[TN.Frank]

Plus you can get the 30WCF with a 170gr Flat Point bullet that'll give better penetration on large game then the 123gr FMJ in the 7.62x39mm round. Both have about the same numbers on paper though. I just like the look and feel of a lever action. It's a Classic Ranch gun.

[byf43]

Originally Posted by TN.Frank

Plus you can get the 30WCF with a 170gr Flat Point bullet that'll give better penetration on large game then the 123gr FMJ in the 7.62x39mm round. Both have about the same numbers on paper though. I just like the look and feel of a lever action. It's a Classic Ranch gun.

That, and the fact that it is American!!!

[Just_plinking]

I don't mean to go off topic here, but the mini-14 has been discussed a lot. I really like the mini-14, but for not much more it seems like you could get a decent AR. If you didn't already have a .223 carbine, I can't really think of any disadvantages in going with an AR. Again, I like the min-14. On Bud's Guns the 20 round wood stock version is listed at $655. Can they easily be found cheaper?

[cloudbuster]

Originally Posted by Just_plinking

I don't mean to go off topic here, but the mini-14 has been discussed a lot. I really like the mini-14, but for not much more it seems like you could get a decent AR. If you didn't already have a .223 carbine, I can't really think of any disadvantages in going with an AR. Again, I like the min-14. On Bud's Guns the 20 round wood stock version is listed at $655. Can they easily be found cheaper?

I don't own an AR, but from talk I've seen, the only objection seems to be that the ARs that are just a little more than the Mini-14 are the bottom-of-the-barrel ARs, so that, dollar-for-dollar, you may actually be getting a much better-quality gun with the Ruger. Also, for PR purposes, the Mini-14/30 don't look like "scary black rifles" to the ignorant.

I wish the Mini-14, like the Kel-Tec Su series, just did the obvious and took AR magazines (and the Mini-30 took AK magazines). Then it would be a no-brainer. Maybe special models, the "Mini-14a" and "Mini-30a?" That would be awesome.

Magazines were one reason I went with a Kel-Tec instead of a Mini-14 when I wanted a cheap .223/5.56 rifle.

(Addition OT rant): I alway thought it hilarious in the AWB years that bayonet lugs were one of the scary evil features that were restricted. "So, really, you're worried I might stab people with my rifle?"

[Rancher]

Why not get a 12 ga. either Remington 870 or Mossberg 590A1 and keep a few slugs in it and also have a few 00 buck and bird shot ready to go. That will take care of anything needing taken care of from bear to small varmints.

My "farm rife" I keep in the truck is a stainless Ruger 10/22 with two Butler Creek mags stuck together. We have black bear here but not enough I worry about. Carry my G17 in a Fobus paddle holster when working and the rifle is in the truck. I feel safe, it's Missouri not Alaska!

Rancher

[Pier23]

Originally Posted by Rancher

Why not get a 12 ga. either Remington 870 or Mossberg 590A1 and keep a few slugs in it and also have a few 00 buck and bird shot ready to go. That will take care of anything needing taken care of from bear to small varmints.

My "farm rife" I keep in the truck is a stainless Ruger 10/22 with two Butler Creek mags stuck together. We have black bear here but not enough I worry about. Carry my G17 in a Fobus paddle holster when working and the rifle is in the truck. I feel safe, it's Missouri not Alaska!

Rancher

Well, I have a Mossberg 500 12 ga and a 10/22 and the SKS, but more,as they say, is always better than less...

[M&P15T]

If you want your thread to be successful, mention brown bears.

Folks come a runnin' to tell all about how to handle a grizzly!!

[OrangePwr9]

Originally Posted by cloudbuster

(Addition OT rant): I alway thought it hilarious in the AWB years that bayonet lugs were one of the scary evil features that were restricted. "So, really, you're worried I might stab people with my rifle?"

The country's run by hysterical women. Whaddaya expect?

On Topic: My all-purpose farm gun is a Savage 24 over-under. Got a 24V: .223 over 20 ga. and a later 24F .223 over 12 ga. The rifle barrels in both are quite accurate if you keep them cool. The shotgun patterns are merely "good enough".

