Cheap Practice Rifle?

bsand

bsand

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I have been looking into getting another rifle, just to shoot between strings to let barrel cool.
I was thinking of getting a 22lr at first, but then realized bulk ammo would be horrible accuracy. Reloading rimfire seems extremely painful and not worthwhile, match ammo is pretty expensive.
I was thinking of getting a bolt action in something cheap to shoot, and reload for. I have been thinking about getting a rifle in 22 hornet, it's good out to 200 yards and 13 gr powder charges will make almost 4x as much ammo per pound of powder than my 308 loads.

Not sure what rifle to go for as I'm still new to bolt actions. I'd prefer left handed, detachable mag would be nice but not required. Budget would be under 1000 for rifle.

Any suggestions for rifles or other calibers that are economical to shoot to 300 yard max?
 
I have a hornet and a great 22lr. Price for ammo is fairly comparable but you are right hand loading will give you a more capable round but only if you are shooting the really expensive eley/lapua 22lr. There are good club/practice 22lr that is superior to bulk ammo that will group very well. I use them all the time to practice as Tenex can get expensive pretty quickly. 300m is a bit optimistic for a hornet as the hornet bullets tend to have poor BCs but they will group well at 100 m. After that wind will really push a 35-45 gr bullet around. It also would be hard to find a left handed hornet. They aren't that common. I think if you just want something to do while waiting for the barrelto cool down than just get a 10/22 and practice shooting spinners at 50&75 m with iron sights. Nothing is more fun and more humbling than shooting small 22 spinners without a scope.
 
CZ 22 LR, any quality 22 LR really, just buy premium match ammo, it's still insanely cheaper than most center fire. And a serious blast to shoot flies of the targets up to 200 yards.

If rimfire isn't your thing, get a 223 if you don't hand load and plink away. If you DO reload get a 222, you can size down 223 brass if you want cheap brass and the triple duece will amaze you.
 
Oh I do reload, one of the things that drawing me to the less usual chambering.

I more than likely would use this to group at 100m only, possibly trying to hit gongs at 200m and 300 yard. No steel is allowed, only range steel for action shooters and the gongs on the rifle range.
 
A 22 LR will be great practice at 200-300 yards for dealing with wind. I can nail golf balls non stop at 200 with my 22, but my wind skills aren't there yet for 300. I would still recommend a 22LR. It's cheap, doesn't get too hot, and humbles us when the wind comes up.
 
Cleftwynd said:
A 22 LR will be great practice at 200-300 yards for dealing with wind. I can nail golf balls non stop at 200 with my 22, but my wind skills aren't there yet for 300. I would still recommend a 22LR. It's cheap, doesn't get too hot, and humbles us when the wind comes up.
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If that's not an exaggeration you're probably one of the best .22lr shooters on the planet. 1.7 inches at 200 yards... that's really something.
 
Zero recoil, top notch rifle, time spent finding ammo it likes = 200 yard fun. If I was the best, I wouldn't suck in high wind or at greater ranges.

Many many people do this regularly. Most better than I.
 
I think I'd like to stick with centerfire. 22 seems too damn dirty.. 222rem you say? Seems interesting, what rifles should I be looking at?
 
That's the thing with the 222, they almost always shoot amazingly well, and hand loads are not only easy, but just improve upon it. If I was you I would find a used triple duece that piques your interest and have fun with it. After all, you are looking to have fun with an accurate rifle while letting the boomer cool off right?

I picked up a dual trigger BRNO for a good price and fell in love with it. So much in fact I now use it for hunting, (three deer one shot DRT this year) and my son loves it for practice!! He was turning potatoes into must with it and never missed once. It shoots bug hole groups with almost anything you feed it, which is common for a 222.

If you want to save a bunch of $$, I can't believe I am saying this, but get a savage anything and enjoy the little groups.
 
bsand said:
Care to explain? What ammo do you shoot?
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I shoot Eley Sport or SK Std. Plus. Both will shoot sub MOA groups at 100 yards. Rifle is a Sako Quad in a Manners T4 with a Lilja barrel.

-All of the fundamental can be practiced with the 22LR
-The 22LR lets you train non-stop. It never needs to cool. Even the 223 needs to cool after 15-20 successive shots
-The 22LR is affected by wind even when practicing on short ranges (This is a good thing! It forces you to train yourself to continuously read wind)
-The 22LR is cheaper to shoot, even with match ammo. The 22LR match ammo shoots better than cheap crap .224 bullets.
-No reloading the 22LR
-No worries about losing brass with the 22LR. (not that I do with 223, but with a 222 or a hornet?)

If I had to get rid of one, I would ditch the 223 and just do more dry fire practice with my match rifle.
 
My practice is to always shoot a mag of 22lr between my shots with a big rifle. Even with todays prices, 22lr is so much cheaper.

The other things are my excitement at the range, and relaxing from intense target shooting. By this i mean, that when i get to the range i am hyper....so a mag of 22, shot of big rifle, and another mag of 22.......burn off the excess energy and get me on task. Also for me the process of trying for the best group is intense.....so one shot of big rifle.....relax with a mag of 22.

It is what works for me........
 
EHG said:
The cheapest most accurate practice rifle is a .22LR bolt gun, then a bolt gun in 7.62x39. Corrosive ammo is the cheapest centerfire ammo.
No worries about reloading costs.
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Too bad accurate and "corrosive milsurp" shouldn't be used in the same sentence...

My 22lr almost always comes to the range with me. It's too cheap to shoot to leave it at home.
 
I have a 715t that I tried to bring along for mag dumps. But the damn thing keeps malfunctioning, failure to feed, failure to fire etc. Instead of relaxing me, it frustrates me to the point I want to shoot it up. But won't cause that would get me in trouble at my range.

That is the main reason I don't want to fudge around with an unreliable system!


What about cz452? Seems reliable has a lefty in stock for 710.
 
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