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If you were going to buy a rifle

3K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  SS 
#1 ·
Now that .22lr ammo is near impossible to buy, I wonder what type of rifle you would buy for range shooting? Preferrably semi-auto, but would also consider a bolt action. Factors should include availability and cost of ammo in addition to performance of the rifle. We live south of the 96 corridor, so it won't get used much for hunting, although my son is headed to the U.P. so maybe sometime in the future it could be a deer gun.
 
#5 ·
I made an educational seminar out of this past shortage. I stopped at several gun stores weekly on the way home from work to investigate the ammo availability. The places I stopped include
Dunhams, total fire arms, not just guns, gander mountain, bobs in hastings, walmart, Meijer (4) locations. The ammo that was left available in these areas were,
.243 this was a surprise to me, This will be my next rifle purchase.
.17 HMR this was left almost every where
7.62 x 39 limited availability at the gun stores, not available at Meijer and walmart.

.22, .223, 308, 9mm, (.40 cal was spotty through it all) these was gone immeadiatly

30-30 .270 30-06 was left at Meijer and walmart down to the end, I helped clean out the Ionia store.

I was very systematic about looking into this weekly.
 
#18 ·
x2. Lots of it on sale online. There are 400 round boxes right now for $50 and they come with one of those self healing targets that bounce around. If you factor in the price of the target, its a good deal. Cabelas had a ton on their website yesterday, I snagged 1500 rounds for $75.
 
#10 ·
If I was doing it based on recent ammo availability alone, a .270 would be sitting in my safe. Gander Mountain and Dunham's consistently had .270 sitting on the shelf for the last 6 months, and a .270 works on just about anything warm blooded in North America.

I have been able to regularly order 6.5x55 Swede online for reasonable prices too, but not a lot of choices for picking up an additional rifle at your local gun shop.
 
#13 ·
I have to say 223. Ammo is still out there cheaper than anthing bigger and will knock down a deer. You could buy a bolt gun first then semi later to share the ammo.
We get lots of "I bought it to deer hunt someday" rifles in on consignment . The rarest consignment caliber is 223 and running second is 243. Nothing larger is fun to shoot especially for small framed adults and children.
 
#15 ·
.30-30 is always overlooked.

Fun to shoot and big enough to be reliable for deer.

The recent craziness seems to have somewhat left it alone. It seems like anything not typically used in a high-cap semi-auto has been less crazy.
 
#17 ·
I love my CETMEs. I think they are one of the best all around guns. There is a reason I have a few of them lol.
 
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