Underestimated Overachieving Guns

2fast4uRuss · #1 07-28-2009, 11:27 PM

I think we all have bought a firearm that we didn't really expect much out of that has totally surprised us with how great it functions or by how amazingly accurate it is given the price we have paid. It might even get grabbed more than some of our nicer stuff because we know it will get the job done.

Mine would be a Savage Mark II 22lr bolt action. It was a cheap as hell blued barrel synthetic flimsy stock with an accu trigger that I bought for around $200 dollars and threw on a Bushnell trophy for around $130. I wanted a cheap gun to throw in the truck or on the quad incase I saw some gophers so I wouldn't bang up my 10/22 target rifle or my other 10/22. The Savage shoots right with the target model and I can't seem to miss with it using American Eagle 38gr HP. Every time I take it out it amazes me how well it shoots for the money I spent.

What were your guns that put a smile on your face without hurting your wallet?

.270fan · #2 07-28-2009, 11:55 PM

Thats any easy one for me..an old Remington 721 in .270 that I bought from a friend for a couple hundred bucks. I didn't expect much, but that gun shoots better than I do and hasn't missed a deer yet.

I am going to replace the trigger and see what happens...I am almost giddy with anticipation.

I bought my wife a Savage youth model 111 in 30-06, put a Leupold VX1 3-9 x40 and she shoot the lights out with it, sub MOA almost right off the bat. Gun was $629 bucks......gotta love it

Jetski · #3 07-29-2009, 01:01 AM

Sometimes I'd stop into gun stores in small towns and take a look at what they had gathering dust. About 1978 Ron's Sports in Edson gave me a rifle I'd never heard of for a trade and a small amount of cash to get it off the rack as the rifle company had gone bankrupt, a Wickliffe 76 with a 28" bull barrel in 25-06. Never took it hunting for game but I could cut the heads off prairie chickens at a couple hundred yards, and easily one of the most accurate rifles I've owned. Turns out the originals are sought after as they were an exceptionally strong action and after 35 years another company has started building them again;

http://wickliffe76.blogspot.com/

Not my photo, but a similar rifle to one I had.

Bushrat · #4 07-29-2009, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by .270fan

I am going to replace the trigger and see what happens...I am almost giddy with anticipation.

Those triggers are very easily adjusted to a nice light crisp pull.

.270fan · #5 07-29-2009, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bushrat

Those triggers are very easily adjusted to a nice light crisp pull.

Really ? How easy ? Dos it a require a gunsmith or can a neophyte like myself do it ? Because if I can do it myself.....GIDDYUP.

Maybe I'll google it..I did order the manual from Remington when I bought it and don't recall any directions on lightening the trigger ( probably for liability reasons ?)

rembo · #6 07-29-2009, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by .270fan

Really ? How easy ? Dos it a require a gunsmith or can a neophyte like myself do it ? Because if I can do it myself.....GIDDYUP.

Maybe I'll google it..I did order the manual from Remington when I bought it and don't recall any directions on lightening the trigger ( probably for liability reasons ?)

the adjustments are the same as a 700 trigger...screws are a bit different is all....spray some degreaser in it and hit it with compressed air first...I'm sure it has 50 years of dust and crap in it....

I have adjusted many 721/722 triggers...they are as good as a 700 trigger.

Okotokian · #7 07-29-2009, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2fast4uRuss

Every time I take it out it amazes me how well it shoots for the money I spent.

That's because you over-rate your prized 10/22's

sign me,
Smart-ass CZ owner

marlin1 · #8 07-29-2009, 12:18 PM

a .22 was given to me by my father-in-law . Turns out after Raised By Wolves looked at it and told me not to sell it . Its an aushwitz (spelling) . I never really used it much till this year . It is very accurate and I love it now

Okotokian · #9 07-29-2009, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marlin1

a .22 was given to me by my father-in-law . Turns out after Raised By Wolves looked at it and told me not to sell it . Its an aushwitz (spelling) . I never really used it much till this year . It is very accurate and I love it now

You mean Anschutz. You don't want a gun from Auschwitz.

marlin1 · #10 07-29-2009, 12:34 PM

thats probally it , I keep getting it wrong. thanks

2fast4uRuss · #11 07-29-2009, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Okotokian

That's because you over-rate your prized 10/22's

sign me,
Smart-ass CZ owner

I'm pretty sure my 10/22 target and this savage can run with a CZ and that is coming from a guy who likes CZ too.

#12 07-29-2009, 03:55 PM

Got a savage 110 in 270, paid about 250 for it, with a scope. Decent wood, was a light-weight with a schnabel fore-end. Well that gun would shoot dimes at a 100. She was my tractor gun for 2 winters and killed lots of yotes with it.

twofifty · #13 07-29-2009, 10:12 PM

My Cooey 600 was exciting to buy when I was a kid, and it shot very well.
This rifle didn't know it wasn't a CZ or an Anschutz, but to me and the groundhogs it harvested it sure behaved like one.

Since I didn't know any different either, I guess my Cooey doesn't count as a surprise sleeper rifle.

eric2381 · #14 07-29-2009, 10:56 PM

A Browning BBR in 25-06 I picked up used really surprised me. It shoots great.

An old battered Mossberg 46(b) I picked up at a gun show years ago really shoots as well. I like it so much, I've picked up two more old Mossberg 46's. All three of them shoot, and I think I've got around $50 into each of them.