Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles longevity of budget rifles

Guys are buying the things by the ton, and they work fine for occasional use, but how are they holding up? Guys here have a lot of ruger americans, do they hold up to thousands of rounds a year like a 700 or similar?

If they do then great. If not let's report on the dirt

Got about 1200 rounds on Ruger Am. 223 and she's still puttin them in the 10 ring. Drag this rifle all over the place with nary a hiccup. So far so good...

I've put a little over 2000 rounds through my SS American .223. Still stacking 'em in there. I think I've cleaned it three times.

David

I had a Remington 783 that shot very well but the argument here was that it wasn't going to hold up like a 700. I know a guy who shot so much has worn out a 700 trigger.

So I guess the question is if the rifle is light and has the correct twist what's the difference?

Obviously an axis isn't the same as a 700 but what about the American or the x7 or the Patriot or?

Often wondered the same about the Bic rifles, and Salvages for that matter.

Ive got a 700 on its third barrel,over 10K rounds per barrel,and its third stock. I truly don't know if the Bic rifles could stand it..maybe so..maybe not.

Usually the Bic rifle buyers aren't the kind that shoot those volumes anyway...

My Savage .223 is 6 years old and has about 1500 rounds through it now. Still shoots sub MOA, nothing has broken and no appreciable wear on moving parts. I imagine you'd shoot out several barrels before you'd wear out the action/trigger mechanism. Of course that doesn't mean you might not have to replace an extractor, firing pin, spring or something along the way but that can happen with most any rifle. Alot of the new economy rifles are too new to tell. Time will tell.

I'm sure they will last the lifetime of the shooter. If not, plastic parts are easy to replace....

I'd wager they wont be passed down through the generations like pre '64's and such

My RAR in 243 has 1400+ rounds down range the throats grown .375 sense new and it's been cleaned 5 times. I was running 38 grs of rl17 but the groups are opening up. Today I shot some loads at 39, 40, 41, and 41.5 grs the 41.5 was the best at about .8" the rest went over 1" at 100 yards. I think once the 500 hpbt I have to load are gone the barrel is going to have to be swapped out.

I've wondered the same thing myself, especially with regard to the magazines. Some, at least, appear to depend on plastic retainers that are integral with the body. For the truly long haul, where are you going to get replacements in the future? I also wonder about the ones with little bedding blocks embedded in the stock, as opposed to ones that are part of the action. That might make replacement difficult and/or expensive.

Most buyers are either beginners looking for a bargain or guys who want to just shoot the crap out of them and then move on. Neither group is likely to have serious issues, so it's all good, especially when you can get an accurate complete rifle for less than a replacement barrel or even a barrel for an Encore or other switch-barrel. My inner geezer is more likely to look at used stuff than cheap, new ones, but that's just me.

The only budget CF rifle that I have with over 1K rounds through it is an RAR-P in 223. It shoots fine and seems to be as tight today as the day that I took it out of the box. The only change that I've made to it was to bed the barreled action in a Boyds laminated Heritage style stock. The Boyds stock is a whole pound heavier than the factory plastic, but the ergs and balance are much improved and, to me, easily worth the added cost and weight.

It would be interesting to know how many shooters put 1,000 CF rounds or 5,000 RF rounds through a single rifle during the entire time that they owns it. It would also be interesting to know what that data looked like plotted geographically.

a lot of my rifles its no big deal to put 1000 rounds thru them....and when rimfire 22 LR was readily available... most of my 22 Rimfires have way more than a 1000 rounds thru them...

My CZ 452 had more than 30,000 put thru it in the first 3 years I owned it...

range time and sage rats shooting.. really doesn't take that long...

last rifle I picked up was a Weatherby Vanguard in 223 I've had for about 60 to 75 days...In that time its had 500 rounds put thru it.. I keep a log of that...

10 trips to the range, and 50 rounds each visit...

all handloads....

same for a Howa 223, thats about 5 months old or less...about 750 rounds thru that one...

once again, range trip... 50 rounds per visit...

handloads...