Of course, only two shots and that's fine here in NY as the targets can't eat you. But it is nice to have the reach when you need it and some scatter when the target's moving.

[Nestor]

I think that there are many definitions and ideas of the ranch rifle flying around. All of them are fine, but for me it comes down either to Mini 14 or 30-30 like this one...

[Veedubklown]

Originally Posted by cloudbuster

Veed, you comment on the drop-safe issue with "(That's not the design of the gun, but the way they were manufactured. This can be put back, rather easily.)" Are you talking about installing a spring-loaded firing pin?

I've done that on both my SKSes, and while that gives me a lot of comfort, and is probably good enough, the fact is that there is still no firing pin block on an SKS, and the only two convenient ways of carrying them loaded are with an open bolt (possible to slam-fire with only the stock free-floating pin if the bolt gets caught on a branch) or closed bolt with a chambered round -- probably you'd have to drop it from quite a height to overcome the spring on the firing pin, but, say you're 30 feet up in a tree stand hunting deer (actually illegal to use an SKS for deer in Ohio, but a possibility elsewhere) then maybe that's a possibility.

I honestly don't know if anything more than the spring-loaded firing pin is required to make the SKS drop safe, but I do know that the SKS is the only rifle or handgun I've ever had slam-fire on me (and go into full auto mode because the firing pin jammed! Wow, was that a shock! Good thing it was pointed in a safe direction -- that rule's there for a reason!), which is what motivated me to get the spring-loaded pins. I think the spring-loaded pins are tremendously safer.

I think most people don't even know the spring-loaded firing pins are an option, so it's definitely worth pointing out to people that consider the SKS as a truck gun/farm gun/general knock-around gun that the SKS is one of the least safe rifles out there to keep loaded with the free-floating firing pins that come stock on almost all of them

I had a spring loaded pin, and under heat and compression, it failed, collapsed, and jammed my firing pin. Ironic, no? I threw the spring away, and just use murray's firing pin. If the lack of a firing pin block is what concerns you, you likely shouldn't consider 1911's either? That wasn't what I referring to, however. The sears and hammers were made with little consideration for engagement. Most SKS's have neutral to negative. With a little stone work, you can set your sear to positive engagement, and that hammer can't fall off the sear (at least, it's much less likely, and would take a long fall onto the muzzle for it to fall off).

Originally Posted by M&P15T

If you want your thread to be successful, mention brown bears.

Folks come a runnin' to tell all about how to handle a grizzly!!

Step 1: Deficate.

[countrygun]

Originally Posted by Veedubklown

I had a spring loaded pin, and under heat and compression, it failed, collapsed, and jammed my firing pin. Ironic, no? I threw the spring away, and just use murray's firing pin. If the lack of a firing pin block is what concerns you, you likely shouldn't consider 1911's either? That wasn't what I referring to, however. The sears and hammers were made with little consideration for engagement. Most SKS's have neutral to negative. With a little stone work, you can set your sear to positive engagement, and that hammer can't fall off the sear (at least, it's much less likely, and would take a long fall onto the muzzle for it to fall off).

Step 1: Deficate.

Step 2: Shoot hiking partner in the foot.

[Haldor]

Originally Posted by cloudbuster

(Addition OT rant): I alway thought it hilarious in the AWB years that bayonet lugs were one of the scary evil features that were restricted. "So, really, you're worried I might stab people with my rifle?"

Well there were all those drive-by bayonetings. Taught me to walk on the yard side of the sidewalks in my neighborhood. Just out of easy stabbing range!

Life is stranger than fiction.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...bloodbath.html

[cloudbuster]

Originally Posted by M&P15T

If you want your thread to be successful, mention brown bears.

Folks come a runnin' to tell all about how to handle a grizzly!!

I learned everything I need to know about handling bears from Clint Howard!



Oh, and Timothy Treadwell!

[jeager]

...was Timothy's Birthday!