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Mar 23rd The General Purpose Rifle

A concept I’ve been suggesting to new shooters for the last few years has been the general purpose rifle.

With the advent and widespread adoption of of the Picatinny Rail (referred to as a NATO rail over here) and good quality quick release optics mounts, a general purpose (or Jack-of-all-trades) rifle is now possible for the new shooter or those on a budget.

Good quality quick release optics mounts and the Picatinny rail allows modular selection of optics for the job at hand.

An end-user could conceivably have a red dot optic for close range work in thick vegetation, a low power variable for general purpose use, and a high power magnified optic for range work or competition.

Even more options are available nowadays with image intensifier or thermal optics for hunting.

In this case, I wanted to expand capabilities of my Bergara B14R in .22LR.

I’m wanting to get into some Rimfire Precision this year, and learn how to use long range optics.
To this end, I bought a Vortex Venom 5-25×56 in a Spuhr QD mount.

For close range work, a Vortex Crossfire red dot in an Aimpoint OEM mount with a B&T QD upgrade kit has been obtained.

The red dot option also allows me to use the Bergara rimfire as a trainer rifle for Ivana, my Ruger American Ranch in 7.62x39mm.
Same handling, stock, and sight picture for a lot less recoil, blast and cost per round makes it ideal for new shooters or plinking/training.