At this point hitting anything at 200 yards seems like a pipe dream, but people do it I hear. I read about snipers hitting at a thousand yards - thats 3000 feet - over a half a mile away! amazing. The first time I hit something at a hundred yards I'll probably start dancing or some such nonsense - I'm 44 years old so I'm coming to this pretty late - but man did I like the feel, sound, the whole shebang. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with a neophyte.
When I was in boot camp, I could smack a 200 meter target in the black 8 out of 10 times the first week. It's not really that hard. It just takes a bit of practice.
I highly recommend that you purchase the first rifle you feel comfortable with. I don't care if it's a lever action in .30-.30 or .45-70, a .22 rimfire single shot, a .30-06 pump, a .308 auto loader of some kind, or a 7.62 Russian piece of c*** you buy from someone you see in the Shotgun News for $99.00.
The point I'm trying to make is that I think you should buy a rifle that you're comfortable shooting, that you like to shoot, and one you can afford to buy several hundred rounds of ammunition so that you can become proficient in using it.
It doesn't matter what it is as far as I'm concerned. If you can make it hit near within a couple of inches of the black at 200 yards, then that's the one you should buy.
A .22 bullet in the black at 100 yards is far, far better than the .300 Weatherby Magnum that's a clean miss at the same range.
Besides, smaller caliber ammo is waaaaaay cheaper than all than fancy pants stuff that costs 30 bucks a box. If you can buy that lever action thingy for a reasonable price, by all means plunk down your money and take that sucker home.
The, if you'll allow me to give you some advice, practice with it, whatever it is!!!
It's far better to spend $200.00 on a decent .22 caliber rifle than $1,000.00 on something 'bigger' in my opinion. That's because for $100.00 you can buy almost 5,000 rounds of ammunition to practions with.
You're better off being damned sure you can hit a squirrel in the eye with a .22 at 150 yards than hoping and praying you can hit a man in the jeans with a .308 as far as I'm concerned.
Oh well, that's enough for me tonite.
Welcome to the forum wildcat.
Just remember, you can (almost) always buy something 'better' later on. Buy what you can now. Now, I don't know if you're married, but it's going to be far easier to tell your 'better half' that you bought a 'little .22' than some fancy pants big bore.
Regards,
L