By Ron Spomer via Sporting Classics Daily. Connoisseurs of exhibition-grade walnut, line hand checkering and steel, one-piece bottom metal may never love bolt-actions such as the Ruger American, Savage Axis, and Winchester XPR, but thousands of kids and middle-class workers surely do. Protecting our 2nd Amendment rights would be difficult without the political support of millions of middle-class gun owners.

Maintaining our fish and game departments and defending our right to hunt also would be impossible. Certainly, there were high-end options and expensive, full-on custom rifles, but because access to forests and fields was basically free and wide open, most hunters found the means to purchase a deer rifle, a shotgun or two, and a. With such an arsenal, the 20th-century sportsman could still-hunt the woods for deer, tramp the fields for pheasants and quail, wade the wetlands for ducks and geese, and take the kids out for gray squirrels and cottontails.

It was this affordability and accessibility that forged early American conservation ideas into our durable and highly successful North American Model of Wildlife Management, a program of hunter-funded conservation that not only saved multiple species from extinction, but also fueled their resurgence to abundance.

The return of pronghorns, whitetails, elk, moose, turkeys, geese, and more made it possible to bring back large predators such as grizzlies, cougars, and wolves. The millions of dollars raised from license fees and excise taxes on guns and ammunition funded most of this.

And ordinary, working American hunters paid for most of it.

Tikka T3 | Product Categories | McMillan Fiberglass Stocks

Today, with cities bursting at the seams and spilling recklessly into rural landscapes, and with more highways and reservoirs and citizens shouting for food, energy, and toys, our wildlife and wild places are again at risk, as never before. We need inexpensive, accessible rifles to help recruit and retain more hunters who will beat the drum for gun rights and conservation while funding ongoing wildland restoration and protection.

I n an era when running shoes sell for hundreds of dollars and bicycles for thousands, how can rifles go for so little? Aside from their flexible, molded thermoplastic stocks, what makes these bolt actions so cheap? And are they worth even that price? Similarly, bolt bodies are simple tubes with locking lugs attached up front, bolt handles near the back. Ejection ports are usually narrow and marketed as more rigid than traditional, open-topped receivers. The downside to narrow ejection ports is access.

More concerning to many shooters are the nylon or polycarbonate detachable magazines common to these rifles. Some hunters love these because they make it easy to unload a rifle in compliance with state regulations when getting in and out of the field. But they still look, sound, and feel cheap. A less attractive option might be the blind magazine molded into the stock. While this saves on manufacturing expense and weight, it necessitates running each cartridge through the action in order to unload the rifle.

Of course, they need only be popped free from the magazine. There is no need to shove them completely into battery and risk an accidental discharge. Sorry, but I cannot get too indignant over this. One should, however, pay attention to extractor size. Some starter rifles include acceptably large extractor claws, but a few use small, narrow hooks that could more easily fail or break.

T riggers are problematic on some starter rifles. Stamped sheet-metal parts, some plastic or nylon parts, and rough finishes make for poor performance and questionable durability of a critical component. That said, more of these rifles incorporate surprisingly good triggers with features such as user-adjustable pull tension plus the added safety of the Mossberg LBA and Savage AccuTrigger. Barrels on most of these rifles screw to the actions with a recoil lug pinched between them, again, like the M pattern.

Thousands of ultra-accurate rifles shoot lights out with sandwiched recoil lugs. I can appreciate a superior bedding job as well as the next rifle aficionado, but even the most meticulously bedded barrels often shoot more accurately when floated. The gap between stock and barrel on some of these rifles is unquestionably excessive and ugly, but for most shooters on a tight budget, pretty is as pretty does.

Besides, a wide gap is almost essential because of what I consider the least satisfying part of starter rifles—those plastic stocks. For beauty, feel, and traditional performance, give me a fancy walnut stock. And build a roof for it when it starts to rain. Synthetic stocks might have no soul, but they sure have staying power. And the stiff, hand-laid versions add a precision and consistency you pay dearly to bed into any walnut stock. I can get behind cast fiberglass—Kevlar stocks for rough, real-world hunting rifles, but these poured plastic things?

To put it kindly, the best I can say is they hold the barreled action and help you aim it. Regardless how you dress them up, molded rifle stocks remain ugly and too flexible. They even sound cheap when you thunk them. Perhaps worst of all are the molded-in trigger guards and sling-mount holes on many models. Such simplistic, all-in-one stocks save a lot of parts and production time, but what happens if the sling attachment hole or trigger bow break? Ultimately, however, cheap stocks aside, these rifles shoot.

