Best starter rifle under 500 dollars

BlauBear · Post by **BlauBear** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:23 am

George, does that scope have a lifetime warranty?

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:43 am

Great to know, Chicken. Looks like I can make up my new shooter shopping list to include the rifle from Whittaker's, the rings from Mary, and the scope from you. You guys are making this drug dealer thing almost too easy.

GeoNLR · Post by **GeoNLR** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:48 am

BlauBear wrote:George, does that scope have a lifetime warranty?

I tried to pull up Weaver's site and cut and paste, but it was down.

As far as I know they do. I have had (2) warranty issuies come up w/ Weaver, both impressed me, both were from users of this board and can chime in a will.

1st - I sold a T-24 and the customer (George T) had a problem w/ it. My customer called Weaver and they called me, authrized me to give George a new one and they overnighted me a replacement for my stock w/ a pre-paid call tag for the defective model.

2nd. The starter of this post had his rifle knocked off the bench and onto the conctete floor. The scope was sent back to weaver with a "Please contact me and let me know how much $ I owe to repair the damage I caused" letter and the scope was repaired/ refurbished and returned to the customer at $0 cost. John questioned them saying "Well it was my fault" and they said they were able to re-use the tube, so no harm done!

Neither transaction involved recipts or date of purchase as I remimber.

Hope this helps,

George

jneihouse · Post by **jneihouse** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:47 am

Chicken's assessment of my dealings with Weaver is 100% accurate. Rifle fell over, twanged the scope, I sent it back with a letter describing exactly what had happened and acknowledging that I understood that it would be a far stretch to cover it under warranty due to my negligence. I still wanted it fixed if at all possible because I really like the scope. Weaver fixed it under warranty and my only out of pocket cost was the $7 shipping that they indicate in their warranty info. No proof of purchase was required. The scope was a T-24. That being said, however, Chardonnay recently had problems with a V16 that I had bought used and resold to her along with a CZ 452 American for her son. I did not obtain the original receipt from the guy I bought the rig from, the scope was already on the gun, so I could not pass along an original receipt to Chardonnay. It's my understanding that Weaver refused to fix Chardonnay's scope under warranty because she did not have the original receipt. And, it looks like Chardonnay bought another V16 from another vendor. Chardonnay, please correct me if I'm wrong in the details of the story. If this is the case, there may be a difference in the warranty between the V series and the T series scopes. Just a FYI. Maybe someone else (Chicken?) can shed some light on the matter. For the record, I've been extremely satisfied with items that I've bought from Chicken and with the Weaver scopes in particular, especially their warranty department.

Kitty

BlauBear · Post by **BlauBear** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:22 pm

Leupold is my first choice because of glass, but anytime budget is an issue Weaver is the one. Their glass is still good and their mechanism is at least equal to anyone else. The question becomes warranty.

chardonnay · Post by **chardonnay** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:34 pm

Weaver said they would give me a credit toward replacing my sons scope but without the original reciept they wouldn't replace it. It is my understanding that they no longer repair them they simply replace them. Most I have talked to have had wonderful experiences with Weaver.
Anyway the cost to send one back to them and pay to have it replaced was not much different than purchasing a new one which I chose to do because of time restraints. I wish I had known Chicken sold them but when I looked on his site I missed that he had them available, sorry Chicken.

GeoNLR · Post by **GeoNLR** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:48 pm

jneihouse wrote: If this is the case, there may be a difference in the warranty between the V series and the T series scopes.

Kitty

Great point John. I know 100% that bushnell has different warranty programs depending on the model of the scope you buy. I don't know that on the Weaver lines.

For whatever bad mouthing Leupold may or may not receive... they still have the warranty others are measured by.

Quonset Hut · Post by **Quonset Hut** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:23 pm

Jason wrote: CZ 452 American $322.99 from Whittaker Guns plus $15 shipping plus ~$20 FFL fee from your local shop to do the transfer = $368 total for the rifle. Add ~$20 for BKL 257 rings. If I were you, my choice would be to use whatever scope you have and save another $90 or so to be able to buy the Weaver V16 with 1/4 minute dot reticle I linked in this thread for $295 plus shipping, as that would total $690 or so for the complete setup. Then you'll have a first class rig with no weak points that need to be updated anytime soon. You might even be able to find the scope cheaper, as that price was not even a sale price at MidwayUSA.

I wouldn't really advise buying a Mueller scope specifically for silhouette, as the adjustment system in those scopes isn't quite as precise and repeatable as some other brands. Same goes for BSA, Tasco, etc. Sure, they are cheaper, but they aren't free. Any money you spent on one of them could have gone toward a better scope that will be useful for years. That Weaver V16 will come with a great adjustment sytem, a nice-sized dot reticle (smaller than 1/4 minute = too small), and easy to use adjustments.

I'm hardly ever one to discourage someone from spending money on a new silhouette rifle, but you also might want to make sure there are matches in the area that you can attend. It won't do you much good to build a silhouette rifle if there aren't any silhouette matches to shoot it at. I seem to remember a few matches around your area when I asked a while back about the closest ones to Atlanta, where I was thinking of moving. I don't still have any of that info, though, as I tossed it when the plans to move to Atlanta fizzled out.

