Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Hello there,
I'm currently considering purchasing a rifle for target practice at the range. I don't have any kind of intentions of going hunting in the near future, but everything is a possibility I suppose. The primary purpose of this rifle would be for target practice and having a good time at the range on the weekends.

Currently I only own/shoot shotguns and shoot trap on the weekends. I Believe I know a decent amount about good quality shotguns, however, my knowledge with rifles is rather limited.

I am lost on what brand, type, and calibur rifle's I should be looking at. Some of the names I have come across are Remington 700's, M1 Garands, 1903 Springfields.

I love the idea of an m1 garand, however I would like to toy around with something that has a scope. This brings the idea of the 1903 springfield to the picture, a WW2 firearm sounds interesting, but I am not sure what I am getting myself into.

So would a 1903 springfield be a wise choice to buy or should I be looking at other rifles, if so, what should I be looking at?

I appreciate any kind of advice,
Thanks
Jason

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

If you are just going to play ,That meens many rounds though it :}I would say buy just about any typ of 223.You can buy a cheep one for around $300 .The shells are very cheep.You can buy them in bulk.

There are many good guyns out there ,I like a bolt action but I hunt.If you are looking to shot a lot of rounds fast go for a mini 15 or ar15 they are not the best down range guns but they are fun to shoot.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Thank you for the advice, any particular .223 bolt action rifles you would recommend?

An Ar-15 would be fun, but *sigh* im in california lol.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

First off, I'd look into getting a 22LR semi-auto like one of the Ruger 10/22 models.
Maybe even look into a used one in good shape with a scope (4x Weaver is good if
you need one). Rimfire ammo such as the 22LR is very inexpensive. You can shoot a
lot, and even get into target shooting if you want though you may have to upgrade the
gun/scope to be competitive. I enjoy an occasional trip to the range with mine, and
shoot targets, pop cans, plastic bottle caps, old shotgun shells, clays, etc. (no glass objects & clean up after, ok).
If you want to, you can get a 10/22 in a target model (heavy barrel, laminate stock).
Very accurate.

For a centerfire rifle, as noted, you might want to look into a gun chambered for the
223Remington. Again, ammo is relatively inexpensive. There's lots of guns available, from semi-auto to bolt action target rifles. I believe both Remington & Ruger make
target rifles for the 223Rem. Both make nice light sporters also, such as the Remington
Mod.7, or the Ruger Ultra-Light.

Good luck & have fun.:D

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

You can also take a look at the packages put together and sold by Savage. The scopes aren't great, but they'll get you started.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

for just playing around w/ I agree that a Ruger 10/22 would be great. Ammo is dirt cheap, lots of after market add ons.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

jasonwinn,
What will be the most important thing to you after the fun target part? Cost of ammo?....or practicality if you decide to hunt?
For fun at the range and easy on the pocket book the advice of the .223 is perfect. However, a .223 wil leave you a bit handcuffed when you decide to hunt. There will be a bunch af game you'd be better off chasing with something bigger.
Do you handload?

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Good point, I think eventually I would end up hunting, just not anytime soon. I think I would rather spend a little bit more money on ammo now, then having to buy a whole new gun in a higher calibur later on.

Nope I do not handload.

Approx how much more would I be spending buy upgrading to say 30-06 or 7mm?

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Jason, welcome to the forum. Let me just say, EVERYBODY needs a .30-06, no matter what other guns you have. Ya just do.;)

A .223 is not a bad thing to have either nor is a .308. You can usually find surplus ammo for these cheaply, not so easily for the .30-06 anymore though. If you hunt deer sized game a .30-06 or .308 will have more than enough power; they can take anything in North America, although if you hunt big nasty bears in Alaska you'd want something bigger. I could start a real fun argument on this thread if I expressed an opinion one way or another about whether the .223 has enough power for deer hunting, so I'm keeping that opnion to myself. Better to argue about politics, religion, Ford or Chevy.

