It looks like 22 rimfire just eyeballing the cartridges in the mag. I know there is a big round 22 magazine you can get for the Ruger 10/22 that plugs into the bottom magazine feed. I don't recall the capacity, but that is just semi-auto, of course. Still, it would be a lot of fun to shoot.
=========== PS-pr Good points;another reason/details for military .223 adoption; low recoil, low muzzle blast...[Flinching more of a problem with .308,30-06, making it much harder to hit with for the non experienced shooter of targets. Target shooting @even 350yards is hard;mile is get in school /training territory,LOL Hunting & combat , usually enough excitement to not notice 30-06 recoil /blast much; but if in training ,,easy,,to get into the habit of ''flinching/jerking'' trigger ;;223 is easier to hit with. PS 30-06 unmuffled[earmuffs off ]is VERY VERY LOUD[ouch], kicks pretty hard, unless its gas operated======================
Good point Capn. Not to mention someone selling him some cheap imitation that ends up blowing his face off. For that reason alone he should start with something practical from a tried and true dealership .
I didn't mean the AR-15 is only good for a wall hanger. It's definitely got more potential than that. I was just referring to his OP where he says he wasn't buying for self defense, but just because their might be a ban. A more practical weapon will be easier to slide behind the truck seat or under the pillows. Just depends on whether he wants to keep it in a safe, or tote it around the countryside.
Very windy here again so the plan is to go shooting next week. A friend of mine is going to join me and he qual'ed expert with a handgun when he was aircrew. When I told him I recently bought a FN 5.7 he became quite agitated (annoyed) and has agreed to teach me how to shoot handguns if I agree to stop buying weird guns so we're going to make a day of it. He has a Rem 700 so we're going to shoot that and my M1A "flat footed" and figure out what range we can shoot both of those with some accuracy from that position. I bought quite a collection of different paper targets this morning including some 12 inch which look, uh, pretty small. We're going to require 10 shots in 30 seconds and I'm going to calculate the confidence interval based on the population of samples. He also has a Gold Cup National Match .45 (Colt 1911) and a Sig Sauer P238 (.380). I'm taking my SW Model-41 and the FN 5.7 along too for fun (and to sight in the FN). I got everything cleaned up and lubricated last night and kitted everything into a large plastic toolbox. We're going to go out to the edge of one of the remote dry lakebeds that has some rising terrain behind it. I think my 12-channel GPS (an aviation GPS that mounts on the yoke) is accurate enough to establish range. I believe it is good to within 3 meters (about 10 feet) with the local differential correction. I wrote Matlab programs for Circular Error Probable and Median Radial Error with Offset Mean a few years ago so we will take some calipers and a laptop because I'm curious about accuracy and precision (where the center of a group is with respect to bullseye and the tightness of a group with respect to its centroid).
My fav: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ged4lz_Fw2Y?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Draw a picture of <s>Obama</s> Osama on those targets. It will improve your accuracy! It sounds like a fun time.
PiggyBank, As others pointed earlier buying a rifle now will be very expensive. I would go for a hand gun as a first weapon. I personally own beretta px4 compact and really happy with it. A friend of mine only uses revolvers, he has some strange thing for them. You will hear tons of opinions here. Rifles are mostly for fun, hand guns are much better choice for home protection, and if yuor state allows carry, it is even better. One of the best guns for carry, that I like is, walther ppk. It is a small pistol and small clip capacity (6), but its reliability and accuracy are phenomenal. Let us know what you end up buying. Enjoy