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Bought my first rifle today

thedutchtouch said:
do you mean muzzleloader route? thank you, im sure ill be in touch at some point here, but attempting to pump the brakes lol... though ive not done a great job calming down today, spent the last hour reading about the Omega 36M
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One rabbit hole after another! Excellent! Only a matter of time before you start handloading for your new gun, and then hand-casting casting boolits for it!
 
Iron_llama said:
One rabbit hole after another! Excellent! Only a matter of time before you start handloading for your new gun, and then hand-casting casting boolits for it!
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Truth!

I'm just glad the wheelie bit hard enough I'm content
 
thedutchtouch said:
do you mean muzzleloader route? thank you, im sure ill be in touch at some point here, but attempting to pump the brakes lol... though ive not done a great job calming down today, spent the last hour reading about the Omega 36M
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Tc omega is my fav ML I have 3….. I was getting at the encore route. I have some spare stuff that would get you awful close to throwing 50 cal sabots.
 
Bigterp said:
Tc omega is my fav ML I have 3….. I was getting at the encore route. I have some spare stuff that would get you awful close to throwing 50 cal sabots.
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Ah ok I'm somewhat lost following what @Iron_llama was saying in that post to be honest. Time to go read about those and go figure this out...
 
thedutchtouch said:
Ah ok I'm somewhat lost following what @Iron_llama was saying in that post to be honest. Time to go read about those and go figure this out...
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If I lost you on the T/C rifles... the T/C Contender is a single-shot break-action frame with interchangeable barrels. It was originally developed for metallic silhouette handgun competition; as such it will take (most) non-magnum centerfire cartridges. The Encore is a later, stronger, upgraded version that will take magnum cartridges. Encore barrels won't fit on a Contender frame and vice-versa. Both will take shotgun and muzzleloader barrels. T/C also makes excellent muzzleloader rifles, both sidelock and in-line. So, with one "firearm" (ie, the receiver with the serial number) you can buy as many barrels as you have the budget or storage space for. The scope mounts to the barrel, instead of the receiver, so you can swap out barrels with zero-to-almost-zero change in point-of-impact. These guns are especially attractive to people who like to tinker, or experiment with new and interesting cartridges, including "wildcat" cartridges, people who don't want to own that many guns (maybe because their state is hostile to gun owners), people with limited storage space, people who hunt in different jurisdictions with different caliber restrictions or requirements, etc.

Tinkering handloaders especially gravitate to these guns because the barrels are so readily available. Your gunsmith (or you, if you have the tools and inclination) can get a barrel and cut whatever chambers you want. Say you had a 300BLK barrel, and you decided you didn't like it anymore, or maybe you shot it so much the throat has eroded and accuracy is now suffering. You could ream it out to .30 Herrett, or .30-30, or .308, or .30-06, or (with an Encore) 300 Win Mag, or any of the Ackley Improved versions of the above. With a .38SPL barrel, you could go to 357 Mag or 37 Maximum, or 360 Buckhammer, or .35 Whelan AI, or 358 Winchester, or .357 Herrett, etc., etc. Since it's a single shot you'll never have to worry about magazines or feeding or opening up a bolt face, or taking an entire rifle out of commission while it's at the gunsmith trying to sort out feeding issues or whatever. If you don't like it, you can put the barrel on an auction site and replace it without dealing with a gun shop or filling out ATF paperwork. T/C barrels are available from T/C, Bergara, Match Grade Machine, and other places. There's even a gunsmith (Bellm T/Cs) specializing in these rifles, with his own aftermarket parts and accessories.

With one gun and a handful of barrels, you're set for small game with a .22 or .17, upland game with a 20ga barrel, southern MN with a rifled slug barrel, Indiana with a straight-wall (.45-70, .444, 350LEGEND, etc.) barrel, Western elk with a 7mmRM or 300WinMag, muzzleloader deer, varmints with a .220 Swift or .223 or .22Hornet, etc. You'd still need a flintlock for late PA season, and a big-bore repeater for grizzly country, but otherwise you're set for the vast majority of North America with 1 gun - which, incidentally, doesn't have any of the scary features that might get you in trouble if your plane lands in IL or NJ or someplace similar.
 
