What Inexpensive rifle?

What is the hive's recommendation for a decent target rifle now days?

I loved 22's and 223's for fun, but with that ammo being almost impossible to buy now, what's better?

Dollar range? Mosin's are still probably the best buy and ammo is still cheap(ish). 223 is available without problems. 22LR, not so much.

I don't have problems finding .243 ammo, that's what I use for deer.

22 is all I've seen that's hard to find.

There are a ton of nice new bolt actions in the sub 300 range with a scope. A friend picked up the remington 770 in 308 with a 3-9 scope for 200 on a black friday deal. The bonus of most of these new bolts is that they finally come with a nice trigger and action that leaves a very crisp 4-5lb pull. While none of these will be mistaken for a browning A-bolt or Weatherby they are hugely functional and accurate beasts.

If you want something a bit more oldschool I'm a fan of the Mossberg and Savage bolt guns also. They are probably in the same 300 range.

I'm a huge fan of military calibers for ensuring i cam always find ammo 223 308 30-06. There are a lot of other good ones out there like the 243 the nepa03focus mentioned.

Don't buy a 770!!!!!!!!! I didn't listen and bought one in 300 win mag. I traded it after 40 rounds it was just junk. Why can't you find 223? Just start reloading and shoot whatever you want. My Ruger American and Savage model 11 have been very god rifles. Don't but the combo kits! You will just end up buying a better sc0pe in a month. M44 for fun.

I keep looking at 308 Winchester.... Not the cheapest but not expensive, super upgradeable, and an excellent long gun caliber.

The good doctor, as usual, is correct.

If you .223 is chambered for 556, Wideners has a good deal of IMI .556 currently. I think it's around $370 for 1200 rds.

+1 for going with a bolt gun chambered in Winchester .308

Love my Savage 10FP, but I love shooting my brother's a little better - the muzzle brake on his makes a big difference in getting back on target quicker, McMillan A5 stock is very nice to hold (I have a Manners T4 on mine which is just about the same), and the 10 round box mag is just plain fun. Both have same great Accutrigger set to about as low as they go (~2 lbs).

Out the box, Savages are hard to beat in accuracy and precision for the price... mine groups at 1/2 MOA with 10 rounds using the inexpensive PRVI 168grain target ammo... which is about as cheap as you can get .308 ammo. Just gets tighter with Federal or Hornady match rounds...

Would you be interested in a pistol caliber carbine? If so, 9mm is still pretty cheap & available.

What's a box of 30-06 go for? A round that's been around for 109 years probably has a few guns to go with it.

Buck a pop at wally world. Buy in bulk, Greek surplus, etc., maybe 60-75 cents a pop.

I've been kind of out of the loop. What exactly happened to .22LR to make it so scarce?

Woody wrote: I've been kind of out of the loop. What exactly happened to .22LR to make it so scarce?

Obama.

Nutters thought the Obama was gunna tak der gunz away. Hording.

What kind of targets do you want to shoot with it, from what position and at what range?

Partly hoarding, partly less .22 being made for multiple reasons. One being lots of raw material going towards military needs, but that was more the case 5 years ago. Another is less profit in .22 than center fire cartridges.

As far as what to get, the only use you mention is target, care to narrow that down?

There's a few lever guns in pistol calibers I've considered, would be cheap to shoot. There's a few semi-auto carbines too. 9 mm and .45 seems to be everywhere.

For bolt action rifles, I can't say enough good about Savage's Accutrigger, I've got a .17 HMR with it, and wish all my rifles had it. I'd own another in a second.

Personally I'd pick a Winchester Model 70 over a Remington 700 or its derivatives.

Like others have mentioned, rim fire is hard to come by. I stopped in a LGS this afternoon, they had at least 2 boxes of all the common stuff on the shelves, but the only rimfire they had were two high priced 50 round boxes of .22 WMR.

Woot! keeps having Gamo air rifles for sale, I've come dang close to picking up a Whisper for cheap, .177 pellets are cheap, available, and fun to poke holes in paper with.

Mosin Nagant and some spam cans of Romanian steel core surplus, in case your target happens to be on the far side of a tree or an engine block.

7.62 is cheap and plentiful in these parts.

84FSP wrote: I'm a huge fan of military calibers for ensuring i cam always find ammo 223 308 30-06. There are a lot of other good ones out there like the 243 the nepa03focus mentioned.

This. A few years ago I consolidated my collection, selling off all the oddball calibers that I rarely shot. As it sits, everything I own shoots either .223.556, 9mm, or .308. Also makes keeping ammo stocked much easier and cheaper

.22 May be harder to find but it's no longer impossible and even at it's new higher price it's still BY FAR the cheapest way to make something go bang.

Bigger rifles are fun too but I'm never going to run out and burn through a few boxes of .308 for giggles the way I will with .22

In reply to Smarta$$ McPoopyPants: The7.62x39 is indeed plentiful but not so much a target round... I would also worry about running the cheap steel casing stuff in a decent rifle. The sks is ok for such things and still "accurate" enough to poke holes in bambi...

One of those 9mm carbines is a good thing to consider as well for just general short range plinking. Ammo at wally world is around a quarter a pop.