The greatest cheap gun you've ever owned?

Joined
Apr 3, 2018
Messages
328
Location
NC Montana
Savage axis ii in 243 with wood stock. Won it in a fundraiser and tried getting store credit instead but was forced to take it. Most accurate rifle I own and sits in the passenger seat everywhere I go now for coyotes.
 

Scottgolf

FNG
Joined
Mar 21, 2023
Messages
9
My dad bought me a used a beat up Mod 788 Rem chambered in .243 win back in 86. We refinished the stock / barreled action and it's been a great shooter since.

I put a 4-12 Vari-X II on it about 10 years ago and still shoot it from time to time. It shoots Fed premium with the 85 grain SGK's to a .5-.7 avg. I've often thought of hand loading for it but never added it to the list of those I want to load for. More than once I've thought about re-barreling it but never have.
I bought the the exact gun from my 6th grade teacher for 50 bucks. Put a 4x weaver on it and refinished the stock in shop class. It still shoots under an inch to this day.
 

coast range

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
231
Location
oregon
T/C venture in 7mm08 compact. Was looking to get my daughter her first big game rifle. Walked into cabelas expecting to buy a ruger American or if I was feeling rich a tikka.
They had this gun for 250$ and with an “moa promise” I figured I had nothing to loose.

That thing has been nothing short of amazing, shooting tiny little groups. Dozens of animals have been taken with it. Not worth much but makes a killer truck gun as tikkas are carried into the field now
 

TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
3,537
The Remington 580/581/582 bolt action .22 was really basic, but also really accurate. I know one guy with a full blown Anschutz heavy silhouette rifle and bone stock 580 as his light gun because it shoots so good. I’ve paid as little as $75 for a used one.

Its shocking it’s not still being made, along with the much nicer, but basically the same 541.
 

Macintosh

WKR
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
2,880
Bought a mossberg 500 20 ga when I was 12or 13, would have been about 1982 or ‘83ish. It was my first gun that was “mine”. I think I paid $75 with money I made splitting a giant elm that blew down in the back yard. That frikken tree was 4’ in diameter at least, and the wood was so twisted it took me hours to do each piece. Dad gave me $1 for each full round I split into firewood. Smart guy, but man that was work for a 12 yr old kid…think Im still sore!
A few years later i got a hastings barrel for it, 24” screw in chokes. I sold it to my brother for $100 in about 1990 or 91. He still uses it, and its the gun my nephews all learned on.
 

Old-Cat

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 9, 2022
Messages
284
Location
The South
Recently: a savage 301t turkey gun. That thing was right around 150 bucks, it handles and patterns beautifully!
 

SloppyJ

WKR
Joined
Feb 24, 2023
Messages
1,791
I've had some stupid accurate cheap savages. I like guns that I can beat up and they still shoot damn near anything you give them.

Other than that, my TX-22 competition has been a HELL of a 22lr pistol host.
 

FLS

WKR
Joined
May 11, 2019
Messages
836
Pawn shop 870 express from the mid 90s. I’ve killed ducks, doves , geese, turkeys ,deer and hogs with it. I put a mag extension on it and shot some tactical shotgun matches in the pump division with it. Thousands of rounds thru that old gun. Still runs like a champ.
 

Byrdman

FNG
Joined
Dec 23, 2023
Messages
93
Tc venture in .243. Shoots amazing groups with 55gr all the way to 100gr bullets.
 

jolemons

WKR
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
1,058
Location
MT, USA
Rugen American Ranch 5.56 Gen I. Shoots way better than it should, better than my abilities, with everything I've fed it.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk
 

NRA4LIFE

WKR
Joined
Nov 20, 2016
Messages
1,752
Location
washington
I can't really make a claim here as I'm so old most of my guns were cheap when I bought them. My Ruger Mark 1 and 10-22 have been pretty solid. Bought an SKS nearly 40 years ago for $79 that still shoots well.
 

TxLite

WKR
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,037
Location
Texas
I got a first gen TC compass that I used as my first project rifle with the intention of it being a beater deer rifle. I paid $250 and it’s been an absolute hammer that now sits in the safe. I put a new Boyd’s, did my first glass bedding job, and a trigger. I ended up at $500 all in, including the VX-2 that I got for free.
 

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kyguylal

FNG
Joined
Dec 3, 2023
Messages
16
What?! 59 bucks was there a limit to how many you could buy?
I picked up three ruger Americans and gave them away as gifts to friends and then one Weatherby.

They also had a handful of rossi youth 410 shotguns for $29 which I bought a bunch of and gave away.

The best part is that the store didn't allow me to walk out with the guns, so they had to have employees escort me out the door with them all.
 

DKennedy951

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
103
Location
VA
Pawn shop 870 in 12 gauge that is still going strong and second would be a Savage Edge (now Axis) in 270. That 270 is crazy accurate with any ammo you put in it as long as its 130 grains.
 

Agross

WKR
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
1,815
Location
Michigan
Ruger 10/22
Remington 870 wingmaster

Couldn’t even tell you how many rounds have gone through these two guns or how many animals they have taken. Have always shot the cheapy ammo in both. Just woks
 
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