Hello, first post here. I am looking for a nice rifle. While I am semi new to guns I have shot them quite a bit. I am looking a nice rifle that takes cheap ammo. I have shot many .22's and while I like them I am looking for something with a bigger kick. What caliber rifle do you suggest I use? My only real criteria is that the ammo isn't hard to come by and is relatively cheap to shoot for plinking. I would like to keep the ammo to under 50 cents a round. Thanks y'all!

What do you want to use it for? And what exactly is easily available? Internet easy, or local gun store easy? How much do you want to spend?

AKs and ARs are easy to get, and between the 2 platforms you can get them in nearly every caliber known to man. AK ammo, both 7.62x39 and 5.45 is easy to get online, in large quantities and won't be over 50 cents a round for awhile. AKs and ARs come in .223 too, which can be in the 50 cent a round range depending on what brands you get.

M1 Garands shoot a lighter .30-06 load, the surplus ammo is/was right at your 50 cent mark last I bought any.

Scott

Cheap available rifles and cheap available ammo with a kick? Pretty
well narrows it down to surplus military bolt actions. The Russian
Mosin Nagants have been very popular in recent years for those very
requirements. Nice examples can be bought for reasonably cheap, look
for a good bore not beautiful wood. Ammo, while not as plentiful as
before, is still around in quantity.

The Moisin Nagant is currently the cheapest way to go. Your next best is an AR15.

Once you start shooting and buying more rifles, you will want to find someone to mentor you and teach you to reload. It's impossible to shoot a lot without doing so. You don't save any money by reloading because you end up shooting more.

The word Cheap describing Ammo is an oxymoron. Ain't no such thing anymore.

Somehow I had it stuck in my head he wanted a semi auto. If thats not the case, get a Mosin or 5 and a couple crates of ammo!

Thanks for all the input! Some more specs would be the rifle can cost up to $600 and I would like it to be able to have a scope too. This would mainly be for plinking and semi bolt or lever action are all fine by me. The only real spec would be I would want it to be a newer gun (2000 or newer). And with the research I've done, I'm leaning towards a .223 or a .308

Welcome to the forum.
Until the .22's come back on the shelves, your best bet might be a cheap SKS or AK in 7.62X39. The ammo is still everywhere for about .25 a round.

SWCA #1834

Alright thanks the 7.62x39 is definitely what I am looking for in rifle ammo. As far as a rifle to go along with it, what do you suggest (Specific models)? I can't decide between a tactical style or an old school single shot rifle. Also if I hunted with a 7.62x39, what could I get?

7.62x39 is normally associated with the AK and SKS, but there are AR15s that are set up for it, both dedicated and conversion kits. Ruger makes the Mini 30 in 7.62x39 as well, and Savage makes a bolt gun in x39. There are tons of AK options, see theakforum.net for more info than you ever knew existed about them.

I personally prefer the 'classic' styles myself, all of my AKs are in full military dress, and if you are patient or know where to look you can get them in the style of pretty much any country that ever made an AK, from the Soviet Union, Russian Federation to Czechoslovakia and Iraq if thats your thing.

Scott

I love the look of the Ruger mini 30! Does Ruger also make a Mini 14 in 7.62x39?

Sort of, they call it the Mini 30 ;-)

Scott

Ahh I see. Thanks so much guys time to start shopping!

Well you did not specify what type of rifle you like.... Bolt Action, Semi-Auto, Lever Action, etc. If your main criteria is cheap ammo, I would suggest you get a Marlin or Winchester Lever Action in a Pistol Caliber like .38/.357. This way you can have the option of reloading which IMHO is almost a must if you are going to shoot a lot these days! The other bonus is that if you have handguns in that caliber (or intend to in the future) you can use the same ammunition.

The 38/357 from a lever action Carbine is a joy to shoot all day long and if you reload will cost you around 12 cents a round assuming you already have the brass.

That's great info Chief38! In post #7 I did say it could be any type of rifle but that's great to know!

Along the same lines of what chief had suggested there are plenty of manufacturers that make pistol carbines. They can be as expensive as and a low end AR or as cheap as a pistol (highpoint) but your savings will be in the ammo. I have a beretta CX4 in 9mm and its a blast to shoot. I won't get the range as compared to a real rifle cartridge but serves its purpose for targets 100 yards or less.

Going forward the ONLY caliber meeting your 50 cent per round requirement is the .223 or 5.56 NATO. The big advantage for this caliber is the light bullets and availability of a large inventory of surplus ammunition and once fired cases.

Those suggesting a Mosin Nagent and the use of surplus ammunition are living in the past. That surplus ammunition has pretty much been bought up and used. People I know who are actually shooting their Mosin's all reload for it and tend to load a bit "soft" in order to extend the life of their brass.

As for the 30.06, their is still a bit of a stockpile of surplus ammo for the 30.06 but it's availability is VERY spotty. The last time that I remember the CMP program having any surplus 30.06 was somewhere between 1 and 2 years ago. If you stop by Walmart or any other budget retailer you'll find out that 30.06 starts at about 1 dollar per round and goes up from their.

My rifle caliber is the 308 Winchester or 7.62 NATO. Due to the cost of 308 ammunition I reload all of my ammunition for it and my cost per round works out to 85 cents per round. Granted, I'm loading with rather expensive match grade bullets that cost 50-55 cents each but my powder cost alone is 19 cents. Add in 10 cents for the casing and 4 cents for the primer and you'll see that the only way to get the cost under 50 cents per rounds is to use bullets that only cost 17 cents each. I have no idea at all where you can find a 30 caliber jacketed bullet that cheap and suspect that it would not be very accurate if it could be found.

Now look at the .223 or 5.56 NATO. Here you have a situation where there is a relatively stable supply of NATO surplus ammo coming onto the market. Every box of ammo that the US Military purchases has an expiration date on it and once that date passes it's considered Surplus. In addition the .223 is a very inexpensive caliber to reload. Hornady offeres a 55 grain FMJ boat tail that Midway sells for 9 cents per bullet. Powder will run about 17 cents per round and figure on 4 cents for the primer. As for the brass, there are literally TONS of once fired 5.56 casings surplused out every month so brass is easy to find and relatively cheap, figure on a nickel per casing if you get 5 reloads on it. So, by loading your own you can get near match quality ammunition at a cost of about 35 cents per round.

The CMP has HXP (Greek surplus) for $98.00 + $11.95 shipping for 200 rds. They haven't had US surplus for a couple of years.

Scooter123, so are you saying that the 7.62x39 isn't high quality if it can be had in the high 20 cent range?

If youre paying $6 a box of x39 its usually Wolf or Tula made. They are good for general purpose shooting. Practice, plinking, whatever ...but they are not match grade precision bullets. If you are looking for sniper grade accuracy you'll be disappointed. But then again 7.62x39 is not a sniper round and never was. The caliber's performance is similar to 30-30. Now if you get a single shot rife and match grade ammo you'll have better accuracy but it still wont be sub moa.......if thats what you're after. The mini-30 can be a bit picky on ammo so you might be buying expansive ammo whether you like it or not.

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What do you mean by picky? Do the cheaper rounds not cycle properly in the mini 30?

No two guns are identical and no two bullets are identical. Cheap 7.62x39 ammo is most often steel case. While its soft steel it is harder then brass. Some rifles have problems feeding and/or extracting steel cases. Steel cases dont expand as well as brass and leak out a little gas and powder residue. The residue is dirty and can lead to problems. for some rifles it isnt a problem for others it is. You'll never know until you try it.

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