Help our club choose a gun to raffle

[Star1pup]

Every year we raffle off some guns and yes it's legal here in Ohio with our club's tax status.  But, I'm running out of ideas.  This year we will have 2 guns and either a depth sounder or Aqua-Vu camera.  For 2 years our main gun was a Mossberg Silver Reserve, but we need something different.  Whatever we choose must be legal for Ohio hunting, but would like it to also be useful in PA and WV.  I'm thinking of a 12 gauge pump set up for deer as the main gun because some PA counties also require shotguns for deer.  The second gun would be a .17 Mach2 for squirrels.

How about some comments and some suggestiions as to brands.  I hope to keep the main gun under $600 and the second under $500.  We have a dealer who will give us a good price.

[rickyp]

If you can, why not a T/C encore  handgun frame ( this option will give the most flexibility for the winner) and get the owner a  shoulder stock and maybe a 12 ga slug barrel to go with it.
If it is gotten as a handgun frame the winner can make it into what ever he/she wants and be legal. it is very easy to put a rifled 20 or 12 ga barrel on for deer where you can only use a shotgun and then in rifle counties you can switch to any one of several hundred calibers for deer. latter on if the winner decides he/she wants to try handgun hunting they have a great starting platform.

[handyman06]

a local volunteer fire dept raffles a rifle each year in choice of caliber. they dont order the gun untill a winner is drawn. last year it was a stevens 200, the winner picked 300 win mag. i think that would be more appealing to most. im a sucker for a gun raffle, but it seems like most raffles are either for a 30-30 or a 30-06 and i really cant use another one of either. i think an interesting idea would be winners choice of any long gun up to your dollar amount subject to availability, and just use a generic gun photo for any newspaper ads etc. "Win your dream rifle/shotgun!" or something of the like would be a good attention getter. just a thought

[marylandeer]

This would make a nice shotgun only deer getter.
http://savagearms.com/210fcamo.htm

[fozz]

what a fantastic raffle....wish i could buy a ticket.

i dont know for what type of hunting you require the gun for but you can find a comprehensive review of hunting guns at http://www.gamebird-hunter.com/firearms.html

hope this is of some use to you

[Don Fischer]

I'd think your spending to much on the guns. Everybody would like to win a nice rifle but the purpose of the raffle is to raise money for the club. They will buy tickets anyway and you might not sell a enought more, just because you spent more on the rifle, to justify the extra cost. You could raffle off a couple Stevens 200 and put on a decent scope for less than $500. I hate to discourage giving away better finished rifle's, who knows, maybe I'll win one someday. But the point is still to raise money for the club isn't it? Come to think of it, you could probally get three Stevens 200 and a couple decent scopes to raffle off for the $1100. That's five chances to win instead of two, might sell more tickets.

[Star1pup]

Just to let you guys know, we have made out decision.  First prize is an 870 Express 12 gauge with rifled, cantilever barrel & Simmons scope.  Second is a Marlin .17 Mach 2 with Simmons scope and third is a Lowrance X125 portable with soft pack, battery & charger.

It took a lot of thought and you input was a big help.  Since we are in Ohio, the above should do well for our club.

If you are intested in knowing more about the club, go to www.lowellville-rod-gun.com.  There also is a link to Graybeard on our club site.

[Devy55]

I know it's too late for this year, but you might want to consider something like the outfit I won a couple of years ago.

For $10 worth of tickets from the local VFW, I won an H&R Handi Rifle with a walnut monte carlo stock and 3 barrels.  It came with a .243 rifle barrel with scope, a 12 gauge shotgun, and .50 cal muzzleloader.

Granted, the H&R is not a high dollar gun, but the combination of all 3 barrels really makes the outfit likeable.  With this combination I can hunt deer during rifle season, and black powder season, plus turkey, pheasant, deer, or whatever else is suitable for the shotgun.

And additional barrels and calibers can be purchased for about $40 and up, which means you can increase your arsenal with very limited additional expense.

Just a thought.

[Star1pup]

Devy:  A good idea. Thanks.  We might try it next year.  Our only problem is that rifle hunting is very limited here in Ohio.