first rifle

etoman3

hi i'm thinking of buying a rifle for shooting foxes anyone know any good second hand rifles for recommendation?

daithi55

my first rifle was a .17hmr great for rabbits and crows etc but the foxes need to be close enough
the ideal fox gun would be a .223 can be picked up cheap enough

Tackleberrywho

daithi55 wrote: »

my first rifle was a .17hmr great for rabbits and crows etc but the foxes need to be close enough
the ideal fox gun would be a .223 can be picked up cheap enough

My first rifle was a .22lr. I shot a few foxes with it 40-60yard range.
However now I would only recommend for bang for your buck a .223 or .204

Both very accurate rifles, both have relatively cheap ammo available.
Both of them are chambered by companies who make starter rifles priced at entry level shooters.

tomcat220t

Anyone starting off shooting i would always suggest a .22lr as their first rifle.Since your looking to shoot foxes then the .204 ruger is a very good choice for that task;)

Tackleberrywho

tomcat220t wrote: »

Anyone starting off shooting i would always suggest a .22lr as their first rifle.Since your looking to shoot foxes then the .204 ruger is a very good choice for that task;)

Dusty87's first rifle was a .223 Styer. Yesterday he hit a crow at a smidgen under 200 yards with Remington hollow point 50 grain.

So if the OP has used/owned a firearm before and has taken a safety course I think a .223 or .204 would not be too much of a jump.

Dusty87 pleasantly surprised me with a 1" group @100 with a 6x S&B scope.

As dusty had a shotty for several years the transition was almost seamless.

However OP if you have never owned/Fired in an authorised range, or were trained in the art of shooting perhaps you should go to a range first and see what fellas are using and hear the pro's and con's as all a dealer wants is yer shillins and wants to sell you what he has.

tomcat220t

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Dusty87's first rifle was a .223 Styer. Yesterday he hit a crow at a smidgen under 200 yards with Remington hollow point 50 grain.

So if the OP has used/owned a firearm before and has taken a safety course I think a .223 or .204 would not be too much of a jump.

Dusty87 pleasantly surprised me with a 1" group @100 with a 6x S&B scope.

As dusty had a shotty for several years the transition was almost seamless.

However OP if you have never owned/Fired in an authorised range, or were trained in the art of shooting perhaps you should go to a range first and see what fellas are using and hear the pro's and con's as all a dealer wants is yer shillins and wants to sell you what he has.

Not all dealers will push ya into whats on their shelfs ..... but as your say ,this sometimes happens:(.I kown a few shooters who started off with .223 rifles as their first rifle and got on well .That said ,i still say a .22lr is the best all round and most usefull setup to learn with.If i was restricted to only one rifle in my safe it would be hands down a good .22lr .As for a fox rifle ,the .223 is a good choice but the .204 is much easier .

johngalway

etoman3 wrote: »

hi i'm thinking of buying a rifle for shooting foxes anyone know any good second hand rifles for recommendation?

How much do you have to spend?

FISMA

As JohnGalway asked - price is a major consideration.

Resist buying something cheap and then wanting to sell it in a year or two.

If I were you, I would definitely pick up a 223. Try a Remington 700, even the SPS series.

The SPS's are cheap enough. As the years go by you can trick out the trigger, bed the stock, et al. The 700 is a great rifle and the SPS is priced well enough to get you going.

Then a Burris scope!:)

andyh85

etoman3 wrote: »

hi i'm thinking of buying a rifle for shooting foxes anyone know any good second hand rifles for recommendation?

If your only shooting foxes i would reccomend a .223 or .204 , i have a .204 and find it to be a very good foxing round, however,if this is your first rifle, you may be better off starting at the bottom and work your way up the ladder, a.17hmr would be a good round to start with,cheap bullets to get the practice in,accurate, great for rabbit, and foxes out to 60 - 70 yards . Once you have mastered the lower callibres you could trade in this gun and go up to .204 or .223 ... if you searched the local gun shops you should be able to find a good clean second hand rifle for small shillings.
Happy huntin.....

elius

andyh85 wrote: »

If your only shooting foxes i would reccomend a .223 or .204 , i have a .204 and find it to be a very good foxing round, however,if this is your first rifle, you may be better off starting at the bottom and work your way up the ladder, a.17hmr would be a good round to start with,cheap bullets to get the practice in,accurate, great for rabbit, and foxes out to 60 - 70 yards . Once you have mastered the lower callibres you could trade in this gun and go up to .204 or .223 ... if you searched the local gun shops you should be able to find a good clean second hand rifle for small shillings.
Happy huntin.....

Or a 22 magnum good for fox's out to 100-120 yards :p:p

tfox

elius wrote: »

Or a 22 magnum good for fox's out to 100-120 yards :p:p

Not getting into a pissing test or going off topic but .17HMR has the same range as .22 WMR, both will take foxes out to 120

virminhunter

if it was me i'd get a savage bvss in .17hmr accurate rifle free floating barrel and a lovely trigger my mate has the thumbhole one in .22lr theres a tiny bit of take up on the trigger and it then breaks nice and crisp at about 3 pounds, i'm not sure but i think you'd get a brand new one for around €500. the trigger on the .17hmr is the same.