Iron_llama said:
If I lost you on the T/C rifles... the T/C Contender is a single-shot break-action frame with interchangeable barrels. It was originally developed for metallic silhouette handgun competition; as such it will take (most) non-magnum centerfire cartridges. The Encore is a later, stronger, upgraded version that will take magnum cartridges. Encore barrels won't fit on a Contender frame and vice-versa. Both will take shotgun and muzzleloader barrels. T/C also makes excellent muzzleloader rifles, both sidelock and in-line. So, with one "firearm" (ie, the receiver with the serial number) you can buy as many barrels as you have the budget or storage space for. The scope mounts to the barrel, instead of the receiver, so you can swap out barrels with zero-to-almost-zero change in point-of-impact. These guns are especially attractive to people who like to tinker, or experiment with new and interesting cartridges, including "wildcat" cartridges, people who don't want to own that many guns (maybe because their state is hostile to gun owners), people with limited storage space, people who hunt in different jurisdictions with different caliber restrictions or requirements, etc.

Tinkering handloaders especially gravitate to these guns because the barrels are so readily available. Your gunsmith (or you, if you have the tools and inclination) can get a barrel and cut whatever chambers you want. Say you had a 300BLK barrel, and you decided you didn't like it anymore, or maybe you shot it so much the throat has eroded and accuracy is now suffering. You could ream it out to .30 Herrett, or .30-30, or .308, or .30-06, or (with an Encore) 300 Win Mag, or any of the Ackley Improved versions of the above. With a .38SPL barrel, you could go to 357 Mag or 37 Maximum, or 360 Buckhammer, or .35 Whelan AI, or 358 Winchester, or .357 Herrett, etc., etc. Since it's a single shot you'll never have to worry about magazines or feeding or opening up a bolt face, or taking an entire rifle out of commission while it's at the gunsmith trying to sort out feeding issues or whatever. If you don't like it, you can put the barrel on an auction site and replace it without dealing with a gun shop or filling out ATF paperwork. T/C barrels are available from T/C, Bergara, Match Grade Machine, and other places. There's even a gunsmith (Bellm T/Cs) specializing in these rifles, with his own aftermarket parts and accessories.

With one gun and a handful of barrels, you're set for small game with a .22 or .17, upland game with a 20ga barrel, southern MN with a rifled slug barrel, Indiana with a straight-wall (.45-70, .444, 350LEGEND, etc.) barrel, Western elk with a 7mmRM or 300WinMag, muzzleloader deer, varmints with a .220 Swift or .223 or .22Hornet, etc. You'd still need a flintlock for late PA season, and a big-bore repeater for grizzly country, but otherwise you're set for the vast majority of North America with 1 gun - which, incidentally, doesn't have any of the scary features that might get you in trouble if your plane lands in IL or NJ or someplace similar.
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Talk about a good summary!!! ^^^^^^^ dont have anything to add!!!!
 
Iron_llama said:
If I lost you on the T/C rifles... the T/C Contender is a single-shot break-action frame with interchangeable barrels. It was originally developed for metallic silhouette handgun competition; as such it will take (most) non-magnum centerfire cartridges. The Encore is a later, stronger, upgraded version that will take magnum cartridges. Encore barrels won't fit on a Contender frame and vice-versa. Both will take shotgun and muzzleloader barrels. T/C also makes excellent muzzleloader rifles, both sidelock and in-line. So, with one "firearm" (ie, the receiver with the serial number) you can buy as many barrels as you have the budget or storage space for. The scope mounts to the barrel, instead of the receiver, so you can swap out barrels with zero-to-almost-zero change in point-of-impact. These guns are especially attractive to people who like to tinker, or experiment with new and interesting cartridges, including "wildcat" cartridges, people who don't want to own that many guns (maybe because their state is hostile to gun owners), people with limited storage space, people who hunt in different jurisdictions with different caliber restrictions or requirements, etc.

Tinkering handloaders especially gravitate to these guns because the barrels are so readily available. Your gunsmith (or you, if you have the tools and inclination) can get a barrel and cut whatever chambers you want. Say you had a 300BLK barrel, and you decided you didn't like it anymore, or maybe you shot it so much the throat has eroded and accuracy is now suffering. You could ream it out to .30 Herrett, or .30-30, or .308, or .30-06, or (with an Encore) 300 Win Mag, or any of the Ackley Improved versions of the above. With a .38SPL barrel, you could go to 357 Mag or 37 Maximum, or 360 Buckhammer, or .35 Whelan AI, or 358 Winchester, or .357 Herrett, etc., etc. Since it's a single shot you'll never have to worry about magazines or feeding or opening up a bolt face, or taking an entire rifle out of commission while it's at the gunsmith trying to sort out feeding issues or whatever. If you don't like it, you can put the barrel on an auction site and replace it without dealing with a gun shop or filling out ATF paperwork. T/C barrels are available from T/C, Bergara, Match Grade Machine, and other places. There's even a gunsmith (Bellm T/Cs) specializing in these rifles, with his own aftermarket parts and accessories.

