If you only had one old rifle, which?

[John in Covina]

Choices - Choices!

The old Ruger 10/22 is a fun gun using 22 long rifle to shoot it is inexpensive to shoot and you can get a startling array of accessories and "upgrades" for this little automatic rifle. 22's are ideal starting out guns that rarely lose their fun side.

An SKS in 7.62X39 is a lot of fun to shoot and ammo is pretty cheap. The Yugoslavian ones are supposedly well made. This little rifle will take alot of abuse and is still more aaccurate than the AK series using the same ammo.

A Moisan (sp) Nagant in the 7.62X54R (rimmed) in the long rifle set up
(98/31?) is often an inexpensive rifle while fairly cheap to shoot.

A variant of the AR15 can be a fine selection with upgrades and accessories out the yingyang. The ammo 223 can be found cheaply and it is an easy gun to shoot.

 

[DOUGLAS]

1898 Argentinian Mauser engineers carbine. Small, compact and almost no recoil :eusa_doh: almost

 

[Jovan]

The James Bond "sniper" rifle?! I noted a couple of inconsistencies with the real life version, where in FRWL it's said to be .25 calibre and "you have only one shot"... when there's clearly a magazine near the trigger. lol

In all seriousness, I would probably get either one of Springfield's great contributions to the gun world, the M14 or M1 Garand. They even sell the Garand in .308 now. Good show. If you can find an M1 Carbine, those are great too. Cheap ammunition. Not extremely hard hitting of course, but it depends on what you want to use it for. The Mauser Kar98 is also a good suggestion, but just you and the round's recoil as opposed to the semi-autos.

 

[DanielJones]

Of course, if I had my druthers I would pick the Sharps 45-110 with a 34" barrel. Drop block single shot action. Similar to this but with a Creedmore peep sight.

Great for the Creedmoor Competition.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Without a doubt...

A 6.5 mm M1938 Mannlicher-Carcano. What a conversation piece!

-dixon cannon

 

[plain old dave]

One word:

Krag.

 

[Buzz]

Model 1886 Winchester, prefereably with an octagonal barrel, in some big obscure cartridge like 45-90. Great for killing buffalo!

 

[RondoHatton]

Not seen enough in period films...

IMHO, the Savage 99, takedown... In 300 Savage?
Had been a 30cal. 1896 Mauser carbine until the bolt stop breakage incident.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

A Winchester '73.

karol

 

[The Outlaw Kyle]

I don't think I saw any votes for the grand old lady of the British Empire: The Lee Enfield! I have a No.1 Mk. III* and a No.4 Mk.2, both of which are awesome rifles in a great cartridge, the .303 British. Surplus ammo isn't as common as it used to be, but you can still buy plenty of new production brass of US manufacture and match grade bullets from Seirra. Of the two, I prefer the No.4. Mine is a post war "Irish Contract" rifle. The story goes that it these were going to be sold to Ireland, but due to some higher level inter-governmental squabels they didn't get sold. They were kept in storage for several years and sold off to the surplus market in the late 1980's. Hence, mine is in unissued condtion.

 

[Harp]

The M1 Garand. Even with "M1 thumb."

 

[Mocheman]

I would have to go with My M1903 Springfield (manufac. 1917). Bought from CMP for I think a little under $400. Its a beautiful rifle and a great shooter, plus it has history. When you fire something like that you can only imagine what it has been through and who has held it. It has a WWII type stock on it so there is a good chance it saw two wars.

I also have two M1 Garands, also bought from the CMP.

 

[Feng_Li]

.303 British surplus ammo isn't as common as it used to be

And what surplus ammo is available is uniformly rotten, in my experience.

 

[Jovan]

I thought the British ammo was .308 for some reason.

 

[Johnnysan]

And what surplus ammo is available is uniformly rotten, in my experience.

Agreed...I purchased some Egyptian surplus a few years ago that was actually scary to shoot. Most of the rounds were fine, but every now and again there would be a 2-3 second delay between the primer strike and detonation. I've been firing Sellier & Beloit factory loads since.

 

[DOUGLAS]

I will second that sentement Johnnysan I used to use the Egyptian suplus for my K98. The old days of click........BOOM are over for me,I don't need the excitement.. I ended up stripping all the shells of their bullets.

 

[carebear]

Along with your local shops and shows you can find used guns online.

You'll need to go through a Federal licensee of course, same as any other purchase.

Auction sites (like eBay):

www.auctionarms.com

www.gunsamerica.com

www.gunbroker.com

A couple importers who usually have surplus type weapons:

http://www.southernohiogun.com/

http://www.centuryarms.biz/categories.asp?cat=66

 

[Cobden]

You could try getting an L8 or an Ishapore 2A1, which are basically an SMLE number 4 and a number 1 mk. III* respectively in a 7.62 calibre

 

[Diamondback]

I thought the British ammo was .308 for some reason.

Probably because of the prevalece of modern .308 Winchester/.308 NATO, would be my guess. (NATO ammo is generally hotter-loaded than the civilian market--DO NOT put 9mm NATO through something only rated for Parabellum/Luger, unlesss you wanna spend a while picking shrapnel outta your face!)

Only one old rifle? Make mine an M14, complete with "Da Switch" and grenade-launcher...

 

[cooncatbob]

Sharps Buffalo Rifle in 45-70.