Free For All Friday 5/2/2014: Target shooting caliber
I was in an off mood earlier this week. Surprisingly, the resulting editorial went over quite well and I’ve gotten more than a few messages from readers agreeing with the sentiment. Oddly enough, even though I made absolutely sure not to mention any offending blogs in the article, I got a couple of messages from some bloggers who felt I was specifically talking about them. Here’s a pro-tip: if you’re not mentioned by name and yet still feel that you were being called out, you might want to do some introspective soul searching as to why. I’m not sayin’ nothin’, I’m just sayin’.
Today’s question fits right along with The Year of the Rifle!
I’m a rifle noob who wants to start target shooting. I know .22lr is highly recommended as a starter round, but given the ongoing scarcity I’m considering other calibers. Is there a preferred caliber for a beginner who is trying master the basics? -Christian C.
There was a time when you could get a year’s worth of .22LR ammo for about the same price as an instant ramen noodle cup and this made it ideal for learning the basics with. While .22LR isn’t as scarce as it has been recently, it’s still not available in the crazy quantities it was before. I wouldn’t rule .22LR out completely because if you’re willing to look online, you can still find some really good deals on a regular basis.
It begs the question, however: beyond the absurdly low price, what else made .22LR such a good learner round? For starters, the rifles that shoot it are very cheap. For under $200, you can get a top notch .22 rifle and that makes for a nice starting investment. It’s also a very low recoil and very low noise round which makes it great for those noobs who are a little on the nervous side.
So what is a good alternative? Given the factors of cheap, plentiful and low starter price, the first thing that comes to mind for me is .223. Looking at my beloved GunBot.net, the prices for .223 are still very reasonable…though still more than .22LR…but not by much. There are some great and inexpensive bolt action rifles that shoot .223, not to mention that it’s also the typical round used in the arguably famous AR-15 carbine. One other factor going for it is that the recoil is surprisingly light. It’s a very loud round, mind you, but it doesn’t jump like a .308.
So unless you want to just dive in headfirst and go to the .308 round, the .223 is my personal recommendation for that .22LR alternative. Let me head off those comments saying “but what about the .17hmr” and so on: While the .17 caliber rimfires are awesome and have great potential, the per round cost is exactly the same as .223 and, in my book, there’s more that I can do with a .223 than a .17 so, in the end, you’re getting far more bang for your buck.
Thanks for the questions!
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