I'm the Match Director for our local BPCRS matches and am trying to increase the number of new shooters in the program. Our gun club is having a Memorial Day picnic on the range and I obtained permission from the Board to put on a BPCRS demo during the picnic.
We had a couple of visitors to our BPCRS match this past Sunday. The question came up: what is a good starter rifle for someone new to the sport? In this case, both of the visitors did not want to start with a .45-70 as they are somewhat recoil sensitive, so I recommended a .40-65 or .38-55 as those are fairly easy to find in some of the Italian rifles that are moderately priced. They do not want to order a custom built rifle to start out with, as they are not sure if they will stay with the sport.
In particular Dixie Gun Works has two Pedersoli's, one a Rolling Block and the other a Sharps, in .40-65 that are described as Silhouette Models priced around $1150. The C Sharps' 1875 and Highwall models I would also put on the list for novice shooters. I don't want to put something like a C. Sharps Remington Hepburn, the high end Shiloh's, or the high end Highwalls from Meachem on the list and scare off new shooters because of the price of the rifle.
What I would like to do is build a list of moderately priced rifles that I could recommend to novices when they decide to try the sport. I would like to include this list in our match literature along with the basic equipment and supplies needed to get started and have this info printed out in a hand out when I do the demo at the picnic.
So here goes, what would you recommend as a starter rifle?
Thanks in advance for your recommendations.