Alphecca

You can build an AR for about that much :)

Swiss K31 walnut stock. 150.00 max, delivered.(gunbroker.com) 480 rounds of 7.5 Swiss ammo: 185.00 delivered. (AIMSurplus.com) Cool rifle. Write the swiss guy at his address under the buttplate.

FOUR birch-stocked K31s from AIMSurplus.com.

AR15 in parts: Less than 450.00. Stag lower from AIMSurplus. Use DPMS and Rock River parts. Big Medicine, big fun. Build it, go shoot a highpower match. I'll GIVE you a chamber block, sling, 500 rounds of Lake City green tip .223, three 20-round mags, target width front post and whatever else is laying around.

Ruger MkII stainless 350.00 max. Wolf Match Target ammo, 500 rounds: 45.00. Red dot scope from Midway, less than 100.00. Hit anything you can see.

Glock 19 with nightsights: 489.00. Plus tax. Might break the budget. Best carry pistol ever. With standard sights you are under budget.

Pick ANY two of: SKS, SMLE Enfield, Mosin Nagant, K31 Swiss, K98 Mauser, WASR AK clone with money left over for ammo and slings.

Remington 03A3 from the CMP. 420.00 delivered. Neat box and free cosmoline.

Browning Highpower 9mm, used. Bargain someone down on Gunbroker.com.

And, of course, ruger revolvers, used Colt Revolvers, deals from your fans on the internet, et, et, et.

LET"S GET JEFF A GUN!!!

Do NOT buy a Ruger semi. Do NOT buy a Mini 14.

The K31 can be had from Aim Surplus for $79 with $10 more getting you a walnut stock and another $10 getting you a handpick.

You can then take the rest and get yourself a nice used wheelgun.

Or, you can place an order with the CMP for a Garand and ammo

(heck you can get two guns - the Garand and the K31 for $500)

If it was me though - I'd look for a nice used bolt action hunting rifle - Winchester Model 70 or Remington 700.

I'm a big fan of the Winchester 1894, which would probably blow your budget.
How about a Henry Rifle "big boy" in .44 Mag?

you might be able to buy a springfield XD for less than 500, if you are lucky. I think i bought mine for very close to 500 (with in a couple of bucks).

Of course that would leave you no money left over for ammo, but then again I think it is a good buy for the money.

Also if you are lucky the sig pro might be less than 500, but i doubt it.

I recently bought Springfield XD40 subcompact for about $485 after tax. I love that gun. Very accurate even with the short barrel, light weight, 9+1 rounds of .40, new mags with finger extension that give you 12+1, and is now my new carry gun.

I'm selling my Beretta 96 Brigadier Inox for $450. With shipping and FFL that would be right in your $500 ballpark. It is a very sweet pistol in absolutely flawless condition (except the slide release broke and was replaced on warranty with a black one, not stainless), but I'm selling it to fund my Kimber Ultra Carry II as my wife, ahem, won't let me have both until I graduate and get a real job. Heh. I have another party interested, but if you want it, I can see if they'll let it go, on account of a sale to alphecca would be very cool.

On the other hand, I don't know how you can pass up building your own AR. I swear SayUncle probably stirs his beans with an old AR upper.

I have to second the K31 rifle choice. I have recently purchased 3 "Guns Of WWII" and out of all of them the K31 has to be the best. It won hands down in terms of build quality and accuracy. It is also the most fun to shoot of the bunch.

If you can get your CMP forms signed off on a Garand is my close second...

K

A purely personal recommendation...a CZ 527 Carbine in 7.62x39mm. I just bought one this spring, and it's a tack-driver with ANY 7.62x39mm ammo. Russian, Chinese, US, it doesn't seem to matter. Beautiful wood, superb Mauser-style action in a teeny-tiny package, single set-trigger that's fully adjustable. Avoid like the plague the Ruger Mini-30, they're not chambered correctly for foreign ammo. This will allow you to match a semi-auto super-cheap bang-em-up SKS with an accurate bolt gun, and share ammo.

Now that I have meditated on this, I strongly feel that the ruger MkII target or the Glock 19 is the way to go.

Like me, it's obvious that you are a sensitive guy, an intelligent guy, and a manly guy, so either one of these firearms will reflect and reinforce those qualities.

If I WAS you I would be standing in front of a mirror saying: "425.00 is my FINAL cash offer and must include tax, 100 rounds of ammuntion, and a recyclicable shopping bag."

The world of firearms is SO diverse and wonderful that you might come home with anything from a 12 gauge pump to a Luger. Just use the Force and the Force will align your gun-shui and show you the way!

