I'm 16 days quit now and have permission from my wife to reallocate that money directly to firearms. I'm pretty well covered (for now) in the pistol area and really need a good rifle. The only rifle I own is a Baikal single shot in .223 and a savage .22 semi.
My biggest requirement is that I be able to afford to feed the thing and shoot it regularly so that requires minimal powder and definitely be able to shoot cast in it. I want to be able to plink with it, hunt at least deer size game with it, and be able to be used in social work if the need ever arose.
I'm saving $200 a month now that I've quit and since I'd like this gun before this fall I figure I'll have up to about $1200-$1400 before the money really starts burning a hole in my pocket.
Here is a list I've been knocking around.
AR-15 in 300 BLK...It seems everyone should have an EBR and this one would cover most of my needs and it seems like it's just made for a fella that casts.
.357 carbine either a marlin lever or the Ruger 77/357
Stevens 200 in .308. I would get this as a project gun to change things up as I got the money. Reading about gallery loads on here really got me excited about playing with a bolt action .308
M1a. Just a friggin cool gun but feeding can definitely be pricey. But this gun is a classic. Should hold it's value I'd guess better than any other. I read Bruce's entire thread about casting for them and it looks doable but still being semi new to casting am a bit intimidated.
So what do you guys think, any other ideas, help me spend my smoking money