Hello All!
Having moved out somewhere where shooting can finally be a regular hobby, I finally got my CFSC done and am waiting (not very patiently) for my PAL to be approved. In the meantime, having not had anyone in my family own firearms and being out of any shoot activity for years save a couple of trips to the states, I have been doing a ton of reading and research for what firearms I would want to start with in the non-restricted domain. My interests lie solely in target shooting and possibly skeet/clay (never done it!). So far these I have locked in on for sure:
.22 - CZ 512. Other obvious and heavily recommended option is the Ruger 10/22, which is very customizable and parts are easily acquired, but there seems to be a great deal of cost involved in getting the thing up to a condition where it will behave reliably. My experience firing them involved many stovepipes and other issues, and while that may be in part due to the rifle in particular, or the ammunition, I would rather have an out of the box (still possible despite cz 512s being discontinued!) experience be good from the start, and fiddle around later once I have a better idea of what I like
Milsurp dabbling - Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55 (M96/M98/Husqvarna) - Far as everyone seems to be concerned, excellent quality rifles even when over 100 years old, ammo isn't terribly hard to get, shoots well, lots of cheap surplus options. The other two contenders, and likely eventual acquisitions depending on how law goes, are the SKS and the Mosin nagant. The mosin seems largely to be a more variable quality bolt action, and while the SKS is semi-auto, they have been reported to have relatively low accuracy, which doesn't line up with what i'm looking for. Ammo cost isn't much of an advantage, as steel core ammo is a no-no on ranges, and I don't have property to take advantage of elsewise.
I will likely pick up some kind of Tikka (most like a CTR, caliber choice requires more experience on my part) and this finally leads me to the subject of my thread title:
Short of PCCs, semi-autos outside the SKS are a gopher hole game with the government for the moment. The future remains uncertain, but for the moment I am interested in picking up something chambered in .223 Rem/5.56 or even better, .223 Wylde for flexibility, as a relatively lower cost ammo unit that can have good accuracy and lets me go a few different ways target/plinking wise. A manual action option is the safer choice here, and there are a number of different ways you can go at the moment:
Turn Pull Bolt Action: tons upon tons of options
Straight Pull Bolt Action: MRA Renegade MK II, possibly others
Lever Action: Henry Long Ranger, possibly others
Pump Action: Troy PAR, SCSA Taipan
As best as I can tell, all non-turn pull action rifles either use AR-15 magazines (immediately limiting them to 5 rounds) or have limited sizes in proprietary magazines. Understandable why someone wouldn't want to develop proprietary magazines just for Canadian markets, but Does there exist a non-turn pull that has magazines greater than 5 rounds in size? If not, any recommendations in this area for something that will shoot well from the bench but is reasonable to use while standing as well?
Thank you for reading my wall of text!
Having moved out somewhere where shooting can finally be a regular hobby, I finally got my CFSC done and am waiting (not very patiently) for my PAL to be approved. In the meantime, having not had anyone in my family own firearms and being out of any shoot activity for years save a couple of trips to the states, I have been doing a ton of reading and research for what firearms I would want to start with in the non-restricted domain. My interests lie solely in target shooting and possibly skeet/clay (never done it!). So far these I have locked in on for sure:
.22 - CZ 512. Other obvious and heavily recommended option is the Ruger 10/22, which is very customizable and parts are easily acquired, but there seems to be a great deal of cost involved in getting the thing up to a condition where it will behave reliably. My experience firing them involved many stovepipes and other issues, and while that may be in part due to the rifle in particular, or the ammunition, I would rather have an out of the box (still possible despite cz 512s being discontinued!) experience be good from the start, and fiddle around later once I have a better idea of what I like
Milsurp dabbling - Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55 (M96/M98/Husqvarna) - Far as everyone seems to be concerned, excellent quality rifles even when over 100 years old, ammo isn't terribly hard to get, shoots well, lots of cheap surplus options. The other two contenders, and likely eventual acquisitions depending on how law goes, are the SKS and the Mosin nagant. The mosin seems largely to be a more variable quality bolt action, and while the SKS is semi-auto, they have been reported to have relatively low accuracy, which doesn't line up with what i'm looking for. Ammo cost isn't much of an advantage, as steel core ammo is a no-no on ranges, and I don't have property to take advantage of elsewise.
I will likely pick up some kind of Tikka (most like a CTR, caliber choice requires more experience on my part) and this finally leads me to the subject of my thread title:
Short of PCCs, semi-autos outside the SKS are a gopher hole game with the government for the moment. The future remains uncertain, but for the moment I am interested in picking up something chambered in .223 Rem/5.56 or even better, .223 Wylde for flexibility, as a relatively lower cost ammo unit that can have good accuracy and lets me go a few different ways target/plinking wise. A manual action option is the safer choice here, and there are a number of different ways you can go at the moment:
Turn Pull Bolt Action: tons upon tons of options
Straight Pull Bolt Action: MRA Renegade MK II, possibly others
Lever Action: Henry Long Ranger, possibly others
Pump Action: Troy PAR, SCSA Taipan
As best as I can tell, all non-turn pull action rifles either use AR-15 magazines (immediately limiting them to 5 rounds) or have limited sizes in proprietary magazines. Understandable why someone wouldn't want to develop proprietary magazines just for Canadian markets, but Does there exist a non-turn pull that has magazines greater than 5 rounds in size? If not, any recommendations in this area for something that will shoot well from the bench but is reasonable to use while standing as well?
Thank you for reading my wall of text!
