First firearm, which caliber and rifle?

[czechinthepipes]

There really isn't much to add but I do agree with everyone saying that you really do need to get your parents on your side. It really isn't fair to them especially if you are living with them to buy and then hide a firearm in their home. It really is in your best interest to do so, if you don't it could lead to family fight or even loss of trust. Like suggested, take them or your Dad to a local shooting range and have some fun; show him why you like guns/knives and why you want to buy a firearm.

I too am in the market for buying my first firearm (most likely going with the Ruger sr9) and my parents, specifically my Dad have been on my side the whole time. I am very fortunate that my family accepts and is even into guns and what not which makes it easier to go about buying my first handgun.


About a first rifle, I will state that I am an amateur compared to most of the people on this forums, but I have been around guns for most my life and have shot various types of pistols and have shot a .22 rifle before. A .22 rifle really is a good first rifle especially for a new shooter that may/doesn't have the best habits yet. I also agree that the Ruger 10/22 is a good choice, when I do decide to buy a rifle that is definitely on my list.

 

[ADD]

With a 900.00 budget go with an AR15,you can get a .22 LR conversion for it.
I have a Bushmaster M4 and love it.

AR15 for a first gun?

My opinion, for what it is worth:

1) Parents permission; lay out your plan on how you will responsibly learn to use this tool and keep it safely in their house.
2) Take a gun safety course
3) A decent quality bolt action .22 (some nice ones here have been suggested). Inexpensive to shoot, accurate, reliable, and fun.

Also, this won't be popular, but I would hold off joining the NRA.
IMHO, you will bombarded by a lot of missinformation and strong arm fund raising tactics by a group that uses your dues to pay it's leader 1.3 million a year in compensation. :thumbdn:

Stick to a smaller, grass roots gun rights organization...

 

[severtecher]

RUGER 10/22 for sure. Buy tons of ammo and plink away. Tons of fun!. Take the best gun safety course you can afford.

 

[Robert.B]

My first rifle was a No1 MkIII SMLE and dont have a problem with a new comer to get a large caliber for a first gun...I'd get a .22 bolt at the same time too but first day in boot they dont hand you a .22 to learn on, you can pick up some bad habits on the plinkers too. I liked learning with a gun that has some recoil and gives you a real world view of arms that I can apply to my use of them. No point getting adjusted on a .22 then having to go through the learning process of accurately firing arms with large recoil.

PS. I'm a NRA member and left GOA because they seemed to attract members who would ridicule and slam anyone that suggested being a member of both. Division is bad enough without that, I haven't really had an issue with the NRA, sure I get emails every now and then asking me to raise my membership level but its not hard to delete the email. Definitely recommend people join the NRA, if you dont want to its your right not to.

 

[5.56]

Any AR platform .22lr

Or get a Ruger 10/22 and trick it out. Rimfire rifles can be legally modded to an extent, even here in CA.



Also most indoor ranges here will allow carbines that shoot handgun rounds, for example, .45acp, .40s&W, 9mm.

 

[Futz Brown]

For that money you can get an AR-15. There are lots of different makes and options so look around, do your research, and see what you like. I have one and I'm still a relative novice shooter and I had no problem with recoil or anything like that. There are a lot of great forums dedicated just to the AR platform with a lot of people who know a lot more than I do.

You could, if you wanted to go cheaper, buy a Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22 which looks just like an AR but is chambered in .22 and goes for about 400 dollars. If you spent the remaining 500 on .22 ammo, you could get about 10,000 rounds and shoot until your eyes bled.

 

[5.56]

For that money you can get an AR-15.

No he cannot get an AR-15, not in CA

Thank heaven, I bought mine Pre-Ban

 

[richw]

My advice is as follows, do not bring a gun into your parents house without informing them. That is a huge violation of trust. It doesn't matter if you don't think or other people don't think a gun is a big deal, if your parents do it is a big deal. It is their house, their rules.

 

[dttomcat]

My first rifle was a No1 MkIII SMLE and dont have a problem with a new comer to get a large caliber for a first gun...I'd get a .22 bolt at the same time too but first day in boot they dont hand you a .22 to learn on, you can pick up some bad habits on the plinkers too. I liked learning with a gun that has some recoil and gives you a real world view of arms that I can apply to my use of them. No point getting adjusted on a .22 then having to go through the learning process of accurately firing arms with large recoil.