Many make MOA and a few better it. So how do we rank these starter rifles? Pretty high, in my estimation. Tools that can perform the way these do at such a low prices deserve all the credit and attention buyers give them.

And, this is very important: These rifles allow kids to get into hunting and shooting at a price dads or grandpas can afford. They enable young men and women just starting their careers to secure a rugged, functional tool that leaves them with enough cash to add a decent scope, buy some ammo, a duck stamp, and a deer tag.

They permit hard-working middle class families to outfit moms, dads, and kids for the best family outings available in America today: Starter Rifles Ruger American Savage Axis Browning AB3 Winchester XPR Mossberg ATR and Patriot Tikka T3 Lite Howa M Hogue GameKing Weatherby Vanguard Series 2 Synthetic. Record and share your experience with the built in Hunt Report feature.

All the Sears have closed anywhere near me. K-mart had guns too-long gone…and Wally world to come. It was basically the Cheaper Than Dirt scandal of the era, but even worse.

I still have the Wards bolt action. My 20 ga pump s a Ted Williams model from Sears. I bought guns from a couple of local chain stores back in the day. One was a bargain dept store in NJ and eastern PA called LaneCo. Am I missing something? And as for reloading, they use the same projectiles as the typical. Yes, you could argue that Finland lost to the Soviets twice and they did loose territory, but unlike Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania they maintained actual ownership of their country.

All of this despite being vastly outnumbered and possessing a tenth of the tanks and even less than that ratio of aircraft. I have absolutely nothing against starter guns. In fact I am pretty intrigued with Savage. Being a South Paw, my options are limited, and toss onto that the added expense. While I can love to look and drool at the art that is holland and holland, give me a break, I could never afford one.

Unless I am a hardcore hunter, or shoot a bolt action in serious competition, I could not justify to myself, or my wife the cost of some rifles out there. Savage makes a very nicescoped and bore sighted I would upgrade to the Savage second tier stuff for a few more bucksthey make excellent high caliber starter rifles. Actuallythe Elephants have been killed with. Now, would I chose the 06 to go after a buff in thick bush?

But if a buff came after me and an 06 was what I had, then the buff would regret his choice. Which is not an insult. Sure, most people might prefer real wood and fine bluing, which is understandable. They get the job done. My freezer bears testimony to that. So what if it gets scratched or beat up a little. Also nice guns to put into storageif you know what I meanlube em wellwrap emvac pac em and put em places you may need them later. I like where you are going with that.

I have to wonder if it would be even better to store milsurp rifles like Mosins, SKSs, or even AK47s for just such an occasion. Surelyit is recommended, but I personally prefer the 06 as 1 hider because there is so much brass available still and I like it as a reload because of all the options in bullet weight and powder. It is a very versatile caliber. I have a Mossberg ATR in. I have put three bullets into three deer between and yards.

I have no complaints whatsoever. Is it the most beautiful thing to behold? In my case, yes, because I could not afford anything else. Most importantly, I have venison in my freezer because of it.

TIKKA T3 / SAKO Q22

My very first meat rifle I ever bought for myself, to own, without any real research or thought put into it…. I used it for one season. It got the job done, but shooting other guns made me realize what it lacked, and what I wanted out of a hunting rifle. I got a savage axis in Out of the box it shot 1. I had an Axis in and when I would fire gr the magazine would blow out the bottom, and the same happened with aftermarket stocks for tikka t3 lite upgraded.

I got rid of and the. I will never own another Savage again, and I should have just bought the ruger, mossberg, or earn money cpu cycles on the tikka or Sako. Wow, some serious gun snobbery there. I bought a Ruger American Rifle in. And they do shoot great. My rifles job is to put meat on the table.

I got one in. My dad picked up an Axis in. I think one of the biggest barriers remaining to new hunters is the proper butchering of any game animals they take.

And my dad if too many thousands of miles away for me to get a good refresher. I honestly wish there was more of a business in guided hunts in the Great Lakes region. I know I would easily shell out the extra cash if I knew that any game I take would be properly treated and not wasted due to my own lack of knowledge and experience. I also know a retired meat cutter that does an excellent job.

I would happily forward contact info. Gutting is the bigger issue. This is the internet. I also know a retired meat cutter who does excellent work.

I will happily share info for either of these options if your in the area. The prices are good, and their work is great. Taking a deer would be unethical if it was not properly dressed and used.

Not knowing how to do so does stop some people from hunting. Had this iamge jump make money selling goat milk mind of Ralph struggling to get a deer into a tux.

