School me on Long Guns Please

[johntheplinker]

Something like a Ruger American is 7.62x39 would work really well. I haven't heard many bad reports about the rifle. Fairly easy on the wallet. Surprising accurate even with cheap Russian steel case, a little more expensive but excellent hunting ammo available. Light recoil, good trigger, decent aftermarket accessory selection. Topped with a good scope in 2-7x and you'd have a good Indiana deer rifle.

 

[BigRed]

.308
Iron sights
600yds.

As noted up thread, not much to it.

 

[sloughfoot]

A quality bolt gun. I can't think of any that are not quality. A teenage grandson got one in .223. His mother got one in .243. His step father got one in 22 magnum. From someone who loves them and knows them pretty well.

I think an effective round with low recoil is an asset to a new shooter. Flinching is to be avoided at all costs. I also believe in irons for the new shooter. optics can be added later

I don't know you so this is the best I can do.

But FWIW, I have often thought that a bolt gun in 22 magnum is totally viable and effective enough at the ranges I might need a rifle for self defense or hunting. its easy to carry lots of ammo without a huge weight penalty. I have one close by....Your biggest problem will be finding ammo in the current environment. Nothing lasts forever though.

Seek out a mentor.

 

[Hawkeye7br]

Everything Sloughfoot said except apply it to .22 rimfire first. More budget friendly. Yes, I know 22LR has crazy prices compared to a year ago, but centerfire is much more expensive. It's a long time until deer season....

 

[Flight567]

I like my ruger American predator in 6.5 creed. I picked it up with a sig Sauer optic, both used for under ~$350 (it was a solid deal even then). I've rung steel from over 500m with relative ease. I'm not a big hunter, and I can't use it to hunt in my current state anyway, but I would feel comfortable shooting most medium game out to reasonable distance with the setup. Given better glass I would be more comfortable with longer ranges.

If I may ask, why would you prefer to stay away from ARs?

Also what is this revere's riders thing that you guys are talking about?


Edit: aside from just a recommendation, what do you want to know? Are you looking for the mechanical/engineering side? Moreso the technical aspect of shooting longer ranges? The accessories that may go along with either or those? The skill of hunting? Etc...

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

 

[TJ Kackowski]

Also what is this revere's riders thing that you guys are talking about?

https://www.reveresriders.org/

Revere's Riders is a dedicated group of volunteers who provide basic rifle and pistol training as well as some advanced rifle and pistol training.

They also like to brag about our great country by telling the story of events of 19 April 1775 ... the "battles" of Lexington and Concord. It can be argued that 19 April 1775 is the actual birthday of the United States of America.

 

[Ricnzak]

I mean, I hate to be a broken record on this forum, but what about an AK? Because...


The AK was built for dumb, diminutive, malnourished commie bumpkins to use, so even the most hayseed American should be able to figure one out.


The AK is meant to be used hard. It can withstand a lot of abuse and wear and tear, has loose tolerances, is easy to field strip and reassemble, uses few parts, and requires little to no maintenance and upkeep.


7.62x39 is still plentiful, in stock all over the place, and remains relatively affordable compared to other popular calibers. Same for mags.


The AK is not an AR


My vote would be for a Zastava USA ZPAP (quality factory import from Serbia) or a Palmetto State Armory PSAK Gen 4 or 5 (quality-ish factory domestic from South Carolina). Both come back in stock quite and are sub-$1,000 guns. There are plenty of used guns/private sales in the classifieds here, over on the AK Files, and on Gunbroker.


7.62x39 is a great round to plink with and is reasonably accurate out to about 300 yards. There are plenty of hollow point, soft point, and defensive rounds available.


You're welcome? Good luck!

^^^ He is right on every point.

 

[IUKalash429]

^^^ He is right on every point.

 

[warren5421]

After a good .22 rifle look at a lever action rifle, one of the first cartage firing assault rifles. Stay away from the Winchester 73 designs as they are the weak sisters of the lever guns. You can get a Winchester 92/Rossi 92 in a pistol caliber or a Marlin 94 in a pistol caliber that will take a very hot load that you do not want to shot in a pistol. A Winchester 86 or a Marlin 95 or 336 use rifle caliber rounds. With a little work you can learn to keep the lever action magazine toped off while shoting and keeping the gun in a firing position. Odds are if they come after the black rifles they will not look at the Lever Action as it is a cowboy gun and is not an "auto".

 

[Sgt7330]

The aforementioned responses on a nice bolt gun and an AKM are good. Study up a bit as that is fun in and of itself! I love my Winchester mod 70 and Ruger M77 bolt guns. I also love the WASR AK and my Polish build.

 

[xxxleafybugxxx1]

Get yourself an M1A and never look back.

 

[yote hunter]

Ruger American would be a good start, 243 is good or 270 even 308. I have the first 2 I mentioned and really like them. Good guns. Hunting or shooting.

 

[JeepHammer]

As I have spent the better part of my life in hand guns I would like to learn about long guns and start a collection with limitations though.