This makes a lot of sense, come to think of it. My first rifle was a .30-06 .

 

[mdauben]

I've shot a bolt action .22 (Don't know if .22LR and .223 Rem is the same thing, probably not.) and I really liked it.

While of similar nominal bullet diameters, the .223 (B) is a much larger cartridge than the .22lr (A)

I asked the local range I go to (Insight Range in Artesia) and they said no rifle calibers. (Not sure what this meant exactly.)

The .223 is a rifle caliber, in that is was initially designed to be fired from a rifle. If the range says no rifle calibers, that generally means they only allow long guns that shoot cartriges that are traditionally chambered in handguns (ex. .22lr, .38spl, .357mag, 44mag). There are a number of rifles chambered for these "handgun" cartriges. The .22 can be found in most types of action (single shot, bolt, lever and auto), while the others are mostly found in lever action rifles. You can also find some other handgun cartriges (9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP) in semiauto rifles.

• Bolt Action / Semi-Automatic
• Chambered for .22LR / .223 or higher.
• Widely available ammunition.
• Black or " loltactical " looking.

If you need to restrict yourself to handgun cartriges, there are a couple options. Although it is generally not thought of as a "tactical" or "self defence" round, there are a number of "assault weapon-ish" looking .22 autos available (American Tactical Imports, Chiappa Firearms Ltd, Kel-Tec, Legacy Sports Intl, Mossberg, and Ruger all sell "tactical" looking .22lr semiauto rifles).

If you want something larger, there are a few companies that make 9mm/40S&W/45ACP semiauto "carbines" (ex. Beretta, Bushmaster, Hi-Point, and Kel-Tec).

Hope that helps!

 

[Spydiefan04]

First of all everything said about starting with a .22lr, I totally have to agree with that, and in your price range I'd recommend a CZ 452/455 or a Marlin 39a if you'd like to save some money i'd recommend any Marlin bolt action .22.

If you really want a larger (centerfire) rifle caliber I'd make the following suggestions and for the following reasons:
1) Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55, you can pick one up cheap, they are marvelous rifles and the 6.5x55 is a very formidable round for hunting, has a flat trajectory and very little recoil (but more than a .22lr of course). Make sure you can find ammo locally before buying.
2) Remington 700 in 7mm-08, Rem 700 is legendary and 7mm-08 is a round designed to recreate the ballistics of the old 7x57 mauser, but in my part of the world 7mm-08 ammo is nearly as common as .30-06, and again is a soft shooting rifle.
3) Mauser in 7x57, you can find one cheap, but I would only buy one if I knew ammo was available in my area.

The last thing you want for a first rifle is some elephant gun or new Ultra-mag, you'll go blind and deaf and never learn how to shoot from fear of massive recoil. There is nothing wrong with Magnums but they are not for beginners.

 

[Robert.B]

The last thing you want for a first rifle is some elephant gun or new Ultra-mag, you'll go blind and deaf and never learn how to shoot from fear of massive recoil. There is nothing wrong with Magnums but they are not for beginners.

Most people wear ear muffs when they goto the range (some require at least ear plugs) and if you have a problem being afraid of recoil then it doesn't matter if you start with a BB gun, you'll still have a fear of the recoil until you sit down and get it out of your system.

Jump in the deep end because the kids pee in the shallow end. :thumbup:

 

[Spydiefan04]

Most people wear ear muffs when they goto the range (some require at least ear plugs) and if you have a problem being afraid of recoil then it doesn't matter if you start with a BB gun, you'll still have a fear of the recoil until you sit down and get it out of your system.

Jump in the deep end because the kids pee in the shallow end. :thumbup:

So I take it you regularly shoot .458 Lott? While I agree with you to a degree, and maybe I didn't explain what I was saying fully and yes I was overexaggerating. It's not just fear of recoil but it's repeated effect on the shooter, most shooters can't take enough repeated pounding from a magnum to get in long enough practice sessions to become proficient. I've seen people with little experience try to start with hot .45-70s and the like and after a few rounds of not even hitting the target they put the thing up and go home. I was trying to recommend some rifle calibers that have proven effective that don't kick like mules. Course I realize you were probably just poking fun at my overexaggeration

 

[kamagong]

Another Asian here. I understand exactly where you are coming from as my parents did not like firearms either. It's not that they hated them exactly, but growing up as they did in a culture without the 2nd Amendment they weren't exposed to firearms. They just didn't understand my fascination with things that go bang. I had to learn about guns on my own I didn't pick up my first firearm until I was 30.