This is my problem. I have helped dress out a deer and bermudan style return put option it since the 90s. I find that simply doing is the best way to bring back the skills. You do realize that despite all TV shows proposing the opposite, you cannot in fact learn skills just by watching a seven minute video. So is the public library. I guess it just depends on the subject matter.

My car had the transmission solenoid conk out one time and I was able to replace it with little issue just by watching youtube. And I only had limited experience replacing anything with a car, outside of general maintenance work. Sure it was messy and it probable took longer then if I took it to download robot forex android professional, but I learned a lot and save a ton of cash.

For me, my Ruger America aftermarket stocks for tikka t3 lite a rifle for taking game. There is no sentimental value with this gun. Nothing wrong with them. Good for the cash, no resale value but great for a starter or point a to b item. If it helps others get into the sport than all the better.

Any of the little run arounds be it Chevy, Kia, or Toyota all have the same guts. These rifles do a great job for what they are intended for. Probably the weakest point on most of these rifles is the trigger. Just use it as is for a season or two, then sell it and get something that you really wanted. People are always willing to trade up to something new, I found what is, to date, my favorite firearm.

A beautiful Best practice forex trading VLS deep rich blueing and a laminate wood stock, was found at the Cabelas gun library. Traded a savage 10trophy hunter package and how much earnest money do i need in illinois couple hundred bucks for it.

Spent about an hour with a silicone cloth dealing with light surface rust, and maybe another 30 minutes scrubbing the bore and it looks and shoots like a million bucks. There are some great project guns out there but they can be a little iffy especially for a new shooter. A bore sighted nib gun might be a better first than a custom stocked at the pawn shop for the same price.

My Savage in 17 HMR is a heck of a shooter as well. They are all one might wish and certenly fill all the categories brought up in the above artical. The first Tikka i aquired was in their first year they were released. A Whitetail, blued in. I was hooked from the first moment I cycled the glass smooth, nearly frictionless bolt and then accuacated the crisp trigger break, like breaking a pane horaire forex fxcm glass.

This, from a just out of the box, new production platform. In the first five years I bought just about every model in several calibers that were produced. This included several which were forex earn more jimdo made for one or possibly two years. Of those numbers the one which I thought to be one of their very best was the Tikka Continental in.

Bull Target Barrel right off the Sako production line and one of the best factory adjustable triggers ever produced. Several years later I converted as the foundation for a tactical rifle build. It has since traveled well and remains in the front row in the safe.

One way to save money to buy a better rifle is to forgo the expensive camo hunting clothing. When I started hunting in the early 70s you hunted in jeans, a warm shirt and a field jacket. Camo is there to impress other hunters not the game. The one exception is turkey. They can see you. It is not even used for deer, but varmints.

I have an old used Weaver V9 scope on it made in El Paso Texas. I wish the the rifle had a better trigger and I suppose I could get one from Timney, but it is good enough. While my Sako with checkered Mannlicher stock is a thing of beauty and shoots the hammer of Thor, my favorite is my Savage 10FP.

Less than bucks! All cheap and all work. In CA hunting is expensive. Jump does martingale in binary options all the hoops just for the license which costs an arm and a leg before tags.

A pig tag is 22 bucks. Add a used 4runner. I live in the bay area and all the public hunting lands are at least 2 hours away. Ammo is restricted to non lead here. And non lead shotshells add costs too. My shotguns are low cost. They also need to be. I used to live in the Bay area, best advice I could give you is move north at least mi. East or north, anythings better than staying in Kalifornia.

My kids and grandkids are here. I was just back in KY. WV and Ohio seeing family. For around the same price you can get a Zastava M a true Mauser action in a walnut or beech stock. The bluing is well done.

Thank you for not including the remington with your list. Me personally bucks just seems like it dumbed down to much, it cannot last.

I have no qualms about low end winchester 70 base model, savage, low endbasic ruger 77 etc. Thats all i need, but plastic internals just seem doomed to fail. I wish they would use nice guage stamped metal, thats fine. I have a hi-point carbine chambered in 40 cal. I have never had any issue with it and have put a lot of shots thru it. I also just bought a savage axis and other than the trigger being hard I have no complaints with it either.

I dont know where all the bad talk about hi-point started but I never seen or heard of any being true. The axis is a cheap gun so why would anyone expect much more out of it??? The stocks were cheap, felt cheap, and were cheap. American management is infested with people who are stupid enough to think that you can make cheap guns that will make you a lasting profit.

