What is a good rifle?

[Swager]

.17  Small but high velocity

[VOR]

If a man can own only one firearm, it should be a quality dependable .22 caliber rifle IMHO. It's capable of so much more than people give it credit for.

My first rifle was a Winchester model 290 inherited from my grandfather. It's still my favorite, but mostly for nostalgia reasons.

[hyena426]

.17 Small but high velocity

17 rem's are fun for a little round:) and they will make laser cutt holes in pennies..lol my bud has one we take out once and a while.

[Swager]

Yea, it is a great rifle.  MY brother uses his to hunt squirrels.

Actually my favorite is the Remington 700 BDL, 30.06.  I have owned one for the last 20 years and hunted with it only 3 times.  

[lazs2]

If I could only own one firearm I wouldn't much care what it was since... with one firearm... I could get any other firearm I would want.

22's are great to teach kids on.   They are boring to shoot tho when you have a lot of other guns.  I don't much enjoy shooting them anymore even tho I have shot a gazillion rounds through them in the distant past.  

I will shoot some old 22 that is interesting once in a great while just for the nostalgia of it.  

I guess I am just jaded and... well off enough and... a reloader that shooting a rifle with the sound and recoil and about the same impact at short range of a pellet rifle doesn't do much for me.  

I don't "need" one and have a lot of other more fun/challenging guns to choose from.

I already reload 223 for my mini 14 sooo... If I run across a good cheap 223 bolt gun I will probly buy it.   Play with some loads... If I ran across a good hornet bolt gun I might buy that.. both would be more versitile and fun than the 22 lr and 22 mag.

lazs

[ariansworld]

Originally posted by Maverick
Now that we are on the 3rd page of this I figured maybe it would be a good time for you to elaborate on what purpose you have in mind. What kind of hunting are you planning on? Varmint hunting calls for a different kind of rifle and likely no intent to bring home any "game" which would be far different from getting rabbits for the pot.

What firearm you would use depends on what you intend to do with it. While you have gotten good info here, it would help if you could narrow the scope of the subject. (pun intended)

Mav, I intend to hunt Squirrels, Rabbits, and certain birds.  I like iron sights better  than scopes for some reason, I hit better with them.  It wont be varmint hunting either,  I fully intend to bring home "game" and cook them.
Yes I have gotten a lot off good info on the 3 pages so far.  Thanks everyone for the information.

[Masherbrum]

Originally posted by ariansworld
Mav, I intend to hunt Squirrels, Rabbits, and certain birds.  I like iron sights better  than scopes for some reason, I hit better with them.  It wont be varmint hunting either,  I fully intend to bring home "game" and cook them.
Yes I have gotten a lot off good info on the 3 pages so far.  Thanks everyone for the information.

1.)  22-250
2.) .243 or .270

All 3 above can also be used for Deer.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

I think centerfire rifles might be just a little bit of "overkill" on small game he intends to cook and eat.

[FBBone]

Originally posted by Masherbrum
1.)  22-250
2.) .243 or .270

All 3 above can also be used for Deer.

Careful there, check you local regs. before you hunt deer with a .22 cal rifle.  Thats illegal here in Colorado, you must use a minimum .24 cal.

[Maverick]

Originally posted by Masherbrum
1.)  22-250
2.) .243 or .270

All 3 above can also be used for Deer.

Ariansworld

If you are hunting for meat the 22-250 is not a good choice. Neither is the .17, 225 and other "varmint calibers. They tend to do way too much damage. I hunted lots of rabbit as well as varmints with a 22-250. Unless you get a head shot there won't be much "eating" left on the bunny.

They also tend to "blow up" on larger game and cause surface wounds without doing sufficient penetration for a good quick kill. As was already posted a .22, even a center fire may not be legal for larger game.

The .243 and .270 are definitely good choices for deer. Way overkill for rabbits and squirrels though. All 2 are bad choices for any bird hunting.

For what you said in your last post I think what you want is a .22. A nice bolt action would likely have the best accuracy potential but some of the semi's do pretty good. I prefer the Marlin, like I posted earlier, and others have good luck with the Ruger. Try shooting a couple examples and see what feels good to you and what shoots best. Besides what I already said the .22 is cheap to shoot, far more so than any center fire caliber.

[Viking]

Last year my father bought a Japanese Howa M1500 in .223 Remington. It is in the cheap end of the price range and scores high in tests (very high for its price). My father uses it for small game hunting like Grouse, Black Grouse and Hare. He loads light, using sub-sonic ammunition in the forests around his hunting lodge, and high-velocity ammo when hunting in the mountains. He speaks very highly of this rifle.

In total, including the gunsmith work of fitting the surpressor, he spent less than $1500 on this rifle.




Removing the white camo-tape he uses for winter hunts. My father uses an Australian Nikko-Sterling Gold Crown scope.






Tape removed. Unscrewing the suppressor for cleaning.

[Angus]

You would need sub-sonic for the silencer anyway right?
Anyway, didn't know you'd have Hares that far north, or is your father much further south?

[Viking]

The suppressor will kill most of the report no matter what ammunition is used. However a supersonic bullet will make a sharp crack as it travels downrange, but it's not really loud. My father uses the suppressor so he won't need to use hearing protection, not for stealth.

[VOR]

Nice looking rifle there. For some reason, suppressors are harder to get here than a live MG. I was looking into them for my AKS-74U and discivered they take longer to get thru the Fed system.


We have some strange laws.

[lazs2]

so shlotzie..  you would say that silencer (suppressor) laws are bad laws?

We have to much gun control here not too little.

lazs