going to buy a rifle---advice?
 

so a few of my freinds go shooting alot so im thinking of buying myself a rifle.

ima pick up a bunch of extra shifts at work so im thinking my limit will be around 1000...

went to my local gunshop today and they have some sick guns that are right in that price range (mostly AR-15s)

want a 220 223 caliber or somewhere near that.

another thing i want is for it to look like an assault rifle because who doesnt want a sick looking gun! if ima spend 1k i know i can get a quality gun that looks awesome.

another need for me is semi auto.

thanks for any help!

Well, if you want a really good gun under 1k build your own. R-Guns sell dpms parts kits, and you can pick up a stripped lower on the gun shop (get a good quality lower, like a rock river). Built my last ar15 for about 650...

Not sure if you are interested, but I have a really nice bushmaster ar15 that i am selling for 850. I would have to ship it to your gun shop and you would have to go thru the transfer (costs about 25-30 bucks). Nice gun, all top end stuff in it.

pmed ya james.

i have a freind who said his cousin could make me a completely custom AR-15 for 1k which would be kinda cool since its all custom..

but i thought this was something special.. didnt realize anyone could do it.

i may look into R-guns like you said

Dont shoot yourself.....:lol:

...or anyone else for that matter.

hey thanks for the advice! never thought about that.:wink:

The 1st is most important, cause if you do a good job at messing that up, you will not get the chance to do the 2nd!!!!

woe that is sick!

how much for one of those bad boys?

Serously tho. I would say make sure you get some proper training first before you go too nuts on it. A lot of my family are very avid hunters, and they never let me touch their/any guns before I was properly trained (by them and later hunter's safety classes) and had to follow strict safety rules when handling them else they were gone. Guns can be fun, but they are not toys.
I trust your friends are responsible, but young guys with little experience handling guns & trying to show off can be very dangerous.

Other than that, I would say get something not too big to start with. Big guns means pricey ammo and lots of recoil. If you are just shooting targets, it doesn't make sense to me to get something over the top unless you are just trying to be macho. Personally, my favorite target practice gun has been a 22 win mag I have. Its not for everyone, and I'm not a big gun nut, but I like it as the ammo is very cheap, very accurate and you can get lots of rounds in w/o killing your wallet or your shoulder & ears. Other than that I like shotguns for trap shooting. Poking holes in paper and cans from 100yds away gets boring quickly imo.

Ditto what Finnster said.
I'm a little concerned when I hear "all my friends have them"...and "I want badass looking..." when it comes to guns. I'm a hunter, not a "gun owner", so my attitude towards guns in general falls on the "serve a purpose" side as opposed to what looks cool.

That being said, you might want to review the ammo prices, and ask your friends how much they go through. Anyone I know that shoots a lot reloads their own ammo to keep the costs down - its not unusual to go through over a 100 bucks (retail) in ammo in an afternoon. And if they do it, don't assume they are going to donate their time to reload yours.

d'oh, beat me to it

on the ammo thing- get an ar-15(cool looking) with a .22 action and you can shoot all day on the cheap. They don't only shoot .223's...

you want to kill something, grab an elk by its antlers, throw it on the ground and rip its its jugular vein out with your teeth while punching it in the head until it bleeds out. Shooting something from 50 meters away while its looking at a mushroom is kind of gay. They do taste good though

well, you'd know more about what's gay and what's not than I would:mdr:

However, I do like your take on hunting. I never was impressed when someone outsmarted an aminal. Especially when they outsmart an animal and use a gun. Come on! What's next, baby face punching?

Ok ok, you animal rights activists.... lol

It's a great feeling to wake up at 4am, bundle up in thick camo, ride out thru the slop to get to the stand by 4 wheeler and sit in the stand for hours. Its quite calming and is a great stress reliever. Then when you hear something walking thru the woods and spot the animal, the adrenaline pump turns on. Killing the animal is just the reward for patiently waiting. And tastes delicious.

I was a teenager in the last of the good era Ronald Reagan, I worked at a gun shop at 16 (shipping) and "humping guns" (putting them in and out of the safe at night) got to know all the cops in town. My point is, is don't own a gun. Kids in the house, im not going to shoot an animal unless im starving. My baseball bat will most likely take down some thug with a gun unless he gets a cheap far away shot in. Back in the day when AKs were legal I used to nap in the warehouse ontop of 50,000 AKs from China we sold over the internet or gun magazines. Just Send a check, get an AK..the good old days

It's still like that today... just not legally :na:

I would like to clarify that I am doing this for cyote and mountain lion hunting. (it is legal) it may have seemed as if I wanted to be cool like my freinds and get a sweet gun but it's not all like that. I need a beastly gun like the ar-15 so getting a 22 would not be a viable option. I've been around guns and know how to handle them safely. I may take a class on gun care.
If I'm gonna spend hundreds of dollars I'd rather spend a little more and get something that is way cool looking. That's the way i see it at least.

223 ammo is not terribly costly and I won't be going to the range and unloading 100 rounds every weekend.
Just a few times ;)

thanks for the comments

Thanks for clarifying . What kind of terrain would you be hunting in? .223 for coyotes is fine, but might be a tad on the small end for lion. Personally, best all around caliber for hunting is a 7mm. Not sure if you will find a "badass" 7mm though.
Spend a little less on the rifle, and put a good amount into your optics.

NP bro. Its a std speech as you never know. I've seen some people do some very silly things. G/l on your hunting.