Winchester was brought to their knees by this type of management mentality — starting in Look around the industry today — where is Winchester? Remington is being taken down even now by this mentality. Look in the used market, folks. Mine is a Ruger American. Now that the Axis II is out and you can get the accu-trigger the Savage is a bit more appealing. I own three Weatherby Vanguards. My buddy bought one of the cheap plastic Rem s back infor a trip we were taking to Africa, as a back-up rifle in.

Once we cleaned the burrs out of the chamber so that shells would extract, it shot great. One ragged hole at yards, repeatedly and consistently. He ended up using it as his primary. You can thank Remington for that shit. The X7s are now off the Marlin site. X7s had the best of the shitty plastic stocks. My X7 shoots near 1 inch groups with Winchester Power Points.

The best budget rifle deals, particularly.

Most of those older rifles have stocks made from walnut or beech and nicely blued receivers and barrels. Depending on locality, the prices for run-of-the-mill vintage guns are considerably less than brand new offerings. It has the Accu-Trigger, which is a good trigger. The scope is an unmarked x Nikon that appears to be the P-series the current XPs have a lesser Nikon on them.

You do have to pay attention to where you rest the stock. The rifle consistently shoots five-shot groups at 1. The action is fairly smooth. I think the author is spot-on in his observations.

Barrels can be replaced to get under MOA performance. Bottom metal and magazines can be upgraded if the factory plastic bothers you. I look at these guns as starting points. Or you can leave them alone. I see it as giving gun buyers more choices, which is a good thing. Not all that many people are sophisticated enough to successfully navigate the used and military surplus market.

These are serviceable rifles that get people shooting well enough to hunt with little fuss. Does the job it was made to do. It was made by Stevens. Plastic stock and forend. But you know what; it shoots. People were given a laptop computer with all that was necessary installed for the computer to operate efficiently, and anything that added extra weight removed.

Everyone preferred the heavier model. The overall opinion was the lighter one must be a cheaper built unit. The fact was, the lighter one was actually the better of the 2.

So manufacturers continue to produce what the public perceives as better. Same here with guns. I personally like the look and grandeur of a beautifully polished wood stock. From an aesthetic perspective there is no comparison. But from an operational perspective they are the same. And the synthetic stock will certainly stand up to much more than the wood. Throw in the fact that the synthetic cost is several hundred dollars cheaper and from a practical perspective the synthetic becomes a no brainer for some.

So, hooray for the manufacturers who have recognized this gap and filled it with less expensive arms that still perform well. And remember, most hunting guns are not something that are being taken to the range and having hundreds and thousands of rounds put through them. They are taken to the range to be sighted in and then to the field to be shot perhaps a few time a season for the lucky hunter who gets that many chances. I am basing this on my own experience with my hunting rifles.

I use them specifically for hunting. Some may disagree with this as some may use theirs for target shooting also. But I have sport rifles for that. These guns definitely have their place. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.

Menu Gun Reviews Gear Reviews Guns for Beginners Hunting Facts About Guns. Be Thankful for Accurate Bargain Guns. August 27, 98 comments. Be Thankful for Accurate Bargain Guns Raul Ybarra says: August 27, at Hey, remember the cheap guns you used to get at Sears. These guns are the modern equivalents. Former Water Walker says: Because Ted Williams is dead?

August 28, at Oddly enough, the only Sears we had in my town is now a gun shop as of a few years ago. August 29, at September 20, at My mosin was good enough to take care of a Nazi problem, I think it can handle a doe just fine.

Tikka T3 Bell & Carlson stock?? Worth it?? | The High Road

Love my Savage Great trigger out of the box pre-accu-trigger. Big game includes elephant. US common caliber unless you think the Commies are coming and bringing 50yr old ammo. One of those mfg that chambers for. Does your magazine ever fall out in the Savage? I have the same model in. Do you have problems with the magazine seating properly? Or is your issue gutting the deer? Sorry i accidentally deleted my first post. I would have trouble getting myself into a tux!

Let the deer dress himself. What about Bob says: Will in Oregon says: Left handed in RUM? Pete in Alaska says: Tom in Oregon says: I go to work world and buy heavy duty work clothes. I already have too many rifles, i was very tempted. Bob in mi says: They push the limits of acceptable wit sny plastic internal parts. November 14, at A couple of notes: Stock is still a touch nicer on the Ruger, though either one could use a stiffer foreend. September 2, at Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

Read TTAG In Your Language: What Europe Really Needs — Second Amendment Gun Rights. Avatars by Sterling Adventures. Resources and links About Us Advertise Contact us. Privacy Policy RSS Feed Write For Us.