Buddy of mine on the Sheriff's Dept. recently bought a Savage heavy barrel .223 bolt action. It's wonderful. He got it with a decent scope and bipod for under $700. It shoots as accurately at 100yrds as any other .223 bolt i've seen. He can shoot circles around me and I'm pretty darn good
But the rifle isn't everything. A bolt rifle is only as good as its scope. What is it the snipers say? Be ready to spend twice as much on the scope as you did a rifle? So a $500 rifle is at full potential with a $1000 scope, and so on... So if you want to get your moneys worth, pay as much attention to your choice of scope as you do the rifle. Too many people get an expensive precision rifle and but a crappy Tasco "hunting" scope on it and show off their "sniper rifle" at the range... Eek.
The .223 is a great, cheap plinking round and good for varmints-- he uses his on Coyote and raccoon with great success. I'm personally fond of the .308 because I don't find that it knocks me around at all, and the ammo is affordable through a bolt action because you don't light off rounds anywhere near as quickly as you do through a semi-auto. And .308 holds a better trajectory at an extended distance and works well with single shots on larger sized targets (like deer). I'm not trying to talk you out of .223, just saying there are other really good choices out there, too... .243 is a slight step above .223 and still under .308, but I am not sure how affordable the ammunition is...
The .223 is do-able as a SHTF rifle at close range, but I'd opt for a bigger caliber for anything life threatening because wind can seriously affect the accuracy of a .223 over a distance. But aside from the end of the world, I'm hard pressed to think of an emergency situation where you'd take a bolt gun...
Yeah, you need to be 21 to carry a revolver (any handgun). Well, thats not totally true. You need to be 21 to purchase one. At least in my state (Indiana), you only need a carry permit to carry and you can get that at the age of 18. That means your parents or legal guardian have to legally purchase it for you and let you carry it (with your states permit). I was carrying a .45 by the age of 18, but couldn't buy my own until I was 21. Go figure.
Bolt Actions and Revolvers, eh? I think this man has a fetish for reliability!
TRL