With one gun and a handful of barrels, you're set for small game with a .22 or .17, upland game with a 20ga barrel, southern MN with a rifled slug barrel, Indiana with a straight-wall (.45-70, .444, 350LEGEND, etc.) barrel, Western elk with a 7mmRM or 300WinMag, muzzleloader deer, varmints with a .220 Swift or .223 or .22Hornet, etc. You'd still need a flintlock for late PA season, and a big-bore repeater for grizzly country, but otherwise you're set for the vast majority of North America with 1 gun - which, incidentally, doesn't have any of the scary features that might get you in trouble if your plane lands in IL or NJ or someplace similar.
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Man, you should write a hunting guns for dummies book. I'd buy it. Thank you!
 
Iron_llama said:
Hah! I geek out on this stuff and will absolutely talk your ear off if you let me.
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I got hooked on encores years back when my kids showed interest in hunting. It felt a lot safer being able to have that positive visual reference of hammer back or not. There’s a mental shift that happens when you pull it back vs. flipping the switch or pushing a safety button. Plus one shot makes you take that extra second acquiring the target…….. then mix swapping barrels & it’s a great gun to fly with. I used to mail my encore frame only to my folks in Kansas City. Then put the barrel in a checked bag separately from the stock. No issues ever!!!!
 
had a range afternoon today, something's going on with the scope on my 350 legend (or perhaps the newbie behind the trigger - see waaay off shot bottom right) so i put it away to figure out on a slightly warmer day, but had a great time putting holes in targets with my 22. still lots of room for improvement, both to scope setup, my shooting started with pulling the bolt and bore sighting but I think I could have dialed it in a touch better everything is a bit left and down. In the spirit of transparency/ feedback - here's one of my targets, somewhere around 40-50 yards, the center is a 30 shot group and the other 4 are all 10 shot. my scope worked lose toward the end again so the keen eyed might see the stickers covering the shots that started going haywire before i realized what was happening and quit. all in all i'm pretty happy with my progress so far, just need to figure out these scopes and keep practicing and SLOW DOWN.
Screenshot_20230319-183735.png
 
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What part of ma
thedutchtouch said:
Yeah I'm starting a bit late but I promise to study hard and catch up, I already have a list of at least 3 more guns I've decided I need. A 350 legend for a MD deer gun, a muzzleloader, again for MD deer (leaning CVA for both of those) and a 270? For other stuff out west, leaning toward Tikka t3x but that'll be last, as I can use the first two right here where I hunt (most of Maryland is straight wall cartridge for rifle, and we have a separate muzzleloader season). And shotguns, I want to learn birds some day. And handguns, but there's a whole different set of training and licensing hoops to jump through before I can buy those. And I want to learn how to reload, because naturally I want to learn everything all at once. So there's a heck of a lot to learn, I'm a decent shot naturally but nowhere near proficient with a rifle, I've shot a bit but only ever borrowed guns so practice starts now. I likely won't post about everything I buy, but this first one in my late 30s felt special.
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ryland are you in? I’m on the shore and it’s open to bottleneck cartridges.
 
Camelcluch said:
Okay, so now you have a gun. I will help you out early and just say one word, suppressor. Thank me later.
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Big time second for this. Once you start, you never want to go back. I got hooked on building form 1 cans with an easy XRT Tactical solvent trap back when things like that were still available easily, and man did that little rimfire can turn into about 5 cans across most of the calibers I regularly shoot. Rimfire guns with cans are one of life's great joys, and are absolutely the best way to introduce folks to the sport that are inexperienced or hesitant toward firearms. Pictured is my XRT .22 can on my mkII FV-SR.Screenshot_20230323_095448_Gallery.jpg
 
I've been leaning towards the rugged obsidian 9 for my 350legend/potentially use for future 9mm handgun, or other future purchases and a sparrow for the 22 (though I don't know if it's worth it to get the barrel threaded on this one)
 
thedutchtouch said:
I've been leaning towards the rugged obsidian 9 for my 350legend/potentially use for future 9mm handgun, or other future purchases and a sparrow for the 22 (though I don't know if it's worth it to get the barrel threaded on this one)
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I can vouch that the FVSR I posted (heavy barrel threaded version of your rifle) is a darn good shooter, but it sits most of the time in favor for my 10/22 for general plinking. Another rimfire gun is never a bad choice. The Obsidian is a great can, and could do well in what you would want to use it for.
 
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