One All Purpose, Decent Rifle - What Would You Get?

[Acmemfg]

Well, you could pick up an AR platform rifle in .223/5.56 and a replacement upper in .300 Blackout for another few hundred (prices on accessory upper receivers can vary widely).

As the .300 Blackout round is very similar to the 7.62mm, you now have one rifle that has the characteristics of multiple. The 5.56 NATO chambers both that round and the .223 Remington. A 7.62 as mentioned earlier is very close ballistically to a 30-30 (this cartridge having taken more deer than any other in American hunting history). And..as the .300 ACC Blackout can be the functional equivalent of the .30-30 round, that gives you a lot of options.

So, this might be an avenue to explore if you are looking for a lot of "bang for your buck". (Bad pun intended)

Oh, my personal choice??

Browning A-Bolt in .30-06

 

[jkingrph]

I was going to comment on the .243 as well. It would be a bit light for very large game, but can drop a deer or antelope in its tracks. I have done that a few times for proof. It has great range as well, I really would not suggest it would be your one all purpose cartridge you are looking for.....but I did want to plug it as a very versatile cartridge.

When I mentioned the .243, I was not speaking from experience as I have never shot one. I was thinking from a ballistics standpoint, having reloaded for over 50 years now and have read a lot. As I am getting older and like less recoil, I am preferring the 6.5mm, especially the old 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser cartridge, or the 7x57 Mauser cartridge. If you reload they can be loaded a little more on the hot side for modern firearms, but factory loadings are generally on the mild side in consideration for the old guns, like my circa 1898 Swedish Mauser. The 6.5 mm has a good reputation in the Scandinavian countries as a good choice for Moose similar sized game. One of the early 20th century African hunters used the 7mm as his preferred tool for culling elephants, but he knew what he was doing and shot placement was the key.

In reality anything from 6mm up that will launch a bullet of adequate weight and construction for the caliber and game hunted, at velocities between roughly 2300 and 2800 fps will do a good job. For long range shooting a higher velocity ( which generates more recoil also) is needed or a shooter that is extremely proficient with the cartridge and load he is shooting.

 

[Alejandro Salemandro]

When I mentioned the .243, I was not speaking from experience as I have never shot one. I was thinking from a ballistics standpoint, having reloaded for over 50 years now and have read a lot. As I am getting older and like less recoil, I am preferring the 6.5mm, especially the old 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser cartridge, or the 7x57 Mauser cartridge. If you reload they can be loaded a little more on the hot side for modern firearms, but factory loadings are generally on the mild side in consideration for the old guns, like my circa 1898 Swedish Mauser. The 6.5 mm has a good reputation in the Scandinavian countries as a good choice for Moose similar sized game. One of the early 20th century African hunters used the 7mm as his preferred tool for culling elephants, but he knew what he was doing and shot placement was the key.

In reality anything from 6mm up that will launch a bullet of adequate weight and construction for the caliber and game hunted, at velocities between roughly 2300 and 2800 fps will do a good job. For long range shooting a higher velocity ( which generates more recoil also) is needed or a shooter that is extremely proficient with the cartridge and load he is shooting.

I have an old mauser 98 in 8mm mauser. She's a great rifle.
Not what I consider a soft shooter though

 

[aldomarino]

Great general all around all purpose rifle?

SKS.

 

[accunlmtd]

My advice....for what its worth.... AR, with different uppers.
i have one in 5.56, my wife wanted her own, but wanted something she could use in indoor ranges. So we build a lower, the put a 9mm upper on it. What a fun gun to use. It uses Uzi mags, which are cheap (12 bucks), 100% reliable and available online in lots of places.
you can alwats add a 22 upper, also Crosman makes an upper that is a air rifle. I understand that there is also someone making an upper that is a muzzleloader.

 

[dionesius3]

Why no love for a Winchester 30-30 lever action or similar as an all purpose rifle?

That is the most sensible rifle ever, rugged, reliable, ammo is always available. Has very decent range and accuracy for 90% of the population. Holds 6 rounds, and is quicker than a bolt gun in most hands. With a sling on the gun it carries easily and puts meat on the tables as it has been doing since 1900. And nobody gets upset or nervous when they see one like they do with the AR.

