Ok guys ive been wanting a bolt-action rifle for a very longtime. After seeing the movie " Shooter " the craving for one went out of controle. I was thinking of going with a 22lr but desided i want something that will fire farther. Seeing how im on a tight bugget at the moment i was thinking of going with a mosin-nagant m44. A local gunshop i go to has some almost new condition ones for 125. The owner got his hands on 30 rifles and will let you look them over and chose wich one you want.


What do you guys think? Good deal? I read that 90 is to much for a mosin but the ones ive seen for that price are in hellish conditon and don't look to safe.

If you could suggest a better rifle or if you own or have shot a mosin please give your opion.

Im willing to spend about 300 max at the moment.

I don't hunt or anything like that so the rifle will be for target shooting and just to have incase zombies ever attack lol.


Thanks in advance.

The CZs from the Czech Republic are very accurate and high quality for the money. Just pick a caliber. I was thinking about the new 17HMR. They will punch holes in propane tanks at > 200 yds (my friend did this at a measured 300 yds).
Both he and I were astonished that any rimfire could do that. Few believe us, but its true.

I am not sure what they are going for now, but Savage makes a decent bolt action rifle. Also, you may want to look around for a used Remington 700, worth the search if you don't mind a used firearm.

As for caliber, if you want something small, accurate, flat shooting, and cheap to shoot, try a 223. Its a military caliber, and very popular with civilians, so there is lots of ammo to be found.

Just my two cents, hope it helps.

The last Remington ADL I bought in .223 was an out of the box tack driver. The Savages aren't as "nice", but they all seem to be very accurate, too.

What distances are you going to be shooting?

If you are really dying to get a bolt gun, I would get something inexpsensive like the mosin and then learn about the various aspects of longer range shooting. Like what caliber you are going to settle on, how to hold the rifle properly while prone, how to use your iron sights at distance, breathing control, learn about elevation and windage adjustments and the impact this has on a shot at a given distance etc. If you are still interested in the hobby, then save your duckets for something like a Savage 10FP-LE model rifle with a Super Sniper scope or similar, quality bases and rings at the entry level (~$1200) or for a bit more a Rem 700 with a lupy vari-xIII + or similar quality scope (~$1700). If you get a Rem 700 or Savage used, try to have someone go with you (or perhaps you know) who knows how to inspect a barrel. In my experience, these 2 setups are accurate and the scopes go back to zero. Then you can go nuts from there and spend billions of dollars.

Read, research and make sure you understand what you are getting in to with scopes. You can really go nuts on a 14x plus power scope just to find out you don't need that much magnification. If you can take a precision rifle class or even a hunting class, you should get some valuable insight before spending a wad of cash. If you can find a local hunter or someone who has been shooting at longer distances for a while, they might have some good info and insight.

Edited to add this link http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/23-10/ and although it's targeted at military folk there is some good info in here especially chapter 2 & chapter 3. I probably have some student handouts from various precision rifle classes I could mail you as well. I just have to find them.

There you go, KP. What Jeeps said.

You might have a look at a Military surplus 8mm Mauser. Gun rags have been advertising them for years. If I remember they are somewhere beteen $300-500 depending on grade and there complete with bayonet cleaning kit and a bunch of other issue stuff. These are actually issued Mausers. I had a chance to fire a friends awhile back shoots nice out to 300 Yards which was as far as we could shoot at this range. It'sighted for a lot farther.

For your price range the Mosin rifle is a great buy and probably your best bet.
You may be able to find them a bit cheaper but it is worth a little extra to be able to pick through and also support your local dealer. The 7.62/54 is an excellent round and still in use as a sniper weapon. It is the cheapest centrefire rifle round. You can get cool repro scopes and bases for a cool soviet Sniper repro. If you liked Shooter(I loved it) check out "Enemy at the Gates".

A mauser is another good choice but more money. The best buy in mausers would be a post WW2 east german model. They are the same excellent rifle as the earlier WW2 ones but not as expensive. The Israili versions are in .308 but some are more accurate than others.

Milsurps rule and will probably go up in value.

Some people hate them but I like the NEF Handirifle in .223 as a plinker and Varmint rifle. Add Walmarts finest optics and you have an accurate rifle that takes military surplus cartridges and very close to your budget. If you want to improve your skills this is a good choice. By the time you are getting good enough to need a better rifle you will either be sick of accurate shooting or want a really nice rifle.

If you get the Mosin the longer rifle is a better choice for accuracy(and recoil) but those carbines are so cool. Huge cartridge ,light short rifle with a steel butt pad makes for a hard kick.

I believe it, that 17HMR is one surprising round. I have done my own testing and it is unreal what it can do. It defies all common ballistic logic, along with the fact that it is very accurate.

Marlin has a bolt action that is capable of shooting less than a .50 MOA at 100 yards

Our local indoor gun range will not allow the 17HMR because they punch holes in the steel armor backing...hard to believe, but true

Dan

I love my .17hmr! I have an older marlin with a heavy barrel and a cheapo tasco scope on it. Average group shooting outdoors off the bench is .75 MOA at 100 meters.

However for the real accuracy, I break out the 6mmBR with the pieces of night force glass bolted to it! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Now we're talking. I have a Browning Eclipse rifle in 308 Win with the Boss system with a top end Springfield scope. Its strange to think you could hold dead on (scope feature)out to 800+ yards. The longest that I have shot it is 400 yards and it held a 2.25 inch group

Real shooting fun <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Dan

Wow excellent groups Dan.