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With your budget and criteria, seems your choices are the VZ 58 series or a Norkie M305.

The VZ eats most of your thousand bucks just for the rifle, leaving little left for any mods you may want to make or more magazines

The Norc M305 MAY, I say MAY, need some tweaking out of the box, but it's nothing you can't do yourself with some inexpensive tools. There are Hungry's clinics of course, and there's all kinds of mods out there for them.

I'm only going to opine about the rifle(s) I own.

I'm not a fan of the synthetic stock on the M305, and of course until the legal mess is settled, the CZ858 I have is prohib. In all sincerity, that would be my recommendation for a reliable rifle that shoots surplus ammo in your price range (you could always go SKS or SVT40.....).

My M305 has been claw-hammer reliable, although it is heavier than I'd prefer.
 
For 1 grand I like the T97, the one I had ran flawlessly. Quality seemed pretty solid to me, it's a 223, and a bullpup which makes it really handy. If you're willing to spend a little extra you can upgrade it with the Flat Top Upper kit for optics mounting if that's what you need. My second choice would be a Vz58/Cz858 in 7.62, I've heard lots of issues with the 223's, whether or not that's been sorted out I don't know.
 
Ive got a RA XCR and a Nork M305, the XCR is fun but for a beat me up, chuck around, always work gun my M305 for $499 was hard to beat. kinda expensive to feed but I reload and you can always shoot Norico ammo. Heres a pic of my Nork with a few opgrades all said I have about 1k in it. Also ive had it apart so many times i feel confident if it melted down I could fix it. not so much for me with my XCR
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connexion123 said:
Ok good stuff good stuff gents. Thoughts on Thureon Defence GA carbine in 9mm? The Chiappa M1 carbine in 9mm? Funny thing is The SKS is always reliable. The nork m305's, overall do you find it reliable or finniky at times?
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Pistol calibre carbines are fun to have, but if it's you're main long gun you're always going to be wishing you got something that shot rifle cartridges instead.

M305s have excellent reliability but accuracy wise are very picky about their ammo - Mine hates almost everything except for S&B 150gr FMJ - where it has the rounds landing on top of eachother sometimes. Some reloads are getting excellent results as well.

I hear a lot of good things about the T97, in the sense that it's a "good enough!" rifle. I'm waiting on my Canam preorder in the hopes that'll have a decent mag release and safety, but I can make do without. Also, Norc 556 seems to shoot very well out of Norinco barrels.

I'm big on .223/5.56 so the T97 would be my recommendation.
 
I just picked up a T97 in a partial trade.
It's a great little rifle. Built like a tank. Simple. Accurate enough for a semi auto "combat" rifle. In good old El Cheapo .223/5.56.
I was never a fan of bull pups but I like the stripped down, bare bones T97. There's nothing on it at all that doesn't have to be there.
There are used ones on the EE right now for around the $800 mark.
Would be a steal.
Plus I'm looking forward to tinkering with it a bit. Might put a side charging handle on it, maybe flare the magazine well base etc.
The irons on it for me are good enough for a semi auto black rifle in 5.56mm, some people complain about not being able to mount lazers and telescopes to it etc but I think the irons are fine.
 
Is say unless you're looking for a different flavour, the mini 14 is still the best option given your criteria. The new ranch rifles are light years ahead of where they were 20 years ago.
 
The keltec su16 is very cool looking and the front bipod fold outs are pretty cool too but a lot of people have had cracked receivers on them leaving them dealing with warrantee issues for up to half a year later.
 
For your budget a Socom + CASM rail+ Black Arrow spring guide+ 3200 Elite 10X40 Mildot= Leupold rings+ Voodoo checkrest... The rig come up to less than 1000.00 and shoot good, 3- 5 inch with chinese stuff and 2-2.5 with Match ammo... JP. VIDEO PRESS ON PICTURE....
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Just out of curiosity have you changed the oprod spring on your mini? After 20 years it may have compressed, it's a pretty cheap fix if that's what it is and would save you from getting rid of the rifle.
 
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