Best beginner rifle (Vanity)

Vanity ^ | 10-18-03 | Me

[dogbyte12]

I am about to finally leave the urban jungle of Los Angeles and move down to both Louisiana and South Carolina. While I do fish out here, I have only gone hunting a few times with borrowed equipment.

I am interested in starting to hunt, and would love for any freepers to give me recommendations on a good beginner rifle, something that isn't so pricey, but reliable, as well as any other gear that I will need as a beginner.

I am not a stranger to handguns, or to military rifles, I qualified expert on both a .45 and an M16, so I am not starting from scratch, but I am looking for a rifle for deer hunting basically that will not set me back too much money, yet still be a decent value. I plan to not spend that much money so it can be economical. I do know how to fabricate a carcass, and would love to hunt for meat, without the cost of hunting making it more expensive than going to the supermarket.

Any help in this regard, web sites, consumer reports, etc, would be much appreciated. Thanks all.

[El Gato]

He said he wants meat, I suspect he didn't mean hamburgher. Save that thing for serious social or political purposes, or just for fun, which it obviously is.

[Double Tap]

The 30/30 is perfectly suited to hunting whitetail size game out to 150 yards. Sighted in at 100 yards, the 170gr. bullet will drop less than 3.5" at 150. Sight the gun in 1" high at 100 yards and you can aim dead on at any range from point blank to 150 yards without worry about drop. Remaining KE at the 150 yard mark are still at approx. 1000 ft.-lb. Plenty for taking whitetail sized game.

[lodwick]

I remember, as a kid, getting the Christmas catalogues and drooling over all the rifles, shotguns, and *the horror* - pistols that were freely available through the USPS, way back in the day.

Cheers.

[Lurker]

If you mean the Mini, it seems to hold about 2" or so at 150 yards with the right ammo. It is scoped with an old stainless 4 power Weaver. Granted that's not AR accuracy, but hey we bought it as a plinker for 200 bucks or so I think.

I've had it for about 10 years or so and shoot it pretty frequently.

With handloads the Colt is quite accurate. I can put most of them in the center of a police sil target at 50 yards slow fire. That's pretty good. I've routinely put double taps in the head of the same type target at 21 feet.

Mrs. L has a Model 629 with a 5 inch barrel. With handloads that thing is wickedly accurate at 75 yards. That's the longest local pistol range around here. She shoots that thing pretty well. We do both shoot handloads, maybe that's helping. We are fanatical about keeping them clean though. Perhaps that's what helps. Lots of folks think that because a gun is 'stainless' they can slack on the cleaning. While the metal itself may not be damaged, a gunked up gun simply doesn't shoot as well as a clean one.

L

[TexasCowboy]

Do you know if they're under seige in their home?
I'll see if I can contact them.......

[yarddog]

I ordered a model 1895 Chilean Mauser, an Astra model 600 9mm pistol and a Radom 9mm all through the mail before I was 21.

The odd thing is even back then they would not send ammo through the mail and as I had ordered ammo too I had to go to railway express and pick up my guns. The guy at railway express did not ask how old I was either.

[Eaker]

I can sneak up on them with a shovel too. To each his own, but this to me is like recommending a Pacer as a first car.

You could drive it, but why would you???

[Old Professer]

Did you ever try to climb up the slippery side of a can with your toenails?

[yarddog]

The can was actually horizontal. The quail could have walked out of the box just as easily as they walked in but for some reason they would not.

That might be the reason Daddy always made the trap with spaces so they could see out. My guess is they found themselves trapped and would look out through the slats trying to see a way out. They never would look at the hole they had walked in through. Also once they got started walking into the tunnel they probably would not turn around until they had walked into the box.

[Old Professer]

Then what was the dirt-digging all about?

I can't quite see the picture you are drawing.

[harpseal]

I agree with the 10/22 recommendation but for cost effectveness I persionally prefer the Browning Buck mark for the .22 handgun it is a matter of personal taste. S&W also makes a good .22 cal semi-auto and there are others including Beretta's that can be excellent.

Agree on the inexpensive .308

[El Gato]

The fact is that I've killed more mule deer with a .22 rifle than with any other gun

And yet you suggest that he use a .50 BMG? I'm shocked I tell you. NOT! :)

[Ches]

duck gumbo

Do you have a good recipe?

[I got the rope]

Your post reminds of the time my friends and I took along a 4th compadre on a hunting trip. He was new and very impatient. My friends and I had 3 deer (one for each of us). All through the day we had given him the first shot, but he would get nervous and botch his shot. His trigger pull was inconsistent. We were his back-up and dropped the deer after he missed.

Late that evening we were heading back to the ranch house on a kaliche road about dusk. We stopped and saw a beautiful 8 pt. white tail about 60 yards away. We told him to take the shot if he wanted. It looked simple enough. He did alright...gut shot from 6o yards away. The deer ran off and we told him he had to track him down.

This guy said he thought he had missed and besides it was too dark and it was getting late he had to get home. It took everything I had to stop my friend (the ranch owner) from bleeding this guy out with his Long-knife (looked like a damn short sword). We gave him a maglite and walked to where we saw him shoot the deer. We put the light on the blood spots and told him to start humping...we were not leaving until he found his own damn deer. This was around 1900 hrs. He didn't find the deer until 0200 hrs. I guess we could have helped him, but he wouldn't have learned anything then. We didn't consider it a sport. It was just food. We prepared and ate everything we killed.

[Double Tap]

You are comparing a Marlin 336 or Winchester 94 to a AMC Pacer??? Sorry fella, but that ain't valid. The Pacer was an unreliable POS. The Marlin and Winchester are anything but that.

Let me ask you this. What is the average range that whitetail deer are shot at? And what is the difference in the trajectory of the 30/30 with 150gr. or 170gr. bullets and the 7mm Remington Mag with 140gr. or 150gr. bullets at that range?

[yarddog]

It is a little hard to explain, at least for me.

The box is basically lying flat on the ground. The open ended coffee can is used as an entrance.

I guess you could just dig a hole under the edge of the box but I suppose there needs to be a length of tunnel to keep the quail from seeing the exit. They go in simply following the trail of corn. Once in, they can't see the end of the hole they came in through. I guess they aren't smart enough to figure it out and simply try to get out through the slits in the box.

[patton]

They (chrome barrels) can be quite accurate - but they last 1/2 as long.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

I don't know where you live, but where I live the economy is booming. May have something to do with the low cost of living (no state income tax) and business friendly government (also a right to work state).

Thanks for the advice though, I'll keep my eyes open.

[El Gato]

I think this deserves it's own thread. If you have a link to a story on some local news website, please post it.

If you don't please supply a few more details as to names, place and date, and I'll see if I can find anything.

[Eaker]

Ballistic tables

The point I am making is that I enjoyed having a 30-30 lever gun, but it was just one of many. It was not my choice for anything but screwing around.

If I was going to buy one rifle, it would not be a 30-30.

Just my .223 worth.