Does se it have drawbacks? Sure it does for one thing reloading takes a bit longer, and it doesn't inspire the Wow that some other guns do. And some of the ones made in the late 1970's to mid 1990's can be hit or miss in the accuracy department. But the modern ones all tend to shoot much better than the older ones. The Rossi 92 or Rio Grand lever guns are one of the best values out there. I have owned ever caliber of Rossi 92 ever made and they all shot very accurately. The Rio Grande rifle is a clone of the Marlin 336 and comes in 30-30 or 45-70 both very good hunting calibers. They also shoot very accurately and are a fantastic value. You should be able to get any of these for under $500 anywhere Rossi firearms are sold.

Browning, Winchester, Marlin, Mossberg, and Henry all make very good lever guns as well. I like Rossi because they are exact copies of the original Winchester 92 and Marlin 336 and they are made of steel as good or better than their name brand competitors at a lower price. They just don't have as pretty stocks as the name brand guns, to me that is a plus in that I tend to use and abuse my guns more than I clean and polish them. Pretty guns don't get used by me much lest I scratch them and lower the value. Rossi lever guns go with me everywhere.

There is no more ALL PURPOSE rifle made than the lever action.

 

[OkieStubble]

Hey Rob! Totally agree! I really, really like my 10/22, and absolutely right, the whole fam can shoot it! That thing is deadly accurate too. Not too long ago I put a hole in a 1.5in PVC pipe at at least 100yrds. I know, not that amazing but it was fun nonetheless

What do you think AR-wise?

Yes, that's one I have done some looking into! Price is good and they seem to be well liked and accurate. It's rather feature-less and they've cut a few corners for cost from what I read, but still a solid entry level. I've also heard good things about Ruger's AR556 and one from Colt, but I can't remember it's designation.

While all AR's look alike, they are definitely not when it comes to performance, quality and price point. in my experience, AR's can be taken at face value. In other words, you get what you pay for. Brands that have a top shelf name, Noveske, Daniel Defense, LMT, BCM, LWRC, POF, all are brands who's reputation proceeds them and are top of the line AR's. It would be hard to get better for your money with these names, and you will pay a handsome price for them.

Right now, you can pick up a Colt LE6920 for well under $1000, unheard of in my recent memory of Colt prices. I think the Colt ranks right up there with the others I listed. There are other cheaper AR's out there. And they are usable shooters. However, Just because they are consistently serviceable, doesn't make them battle grade AR's.

There has been alot of great advice on all purpose rifles and calibers. But I think I might understand what you meant by "all purpose". You want something powerful, light, accurate, durable, and ammo that is reasonably cheap and you can carry a bunch of it. You want to be able to throw plenty down range without a reload, and then get up and haul butt with it. And your willing to spend on quality without selling the homestead doing it, but it has to "always" work. "ALWAYS"

Colt LE6920. Here's mine.



The Colt is called the gold standard. There are Better AR's and worse AR's. But they all copied the Colt.

 

[CyberJCM]

Thank you all for the great info! If nothing else, I've learned quite a bit from you guys about caliber and its usefulness. There were some good ideas, and plenty of food for thought. You know, reading a lot of what you guys said got me thinking about what my Pop used to own. He had a safe full of probably all the calibers you mentioned and then some. He passed away a few years ago, but my grandma still has his collection. She hasn't been able to mentally/emotionally do anything with it, including hand any of it down as he would have wanted. But I'm sure as time goes by here, it'll work out and I'll have some of those areas you mentioned covered! Thanks again!

Rob, I think you absolutely did understand me the most! Right on all points. So far, I haven't looked at the Colt yet, but I'm going to do that now. I remember reading a reference from someone quoting someone else in the know with AR's, and he'd said, "Buy the Colt LE6920 and call it done". And that seems to be what you're saying too Thank you!
Oh, and what accessories/optics do you have there on yours?

 

[DrColossus11]

In SHTF situation there are a lot of people that stocked up on AR's and ammo for them so it might be easy to come by.

