What would be a good rifle ~500 dollars

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Brockak47

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So, If i had around 500 dollars to spend on a rifle, what would be a good buy just for target shooting as i am not a hunter.

I already own an AK47, and chipmunk .22lr.

What should I get, or what would you get
I am looking for best bang for my buck. I was wanting a remington 700 or savage 110fp but they seem to be a little bit more expensive than I could spend.

I thought about a mosin since they seem to be cheap, but I recently saw one at the range and it just seems WAY too long kinda like lugging flagpole around lol.

Oh yea,bear in mind I can't purchase Pistols as i am not old enough to.
And i am definitely not opposed to used rifles

Thanks in advance looking forward to hearing the responses.:)
 
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The walmart savages are about 350 with the cheapo scope. Look into the steavens line. I got my 223 for 305 shipped. You can buy a bushell 3200 from midway for about 200 or used about the same. Just depends what caliber your wanting. Dont forget just cause you can afford the gun you wont be able to shoot unless you got ammo.
 
What round do you want to shoot? That's probably the first question. Do you want to shoot 100+ rounds at a time? 20?

How often do you shoot/how do you like the chipmunk?

If you are strictly target shooting I would go for a nicer/more accurate .22lr. Mainly due to cheaper ammo. Also nice that there is no recoil, not too loud, etc. Basically it's easy to go through 100+ rounds. After getting a nice .22lr target rifle you might not have any more use for the chipmunk and you could sell that and buy ammo or put the money towards your next gun.

You can buy Mosin Nagant rifles in shorter varieties...the M44, M38, M39 are available but at a higher cost than the longer 91/30 ($200 vs $75). The ammo is inexpensive for a high power centerfire round.

If you want centerfire you might also consider .223. Pretty cheap for centerfire ammo, low recoil will allow you to shoot a lot of rounds, etc.

What chamberings are you considering is the first question I guess.
 
Well, I like the .22 it's a fun round, I like my chipmunk it's a lil small but then again my Dad got it for me when i was 8 was my first gun so I am not too sure how inclined I would be to sell it. One thing about .22 though is to me it gets boring, but i am not sure. I was looking at larger rounds like .308 but i am not too sure, I have shot .223 out of my Dad's Ar15 before, I liked it. I guess I am open to .223, .308 , 7.62x54r, and maybe .22lr. I guess cause I have been shooting my .22 since i was 8 I get kinda bored of it.

keep in mind i have only shot shotguns, AR15, my 22 and AK. So i don't have a ton experienced on different platforms.
 
if i was you id go either 223 and stick with it for a while, its cheap accurate easy to find ammo. can target shoot all day out to 600 yds with 60 gr bullets. if you reload or your dad does, go .308. still not to bad for surplus or ball ammo. if reloading you can get alot more components out of the 308 and more use. if you decide to hunt then you have it. if you get a savage/stevens in the 308 you can rebarrel to alot of different rounds in the short action with just a barrle swap. 7-08, 243, 22-250 and the likes. i bought a 223 first. shot it for a long time, still have it, nothing better that bunny bustin and a good coyote gun.
 
are you sayin just buy a savage 110 in .223 at wallyworld? and are the cheap-o scopes fine to use? or do they just plain suck?
 
You could find a used center fire 308 for that $ I would think. ...not all guns need to be new.
 
just look in the classifieds here or hit up a pawn shop. the walmart rifles are good rifles just small changes made for them to sell at walmart. like plastic triggerguards. nothing serious. the scopes on them will work but youd be better using what you save to buy a decent scope. ive bought 2 savages from walmart, a 7 mag and a 308, both are great rifles, i changes the stock and rebarreled the 7mag cause i wanted a heavy barrel.
also i dont think ive ever seen the 223 at walmart, just the 7 and 308. they could probally order a model 10 or 11 though for the same money. if you need help looking pm me and ill help you find one. i like budsguns.com ive bougt 3 firearms from them. no tax and free shipping to a dealer for you. you pay a transfer fee, about 25 bucks and go.
 
The best thing you could do would be to go to an Appleseed with the rifles you currently have, which will teach you a TON about rifle marksmanship, and it also gets you qualified to buy surplus rifles from the Civillian Marksmanship Program. They sell M-1 Garands starting at $500. You won't get a finer rifle for the money. They really are the deal of the century.

If that's not your style, you could pull off a budget AR for around $500. You could get a Plum Crazy lower for $130 or so, and a Del Ton upper assembly for $395. Of course you already have a rifle in this category (your AK) -- I think it would be nice to have something with a little more range and power, like the M-1.