Hibrion

My first rifle was a 223 savage and it was excellent; and it was the cheapest model they do.
In fact I am currently trying to source a savage 16FLHSS in 308.

If you have a bit of cop, know something about rifles and are prepared to pay more for ammunition you will get away with bypassing the 22 for now and getting a 223.
That being said, a 2lr is great craic due to the cheap ammo. In the end it is going to come down to this: are you looking for for a rifle for rabbits, foxes or both? The 22 won't do both adequately IMHO.

hunter 16

I'd go for a cz452 in .22hmr lad;)

tfox

virminhunter wrote: »

if it was me i'd get a savage bvss in .17hmr accurate rifle free floating barrel and a lovely trigger my mate has the thumbhole one in .22lr theres a tiny bit of take up on the trigger and it then breaks nice and crisp at about 3 pounds, i'm not sure but i think you'd get a brand new one for around €500. the trigger on the .17hmr is the same.

I have a Savage .17 HMR, was my first rifle and would not part with it for love nor money !! Taught me lot plinking away woth it !!

johngalway

Centrefire for mainly foxes. Rimfire for mainly rabbits.

andyone

did someone on here have a cz527 lux in .223 for sale...... lovely rifle and i think he was only looking for 5 notes for it....:):)

Tackleberrywho

andyone wrote: »

did someone on here have a cz527 lux in .223 for sale...... lovely rifle and i think he was only looking for 5 notes for it....:):)

Patsat had a CZ .223 for sale a while back.

tinofapples

What would ye recommend given the following criteria :

• Rabbits
• Foxes
• Relatively cheap ammo
• Relatively cheap rifle (New or Used)

Cass

One of two. A .17HMR or a .223.

The .17 HMR would be cheaper to run (ammo wise), but the .223 would have the range the .17 would not. Ammo for the .223 can be cheap or dear (same as the .17) depending on brand.

Personal choice really after that.

tinofapples

ezridax wrote: »

One of two. A .17HMR or a .223.

The .17 HMR would be cheaper to run (ammo wise), but the .223 would have the range the .17 would not. Ammo for the .223 can be cheap or dear (same as the .17) depending on brand.

Personal choice really after that.

Either of these readily available below €300 ?

Cass

Short answer is no.

Long answer is the rifles themselves MAY be got for €450 upwards (maybe), but always factor into your budget scope, ammo, mounts, rings, bipod, cleaning gear. It all adds up.

Realistically you are looking at €1000 - €1400 for the cheaper end of the range in each rifle (with all necessities). Thats new. Second hand you may get/find them cheaper. Best option is to shop around. You can view new prices on www.shoot.ie to give you an impression of prices, but for second hand stuff it will require driving around or phoning around.

Just a word of note, some dealers are reluctant to get into a detailed conversation on the phone. Face to face always puts their mnds at rest.

kildare.17hmr

tinofapples wrote: »

Either of these readily available below €300 ?

Got my marlin .17hmr for €340 brand new so not far off! but like ezridax said ya gotta get everything else then! think all in all i spent 800 on the gun and other kit and dont forget the safe ya have to put it in theres another €120 r more so now im up to nearly a grand! only thing id say is ya'll prob be waitin a while for the licence so can stick a few quid off each week and pick other bits up along the way 2, thats what i did because i didnt have the money to drop in one go!

etoman3

I couldn't ask for more of a response thanks a million really aprciate it lads but a .22 or .223 it's for foxes so whichever yee suggest and of yee could recommend a type of rifle to and not just calliber thanks

johngalway

Remington, Sako, Tikka T3, Steyr, CZ are all available in .223 and should shoot. Tikka T3 Tactical and Remington VSSF II are ones I'd look out for personally. Others will disagree

elius

Dont rule out the .22 wmr there more than good enough for what your doing and easily available at €300. 50 rounds are about 13quid cci etc or for hornady's, Remington accu v €19-20 for 50..

Fox's out to 120 yards. As with the 17hmr shot placement key.
Rabbits etc how good is your shot?

etoman3

Well I have been shooting since I was fairly young have a shotgun but a rifle iv never fired so can't tell ya I'd be a novice so whatever you recomend I'd love to hear it?

Cass

.22lr, .22 wmr, .17 HMR, .204, .223 are all decent first time rifles and none of them have the kick of the larger calibers so learning on one would not be that hard. HOWEVER there is a vast difference between knowing how to fire a rifle and knowing how to fire one safely. Backstops, bullet penetration, ricochets, etc are all key elements when out shooting.

A rifle is a hugely different animal to a shotgun.

I, 99.99% of the time, would recommend a .22lr for a first time shooter, especially one with little to no experience of rifles. On the other hand i would dislike to suggest a rifle to someone that they would have to change in 4-6 months as it did not fulfill its intended purpose. I suppose a good starter rifle with a little more "puch" and range than a .22 would be either the .22 wmr or the .17hmr. The .223 has a (vastly) longer range than these two, not to mention a bit of a kick that could lead to flinching and other bad habits.

Have a think about it. Look around, even use the internet to view these rifles. Then head out to a local range. View them upfront and personally. See the wa the fire, recoil, etc. Ask about performance, bullets, cost, etc. Then make a decision.