 

[ColtRevolver]

If the SHTF, I can't imagine many people letting go of their ammo for those that aren't prepared...

 

[OkieStubble]

Oh, and what accessories/optics do you have there on yours?

My optics are an Eotech XPS2 holographic weapons sight, with a Eotech G33 STS 3X Magnifier. My light is a Inforce WML-HSP weapon light. All carried on Magpul's new OEM SL handguard, grip and stock.

 

[auk1124]

If I had to pick One Rifle To Rule Them All, it would be a Remington 700 in 308 Winchester, and a Leupold 3-9x40 scope.

Why such a boring choice? The 308 will do anything I would need it to do and is readily available (in theory anyway); the Leupold scope is tried and true; and any real gunsmith in the USA should be able to work on the Remington action and trigger and turn it into a tack driver, if it isn't one from the factory.

Not a sexy choice but with a little bit of smithing at most, it would be a rifle that could do practically anything, and do it very well. That is my thought anyway.

 

[jkingrph]

.308 gives you a great deal of versatility. You can get both semiauto and bolt guns chambered for it. I am not aware of any current civilian-ownable semiauto chambered for 30.06 though there are plenty of bolt guns for it.

CMP M1 Garands are pretty much gone, I think. I believe they still have plenty of nin-firing ones suitable for drill team or ceremonial use, though. And so, Garands can be had from private sellers or gun dealers, but the price has gone up considerably. IIRC capacity is 8 rounds, and the clip is ejected, making an unmistakable ping if it hits anything on landing. Japanese troops often tried to charge American GIs when they heard that ping. Unfortunately for them, American GIs would sometimes reload, fire, toss out a spent clip into some rocks or a tree trunk where it would make a nice loud ping, and meet the Banzai charge with 7 rounds loaded. So I am told. Anyway a lot of these guns have been sporterized into fine hunting rifles and there are a bunch of them out there. And yeah I forgot... the Garand is 30.06, so there is a semiauto gun for the '06 cartridge.

If you had asked about 15 or 20 years ago, I might have said get an SKS, or even a couple of them. Those things went cheap as chips when they first went on sale here. I fired one once that they owner had bought in a shop for $89.95. Fun gun, though not much good at over 300 yards or so. Various AK and SKS clones exist. I would prefer a .308 but the AK round is much shorter and lighter, so carrying several hundred rounds means you can carry still another 100 or so for the same weight. Havent priced factory ammo so I dont know how that breaks down. The build quality varies wildly in the AK family. Some are pretty good, some kinda suck. Some suck a lot.

I have heard that old tale about Japanese troops listening for the ping of an ejecting M1 clip. It just ain't so, no one could here that low level sound among the very loud sounds of battle, gunfire and other explosions, ect.

 

[jkingrph]

I have an old mauser 98 in 8mm mauser. She's a great rifle.
Not what I consider a soft shooter though

That's why I did not mention it, I have one of the Yugo Mausers and feel the same way, although for me it's not bad as I shoot some heavier calibers, such as the 45-70, .375 H&H and .458 Win Mag. The 8mm is a relatively modern high velocity round, velocities similar to the 30-06 but with a heavier bullet, so more recoil, at least in a gun of the same weight. My big CZ 550 safari American in .375 H&H is a pussycat in recoil dept. The gun is heavy,has a wide recoil pad, plus it fits me well. I have a Ruger #1 single shot, same caliber, lighter weight, although it is not a lightweight rifle, recoil pad is narrower, and it just does not fit as well, and recoil feels much more than the other gun, using identical loads. My worst recoiling rifle is a Marlin 1895 cowboy, 26" barrel and fairly lightweight. With moderate to heavy loads for the gun it comes back fast and hard.

 

[netsurfr]

Since you are looking for a rifle that would be easy for the family to use, I would highly recommend a Henry .30/30. Only has about a 10 pound push but it is still a great deer gun. Plus the Henry is made in the USA and is just downright beautiful!

Cheers,
Steve

Hey guys!

