mortalcare

not sure if your still monitering this forum but.....if so buy a laser boresight. they are about 100$ but will last a lifetime and save you lots! sighting in guns is painfull and costs alot of money and time. it costs about 15-20$ every time so.... just a sugestion

one eye joe

As far as lower cost rifles, you might check out Marlin, Savage, Howa and T.C.. They all make a nice bolt action in the lower price range. You can often find a Remington 700 at a good price too-avoid the 710/770 model. Look at several models and find the one that fits you best. Just because somebody tells you one is the best doesn't mean that that is the best for you, we are all different.

Alsatian

You can -- and I personally have -- boresight a rifle without a laser boresighter. The purpose of bore sighting is to get reasonably close to sighted in, close enough that you can shoot at 100 yards and be on the target so you can then make measured adjustments. The procedure is simple. Remove the bolt of the rifle. Let the rifle rest on a pad or other rest. Look down the barrel to a spot about 25-35 yards away and determine what the barrel is "looking at." Without moving the rifle, adjust the cross hairs to intersect the identified spot. You may need to cycle between these two steps a few times to get everything right. The idea is that for most rifles, the bullet leaving the barrel ascends and first crosses the line of sight -- the place the cross hairs indicate -- at 25 yards to 35 yards. It is just as simple as this. I don't see why an impecunious college student has to buy a laser boresighter to do this.

Also, if you are trying to save money, look to buy a used rifle. Surely there are inexpensive rifles around, maybe a family friend would sell you an idle rifle cheap? Check out pawn shops. Don't be impulsive and buy just to buy. Insist that you get a really good price in exchange for totally unknown guality of goods. I have seen some pawn shops selling used guns at a pretty steep price, so be careful. Alternatively, go early to one of the big grand openings of the big name sporting goods shops -- they may sell some inexpensive rifles on a big discount. I bought a perfectly good and accurate Remington ADL .30-06 for $289 a few years back at a Bass Pro Shop opening. Good for elk, moose, deer, pronghorn, sheep, mountain goat, black bear, coyotes. You can buy perfectly functional ammo for $18 a box at WalMart (Remington 180 grain core-lokt) or ammo in gross probably yet cheaper.