Thread: First Rifle Decision

Hey everyone, my name is George and I am 16 years old from Christchurch. I want to get my first rifle and I am planning on hunting rabbits and occasionally possums. I need the rifle to be as cheap as possible but work decent enough of course. Even better if anyone had old rifles they would sell me for cheap it would be awesome.

Hi George, I've got an old .22LR Norinco JW15 that I can sell you for $100 + shipping It's as basic as they come, but it shoots pretty accurately on cheap ammo. Only selling as I bought a 17HMR so a slightly bigger rim fire calibre. You'll obviously have to have an FAL and arrange for dealer-to-dealer shipping as I'm based in Auckland.

Thanks heaps for the offer but I just found out it takes 4-5 months to get a firearm license so I will not be able to get it in time.

Hey George, a JW-15 would be one of the best choices for a cheap but decent .22 for possums and rabbits. They are a Chinese copy of an excellent Brno/CZ rifle made in the Czech Republic.. Keep your eye on trademe or on the buy/sell section here for a used 3-9 or 3-12 scope with a BDC or Mildot reticle, ideally it would have parallax adjustment as well, but that's not strictly necessary. You will get far more rifle and scope for your money buying used rather than new. Look for a harris style bipod (the 9"-13" height is handy for rabbits) and for a cheap Rimfire suppressor (these can be had for as little as $30-40 used)

Shooting rabbits regularly is a really good way to become quite a good shooter and is a lot of fun.

Once you have your FAL, put a post in the buy sell section here letting people know what your after and someone will have something. Quintins JW15 may even still be available.

Thanks for the reply. My uncle said he might give me his old .243 after I get my license but that's not a definite yes. Would a .243 work for possums and rabbits?

Originally Posted by george_coote

Thanks for the reply. My uncle said he might give me his old .243 after I get my license but that's not a definite yes. Would a .243 work for possums and rabbits?

243 is a necked down 308, primarily it was designed for shooting praire dogs/gophers at long distance.
its way overkill for rabbits and would also injure your wallet at about $4 a shot
get a 22lr, jw15 is a good starter gun and to be honest you can refinish the stock to make it look better if you like.
i would also suggest buying ammo by the 50 round box until you find what works best with it, some rifles may love winchester but hate cci and others the opposite

JW15 sounds like the perfect choice. It was mine first rifle too, and to this day has killed more animals than all of my other rifles combined.
243 is overkill on rabbits and possums. Also it may not be a good idea to fire any centrefire round up a tree. Never tried it myself but supposedly the bullet can travel a long way and may end up in a wrong place.

Thanks for the advice. Where would you recommend to go possum hunting in or near Christchurch?

@george_coote. You are best to jump onto the Department of Conservation website and look at where you can/can't use a 22cal rifle. A lot of crown land is restricted to center fire rifles with a minimum caliber stated.
I know how good 22's are for getting used to shooting etc, how feasible is it these days with restrictions on where they can be used on crown land and l9ts of people don'thave access to private land. Joining a small bore club is good fun and teaches you a lot. Do you have access to private land to freely shoot?

Originally Posted by 300wsm for life

@george_coote. You are best to jump onto the Department of Conservation website and look at where you can/can't use a 22cal rifle. A lot of crown land is restricted to center fire rifles with a minimum caliber stated.
I know how good 22's are for getting used to shooting etc, how feasible is it these days with restrictions on where they can be used on crown land and l9ts of people don'thave access to private land. Joining a small bore club is good fun and teaches you a lot. Do you have access to private land to freely shoot?

My dad works on a farm in Tangimoana so I might be able to go there sometimes.

For rabbits you can get a small game permit from Doc.
https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-re...unting-permit/

For possums realistically the only option is private land.

243 is a very capable cartridge.

definately overpowered for rabbits and possums and ammunition is much more expensive than 22lr. You also dont want to shoot at possums with a 243 when they are sitting in a tree... not safe.

For deer pigs, goats, etc it is perfectly suitable, and is relatively mild shooting, thus great for younger shooters.

that 243 and a cheap 22lr rifle will set you up with all you need for the intermediate future, rifle wise.

Hi George, welcome aboard. Lot of good advice here already given. Focus on getting your licence, and spend a bit of time on this forum in preparation for when you can finally buy a rifle. Its a buyers market these days for 2nd hand rifles, so don't worry if you miss out on anything right now, something suitable will come up. This forum is a good place to start, as you are likely to get honest "listings", not that I've had any bad experiences buying a rifle on Trademe, but I certainly look at it with a more critical view.

I would recommend joining one of the small bore rifle clubs in Chch if you can, its a good chance to spend a bit of time behind a rifle, learning good habits from experienced shooters. You might need a little patience to wait your turn, my son and daughter were keen but then it got a bit late some evenings waiting their turn, so we gave up for now. Our nearest club is just a winter affair, we might try again next year.

You can't take a rimfire onto DoC land without a small game permit, but there are places they will issue them for, usually for a few months at a time, so sort out where and when you might go first. Look at the DoC web map, open hunting areas where there is lots of small game are where you are likely to get a permit for rabbits and hares. You can't shoot at night on DoC land, which is why you won't get a small game permit to shoot possums on DoC land.

start here: https://www.doc.govt.nz/map/index.html

turn on the "Hunting Areas" layer, and I find the "Topo" base map to be useful. Might take a bit of playing to get your head around it. Hopefully to have a bit of practice with map reading? That will be important for shooting on public land.
I've generally found the local DoC rangers pretty helpful.