get a Swiss 6.5 original but ammo will be more expensive
 
I would say an M1 or M1A.

The M1 isn't that hard to mount optics on... just get an Ultimak scout mount and you can run either a red dot co-witnessed with the iron sights, or a long eye relief scout scope. Either one would be awesome for hunting or 2nd Amendment purposes. Being semi-auto and semi-heavy (lol), the M1 doesn't have very strong recoil. I've let little teenage girls shoot mine with no problems whatsoever other than them wanting to shoot up all my ammo! Also it would definitely fulfill your wish for a mil-surp rifle.

The M1A is another great choice. They have a stripper clip guide, so if you don't want to have to deal with extra mags, you can just leave one mag in place and always load from the top with strippers. If you mounted an optic over the receiver, it would keep you from being able to load from strippers... but just like with the M1, you always have the option of an Ultimak mount with a red dot or scout scope, which are both killer options for the M1A too, and wouldn't interfere with loading from the top. M1A's aren't technically mil-surp, but if you want, you can get one on which the only non-mil surp part is the receiver.

Those would be my choices. I would prefer either one over something like a Ljungman or Hakim, which have worse sights, shoot calibers that are less common here in the 'States, and are just as hard to put optics on.
 
I'd suggest a nice bolt action in 7x57, but that's my favorite. Get a milsurp VZ24 in 7x57 and you'll have all but the semi-auto bit on your lists.
 
30-30 Marlin lever action with XS sights and forward mounted rail from XS for leupold 2.5X scout scope. With Hornady LeverEvolution ammo u r easily able to hit out to 200+ yards. Its a good round. It has no magazines. Plenty of used Marlins out there.
 
Shadow 7D said:
except


means it's out
frankly this guy don't want a gun, cause what he asked for doesn't exist
so, going to my first post, go find something nice, or buy a SKS
Click to expand...
Actually there is a rifle that meets all of his criteria. The M1 Garand. See earlier posts.
 
Sheepdog about read my mind with the Marlin 30-30 suggestion but I'm not into military/black guns at all. I like simple, reliable and vintage. Your second list of "like to haves are (to me) all negatives except 6 and 9 but like the very first reply you got from shadow 7D said, it's a personal thing.

You've got your list, you've got an idea what you want. Just need to find it. I tend to agree that with your list, the M1 might be the way to go. Since your wife might be using it also, what about a Ruger mini 14? You said you're not too interested in the 223 but it's a suitable round and ammo can be had cheap.
 
Id say an SKS, but if you're not completely ruling out a black gun i'd go with a 6.8 AR platform. Pretty much uses a .270 bullet on the light side.
 
So you want accuracy, range, power, reliability, simplicity, and controlability. I recommend you an SVT-40. They are rare, expensive, and fires 7.62x54R. Beware, as magazines, bayonets, and extras cost quite a lot. It can feed a magazine from a Mosin-Nagant stripper clip, so you can just buy one magazine and never take it out of the rifle.

Next in line is the FN-FAL. Loaded down the carrying handle, and the older style steel and wood construction, the gun can be heavy but cut down appreciably on the recoil.
 
Hakim - its a DI system.

The Garand - yes it does fit what what I am looking for, I just wish it could handle modern 30.06. It is definitely a consideration.

The M1A - high on my list.

The FN49 I am interested in, especially one of the 30.06 or 7.62x51 models.

I really like SKSs I just wish they chambered something a bit more potent than the 7.62x36. (That is also one of my concerns with the AK).

A lever in 30-30 would be interesting, and probably does fit everything except the semi-auto.

The .308 Scout is intriguing, but I'm not sold on the scout scope idea.

Helpful suggestions though.
 
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