If you are thinking of hunting someday, and especially if you are thinking of mounting a scope on your rifle, I would recommend NOT getting a Springfield or an M1 Garand. These are fine milsurp rifles and are capable of excellent accuracy, but by the time you spend the money to have a gunsmith drill and tap them for a scope you'd be better off buying a rifle made for hunting anyway. Besides, these rifles are getting scarce and are valuable as collectors items, not just as shooters. If money's an object look for a good quality used rifle made by Remington, Winchester, Ruger, Browning, Savage, CZ, or some of the other makers. I prefer bolt actions myself. My personal favorites are Remington 700, Winchester Model 70, and CZ 550, but that's just my tastes. The important thing is that you get one that fits you well and that you like.

If you like semi-auto hunting rifles I would avoid the Remington 7400 and stick with the Browning BAR. The 7400 is not a terribly accurate rifle and lots of guys on this forum complain that they jam. I've got an older 742 that seems reliable but it can be counted on for fairly wide groups, about 3" at 100 yards. The BAR is much more accurate. Both guns reduce felt recoil substantially by virtue of their gas operated action. There are other semi-auto hunting rifles out there too, but I'm not familiar with hthem.

Another choice if you need a quick second shot is the pump action Remington 7600. Unlike the older 760 the 7600 is reasonably accurate owing to a fully free floated barrel.
You don't get the recoil reduction like you would from a semi-auto though. If recoil bothers you get a strap on shoulder pad like the PAST Recoil Shield. They work great.

SInce you say you don't reload, you might want to stick with the calibers that you find at KMart and WalMart, the .223, .270, .308, .30-06 or 7mm Remington Magnum. There are a whole lot of really great rifle calibers out there that are often not readily available, and unless you reload you're better off sticking with the common stuff.

When you buy a scope, you may wonder why anyone would pay so much for a Leupold or a Zeiss Conquest when one can get a Simmons or a Bushnelll Sportview for thirty bucks at WalMart. Cheap scopes have come a LOOOOONG way in the last 30 years, and unless you make the mistake of looking through cheapies and quality scopes side by side you may be perfectly happy with an inexpensive scope. I made the mistake of looking through a Zeiss Conquest once and now I am spoiled.:eek: Good optics are worth what you pay for them, but an inexpensive scope isn't nearly so bad as some folks say they are. I've had a cheapie Bushnell on my Remington 742 for decades and the scope is capable of anything the rifle is, and it hasn't broken yet either. Just make sure you've got an extra five or six hundred bucks in your wallet if you want to look through a Zeiss or Leupold, because once you do there ain't no going backwards.

Good luck and have fun!:D

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

If you are looking for a gun just to punch holes with and aren't going to do any sort of specialized competition with it, I would stay away from '03 springfields. one in good condition is going to cost more than a new remington 700, and you will destroy the value of it by drilling it for a scope, and there is no guarentee that you will get it to shoot as good as a factory rifle.. They also will kick much harder than a remington, because of the stock design. On the other hand, the '03 and 03A3s do have sights on them already that are excellent for target shooting. I have an 03A3 that I worked over for competition, it has a new surplus barrel, I had the action trued up and bolt lapped to the receiver and it is an absolute tack driver, but I put more money into that rifle than it will ever be worth.

If you want to shoot Service rifle High Power and didn't live in kooifornia, I would advise against a M1 in favor of an AR. An M1 is a good rifle and is by far my favorite rifle to shoot, but there isn't any guarantee that they will be accurate. They are finicky about ammo, most 30-06 ammo will function in them, but there is a very narrow selection of ammo you can use that won't damage the rifle, and most of that ammo is surplus, and expensive surplus at that. M1s can be made to shoot very accurately, for the price of accurization, you could buy a M1A. It migth be worhwhile to buy a Greek barrelled action from CMP which sells for around $300, spend another $200 to have it rebarelled to .308, then another $100 for a stock, for $~700 you would have a great shooter that can shoot very cheap surplus ammo, but you still wouldn't have a scope. M1's have the best sights of any military rifle ever made, the sights on M14s and M-16s are nothing but updated copies, with practice, a person can shoot using these sights just as well as anyone who uses a scope.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Well, I'd still recommend a good 22LR to start with. Again, maybe a Ruger 10/22, or some other 22 rifle. Lot's of fun, and very inexpensive for ammo.
Now, since you want something to shoot/have fun with, as well as for hunting, I'd pick
a rifle chambered to the 308Win. Ammo is readily available in a wide variety of
bullet styles from all the major ammo manufacturers. In addition, surplus military ammo
is also available at reasonable costs from many sources, as well as less expensive
factory reloaded ammo from outfits like Black Hills. A rifle in 308Win. will handle any game in the lower 48 with no problem, utilizing the right ammo. It's a great deer cartridge, but can also handle elk & moose, and smaller bears (black). A 308 is never wrong.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Not only that... But don't forget the legendary, and timeless classic 30-30 winchester. Be it either Marlin or Winchester it doesn't matter. The 30-30 is the most fun to shoot, most bang for the buck, most easiest to carry and comfortable to shoot, rifle around. Pick one up, and you'll just fall in love with it from that moment on. :D

