Year of the Rifle: Picking My First Real Rifle!
Since I’ve declared 2014 the year of the rifle, it goes without saying that if I’m going to learn rifle shooting, I’m going to need a rifle. While I love my Mosin and my .22LR, they’re not exactly the kind of rifle I want to be learning on. Maybe the .22LR a bit for technique and such, but the Mosin…not so much.
So I’m going to look at this the same way that I would if I were going to buy any other item, not just a firearm. I have a rule that, with very few exceptions, if I’m going to spend more than $100 on something I must spend a great deal of time researching it (1 to 2 days per $100). Essentially, what you’re going to read is me just writing down my thoughts as I shop. This is exactly how my brain goes through purchasing decisions….minus a few swear words.
Step 1 will be setting a budget. Since I’m not a hunter, nor do I have any plans of competing in the foreseeable future, I’m not interested in some break the bank rifle with titanium this and carbon fiber that. I want something that’s good, inexpensive and cheap to shoot. As such, I’m setting my budget at a maximum of $600. I think that should give me quite a few options.
Now it’s on to step 2: setting some goals. Ultimately, I’d love to be able to reach out and touch at 1000+ yards. I’m not entirely sure there are many sub $600 rifles that could accomplish that. At the moment, the longest range I have access to is 250 yards so I think that’s a great initial goal. I’d be surprised if there was a sub $600 rifle that couldn’t handle that range.
Part 3: Now comes a fun part…the features wishlist! With the above goals in mind, 250 yards doesn’t require much in the way of advanced stuff. That’s not to say some features wouldn’t make that easier. Right off the top of my head, the big ones are:
- Bolt action (of course)
- Floated barrel
- .308
Those are the absolute requirements. The floated barrel is important for accuracy. Like I said, at 250 yards it’s not as big of a deal as it would be at 1000 but accuracy is accuracy and there’s no reason not to have it either. I picked .308 for the cartridge because, well, it’s the de facto long distance round and the ammo is plentiful and cheap in my area. That means I can spend more time at the range practicing. Now we come to my “would be nice if” list:
- Adjustable trigger
- 2 stage trigger
- removable magazine
- adjustable stock
- pre-drilled for scope mounts
I like the ability to customize my guns. Being able to adjust the trigger will allow me to tweak things to my liking. Same thing with the adjustable stock. I’ve developed a love of 2 stage triggers and recently installed one on my AR even so that would be nice as well. I don’t mind dropping cartridges into the top to reload, the Mosin and my .410 shotgun both load that way, but I do so love removable magazines. Maybe it’s because I always wind up pinching the hell out of my finger whenever I load the Mosin and .410.
Finally, the scope mounts because, well, I need a scope. My eyes are good but not that good. I’m a bit wary of guns that come with a scope as I feel like it’s always going to be a cheap scope. The typical rule of thumb is spend 50% of the price of the rifle on the scope. So if a rifle is $600, I’ll want a $300 scope. If I buy a $300 rifle that has the scope already with it, I have to wonder what the rifle would have cost has the scope not been there as well as the cost of the scope itself. They always seem to have some eerily generic name as well, if they have a brand at all. Things like “Mikon”, “Loopold” or “Greenells”.
So now it’s time to look around. Staying away from some obscure generic brand, right now, we have
- Savage Axis
- Ruger American
- Remington 770
- Howa
- Marlin X7
- T/C Venture or Dimension
- Weatherby Vanguard
After doing some Google-Fu on the various rifles, I’m going to knock the Remington 770 off the list. While I tend to discount one or two negative reviews as a disgruntled customer that doesn’t know how warranties work, the 770 seemed to have 2 or 3 negatives for every 1 positive. That just gives me a bad feeling. The Howa looks and feels good but it doesn’t have the adjustable trigger and it’s an extra purchase and install if I want the removable magazine. I’ve also seen more than one account talking about how the stock tends to bend and still touch the barrel so it kind of negates the free floating.
I’m going to knock the Ruger off the list for purely selfish reasons: we’ve already got a review of one of those on the site, courtesy of TJ. If I’m going to buy a gun, I want to get a review out of it. Stupid? Maybe. My site, my rules.
So that narrows it down to the Savage Axis, Marlin X7, T/C Venture or Dimension and the Weatherby Vanguard. I spent some time at the store and I just don’t like the feel of the Marlin. To be honest, I can’t express in words. It was just, when I picked it up, I just didn’t like it. Sometimes guns are just like that. After dry firing the Axis a bit, I wasn’t fond of the trigger.
I really like the Vanguard and the Thompson Center offerings. I would take either of them in a heartbeat. I have to pick one, however. There is little difference between the Venture and the Dimension in terms of feel. That being said, I’m going to take away the Venture for a moment and talk about the Dimension and the Vanguard because they’re very close in price. Both have great features. Both have great feel. Both have accuracy guarantees right from the factory. The edge, however, goes solidly to the Dimension. Why? Because it will save me money in the long run. It’s a modular rifle. Once I’ve purchased the initial gun, it’s very cheap and easy to swap out a couple of components and change the caliber for less than $200 a piece.
So my final verdict: The Thompson Center Dimension Rifle. It may be right at the top edge of my budget but the fact that I’m essentially getting the potential for multiple rifles on the cheap makes up for it. Next time: picking a scope.
Images used under creative commons license from Marcin Wichary and Thompson Center Arms, respectively.
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