Harold, your post got me looking into a AR15/22 cal and I found several videos and links on a Ruger 10/22 convert thats pretty cool and I just might go for it as a plinking gun. With .22 ammo being so dam cheap should be fun ?
Even seen vids of a several fully auto 10/22's that look like lotsa cheap fun !?

http://www.centerfiresystems.com/sea...=ruger+10%2f22

You'll shoot your eye out!

http://carpefactum.typepad.com/photo...ry_ralphie.jpg

7mm Magnums RULE! They may not look "badass" but nobody will think any less of you once you start blowing coyotes to bits from 1,000 yards. That is a very powerful and flat-shooting round, bit on the expensive side but very good.

A .223 AR-15 would be awesome for Coyotes, keep a few spare magazines (call them clips and I will have to take your new gun from you). I've used my Bushmaster on ground squirrels, badgers, and coyotes and it is very effective. Come across a small group of Coyotes and you can lay waste to them in a very short amount of time :diablo: Buying ammo in bulk is best for price, I just got a nice plastic case from Cabelas with 500 rounds in it for $199.

Everbody's got an AR-15 (.223) go with the big dog AR-10 (.308). I shot a 7mm belted magnum once it was Impressive! It seemed like the bullet went the speed of light it got there so fast!(75 yards). But I also love my cheep NORINCO MAK-90(AK) for ease of cleaning.

P.S. never think "it's okay, it's not loaded"

Words to LIVE by !!!!

Cabelas does seem to have the best ammo prices right now.

Hey, Unsullied. What ever happened with the wolf hunts? Last I heard Montana delisted the wolf, with the intent of being able to give out a certain number of tags. Haven't heard anything since then.

Yep, too bad I have a 150 mile drive to the nearest Cabelas. The back end of my car is usually sagging on the trip back though :mdr:

They keep getting delisted and relisted, I know they sold a thousand or so tags a while back but only let 40 people bag a wolf. If you want to go wolf hunting just show up at a ranch or farm and ask them if they have a wolf problem that needs dealt with, just watch your aim because they will get pissed if you shoot their livestock.

advice?
dont!
guns suck

So you gonna scare away the burgler by making spooky sounds ?
Chambering a round does a much better job.:whistle:

Thank you! For home defense I think nothing will ever match the power of racking a shell (or not) in a Remington 870 12ga pump! The ruger 10/22 is a great plinking/target rifle with a great aftermarket support. A .223 will easily take care of coyotes and mt lions as well as most any other animal with a properly placed shot. Personally though I would skip the assault rifle type and go for an actual hunting rifle with a good scope. I have a bolt action Savage in .223 that shoots incredible groups well past 100yards.

well...not quite, some prick broke into our house and we all woke up and chased the bastard off with brooms and cricket bats and crap:rofl:

"GET OUTA MY HOUSE!" was a spooky enough noise for him:lol:


still...i dont like guns. guns kill people and that's bad (even if they are bad people, life in prison is a worse punishment but costs more)

Guns don't kill people.....People kill people, please keep the facts straight. People may use guns to kill people and careless people may kill themselves with guns but guns don't kill people, people kill people!

there was an eigth scale buggy race where a turn marshall took a buggy to the temple and died. I don't know what you should do now, r/c kills people:neutral:

true true...humans are bloody stupid creatures at times :rofl: my dad believes that we do many things backwards.

yes but accidents happen (like someone pulling the trigger:lol:)

but guns are DESIGNED from the ground up for killing.

it just seems silly to me...buying a gun because you are afraid of a criminal...with a gun. go figure.
it's always a matter of who has the bigger stick.

As a non-American, I find this whole thread kinda funny :oops: and it makes me curious at the same time :)

I am tired of asking myself the same question all over again "what is it with Americans and their guns" :lol: so I'll just assume it's a historical thing/tradition :)

Much like the Dutch do iceskating, the Belgians love cycling etc I guess.

ps: talking about Belgium, any of you guys own a FN-weapon of some sort? (one of our most infamous export products)

Personally I have army experience mainly with the M16 Assault Rifle, cant beat that for all around effectiveness againsts humans or animals. Is it legal or readily available in the states?

No direspect intended !

You'll think much differently when some worthless peice of shit breaks into your house and the prick holds a knife or gun to your wife and daughter (or decides to do something of a sexual nature) and all you have a criket bat ?

it must be a historical thing than, gun use in the US

I have a Savage 30-06 that was built in Belgium. It was one of thier lines that had a little fancier engraving and action in it.

Guns are like any other product. There are many different types of enthusiasts - collectors, sportsmen, defense, guys that learned everything they know on a playstation, and constitution owners (because its my right!).
To those that buy a 9mm pistol to defend their home - I say you haven't done much shooting and testing of your abilities to shoot under extenuating circumstances, and what a bullet does in with different materials. Paper targets at the gun range are NOT real life. If you really want to defend your home, and minimize potential risk to your family and neighbors, you'd have a shotgun under your bed, not something that is going to go through a couple walls and still have the ability to kill your daughter in the next room. Yes, a shotgun blast will go through two pieces of sheet rock, but it will only injure a person on the other side, not kill them. Plus I'd prefer to have the foot wide kill shot area rather than a 1/4 inch zone.....have you ever had the shakes when shooting? Makes it really hard to aim. How many of you will be calm if you actually had someone standing in your hallway? Anyone that says they will is a liar, and has probably never had their guns sights on something living.
The thought of protecting yourself with a gun is idealistic for 99% of people - it will NOT go down like it does in your head.

we'd prolly be safer with the old muskets:lol: you can imagine someone trying to draw that on you.

my mate has a small calibre air powered rifle, wonder if you could get larger ones that could be used for deer and such?
i'd imagine they would be cheaper to run?

hell..who am i to stur up a hornets nest here...my bad!!
it's your law to be allowed own one over there (as far as i know) so it's prolly what riko said, culture/history.