Help me choose my next purchase...

[CB900F]

BigBL87;

OK, here's a different take for you to consider. Sell the Savage .22 & get the Ruger 10/22. There are a couple of reasons to go that way. Having the Ruger allows you to do almost literally whatever you want with it. It's one of the three most accessorized firearms on the planet. The other two being the AR platform and the 1911. Selling the Savage should make getting into the Ruger a very small investment. That then quite possibly creates the ability to obtain a center-fire rifle in the not-too-distant future that's an upgrade from the category you'd been thinking in.

However, I'll also warn you that it's very easy to go Rugernutz and produce multiple Frankenrugers before sanity reasserts itself. They are addictive. Red-dot plinker, lights-out accurate bench gun, WWII German MG42 look-alike? It's all possible using the base 10/22. Considering the availability of Ruger 25 round magazines, it's even a credible home-defense gun. Get a Brownell's catalog & go nuts!

Then start haunting the local, and maybe not so local, gun shops looking at the used racks. Considering your state's hunting restrictions, it's entirely possible that a good used centerfire might be more reasonably priced than you might think. Just because a rifle is on the used rack doesn't mean it's automatically a cast-off dog. Many a fine firearm has been found second-hand. Perhaps you could start looking at Remington 700's, a nice Winchester 670, a Howa, or another Ruger. Lot's of possibilities.

900F

 

[Mr. T]

If I were you, I would save up for an AR...prices are coming down and for a couple hundred more dollars you could get a better platform that is accurate out to moderate ranges and they are FUN to shoot. Bushmaster, M&P, DPMS, would all be brands that might be in your price range if you hold out and save up just a bit more. Just my two cents worth.

 

[Mr. T]

To also legitimize CB900F's point about the used guns, about 8 years ago, I found a Remington 700 in a used rack that was almost spotless with a lower end Simmons scope on it with Leupold mounts. It was a .270 Win and after holding it, pointing it, and close inspection I took it to the counter and was the proud owner for $300. I later put a Nikon Pro-Staff scope on it and had a local gunsmith put a rubber pad on it for my 12 year old son to use for his first deer season. When I tested it at the range it was a tack driver and my son dropped his first deer with it at 225 yards. Excellent bargains can be found in the Used Gun racks...don't over look them.

 

[leadcounsel]

If I were you, I would save up for an AR...prices are coming down and for a couple hundred more dollars you could get a better platform that is accurate out to moderate ranges and they are FUN to shoot. Bushmaster, M&P, DPMS, would all be brands that might be in your price range if you hold out and save up just a bit more. Just my two cents worth.

I love it when someone comes on to ask advice with a clearly very small budget - the guy doesn't even HAVE the $300 yet, and *might* be able to move into the $400 range.

Yet there will always be the person or people that want the guy to MORE than double his price range to get an AR or something else. It's like some people don't even read the OP or understand a budget...

A decent AR and a few mags is likely going to run minimum $600 with a bare-bones platform. Any good platform, minimum mags, and ammo is going to easily set someone at $800 or more. That is so far above the OPs budget it's such a poor recommendation...

 

[Cee Zee]

I'm going to ruffle feathers by saying it but I think with your budget constraints a Marlin 60 is the rifle everyone should own. It will control a lot of pests and you won't need to upgrade it a lot for best results (the 10/22 is ok out of the box but the 60 is better - you can make a Ruger into a MUCH better gun but it takes money and quite a bit of it). Nothing teaches a person the basics of shooting like a .22 but you have that covered with your Savage. Still there are times a semi-auto is called for when it comes to pests like heaven forbid rats. You can nail a bunch of them in a hurry with a semi-auto it doesn't have to be at your house. Someone could start an illegal dump near your house and bring in a lot of vermin. There are other things too like feral dogs, raccoons, coyotes (if you're a good shot you can kill coyotes easily with a .22), feral cats, starlings (they are not a native species and are not protected AFAIK and they do cause problems displacing native birds habitat) and other things that can become genuine pests.

A semi-auto .22 can dispatch of many of those problems where a bolt action would generally just make the pests more cautious and not really get rid of them. You can do these things with a Ruger but you can do it cheaper with a Marlin. If you live in a place like I do (rural) you'll know that a species like Starlings can be not only destructive to crops but they can carry disease and ruin trees where they roost. Like blackbirds they next communally meaning you can get 10,000 of them in a single tree. The droppings can be immense and so can the feathers flying in the air around the tree. Both carry diseases. They also steal resources best left to native species but getting rid of them completely is not going to happen. Still if you have a problem with them you have a problem. Bottle rockets may work better but if you can shoot at them safely you can eradicate them with a few bricks of ammo. It won't be easy but it can be done. I have no sympathy for the critters myself because they aren't native and they do cause problems for people. They roost in the same tree year after year sometimes resulting in a foot of accumulated much at the bottom of that tree. If that tree is in your yard it is a major nuisance especially around pregnant women. I've dealt with roosting bird problems before and it is not easy to make them move but it can be done. A semi-auto can scare them off and leave a number of them dead on the ground.

