Intended use:
Self defense
Survival (small/medium game hunting)
Other considerations: ammo availability, price cap of $1400, i live in TN so legality should not be a problem if an AR is the consenus, but I've never handled an AR and would need trainig.
[EDIT: THANKS FRENS FOR ALL THE ADVICE.
I ended up buying this]
After research and u/NautiFella's advice I found that 12ga shotguns can be a very versatile weapon for hunting and defense.
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A lever action rifle. I am a Henry guy myself but Marlins makes very nice rifles as well. An AR is a great weapon but a lever action .44 magnum or 30/30 is a very good choice for a 1st rifle.
Not the popular opinion, but a wise one I believe. I trust any of my lever actions.
sure they can be but a squirrel hit by a 44 or .30 cal ??? lol
Squirrels Ain’t good eatin.They are for vaporizing😂
A deer will go down like a sack of potatoes though. So will a commie.
i killed a deer when i was a young buck myself with a 22....
Don't overlook the trusty 12 gauge. Meets all you requirements and is quite versatile.
Thank you for your advice. I did some research and bought a KRX Shotgun.
It suits pretty much all my needs. The 12 gauge is quite versatile. :)
Think SAFETY, first and always.
AR platforms are really that, platforms. You can build that platform into a lot of things, but before you end up going that route take some time to really ponder it. A short barrelled AR in 5.56 or .223 is very loud, you mention self defense...well at home you'll lose your eardrums if you light such a thing off. ARs can make fair hunting platforms, hit a deer in the neck inside 150 yards with that .223 and they will drop.
For self defense an AR with a short barrel (stamp) and suppressor (more stamp) in .300 blackout might be among the best possible choices; stopping power, quiet, short so can be handled easily, hi capacity in case of thundering herds, will not over-penetrate too much.
A lever action is also very good, with practice you can accurately put out a few rounds quickly, with a loading gate you can stuff ammo in while shooting if you need to.
You might consider a bolt action rifle, a shorter barrelled bolt with a magazine can make a great defense/hunting rifle. People, new shooters especially, might think a semi auto rifle is tremendously better than a bolt action because you can fire rounds faster, and it is true that you can fire faster. But aimed rifle fire is better than spraying and praying. First rifle, you might want a bolt or lever action, with practice you can operate the bolt/lever while you reacquire the target, fire...repeat. You can do that 'about' as quickly as a semi auto because with any sort of recoil you have to reacquire the target.
If you're gonna have to go in a bar and clean it out, yeah sure take the AR. For most things tho, a bolt or lever will work.
Ammo availability is a 'thing', unfortunately. .223 and 5.56 is still fairly common, or available. A lot of other calibers are much harder and more expensive to find.
You have to make some decisions about what you expect to be able to do with this 'Tool' you are wanting to buy. You have enough money to get about what you want, but no one rifle will do it all. You do not hunt squirrel with a .300 Mag and you don't hunt moose with a .223., jes sayin'.
You can get a 400 dollar shotgun and have great home defense, with enough left over for a good bolt hunting rifle, or lever, or even AR. But each 'Tool' is specifically different. The AR is a platform, some other guns are as well. But reconfiguring that platform takes money, so balance what you want carefully.
No one rifle is best, only 'you' know what you want it to be used for, so take your time. Like I said, if you want defense quickly that shotgun is awesome.
Mainly, think SAFETY.
This is one of my favorites, but not really what you need yet, possibly.
https://kekpe.pe/i/5f83340fe80ec.jpg
I was actually thinking of something similar to whats in the pic or a lever rifle. Is that a mini 14?
The gun store didnt have anything like that, only had bolt rifles and ARs but literally no ammo for the ARs they kept trying to push on me.
AR and an ar 15 is so simple to use 5 minutes of training and knowledge of basic fundementals and your good to go
TN has an AR ban?????? weird well for small game 17hmr cant be beat and you can pick one up for like 200, the rest you use to buy an ar, or m14 socom lol
if you do not know already, budsgunshop.com or any (literally any) gunstore can transfer guns to another FF dealer....so if you find somthing in the nation that you want....so you are not limited to local....armslist.org if you want private owner guns
No, AR15s are legal in TN so legality should NOT be a problem
yeah, thats what i thought.....tn is based
Lol. You wish. Those are the fuckers on the range scaring the shit out of everyone else.
Unless good to go means you are an official danger to yourself and everyone around you.
Good to go, I was in the Infantry and trained a few in my day....im used to people not knowing what they are doing, and watching them turn into beasts.....the best practice is hands on....
Practice being the key. Thanks for your service. 🇺🇸
Well, it is the duty of every American Patriot who sees someone who needs firearm training, who has the ability to train....train. lol I miss back in the day, when every adult american had no issue helping other americans, esp young men and first time gun owners.....I remember i just walked up to some dude on the rifle range who kept hitting my target in the lane over and asked to see his rifle......figured it was not zeroed but i had a great grouping....so here you have me a young 22 year old kid, training a 40+yr old man how to shoot.....we are still friends to this day which is weird......weird story...
I was at my indoor range when a husband “trained” his wife to shoot his Glock 2 rows down. After her training she started shooting. When a hot casing bounced off the range separating wall and into her large boobs, because of course you wear a cleavage shirt to the range, she proceeded to reach in her shirt for the hot casing and shot her husband in the thigh. I shouldn’t have laughed. But I did.
5 minutes and you are good to go😂😂😂😂
thats a pistol, it has a very short barrel and the army even trains you "much easier to flag someone" so no pistols require far more training IMO
No one is good to go after 5 minutes on a weapon that can send a 62 grain bullet down range at over 3000 FPS. There is no disipline learned, there is no ability to function the weapon in different situations, there is no understanding of how to handle a FTF or a FTE. Any moron can charge a handle and pull a trigger. If they have 5 minutes of training I don’t want them anywhere near me unless I am training them further. Bet that fucker who killed the guy in Denver had 5 minutes of training too.
The negligent discharges I have seen all had 2 things in common. No,respect for the weapon and little to no training and practice
I have hours on hours of training, so do my children. I train my friends, some of whom still scare the shit out of me when they handle weapons.
kinda like accidentally running over a squirrel, vs accidentally running over 5 deer 1/4 mile apart
For small game you can get super powerful air rifles now a days that are legit.
Right now a .243 cannot be beat IMO. A great shooter and all around great cartridge. You can get an AR in that, or any bolt gun at walmart. but the ammo is in stock most places. Same with .270 and a few other larger calibers. Theres also LEVER ACTION. People dont use those anymore but they are actually awesome and ammo available. (30-30). https://www.mossberg.com/category/series/464-spx-lever-action-centerfire-rifles/
You can get AR's and you can get ammo. Rural king in knoxville (norris) has them. But youre going to pay big $$ for ammo.
https://classic.ammoseek.com/ammo/223-remington
$1400.00? Let's go shopping! We'll try and get you three or four rifles. (used)
.22 caliber: Marlin 60: 150.00 to 180.00 Ruger 10/22: around 220.00
Shotgun: Mossberg 500: 200.00 to 250.00 Remington 870: 500.00
Game/Survival rifle: Savage .243: under 350.00
A/R 15: your pick, 500.00 to infinity
go to Gunbroker dot com
Everyone needs a .22, a shottie a decent rifle and an AR
If ammo is a consideration then an AR 15 is out. Ammo is a buck a round right now if you can find it. I see plenty of .243 and .270 on the shelves. .243 is a very good all purpose round but I don't believe rifles come in anything but bolt action. There are numerous makers and it's a very accurate caliber.