Shopping For My First Rifle :)

[OR_VARMINT_HUNTER]

J&B Firearms has good entry level Ar-15 packages with case and a mag and some have optics

 

[WarpedWheel]

Nice interpretation, you definitely are in synch with what I'm looking for. Admittedly, I named the topic of this thread inappropriately, hence lending to my ignorance. I should have named the subject as, "My First Assault Rifle".

I hear what you're saying about the AK, I've shot a couple of them. One was calibrated by an expert and I could hit anything at 100 yards as a newbie, the other was calibrated by an intermediate and the sighting was awful and I felt like I was just shooting a point blank meat cleaver.

I've read that the Smith and Wesson M&P15 'Sport' AR15 Carbine is a good option for $600 and the Colt 6520 are good options for a first "assault" rifle.

I have a couple friends with the M&P15 Sport and they shoot good and have proven reliable when we go out shooting.

 

[Mecanik]

Your first rifle should be a .22 LR 10-22 semi auto
second a .308 or a .30-06 bolt action of any brand
The third an ar-15 in .223 with standard sights.
The fourth an M1A/M14 in .308 again
The fifth an SKS or AK-47 to blast cans with.
The sixth your on your own.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Then you get smart and buy roller locked C series HK rifles

 

[wombat]

+1 with the 10/22 recommendations; or any .22 for that matter, though I wouldn't be one to recommend a semi auto to a long gun beginner.
Bolt actions teach the whole new world.
Ruger 10/22, Marlin 60's, CZ 452 ... the list is endless. Don't ignore the .17 either!

The .22 is a far cheaper (and more fun for the bang and buck) platform to learn things, from how to hold and sight, to parallax and bullet drop, field of view ...
And then there's triggers, receivers, barrels, optics, parts, own modifications ... the list is endless and /22's are just plain fun.

Recalling my semi auto caution, West Coast Armory do have a Ruger 10/22 if you want to get the feel of one of the best selling .22's on the market (one million orders Jan-Mar this year).
With iron sights it's a good start and ammo is cheap.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

In truth my favorite .22 is my MAS 45 German Mauser trainer bolt action. That thing defines accuracy

 

[iamme]

First- DON'T BUY A DAMN ASSAULT RIFLE. buy a rifle, a gun, a pistol, a handgun, hell even a Jedi's used once and returned light saber. but no ASSAULT RIFLES....

Sorry had to be done. AR vs AK (based on your updated post) is kinda a wash. Which do you prefer? If you compare apples to apples (pricewise) you start getting AK's better than the $300 junk ones and will/should perform better as well.

 

[thewhitebuffalo83]

First- DON'T BUY A DAMN ASSAULT RIFLE. buy a rifle, a gun, a pistol, a handgun, hell even a Jedi's used once and returned light saber. but no ASSAULT RIFLES....

Sorry had to be done.

+1, its like factory 17 round mags for the glock 17 being called hi capacity when in actuality they are normal capacity. Sorry for Hijacking and thread crapping. Back on Topic.

For a first semi-auto I agree with many others above, you cant go wrong with 22 lr. If you are concerned with the lethality do a little research on youtube I believe there is several videos on the topic of 22lr and its effectiveness out to distance. Who is going to stand up to 25 rapid fire rounds of 22 lr anyway? With the 22 lr you can keep those 25 rounds on target and shoot them more quickly.
I tried for the first time shooting while moving with my 10/22 last time I went shooting and I started at 50 yards and slowly walked into 25 yards. I went through 2 25 round mags. My target was a 4 foot by 4 food piece or cardboard with a paper plate painted orange in the middle. If I remember right I hit 35 rounds on the paper plate and the other 13 were with in 2 inches or the plate and I 2 rounds unaccounted for, They were either major flyers(unlikely with the target I was using or they went through one of the other 48 holes. I tried it with my AR at the same speed with only one mag and the results were awful, Luckily I had a really nice back stop behind my target. Lets suffice it to say that my buddies had a good laugh watching my try it with my AR.

Give the 22lr a try I don't think you will be disappointed and simalar to what someone else said pick up a 10/22 and then either buy a inexpensive bolt or probably more to your liking a SKS and you should still have money left over for lots of ammo.

 

[andreys21]

Next person to refer to an AR or an AK as an "assault rifle" needs to either: 1) banned from the forum, 2) have his/her NRA membership canceled, 3) go back to the republic of Kalifornia, OR call firearms what they really are such as "a semi-automatic carbine or rifle". An assault weapon is a firearm capable of firing multiple rounds with just one trigger pull, such as the M16 or M4A1. Just because it looks scary dont make it an assault Rifle. Don't feed the anti-gun fire, please.

AK47 variants are cheaper to buy and shoot. No one gun can fill all roles. Consider what the real purpose of your purchase is: target, home defense, hunting, comPetition, etc.

 

[mortre]

+1 on the 10/22 or other .22LR. Won't eat up to much of your budget and super cheap to feed learning the basics. Just save what ever you have leftover after buying the .22LR keep saving. After a few months (depending on how much you can save per month.) you will have re-saved the cost of the .22LR and can then look at a centerfire.

The cost of a 10/22 and 1100 rounds to learn basics would be less than 1100 rounds of 5.56x45 by itself.