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You guys are really giving some great info here!

He's pretty much set on the Mosin so thank you very much for the recommendations.

Also, I'd like your "rebuttals" to this. His dad has a coworker who is the stereotypical self professed "Nam Sniper" who shot a Vietnamese general right between the eyes at 1700 yards (aiming for his nose and missed). You know the type. Anyway, I'm assuming he's one of those guys who refuses to believe anything not built by Americans is any good. He told my friend's father that the Mosin was very unreliable and cheaply built. I know this is inaccurate from my own experience but I'd like another person's take to show him.

He also said all Russian guns are unreliable so that should tell you something, LOL.

kalipsocs wrote:

MadMonkey wrote:

WarHawk-AVG wrote:

MadMonkey wrote:also remind him that Mosin ammo is corrosive and it is IMPERATIVE to wipe the bore and bolt face down within 15-30 min of shooting or the moisture of TX and the corrosive salts will rapidly turn the barrel into a fuzzy tube (I found out the hard way!!! I cleaned it but good grief it took 5x the effort to clean it up after it rusted than it would have just running 3x patches of water/windex/ammonia/Hoppes 9, 3x dry, 3x then oiled)

All of it?? I thought there were sources for cheap non-corrosive 7.62X54R... am I mistaken?

There is non-corrosive ammo out there, but it is considerably more expensive than the mil-surp corrosive stuff. It is imperative to neutralize the salts deposited in the barrel from the primer after shooting, however, using good ole hoppes no.9 is formulated for such purposes plus its a trusted cleaning agent. Brown Bear I know makes some NC ammo if corrosive ammo doesn't sit well with you.

Gotcha, I located some non-corrosive. He said he doesn't mind cleaning a lot more if he has cheaper ammo prices, LOL

Personally though I'll probably get non-corrosive for my own rifle since it won't be my main gun.

Thanks for the info!

WarHawk-AVG wrote:

MadMonkey wrote:also remind him that Mosin ammo is corrosive and it is IMPERATIVE to wipe the bore and bolt face down within 15-30 min of shooting or the moisture of TX and the corrosive salts will rapidly turn the barrel into a fuzzy tube (I found out the hard way!!! I cleaned it but good grief it took 5x the effort to clean it up after it rusted than it would have just running 3x patches of water/windex/ammonia/Hoppes 9, 3x dry, 3x then oiled)

All of it?? I thought there were sources for cheap non-corrosive 7.62X54R... am I mistaken?

UpTheIrons wrote:$80 for a 91/30 is probably the best price going right now. I got mine from J&G Sales http://www.jgsales.com/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; a while back for that and I don't think they are getting any cheaper. At least, I haven't seen them cheaper anywhere else in a long time.

Okay thanks. I'll contact a couple of FFL's and see what I can find... I'd really like M44's but I can't find any at the major online stores, only M91's.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! I just got another email from him saying he had a long talk with his dad, who told him (finally) that he could buy whatever he believed would be the best value for the money. For the price, we both agreed that the Mosin would be a good choice since he'd have plenty of money left over even after buying a lot of ammo.

So on that note, I'm about to throw up a WTB ad for a pair of M44's or M91's (I've been wanting another one too). If that fails, I saw that AIM Surplus has an M91 for $80. Is that the best deal around?

.17HMR is an option. But along those lines, what is the cheapest ammunition available for them?

He nearly fainted when I showed him a few sites with .223 for under $20 a box (he had never heard of that since he only looks at sporting goods stores). I figure it would be the perfect round, with little recoil and relatively cheap and plentiful especially for a bolt gun. Unfortunately I can't find anything in his range...

Gmckinl, his absolute highest price is $250 and he really wants under $200 so he can buy ammo, otherwise one of those would be perfect.

He would consider a self loader too, so my immediate thought was an SKS, but they seem to be running over $250 as of late. Wish I still had mine so I could sell it to him...

Davey G wrote:Academy has a bunch of Stevens bolt action rifles. They recently had them on sale for $200. When I asked they said they'd have them on sale again before Christmas. You should check. They come in some calibers that are nice for deer hunting.

Nice, I'll give him that tip. Thanks!

I have a friend who is looking to buy his first rifle. He's still a kid (15) but can handle heavy recoil with no problem, so that's not an issue.

The problem is that he's buying it with Christmas money and won't be able to spend over about $250 and prefers under $200. I haven't researched bolt action rifles in a long time, but it seems every centerfire is over $300... are there other options? He doesn't really want a .22LR (22 Magnum minimum, but he prefers something larger).

I'm guessing his best bet is a surplus rifle of some sort. I know he can handle the recoil of a Mosin Nagant, but his dad isn't too keen on it (he thinks it's excessive for plinking, and he's probably right It's cheap though!).

Any ideas for a bolt (or even self loading) rifle chambered from .22WMR up for under $250? He could buy used too, so if you have one for sale let me know.

Thanks guys

EDIT: No, I won't be making a straw purchase for him