Anyway I might consider the Axis also but I'd get the AT because they are much better than the standard trigger. If you don't have enough money for one now save a little longer. It's worth it. And there are used cheap scopes around to keep you going until you can afford a better one. I have scopes I would give to someone that needed one because I couldn't get any money worth bothering for if I sold them. They are better than no scope but a $175 Nikon scope is head and shoulders better. I have old scopes that came with rifles in boxes because I have never tried to get rid of them. I'd give them away to anyone willing to pay for the shipping. I'm talking cheap Tasco scopes mainly. They aren't the best believe me.

 

[BigBL87]

As for selling the Savage, thanks but not gonna happen. I love that thing to death.

And leadcounsel, thank you. For better or worse (pun intended), I am married and we share finances completely and we don't have a whole lot of disposable income. We aren't living paycheck to paycheck by any means, but saving for guns is not a priority for either of us as much as I would like to. My budget is my budget, plain and simple.

At this point I'm going back and forth between the SKS and 10/22. I like the 10/22 because I could buy it and not need to buy a new caliber. Heck, for the price I could buy it and buy a bunch more ammo for all my guns. But, I don't really gain any new capability with it. The SKS would be something "new" and cool. My main concerns are long term availability of cheap ammo and having to worry about corrosive ammo. I clean my guns, but not as meticulously or as often as some.

And re: the coyote thing, it is more of an emergency contingency than it is something I will encounter in all likelihood. Lots of coyotes in our area, but by and large they still seem to avoid humans still.

And as far as modding a 10/22, I don't plan on doing much to it. Main reason I like the 10/22 is the availability of quality mags. Otherwise I'd buy a Marlin 795 or Savage 64.

As for pest control, thats the other reason I have the air rifle. It is accurate enough at the distances I'd need on my property for controlling small pests, plus its legal to use in town unlike a 22. I can hit a dime at 10 yards which is about as accurate as I need.

 

[Lycidas Janwor]

That's two very different rifles--the SKS and the 10/22. I own an SKS but I do not own a 10/22. People speak highly of the 10/22 and if you are really budget concious, it's hard to argue against getting one as they are very versatile. However, the 10/22 is still a .22 rifle which means it's very limited in what it can do as far as dropping vermin.

The SKS is just a whole different animal. It's big, it's pretty heavy, it's an old school semi auto in a big beefy caliber. It's rock solid, it's reliable, it's pretty darn accurate and simple to maintain. As far as ammo goes, well, yep, it's gonna be more expensive but it isn't unreasonable. Also the 7.62x39 is plentiful. It's everywhere and it's reloadable (if it's brass case, more expensive ammo, not that cheap Russian stuff). However, my SKS will eat up any ammo just fine, from the cheapest, dirtiest russian crap ammo to the more expensive brass stuff.

I guess what I'm saying is buy the rifle that best suits your needs. If you don't need a large caliber rifle than buy the 10/22. If you think that you might need that large caliber rifle then get an SKS. However, these two choices are so far apart that I see a huge dilemma for you in choosing one over the other because they don't have much in common. One is for small game/varmints, etc. and the other is for big targets and is more of a defensive weapon.

I wish I could suggest a nice compromise between these two choices that fits within your budget but I'm at a loss right now.

 

[tubeshooter]

If you already have and like your .22 rifle, a 10/22 is not going to really bring anything new to the table for you.

Also, 7.62x39 (or .223, for that matter) is going to be quite a bit better for coyote control than .22lr will ever be. No matter how slim the possibility of it actually coming into play.


As far as ammo availability... the AK-47 is widely regarded as one of the most successful and ubiquitous platforms on the planet for quite some time now. There are literally thousands and thousands and even more thousands of guns out here all over the world chambered for that caliber - AKs, SKSs and a few other various and sundry rifles like the VZ-2008. They even make domestically produced ammo brass cased ammo, although to be fair it is much more expensive than steel cased. I can think of half a dozen Johnny-come-lately calibers that will be long gone before 7.62 x 39 will. I seriously (and I mean seriously) would not worry about 7.62 x 39 becoming unobtanium tomorrow, next year or next decade. And if you actually are - get the budget .223 bolt like I suggested earlier. Problem solved. But not really a problem to begin with...

 

[ACP]

another vote for the savage axis.

you don't hunt, except maybe coyotes = .223

feral dogs = .223

plinking = .223

companion to Savage rimfire rifle = .223