Bang bang

At the age of 31, I've decided to take the bold step and exercise my 2nd amendment rights and buy a rifle. My plan is to buy a .22 caliber rifle for target practice and sport shooting. I cant see myself going hunting, and with a .22 the largest game I could take would be a squirrel or rabbit, both of which are too cute to shoot. But, compared to my involvement in Autocrossing, sport shooting is very inexpensive, and it will give me a reason to wake up early on the weekends.

I’ve narrowed down my search to a Ruger 10/22. There inexpensive, accurate, widely available and have a huge aftermarket. Since I can never leave well enough alone, I hope to modify this rifle to increase its accuracy and ergonomics, the 10/22 has a bewildering array of custom parts. You can actually build one from scratch, just from custom parts, and build yourself a very nice target rifle.

Last weekend I visited Bass Pro Shops, Dicks Sporting Goods, and a local gun shop, OnTarget, and surveyed the market. Locally, the 10/22 carbine is on sale at Dicks for $159, the 10/22DSP (Deluxe) model is for sale at Bass Pro Shops for $179, and the 10/22T Target is $360. Bass Pro Shops lists the base 10/22 rifle for a low $149. I’m split between buying a 10/22T or a base model 10/22. If I plan on replacing most of the components anyway, the base model would make more sense, I’d have a rifle I could shoot for a low purchase price. The 10/22T is over twice the cost as the base model, but the trigger, stock and barrel are of a higher grade, I could possibly sell those items for decent money once I start to buy aftermarket parts.

I’m planning on going to a gun show in Virginia later in the month, if I can pick up a used 10/22T for a fair price I may pick one up, or settle for the cheapest 10/22 base model I can find.