How about a lever action in a pistol caliber...something you could match now (or eventually) to a handful of American wheelgun iron. And with the added fillup of being able to use it at a pistol range.

Like a 1892 in .357 or .44 Special, .44 Mag, .45 Colt...and lots of others. The 1892 was the last and best pattern for the levergun in pistol calibers before the longer cases got popular.

Gun Brokers has them running from $320 and up. I even saw some Winchesters in your price range.

Davidsons House of Guns, a distributor in AZ, has new 9mm FN hi-powers for $516...buy something that will be a good investment, something that you will be able to turn around at a later date if you so choose...

CDNN has new FN Hi-Powers for $399. They're a wholesaler but will sell direct to individuals. You just have to find a FFL to receive and transfer it to you. I just bought my first Hi Power last week (found a good deal in a local gun case) and am sorry I didn't buy one decades ago. Lovely feel (to my hands, anyway) cheap ammo, highly accurate and a 70 year record of reliability. Trigger is not the best, but can be improved by the judicious selection of a lighter mainspring (Wolff offers a wide selection at about $4 each - get 'em from Brownells or Midway.)

kip, what is "CDNN" ??
I had a Belgian Hi-power in the 80's...satin nickle, wood grips, and gold trigger. After a thousand rounds it would feed anything..Then I had a chance to sell it for profit, and like a dummy, I let it go...maybe another one someday...
Here is something that has me stumped...I would appreciate your opinion... How does one know when one has too many guns? Seriously. Ten, twenty, thirty? Any words of wisdom?

CDNN is a wholesaler in Abilene, Texas, that also has a web site at www.cdnninvestments.com/index.html for non-firearm items.

You can order non-firearm items online, but for firearms you have to call a toll free number and talk to somebody. They do have very accommodating order takers (who work on commission) and have very competitive prices, from what I've seen. You should download their 100+ page catalog (in pdf format) to see the firearm offerings - my copy sits on the desktop, just tempting me from time to time. They have several pages of Hi-Power offerings (starting on page 8, if I recall correctly) in both 9mm and 40 S&W, with and without the Safety Fast safety system. It's worth a look.

As to the too-many-guns question, I think there are both philosophical and practical answers. Of course, you shouldn't have more than you can properly take care of (or maybe that's the rule for pets, I forget) and you probably shouldn't have more than you can properly store (remember, you can always get a bigger house.) I resolved the philosophical question in our household early in our marriage by replying to my wife's similar question that it was the same number as the number of her shoes. I'm set for life on that score.

Personally, I've acquired a lot of them over the years, and expect to buy a lot more. But I only keep the ones that I can shoot well or that have some personal significance for me. The rest I sell or trade, and so far have not really regretted any of the ones I've let go.

Wow...just finished reading their catelog from front to back. Thanks for telling me about them.
Way back when, before there were four kids, I had more guns than I do at present. I started sliming down the collection when I found they were getting ahead of me maintaince-wise, over twenty years ago. Now, three kidos later and a med disability finds me trying to figure how am I gonn'a get another gun! Old habit, I guess. I have sigs, 1911's, wheel-guns, single actions, and cant really say i need anything. Still, there are a few i would like to add. I stopped using sigs for carry in lew of a two inch k-frame .38. The thought of having to replace a high dollar gun is troubling. Any firearm used in a fight would have to be in someone else's custody, and may not even be returned. If I were to really get in a spot, I could lose everything anyway (civil action, etc)...Besides, I LIKE the .38. I like them all! The only one i regret getting rid of was an HK-91. Collapsable stock, bi-pod, and a bunch of other accessorues. I doubled my money, but such a gun at today's prices would be out of sight, and impossible to aquire. Sorry i let it go. Oh well, I could say the same for some women in my life too! ... only allowed one of those, at least one at a time!

FWIW, I just tried out a new Kel-Tec P3AT, their micro 380 automatic. VERY thin, VERY light, practically invisible in a front pants pocket, well under $300. I was amazed at the accuracy at 5-7 yards - mostly 10 ring on a standard silhouette - with a (very smooth) double action only trigger. Not real pleasant to shoot, about like +P in my 38 snubbie (I don't shoot much of that, either) but I only intend to put about 200 rounds through the Kel-Tec to be absolutely sure of functioning. Then I'll carry it and just shoot a clip (of 6) every few months to keep the ammo rotating.

The kel-tec sounds like a winner. My .380 has trouble with it feeding since day one. I lightly polished the ramp, and will try it again today. When new, it worked for awhile with Golden Sabers, then started acting up, so i changed, now it will not feed ball 100%. Have tried five kinds of ammo, and it fails on three. Sigs have trouble, too.