Marksmanship (Rifles)

OT: Hey P1 how long have you had the tag, i havnt noticed it?

No time to look over the sites at the moment. You mentioned that you're moving from air rifles though, so I would suggest that you sink some money on a nice medium-quality .22. There's very little recoil (comparable to an air rifle), and it'll be a lifelong companion for plinking or vermin reduction.

If you get a scope for it, you would really be amazed at how far you can accurately shoot one of those. I've seen some amazing things done with old, beat up .22's.

After you get familiar with a .22, and with the reality that yes, this weapon could kill someone in a moment of carelessness, then I would suggest moving on to something bigger. Not to say that you don't know that, but there's just something about shooting a gun for a few days, then looking over what you've done and realized that that melon could have been someone's head. That happened to me a few weeks ago, and suddenly I appreciated the firearm safety lessons my Dad gave me years ago.

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Original post by DerAnged OT: Hey P1 how long have you had the tag, i havnt noticed it?

He got it 2-3 hours ago.

Good luck gun hunting [grin].

Well, I happen to own a few rifles myself and try to get to the shooting range as often as possible (was just there last week).

The second rifle you've been looking at - the Remington 710 - is one of my own and a fine rifle. Right now it's chambered in two regular calibers, the .270 which I own and the .30-'06, plus two magnum chambers which are a no-no for target shooting.

I could go on talking about rifles and shooting for several days so I'll just hit up on some basic points and you can feel free to IM/PM/email me if you'd like some follow-up information.

I can agree with Katta on the .22. I would say that is a minimal step up from the air rifles you've been using and an extremely popular choice for shooters. You can find a cheap .22 caliber rifle, throw a scope on it, buy a 'brick' of ammunition for a ridiculously small amount of money and spend an entire day putting holes in the paper; however, the only thing to consider is that if you're looking to step up from air rifles, the .22 isn't a very big leap.

The second thing I would consider is a decent rifle chambered for .223. That is by far the best caliber for target shooting considering price, for both firearms and ammunition, as well as ballistics. At large ranges the .223 is probably the most accurate rifle you'll be able to find.

For target shooting, bolt-action is a must. Some would consider a semi-auto, but I would say 75% of serious rifle target shooters carry a bolt-action with them.

You're on the right track. There's a lot to learn about shooting and rifles and I wouldn't jump into purchasing a gun before you know enough information, but keep digging in and researching and eventually you can have yourself a great target shooting rifle.

Back when I was target shooting I used an actually very old bolt action .22 Winchester.

.22's are good for target shooting both due to low caliber (less kick, believe me if you use the larger calibers you're going to have a bruised shoulder after a while) and cheaper bullets. Bolt actions are more reliable, and there's less to get out of alignment, so they tend to make better target shooting guns unless you intend to pay an awful lot. I refused to use my dad's other .22 as a child because the auto-loading mechanism would always jam up at the worst possible time.

-fel

My favorite shooting rifles are my two .22 cal rifles. One was my grandfathers.. i got a scope for it and it is quite accurate and very fun. The other is a $70 piece that we picked up at a local gun shop.. regular sight aiming.. single shot. I actually prefer the single shot job.. it's much more fun without a scope.

The barrett I recall from Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear.. so I think that's a bit excessive.. :-p. The 710 is a solid model (and within a decent price range). To me, I don't care how advanced loading and firing mechanisms get, i'll always prefer a bolt-action for it's feel as well as for it's wonderful accuracy (a bolt-action rifle isn't necessarily accurate, but yeah..)

Is that first picture of an m82? I didn't know it was legal to carry one of those since it's an army issued sniper rifle. Pretty powerful one at that too. Remingtons are very good and reliable IMO. Might wanna take a look at Winchesters, I tend to like em :)

I, myself, am not a master marksman, but my father (whom taught me how to shoot) is excellent at both pistols and rifles of many calibers (gun nut). I'm going to hash in with everyone and suggest a .22; .22 long ammo is cheap, and the guns as pistols which fire this round are also (relatively cheap). If you're a beginner like myself, pretty much any firearm you can buy is more accurate than you are.

As far as bolt action vs. semiautomatic, I would go for the bolt action. They are much easier to clean, easier to maintain, and indeed require less arduous regular maintanance. A bolt action .22 is what you're looking for, and finding one with standard sight rails (a must if you're a serious shooter) should be quite easy.

If you simply must go with a higher caliber, choose .223 or .30-06. The .30-06 is a better round for game hunting, if that is a concern to you; the .223 was really a military round designed to wound/maim humans. The fact it is the NATO standard long rifle round makes it very cheap in most locales, which is an advantage for target shooting. If you've only shot air rifles, the recoil either will give you will take a long time to get used to. The recoil of a .22 is almost negligible in comparison (in fact, I did the math once, and with heavy "tourney grade" paint in my Tippman 98 "marker", there is more recoil force (due to the paintballs weight compared to a .22 round, even thought the accel is lower) at range-standard 300fps).