To say that I don't know much about rifles is an understatement. While I know there are numerous kinds of rifles, I couldn't tell you anything about their respective components, as in what they do or why, in a given situation, one type of rifle might be preferable to another. So any and all guidance here would be appreciated. As for purpose, the rifle would be for range shooting and home defense. Also, please recommend any sites or literature that would help a novice learn about rifles. Thanks
Mine was a Ruger 10-22 take down with threaded barrel. Still for the young ones to learn . Cheap and good to learn on . Sloth
A first rifle is usually a .22, which usually follows a BB and/or pellet gun. However, the .22, while an extremely useful caliber, is not the best gun for all situations, NO rifle is! For home defense, a handgun or shotgun is often better.
you must know what you want it for >>> that would be a great step forward in the right direction ......
all good advice. I would add, consider where you will practice with it. If you don't have ready access to an outdoor 100 yd or 600 yd range, you may be stuck going to an indoor range, and they'll have limitations on what's allowed. If at ALL possible, rent or borrow as many choices as possible and begin to make your own opinions. Indeed, what is the purpose, will drive most decisions. Learning to shoot? .22 can't be beat. You will learn bad habits if you try to learn on a high-powered rifle, most likely. But, I like to leave the possibility that you're asking because you're in a situation where you seriously don't have the ability to try them out first to make up your own mind, and you only get to choose one for the foreseeable future and it must fill all roles. Hopefully this is not you, but the choices I then recommend will not be "wrong" for anybody, and if you choose to add something different, these will likely remain in your collection anyway. For a handgun that's been, for me, a medium- or large-frame, steel, 3 to 5" barrel .357 Magnum revolver such as S&W Model 66 (first choice). In a rifle... it would be hard to go against the 10/22 in any configuration, but it is after all a .22 and if your needs are for something more powerful, a standard cheap AR-15, wouldn't be much harder to learn on and gives much more flexibility. I built my first one from a kit but I don't have any idea these days where to source this stuff. Gun shows seem to be fairly well stocked. Only add that if you can manage to buy the receiver, the only part with a serial number and requiring all the government involvement, on it's own, you'll be able to choose your parts for the rest rather than accepting somebody else's choices. Now being a n00b you may, like I did, have no clue what choices to make, and that's why "cheap" is part of this. If you're going to accept someone else's choices for a fully assembled rifle, those need to be cheap choices, don't let somebody make you feel inferior if you skip the doo-dad they favor. You need to become experienced and educated to make those choices on your own.
+1 on the Ruger 10/22. I've got one that I've shot so much, all the pins just fall out when I remove the stock. And that's the beauty of a .22 as a first rifle...you can afford to shoot it, a lot. Get to the range. Learn fundamental marksmanship, reinforce good firearm handling habits, and what works for you. Talk to people, check out their firearms, learn from their mistakes, what works and doesn't work for you. I shoot moving targets. Scopes are great, but above about 1.5 power I can't follow a fast moving squirrel in the branches. This is the kind of thing you'll get a good grasp of by simply getting more trigger time, and the 10/22 will certainly work for that. As a home defense tool a .22 wouldn't be my first choice, but it's better than nothing. An eyeball accurate .22 in the hands of someone with lots of trigger time is certainly not something I'd want to face.
Since this is your first rifle then I think it must be a Ruger 10/22. This will teach you basic safety and firing technics that can be transfer to other future firearms, pistols, shotguns and rifles. Why Ruger 10/22? They are cheap to shoot, fun to shoot, and for the most part, they are very reliable to shoot. Plus, there are loads of fairly inexpensive upgrades which will teach you about difference aspects of firearms while tuning it to look, feel and shoot exactly how you want but BEWARE this is habit forming...as I can freely admit to. LOL! EDIT: Personally, I see no sense in purchasing a high-power scope for a .22 as accuracy drops off severely pass 100 yards so any scope over 4X seems like a waste of money to me but, again, it's all about what you like and want and can afford.
I'm going to side with the others here with the .22 but instead of the Ruger 10/22 as a first, I recommend a Savage MK-II .22 BOLT ACTION as the first rifle! Semi auto is fine and all, but new shooters need to learn about control whilst learning, and not just out there blasting away at whatever random targets they happen to have, a brick of .22 goes real quick with your shootin an auto! A bolty gives you the time to learn proper sight alignment and shooting technique while keeping things at a slower pace!
There is infrastructure in place around towns where you will find gun shops and even your local fire station may have information or courses available for beginner shooters. Try to get a membership to a good gun club and make some friends. Like most have suggested, a .22 rifle is a great place to start. Learn firearm safety first, learn your rifle and read the manual. The internet is an excellent source for information, but don't make it your only avenue.
Exactly! For a first time gun owner you need something that slows you down so you can focus on fundamentals without the risk of an accidental discharge. You can also run ammo like the .22 CB that makes it very quiet, effectively a pellet gun. Also a scope for a 22 should be designed for a rim fire or have a parallax adjustment that goes down to at least 50 yards. I also urge a new rifle owner to look up any local Appleseed programs that will teach shooting fundamentals. It's easier to learn it right the first time than to unlearn bad habits
The CZ-457 bolt-action is super sweet out of the box and I have seriously considered selling my tricked-out 10/22 to get one since the ONLY reason I have for a .22 is to kill prairie dogs and I certainly don't need a semi to do it.
I like the Aguila Colibri for that reason. Makes short work of our "Giant House Spiders" here in Florida. Not so great for home-invading Possums though.
Thank you all for the excellent advice. Yes, of course, range time and good instruction are crucial. There's a place near me that I like and that offers memberships. They also offer instruction by certified trainers who are military veterans.
I double second this ,,, learn them iron sights 1st ,,, also wind age and elevation ,,, then go to a scope. Another thing that can help you with Iron sights ,,and W&E ,, is get a pellet rifle. In some places ,, you could even set up a little range in the back yard of your city house ,, with a good back drop.
Man, if your going THAT route, why not go all in and order up an Anshutz, my Mod 64 is insanely precise, from CB type ammo all the way to nuke power Stingers, it makes any shooter look like a pro!
