I’m not quite sure, I haven’t thought this through completely. There’s a bit of a gap between the next firearm(s) and an AR – 15. 😇
But we are back to rifles in the next step of Bangsticks for Beginners. There was a time in the past when I was between military and adult child when I wanted to get back into shooting. Existing guns were coming out of child-induced lockdown. I got an invitation to go shoot wild boar/feral hogs in Texas. What to use? I certainly couldn’t break out .22s.
I started a discussion with a fellow at Kittery Trading Post in Freeport, Maine. You know, L.L. Bean land. I had settled on a Ruger Mini 30 shooting an AK 47 round. He said, “Nope, that’s crap for what you want. What about something in .243 Winchester?” Bingo.
OK, another stock photo. So, sue me. But here we have a classic round, a barn-burner cranking along at about 3,000 fps. Magazine fed (and yes, there are 10 round mags available), and accurate out to over 300 yards. Mine did a head shot on a large boar at over 240.
It’s a necked-down .308 (meaning lots of powder capacity), harder hitting than .223, but light recoil. I sort of lucked into it as an intermediate rifle. I have now completely shot out the barrel (and the rifle isn’t made anymore), but anything in .243 is likely to be a good step up for our Beginner (but steadily advancing) shooter.
KatNap Fever! 