What's a fun military surplus type rifle for plinking?

wahoowad

wahoowad

Member
Lately I've been intrigued with the notion of getting an older military style rifle just for fun, probably nothing more than open sights plinking and shooting steel targets at 100 yards.

Kinda like the idea of a M1 in .30 Carbine although most of those seem bought up. At least there is still a lot of relatively cheap ammo, on the order of 22 Magnum ammo prices.

I had a newer M1A, should never have sold it.

What are you shooting in this arena and what does a decent gun cost? I'm sure the sky is the limit for higher end models.
 
Ok i'll bite, my current plinker and sometimes yodie shooter is a saiga ak47 in 7.62x39. It has minute of coyote out to 350yds with painted open factory sights.

With a cheap 3-9x40 scope does 2" groups at 100yds on the bench. Ammo is $4.99 a box at wally world, and the rifle was $299.

The trigger is what you would expect from a ak but gets better as you shoot it. There are lots of stock/trigger kits out if you want to change anything and best of all, ... it's one of those guns that if you drop it out of the truck into a big mud puddle, who cares, it's going to shoot anyway. Mine came from j&g sales.com
 
Last edited:
Don't tell anyone but I love my Mosin Nagant, its got power and accuracy and its $100.

Ammo not as cheap or as easy as AK or SKS but I like that its got more bang. I dont know what it groups ive shot it a lot but never off a bench. Even took it out one year over my Remington 700 and got a really nice 8 pointer with a very tight shot.
 
The saiga sounds like what I want in terms of price and ammo although I should have mentioned I'm not looking for a 'black gun' type gun. I have an AR if I want to shoot that. I'm going to look into the Nagants too.
 
I'll second the Mosin. I loved the one I had. Its cheap to shoot and has some serious muscle. I used mine to kill several deer.
 
K98 or Yugo Mauser, 8MM ammo was $2.00 for 20 rounds when I bought a case, and yes it's corrosive. It's still fun to take a range finder and those old battle sights and bust rocks way out there. The German was given to me by a friend, and the 2 Yugo's I paid $125 for each one.

P.S. The 5 round stripper clips work good for holding your other ammo, they fit anything with a standard rim like .243 - 30-06. Keeps them from rattling in your pocket.
 
I had a buddy that got a M38 that would shoot honest 1" groups with open sights. Mine was 6" patterns but his was an awesome shooter. I gave $50 for mine still in cosmoline and he gave $100 clean and ready to shoot.
 
Originally Posted By: Rock KnockerDon't tell anyone but I love my Mosin Nagant, its got power and accuracy and its $100.

Ammo not as cheap or as easy as AK or SKS but I like that its got more bang. I dont know what it groups ive shot it a lot but never off a bench. Even took it out one year over my Remington 700 and got a really nice 8 pointer with a very tight shot.

+1 on the Mosin Nagant. Big, loud, little recoil,and ammo is cheap
 
Ugh, hated my Mosin. For a 100 yard BS shooting, probably just fine. Same with a Mauser.

If you want to step it up some both in quality and accuracy, see if you can find a Springfield 03A3. Now that is a beauty of a gun.
 
Originally Posted By: SShooterZUgh, hated my Mosin. For a 100 yard BS shooting, probably just fine. Same with a Mauser.

If you want to step it up some both in quality and accuracy, see if you can find a Springfield 03A3. Now that is a beauty of a gun.

Its the perfect gun for 100 yards. If you run out of ammo, brake out the bayonet. Its long enough that you will only need to take 3 steps and you can finish off your target.
thumbup.gif
 
Quote:

+1 on the Mosin Nagant. Big, loud, little recoil,and ammo is cheap

The last thing I would consider my MN is a "little recoiling" rifle. Mine will stomp ya pretty hard. Still fun to shoot though.

I've got a couple of Turkish Mausers (8mm) that are fun too. Can pick em up pretty cheap and military surplus ammo can still be found reasonably priced. (I think I got my Turks for like $59.00 each when Big5 first started selling them. Shoulda bought a dozen
smile.gif
)

 
Back
Top