I can't tell you how many $25 marlin 60 beaters I fixed up and sold off over the years. Terrific little plinkers, easy to work on. No telling how many OSA members have their kids and grandkids shooting on a 22 I rebuilt. It's gotta be 20-25.
I'm a Ruger 10/22 fan boy. At last count, I was in the double digits. Some look like AR's, others like a g36, fal, m1, even had one with a 30" barrel and a barrett m82 type muzzle break on it. Sure, out of the box a cheap plinker isn't much in terms of accuracy, but the fun of it is dumping a grand into one and measuring .30 groups at a century mark and hearing that thud of striking a prairie dog. Somehow it seems more humane than cutting one in half with the 284 norma.
I've probably done that myself over a dozen times with those Marlins. I still have a sack of them in the corner that i need to fix.