So, my wife and I have decided.... well, let me rephrase that, I've decided and she's approved, to add to our firearm collection to round it out and fill a gap or two. Probably start looking for a handgun that's specifically hers, and I feel we need a decent rifle. That's the one I want to ask you guys about:

I feel we need a rifle that will be as universally useful as possible. Be the situation defense, sport and fun or... if the world goes to hell or SHTF, hunting, survival etc. I would wager that most would suggest an AR style, and I'm all for that! Though I've no experience with them but they seem to be popular for good reason. And I admit, I'm a fan of tacti-cool

I know very little about them (or other rifles beyond my Ruger 10/22) so I'm not going to try and list a bunch of "must haves" or anything. I'm leaving that up to your suggestions. But the one thing that is key is price. We don't have the fun money in the budget to spend a great deal, so please keep that in mind. But I'm a firm believer in balance price vs. quality so, a little more $ where it makes a difference is ok but generally, lets keep it affordable. Second, I'm not much into projects and building, so the idea of buying all the different parts and putting it together myself doesn't appeal to me, and I'm not very comfortable with the idea. So something that's pretty much ready to go off the rack. I'm good with add on's, but a complete rifle first. Along those lines and touching back on price: solid entry level/high entry/midgrade/gentle learning curve suggestions please. I want to be able to jump right in, have the family learn together, and know we can depend on this rifle for whatever we need it for. Oh yes, one last consideration.... I live in CA LOL!

Hopefully that all makes sense, and I appreciate your help guys! Very interested to see your suggestions (I like pics too lol).

Thanks!

 

[DrColossus11]

If the SHTF, I can't imagine many people letting go of their ammo for those that aren't prepared...

My reasoning was a little darker than people handing out ammo...

 

[CyberJCM]

So in my research on AR's, I learned about an amazingly evil little CA mandated invention called a Bullet Button. I understand how it works, and I'll keep my comments from getting the thread closed... But anyone else familiar with this and whether it's a deal breaker on the AR? That's probably a loaded question, but any input you got is appreciated. Just don't get us in trouble lol

 

[Phog Allen]

I have an old mauser 98 in 8mm mauser. She's a great rifle.
Not what I consider a soft shooter though

Alex, what a grand old rifle. 8x57 Mauser is not really popular in the States but it always deserved to be. For some reason the round has a silly reputation for being loaded 'light' in deference to pre 98 Mauser designs like the 93 and 95. The issue I have with that is a LOT of guys ran some really hot rounds through the 93 and 95 actions both in standard military calibres and wildcats and rebarrel jobs to standard calibres. And the 8x57 is NOT loaded down in European ammo as far as I can tell. The round has some weird connotation of not quite being a .30-06 but modern(post 1960s) powders and newer factory loads reveals is essentially a ballistic twin of the 06 and the .323 bullets are just as aerodynamic in the heavier weights. And I think you can get a 250gr .323 that will expand at non-magnum velocities. I say all this because up til the factories standardised the 338-06 and the 338 Federal, one of the more popular wildcats was a .338x57. Made from either the 7 or 8 millimeter Mauser brass. But it dawned on me one time that we already had it. It is called the 8x57 Mauser. We are reinventing wheels that were first spoked in 1905. And the 8mm bullets are designed to perform at non-magnum velocities. Anyroad, I may round one up some day and do some loading for it. Elmer Keith always said the 32/33 callibres didn't destroy a fraction of the meat the smaller bores did when they grendaded in a deer. I have had it happen myself. Sorry OP. Not good response to your questions but don't overlook established, bolt rifle combinations. They have served well for 125 years.

 

[Mick]

If you are in Calif you don't want an AR or any type of "military style" rifle

If you feel you need to own one, find a class III dealer and get a full auto M-16 with all the stamps and Federal approvals.

That is about the only way to avoid all of the state regs if you are willing to go through the FBI, BATF, and CaDOJ background checks and don't mind the government knowing you have a full auto in your closet. I understand that it is difficult but not impossible in California.

 

[dreadpirate]

An AR15 with a second upper in 300 blackout. Can use regular mags for both 223 or 300 blackout.