Whatever you do, definitely go to the Appleseed. It is the best money you could spend gun-wise, guaranteed.
 
cmp m1 garand $495 for field grade or spend an extra $100 you can get a service grade. although i don't know about their age requirements. if you like your ak you could also get a saiga 308. the garand in addition to being alot of fun it would be good for learning iron sights and its a 30-06. plus you would own a piece of us history. i might go get one myself in the next few weekends, although i would love to have one in 308 since i already have ammo for it from my m1a's.
 
I'm with HOOfan here. A nice new Marlin in an inexpensive caliber that can take deer and other critters one day and punch paper well in the meantime - 223, 243, 308, etc.

Also agree on Appleseed - good program. Borrow dad's AR for the Appleseed adventure. Then you still have your accurate bolt gun and the experience :)
 
limited budget?

Don't you think you've about outgrown that Chipmunk?
Get a 10/22.

Lay off the centerfire ammo expense until your finances improve.

Although, the Nagant may be punishing enough that you won't end up shooting a lot of ammo.

m44muzzleflash.jpg
 
I must have wrote it wrong - ammo cost doesn't matter, as long as it's not that real expensive like .50 cal or .338 lapua and yes i have outgrown the chipmunk by far, i am 6'3...but it's just sentimental to me, and from what i've looked i could only get around 100 bucks for it i think which isn't enough for me to part from it, it was my first gun, owned it for almost 11 years now.

but so far it seems i am still leaning towards a savage because I keep hearing this "they are one of the best for out of the box accuracy".
The Appleseed program seems nice, but just not my thing.
 
I would recommend looking into another 22; maybe a Ruger 10/22. If you want to go with a centerfire, you might check out the Savage/Stevens model 200. You can get one for under $300 and and have enough of the $5oo left to put toward a decent scope.They generally are as accurate or more so then a lot of rifles 2 and 3 times as expensive. Definitely lacking in aesthetics but not quality and performance. I would recommend 223 as has been mentioned before if you are not planning on hunting large game.
 
I know I got to sound like a broken record, but after owning twenty somthing rifles I have to say the Tikka is the most impressive. Though you simply cannot go wrong with a Savage or Marlin either, they shoot just as well, they just don't have the super smooth/high quality feel my Tikka does. My T3 feels like a $2500 custom featherweight, action is so smooth you can cycle rounds easly with the flick of a finger.
 
like i said ive bought a couple of the savages from walmart and i just replaced the trigger guard. thats the only difference in there rifles. if you look at most of there guns youll find something like that, same if you do a search on there model rifle you wont find it. the model 111 is the walmart 110 with the plastic trigger guard. i looked at the 111 long range hunter for a while and its almost 800 price before i got the 110 for 350 then put the boyds stock on it and new bottom metal. eventually replacing the barrel cause i shoot alot and the 7 mag heats barrels like crazy after 5 or 6 rounds
 
Brock, I'm actually a little confused. You say that ammo cost is not a concern, yet you are limiting yourself to $500 for the rifle. Ammo cost should be a concern. Heck, match grade .223 can run .50 a round and higher. .308 match ammo runs around $1 a round.

In any case, I'd either look for a used rifle or get a Stevens 200. I bought a used SPS Tactical in .223 not too long ago for around $500 and it came with a pic rail on it with a Badger bolt knob.

Still, I have to give another plug for a .22. A good .22 can be very accurate out to 100 yards and beyond and you learn a lot more about shooting by shooting a .22 at 100 yards than you would shooting a .223 or .308 at 100 yards. If shooting the .22 is getting boring, you aren't doing the right kind of shooting with it. When you get bored with shooting at the targets that you've been using, then find some smaller target.
 
Is 500 your entire budget? What about glass? The optics are just as, if not more, important that the rifle itself. The rifle is no good if you can't hit anything. If 500 is your total budget I'm going to third (or fourth?) the Marlin XS7 in .308. They can be had for just under 300 if you look around. Put a Vortex Diamondback Scope on for just under 200, weaver quadlock (I use them on mine and they work great) mounts, and you can have a great setup right at 500.
 
Dont sell your Chipmunk! You'll have a kid someday, pass it down. For a good all around target/hunting/get comfortable with center fires rifle. Get a Savage bolt gun in .308, BSA makes a pretty decent variable power scope with mildot retical, ugly black plastic stock is fine, pretty is as pretty does, and you might as well learn now its not about looks its about performance. You will never be outclassed by a properly set up Savage .308. As for scope price ,the best performing scope I ever used was a TASCO Worldclass. The biggest POS I ever touched started with L, might be both were flukes. But I do know scopes are a damn poor investment, they do not appreciate in value,
and you will seldom break even on resale. In scopes buy what you like and keep it forever.
 
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