For now, CDNN has 452 American for $279.99. Page 49 of catalog. http://www.cdnninvestments.com/dowournewcat.html

Somewhere in all the hype about the Mueller APV, I didn't realize that it didn't have target turrets. So you can't see what animal you are dialed in for. Since my soon to be purchased CZ American is for CMP Rimfire Sporter, I can live with that as it is 50 and 25 yds only. I would go with the American, and get a decent variable scope that can go as low as 6x to use the same rifle in the growing sport of CMP Rimfire Sporter. I use the Weaver 6-24 on my Standard and Indoor gun with no complaints.

TURKEYSFEARME · Post by **TURKEYSFEARME** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:56 pm

I agree with everyone who recomended the CZ 452 they are great shooting rifles and priced right. I was going to recomend the ruger 77/22
I shoot one and it has taken me all the way to master class and I have no plans to replace it! When I bought the rifle back in 2000 it cost me about 300 new but now they run about 550 to 600 .
I have to disagree with the anschutz 64 option I owned one and promptly sold it. It shot great but the only rifle I have with a slower lock time is a flintlock

NewAZShooter · Post by **NewAZShooter** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:18 pm

Best starter rifle... my take on it is whatever rifle you can get your hands on that is legal to use. I know it sort of takes the fun out of the idea of what the one single best starter rifle would be, but think about it. As a starter rifle, it seems that getting one with the absolute best trigger, best accuracy, etc. would be secondary to first just getting something that you can use, and preferably something you are comfortable operating. I started with a bolt action Mossberg 60 year old beat up model 46M that was given to me. Cost, zero. I put $35 into a scope mount and bought a Barska 4-16x50 that came with a set of rings for about $120, and shot that my first season, going from shooting 11/60 to 40/60 with it before I upgraded to the CZ 452 that's getting so much air time in this thread. It worked for me long enough that I had something to shoot and learn the game with before I could really justify spending much on equipment for a sport a wasn't sure I'd like.

If we're really talking about a starter rifle, I think the very best is whatever legal rifle you can get your hands on for the least amount of cash. Heck, borrow one at the match if you can... even better. Come out to our local range and I'll let you use my old Mossy! If you're just starting, you don't want to sink any more cash into a rifle than you absolutely have to until you find out whether you're going to really like silhouette and want to stick with it. Plus, you won't know what you really want until you've shot the sport a while, so you won't really be in a wise position to buy anything right away, until you have spent some time at the range, shot a few of your fellow competitor's rifles, talked about the equipment with other guys at the matches, etc. Just grab something that cheap that works and get started.

Chattcatdaddy · Post by **Chattcatdaddy** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:22 pm

Well said AZshooter.

Way too much emphasis is put on buying top of the line rifles/scopes. There are plenty of low priced fine .22 rifles avaliable for the new shooter if they do not already have one at their disposal. Wal-mart or nice used rifle at the local gunshop/pawnshop can be had for around $100-$200.

Remingtom 597 are $189
Savage accutrigger models from $120-200.
Ruger 10/22 $190.
Just to name a few.

CZ 452/3`s are fine rifles, but I would not recommend a new shooter to spend too much cash at first until they are sure they like the sport.

If you are a new shooter and are wondering if your rifle will qualify as a hunter/standard rifle. please refer to the links on posted on this site. Once you have done that you might wonder if your rifle will be accurate enough to compete. Here is my way to get a good feel for your rifle accurancy potential. I don`t like to use all the MOA measurements as that can confuse a new shooter not familiar with how this is calculated. So here is what I would recommend.

1. Print out some regulation sized targets for C,P,T, and Rams. These are avaliable at the NRA website.

2. Zero your rifle/scope (many ways to do this, so choose one).

3. Go down to the local range and place that Ram target at 100 meters. If you range is 100yards or 50yards. Just be sure to use scaled targets for the distance you will be shooting. I highly recommend shooting the actual 100 meters if possible.

4. Make sure your scope is zeroed for the rams 100m.

5. Shoot a group 5-10 rounds at that Ram from a benchrest.

6. Look at your target and if all your rounds are hittng the ram and are not scattered randomly around the target, your rifle will do just fine.

7. If your shots seem off, maybe try a different brand of ammo and check to make sure your rifle/scope are zeroed and repeat the process for C,P, T.

Then have some fun!!

BlauBear · Post by **BlauBear** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:03 pm

Based on these discussions and what I saw at the range Saturday I'm more inclined than ever to recommend a Remington 504, if you can get one with a serial # over 6000, and a Weaver V16 scope. It isn't quite the "Tax Rebate" special I wanted, but it's a nice rig with a great trigger and balance.

Then buy a case of ammunition and practice, practice, practice.

Bob259 · Post by **Bob259** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:24 am

Well if you want to tinker a bit with the triggers there are a few folks I know shooting Norinco's. Real inexpensive rifles, good shooters and all usually can be found under $150, used usually under $100.

Not real pretty to look at, but usually shoot pretty good and you can't beat the price if your on a budget.

Oh no

Blaubear thinking about those Remingtons again... Kitty you may need to try talking to him again.... or I may need to visit and both of us visit him

So help me Bear you keep talking like that and I swear I'll move right next to Kitty!!!!!!

BlauBear · Post by **BlauBear** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:42 am

C'mon down, Bob - give me a tuned 504 and a Leupold scope and I'll whup you both!

Bob259 · Post by **Bob259** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:07 am

BlauBear wrote:C'mon down, Bob - give me a tuned 504 and a Leupold scope and I'll whup you both!

Hmmm... sounds like this may have 'road trip' written all over it. Kitty and I both love a challenge

May even have to invite Dr. Evelio to this