Happy New Year 2012

It's a new year, time for a change.

Somehow, last month I got an interest in rifles and target shooting (and the ability to stop a zombie).

I also start economically, so after seeing all the near $1000 assault rifles at my first gun show, I ended up ordering
a Mossberg 715T. I didn't read the order screen exactly, so it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but for just under $300
In was happy. I enjoyed shooting it. I enjoyed customizing it. Then I found out you can take a low priced basic rifle, take the wood off and put on a tactical body.

I actually enjoying making things, so I ordered two very different kits, made my next two .22 cal assault rifles.
Accessorized and shot and enjoyed.

So since everyone that I knew had "real Bullet" assault rifle, my wife got me an early birthday present, a real AR-15 made by Windham Weaponary.

Then I found a site that made kits for cheap rifles, import military surplus types and a Remington .22

Found a Remington on sale after Christas that was $159 and included a $25 rebate, great deal for a base for future project.

Then I got a hankering for some of these Russian made or inspired rifles. There is a timeline actually. First is a Mosin Nagant, bolt action. This is what the snipers were using in the movie Enemy At The Gates, with Jude Law. I hope to able to get on for the unbelievable low price of $100 at next gun show.

That rifle was replaced by the SKS, with variants produced in most major communist countries. I found a Norinco version in a pawn shop during a visit to Oklahoma, and got it for a great 'cash' price. I'll be removing the wood (and probably the bayonet) and put a modern folding stock with a digital desert camouflage pattern. Definitely be the only one like it at any future gun range I go to.

The well known AK-47 came next, but that is really an automatic weapon, probably the most well known and used rifle in the world. The Kalashnikov platform is the basis of the Saiga rifle, which got made in various calibers, beside the 7.62x39 used by the AK and the SKS. I got a new in the box, made in Russia (May 2011). It's looks awesome and I got it in the .223 caliber, the same my AR-15 uses. I'm probably going to leave this unmodified, just accessorize. If I find another pawnshop deal on older used SKS, I may style it like an AK.

So, my future holds finding a Mosin Nagant at a gun show this month, dissamble, clean, maybe sand and refinish stock, put together, and shoot a few times. I bought one box of 20 bullets for it, as it shoots the 7.62x54, something you don't see on everyone's shelves.