I am having no love affair with the Ruger American Predator I have, the other one I gave away cheap...

but in all actuality. I think as soon as Ruger works out those magazine issues with the rifle... I am sure it will hold up for multiple barrels on it.... upgrade the stock. and your good to go...

old rifles... I had an opportunity to sit around the campfire many years ago with Chick Donnelly. A local gunsmith, with some notoriety, as he was one of the last guys to train under P.O. Ackley.....

at the campfire I asked Chick, a man who could have any barrel chambered he wanted, what was his favorite round for elk and then for deer hunting...

he pulled his rifle out of its case, and told me " I bought this rifle at the PX in Japan when I was shipping home from Korea in 1953.....a 721 Remington... I can't really tell you how many barrels have been on this rifle in all the years I've owned it.. but what I can tell you is that this old gal has hunted all over the world, and has taken countless head of game of all sizes... and I can tell you, everyone of those barrels and every one of those head of game was taken with on cartridge... a 30/06... never needed any more, nor needed any less".......

pretty good argument from a man that could have anything he ever wanted... his hunting rifle for his adult life was one Remington 721, and his one cartridge was a 30/06....but even under hard use, that old 721 never failed to keep on doing what it did, from the day it was manufactured...

wonder if the "Bic Rifles" as Ingwe so elegantly calls them, can say the same after 40 to 50 years of continuous use...

I've got a Ruger MK II Stainless in 30-06 with the old boat paddle stock for my hard use lifetime rifle. I expect it to still be used by one of my sons one day long after I'm gone.

Recently I've picked up a Vanguard S2 in 243 and Tikka T3 in 270. I really like both of these "Bic" rifles a lot the Vanguard being heavier and feeling more robust. I carry the T3 more due to its weight and general handling characteristics. Figure the T3 has more prone to break parts than the Weatherby but time and use will tell.

I want to get a Ruger American but just don't like their flimsy stocks.

Most people don't shoot that much, last forever for most guys

My RAR .308 is right at 1000 rounds. 1/2 moa with Hornady 150 IL.

Same here.

I have my FFL, but my rifle buying consists of trolling the classifieds for used quality. There are a few rifles I would consider buying new, but very few.

Lots of Pre-64 Winchesters still being banged around, so I'm guessing they hold up.

Seems yesterday's budget rifles are today's 'classics'


I see people falling all over themselves for 788's, 721, 722 etc and lets face it, any mid 60's=70's Winchester was a budget model, at best.

I don't think that the "BIC Rifles" were ever intended for years of heavy or continual use. They were, are, intended to offer entry-level, economically limited, and/or casual shooters an opportunity to buy into the game. Once they are in the game, they typically go forward in 1 of 3 paths; they get serious about the game and seek to upgrade their skills and gear, they remain casual players and are satisfied with their skills and gear, or they decide that the game isn't for them, so they stop participating and either sell their gear or put it in the back of a closet or in the attic and forget that it is there.

I think that the majority of the people who are regulars on this site fall into the +/-5% of shooters who reload their own CF ammo, own a dozen or more firearms that may be modified in some way to better fit their wants/needs, and who shoot regularly.

Most of the guys who I have hunted with and who I have observed at the range and while afield over the past 50 years have not been serious shooters. Rather, they fell into the +/-95% pool of shooters/hunters who don't reload their own CF ammo, who own fewer than a dozen firearms of all types, and only shoot occasionally. I can't begin to count the number of rifles that I've cleaned and/or "tuned" before hunting seasons for people. Those rifles have often come to me with a year or two worth of lint and dust on them, which is particularly noticeable on the scopes' objective lenses, loose screws, dirty bores, etc., etc. IOW, the sort of neglect that I doubt that you'd see on any firearm owned by a 24HCF regular, even on our "truck guns" and "loaners".

The point being that the +/-95% pool isn't likely to wear out a rifle through use and although some of those rifles may suffer cosmetic injury due to neglect, they will probably remain functional for multiple generations to come.

But, I'm not a great prognosticator, so I could just as easily be totally wrong.