1 I don't know much about long guns (just being honest here but at least I know what I don't know and that's half the battle to start with))
2 I want to be able to use the long gun and not have a safe queen (but I would like to learn about those guns as well in case I ever run across "that deal"
3 I don't want to "break the bank" on ammo to feed it.
4 No ARs at this time please

And lastly I want to have real hopes of finding and buying this long gun at some point (I know the trends are nuts right now on prices).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

"Collection" suggests a calm, rational, educated & quality based group of firearms.

Most 'collections' are a cobbled together, random, pile of commerical firearms with no collector value at all, or even worse, what was on the discount rack...

I suggest particular collector groups,
And read books on collector firearms.
DO NOT try and get 'Collector' information from the firearms stores,
They have an agenda to sell what they have, and for the highest possible price.
Most fun shop workers are virtually useless, from lack of knowledge to personal bias.

I have a few actual collector rifles,
Mostly Schuetzen target rifles, along with some mid/late 19th century rifles.
Some are only 'Collector' because they are 100+ years old, like buffalo rifles.
If you want to keep those firearms for 100-150 years before they show any significant increase in value...

The retail, nothing special versions will always be the bottom end of things.
Like with say, Weatherby, you would look for factory customs, not the Wally-World version of Weatherby for example.

If you want something in current production, ORDER the top end, and have it run through the custom shop, keep that paperwork.
I picked up an early 60s Weatherby in .300 Weatherby Mag with Weatherby optics, and had been through the Weatherby custom shop a bunch of years back, got it at an estate auction, and had no idea what it was actually worth until recently when I saw what they sold for in a collector auction.

'First' of anything will have curiosity/collector value, even if it's awful. People do collect 'Horrible' firearms, but it's a really small niche market.

Small production numbers, 'Special' versions of firearms will have collector value. The John Wayne versions, the Viet Nam versions, 'presentation grade' will have collector value over the common versions.

I enjoy having Ruger #1 rifles.
They shoot well, they retain value, common calibers most times, they are single shots so it's another niche in the market, low production numbers,
And I'm not above sending them to Ruger's custom shop to add documentable value.

*Some* custom shops you don't want to send your firearms to.
The extra impressive wood disappeared off my pigeon grade shotgun and the wood returned was quite bland.
No one seemed to know where my wood went, complete mystery...
It has the CSG marking, but got graded/valued less than it was before Custom Shop.

It's a fickle market with a lot of wrong turns, I'd say education is the first stop...

 

[two70]

Or one could simply buy what interests them, that they will enjoy owning and shooting instead of following some preconceived notions of what a collection should be or what "collector's items" are. If maintaining or increasing value is a goal then it always pays to invest in quality.

 

[E-4 461]

keep it simple, 5.56, .308

 

[OakRiver]

Here are my thoughts, and they are worth exactly what you paid for them: you want to do some hunting and target shooting. Start with looking at what calibers are permitted in Indiana for hunting, then compare that against whichever facility you intend to target shoot at. That should give you a good idea of where to begin your search.

If you can make it to some INGO events, I understand that some members may be willing to let you put a few rounds through their long guns. That might assist in deciding whether you want bolt action, level action, semi auto and what potential configurations.

From here, if the market keeps going the way it is, see what is available (firearms and ammo) and be prepared to make some compromises. If this is something that you intend to spend a lot of time on, you should consider looking at the aftermarket availability of parts or support for your platform of choice.

 

[Gingerbeardman]

Winchester 70, Remington 700, Ruger m77, these actions are good. Mossberg makes an ok entry bolt gun. These days the weirder the caliber the better chance of finding ammo LOL! My favorite guns to just go plink with are lever guns though.

 

[billybob44]

keep it simple, 5.56, .308

Kind of my thinking on the last caliber listed..
If, just IF??..You could find an older model Remington 700 (Pre-Rem-lin) in a .308 Winchester caliber, you can kind of have a "Do All"=Quality center-fire rifle.
Un-like calibers in 6.5 (Of whatever mode), .270 Win., or any of the current SuperCharged calibers, when ammo does come back on the shelf, most all stores will have .308 Winchester.
If, and when You, or a friend will handload for this caliber, you can load from 100gr. plinking, 125gr. Varmint, or 220gr. LARGE Game loads..
If you wanted to increase your power, distance, the 30-06 Springfield caliber is just as versatile.
Again, all of this input is suggestions only..Bill.

 

[E-4 461]

Kind of my thinking on the last caliber listed..
If, just IF??..You could find an older model Remington 700 (Pre-Rem-lin) in a .308 Winchester caliber, you can kind of have a "Do All"=Quality center-fire rifle.
Un-like calibers in 6.5 (Of whatever mode), .270 Win., or any of the current SuperCharged calibers, when ammo does come back on the shelf, most all stores will have .308 Winchester.
If, and when You, or a friend will handload for this caliber, you can load from 100gr. plinking, 125gr. Varmint, or 220gr. LARGE Game loads..
If you wanted to increase your power, distance, the 30-06 Springfield caliber is just as versatile.
Again, all of this input is suggestions only..Bill.

keep it simple, short trac.

 

[55fairlane]

Don't buy anything right this minute. Go to your gun club often, talk to everyone, ask them about there rifle,ask to handle it. You will get to shoot a few, make a decision after holding & shooting.
We can all make our recommendations, but , my likes are different from your likes,