Good 22 caliber semi-automatic rifle for competition shooting?

Question

My friend who is a gun dealer and a explosives expert is going to build me a custom built 22 semi-automatic rifle for competition. It'll need a "custom" 22 rounds, scope, etc.

He is quoting me $3000. Is this a good price for a custom built 22 rifle built by an expert?

Answer 1

Sounds like someone is getting taken for a ride.

From your post, it's clear you don't know much about the subject.  Save your money.  Buy something inexpensive (a few hundred bucks at most) off the shelf and start shooting.  You'll learn a lot from your competitors, and when you know your way around, you can start thinking about spending some serious cash.  You can't buy good shooting ability.  This is going to be a custom gun?  How?  You don't know enough about it to tell him what you want, how can he customize it for you?  This is pure bogus.

Think about this:  What in the world has being an explosives expert got to do with target shooting?

Answer: NOTHING.  

My money is on your friend being a phoney, frankly.  I've known a lot of real experts in things military and law enforcement, and I have yet to find one that talks much about it. The talkers are almost always phonies, in my experience.

Answer 2

That's not an unusual price for a custom gun. The guns used by the Olympic shooters are in that price range.

If you're not an Olympic shooter though, you're probably wasting your money. You can get something that's "almost" as good for less than half that amount.

By "almost as good" I mean something that's still better than 99% of the .22 rifles on the planet.

Answer 3

Sounds a bit expensive to me.

Answer 4

Sounds like he is gouging you and pulling the wool over your eyes. Custom 22 rounds? So you will have to buy all your ammo from him? Gun dealers are not gun smiths. I would continue to look for other gun dealers in your area and not do any business with this guy.

Answer 5

get a ruger 10/22 (under $200 in most places) and learn to shoot with the iron sights.  once you've accomplished that (meaning getting decent groups at 50 or so yards) you can delve into a scope ($40 is as much as I'd spend on a .22, at least until you start to match the gun's capability) and get another barrel if you feel the need.

in other words, your friend is scamming you or just selling you more than you will ever need.  Either way, it's a bad deal.