What would you get for a sub $200 rifle?

Take a look at Savage 308's. Accurate, reasonable and the ammo can be gotten from surplus sellers

rebelgtp wrote: I live in the sticks, the only book store we have local is in a small house that has a couple rooms converted over to being a book store lol. I can check Walmart and some of the other places see if I can find a Shotgun news.

http://www.shotgunnews.com/

looking at the hi-point 9, i have an idea where my next pay check is going, and at 1/4 the price of the beretta Cx4.

I have a HP carbine in 9mm. Great rifle, really, and surprisingly accurate. I put the aftermarket CX4 lookalike stock on it and have had some problems with it, I've had to do a lot of filing on the plastic by the action so it would fir and not rub or bind. As ugly as they are, the original stock is hard to beat. Have fun.

I also picked up a Winchester model made under license by Sears Roebuck for $180, 30-30, carbine size, holds six instead of seven rounds, great gun. Got it at a pawn shop.

+96 on Swedish Mausers! I got mine for $59.95, but that was quite a while back. It was a tackdriver until I finally shot the bore out in NRA High Power Rifle competition.

My son recenly bought a M91/32 Mosin Nagant, and is quite happy with it. I respect it, but would prefer a cartridge with better selection of factory ammo and better availability of components. For the money, it's a lot of rifle.

Warning! Some of the long surplus bolt actions are not sportscar friendly! You might want to see what the longest 2X6 you could fit in the trunk or behind the seat, then measure the rifles as you shop.

I generally prefer more common cartridges, preferably some that are loaded in some form by the larger American ammunition companies. What's on the shelf at your local stores, or on the tables at gun shows?

If you want to shoot more, consider handloading, starting with a Lee Loader. Once you have a basic load of surplus ammo (often steel case, corrosive Berdan primed), start looking for reloadable brass. As a practical matter, that means boxer primed brass cases. Working with Berdan primers is a PITA. Slug the bore, shop for bullets, powder, primers. Metal prices are way too high right now, and US surplus brass is going to dry up.

slantvaliant wrote: Warning! Some of the long surplus bolt actions are not sportscar friendly! You might want to see what the longest 2X6 you could fit in the trunk or behind the seat, then measure the rifles as you shop.

Good warning however I am without a "sports car" at this point. Right now the main rigs are the Ram 1500 truck and my '80 Olds Cutlass project car. Oddly enough an old surplus rifle just kinda "fit" with either of those.

1. Ishapore Enfield. I've got three. If you can find one, that's the one I'd buy of the alternatives. More accurate than I am in either stock or sporter condition plus you get to shoot 308 Win surplus when you can find it. I can't believe nobody has offered magazines with greater than 10 round capacity for the thing.
2. M96 Mauser, good luck finding a nice one now as they were pretty much snapped up 15 years ago. 6.5x55 has excellent ballistics but has lost a lot of popularity in the US over the last 10 years. Aftermarket support in triggers/stocks exists, but declining.
3. Mosin Nagant. Bought one a couple of years ago for $60. It could be all the rifle you'd ever need. Ammo is still available fairly cheap in new production and 7.62x54 is roughly comparable to 30-06
4. The Yugo M48 Mauser is a great gun, but it's an intermediate action so none of the standard long action M98 Mauser stocks will fit. Boyd's carries a nice sporter for it, but that's your only option unless you start whittling on the military stock. Generally all the surplus 8mm Mauser ammo is long gone, leaving you with rolling your own or buying new.
5. You might easily find a Savage or Remington bolt gun in 308 Win for less than $200. That would be a good option. If you can find one in 260 Remington that would give you a ballistic copy of the 6.5 Mauser.
6. The "stealth" option would be any solid Winchester or Marlin lever action chambered in 30-30. 30-30 will never go out of style in America, and it's falling outside the ammo buying craze right now. Lever-action "John Wayne" rifles aren't in high demand right now and they're everywhere. Unless you're hunting something bigger than whitetail or farther than 200 yards that rifle should last you just fine. For an urban rifle it would be pretty tough to beat, too, as they're very reliable and they're "non-threatening" looking.

Dr. Hess wrote: Uh, Buy Now before it's Illegal.

I commend your restraint Hess.

Buy an SKS. You can find 7.62x39 all day long at most any gun shop. Also, if you get an AK later they eat the same bullets.

If you're going for some deer or bigger an SKS may not have enough ass to take those animals cleanly. I'm not a hunter so listen to guys who've plugged deer first.

Always liked the lever action stuff too. It's fun and a classic design. The '65 Mustang of the rifle world.