Butch A.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Jason, I my self was started on a 3006 as my first rifle, I would never do that for a first time shooter. However you have stated that you currently own 2 shot guns and are not new to recoil. With all that said, my opinion for a first rifle would be 7m-08 in either bolt action or single shot(I like the T/C encore). It is a great little caliber easy on the recoil and also a fantastic round to hunt with. With the encore all you have to do is purchace extra barrels to gain a new caliber/rifle. Good luck in your choice, If you do choose to hunt, make sure you practice practice practice. Good luck Pete

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

After hearing that you think you will probably end up hunting eventually.....and hearing that you don't mind spending a little more on ammo right now..and knowing that you already own shotguns and no rifles......here's my advice.....
Buy 2 used rifles........rifle #1 a decent .22 caliber bolt action
.........rifle #2 a decent .308 bolt action IN THE SAME MAKE AND STYLE AS THE .22

This will give you the opportunity to go the range and shoot the .22 a ton cheaply....and the feel and practice of working the bolt and settling in to the similar stock (if you can get that to happen) will make you a better shooter. Then, the 308 will allow you to hunt many species, and the cost of the ammo is comparable to the venerable 30/06 with a little less recoil and a shorter action.
(But you should still get a 30/06 someday!):D

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

I've got a Browning .223. Nothing is more fun to shoot than a .223. Factory ammo is about the cheapest of any caliber, yet most of it will shoot amazingly well. Tikka makes a nice .223 as well. I wouldn't put a cheap scope on anything. I've tried cheap optics, only to be dissappointed (Tasco, Bushnell, and Simmons). The Wally World models just won't hold a zero or stay together. Some of the higher end models by the same manufacturers will, but not the cheapies. I would also plan on getting a trigger job. Most factory triggers are set too heavy. Remington makes a nice gun, but man are their triggers set heavy. A .223 is also a great caliber for varmint hunting.

If you think you might want to try your hand at deer sized game, you might try a 25-06. It shoots flatter and will shoot a little further than the .223. Larger bullets dpn't drift as bad, either, when shooting long distances in windy conditions. A .243 or 6MM would also fit the bill. Recoil is low enough these are still fun for all day shooting.

By the way, welcome to the forums.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

if you have the chance to purchase a M1 Garand and your enterested at all in it thats what i would get. yes you can put a scope on this rifle with a Springfield scope mount. my buddy has a Springfield Armory scope mounted on his. as for cheap plinking, you can't beat surplus ammo in the 7.62. i purchased a case of 1000 surplus rounds off the internet for $80. the sweet thing about it is the Springfield m1 garand is a military rifle that shoots the cheap military surplus 7.62 fullmetal jackets very very well. you can also shoot any other .308 round if you decided to take hunting with maybe a little fine tuning of the scope to fit the new round. the m1 garand is very accurate too and it would take down any game in the lower 48. thats my 2 cents. good luck

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Thanks so much for all the great help guys. My plan is to take all of these into consideration and head to the gun shop and just kinda get a feel for what fits me best.

The problem I seem to have is I want all the guns you mentioned lol.

RE: Wise Choice's for First time rifle owners?
 

Hi. Take a look at the new line of Steyr's with synthetic stock, these rifles are really inexpensive and you get some real quality for the value. 30'06 caliber is my choice...you can plink, shoot varmits or Moose! If you get tired of shooting or hunting, a rifle like this will have terrific resale value. The CZ 550 and Tikka rifles are also good choices. Good luck and regards, Rick.