+3 to jackknife's advice. My first gun was a .22lr pistol. My first rifle was a .22lr. There is only one way to gain skill with a firearm and that's to practice. No other caliber will allow you to practice for 2-3 pennies a round. Plus, the .22lr will minimize the bad habits that will inevitably occur when a novice shooter starts out with two much gun.

Don't sweat the hecklers who dismiss the the .22 as a toy. You will encounter them as they inhabit every range, but they're just a bunch of blowhards. While it's true that the .22lr doesn't make as big a hole as the .308 or the .45ACP, remember that it's only hits that count. Unless you can hit what you are aiming at, that gun in your hand is nothing more than an expensive and dangerous noisemaker.

Take my wife for example. She likes to shoot, but she only shoots my .22 pistol and rifle. She leaves the centerfires to me. On the other hand, my brother and friend (who I both taught to shoot) look down on the .22 as a kids gun. They prefer the manly .45. Never mind that they can't ever seem to hit the black, unless it's on accident. They just can't seem to fathom the fact that my wife, who uses my little Ruger pistol, is a much more dangerous adversary than they are because she can actually hit what she wants.

Enjoy your first firearm experience. But do it the right way. Either be up front with your parents about it or wait until you get out on your own. It's important to exercise your 2nd Amendment right, but it is equally important to respect your parents.

Oh yeah, go for the CZ-452 Trainer. Very high quality firearm with tremendous bang for the buck.

 

[Robert.B]

So I take it you regularly shoot .458 Lott? While I agree with you to a degree, and maybe I didn't explain what I was saying fully and yes I was overexaggerating. It's not just fear of recoil but it's repeated effect on the shooter, most shooters can't take enough repeated pounding from a magnum to get in long enough practice sessions to become proficient. I've seen people with little experience try to start with hot .45-70s and the like and after a few rounds of not even hitting the target they put the thing up and go home. I was trying to recommend some rifle calibers that have proven effective that don't kick like mules. Course I realize you were probably just poking fun at my overexaggeration

I was more saying a 30-06 or standard .308 win...your big magnums are expensive, not exactly common, and I dont know one single gun owner that started off in big hunting rounds so I dont even know why you'd think anyone would (the OP didnt even suggest it). But I dont agree with someone starting off on a plinker unless you're 5 years old, you're better off with something that gives you a more real world view of rifles and how to accurately and safely handle recoil.

As I said in a previous post, if you join the military they dont give you a .22 in boot and expect you to get good at marksmanship with it...they give you what you'd use in the field.

 

[timcsaw]

As I said in a previous post, if you join the military they dont give you a .22 in boot and expect you to get good at marksmanship with it...they give you what you'd use in the field.

Actually, for quite a few years, some services did exactly that by running .22 LR through their adapted .223 AR's (for cost control).

 

[Robert.B]

Actually, for quite a few years, some services did exactly that by running .22 LR through their adapted .223 AR's (for cost control).

I dont get how any service could cut costs on a soldiers training (considering their training is their life)...pretty shocking, my uncle trained soldiers for over 18 years in the Australian military and did specialized training for US troops before the first gulf (and was in vietnam and first gulf war) and he was adamant on a soldier being taught with the tools he would utilize in the field.

He taught me to shoot when I was 12, and it was on a .303 drill rifle on the base which for a 12 year old was a BIG gun...but I feel I learnt more then I would have on a .22.

 

[timcsaw]

I dont get how any service could cut costs on a soldiers training (considering their training is their life)...pretty shocking, my uncle trained soldiers for over 18 years in the Australian military and did specialized training for US troops before the first gulf (and was in vietnam and first gulf war) and he was adamant on a soldier being taught with the tools he would utilize in the field.

He taught me to shoot when I was 12, and it was on a .303 drill rifle on the base which for a 12 year old was a BIG gun...but I feel I learnt more then I would have on a .22.

I know that the AF did the .22 thing in basic training for a number of years with basic recruits for their marksmanship qualification. As you say though, I don't think any of the services actually used the .22 for proficiency training... just for qualification only.