Gun buying advice for a new gun owner

My 870 12 gauge is pretty easy to clean, but fires well, even when I need to clean it. 00 buckshot will put 8 out of 9 pellets in a body from 50 feet away, fired from the hip. Don't ask me how I know this.

Actually it was a cardboard likeness I was demonstrating on when I was leaving my honey alone with the dogs for a week. At the bedside, one in the chamber, pump 4 more times if needed. Just slide your right index finger along the safety before pointing it and you are well defended.

I could get a deer with it with a slug if I was catching them off guard but I need a whole lot of practice to get one at a distance.

The "best gun" is the one you'll use. Make sure you're trained, that you practice, and that you are confident with it. "Fit" is part of that. Find a few guns that 'fit' and that you aren't afraid to shoot, then pick the one in that class that has the most common cartridge (best for survival and ongoing cost).

R

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Hi,
See if you ask you will find lots of gun nuts who would just love to teach you what you want to know.
Also you can see we all have out opinions, you put 10 gun nuts in a room you will get at least 11 opinions, all different?
If your on a homestead rather than a home, a 22 bolt action, iron sighted (not scoped) is the best place to start. handguns are experts tools and take hundreds of thousands of rounds to perfect (yes look at the price and gasp, that's why they all telling you 22 rim fire (thats what all the guys are meaning when they tell you 22's pistols or rifles. They are relatively quick to learn how to shoot reasonably.
By the way cheap paper plates with a black marker round spot an inch across are much cheaper than the fancy made for the purpose target. A desk stapler and a couple of sticks or scrounged 2X4's work for target holder.
If you lucky you have a nice hillside well away from neighbors to shoot into. Finding a local gun nut, will help you find an inexpensive place to shoot.
Dig out a good reference on gun safety (the NRA is a good place to find this) and review what you learned in your earlier gun safety class and get the 10 rules burned into your brain.
I enjoy teaching gun safety and shooting to new folk, and tell them that they pass the class when they catch me making a mistake! Some folks, are still trying to catch me 30 years later, some get a pass within the first hour. Its way to easy to screw up if you are not paying full atention all the time. This keeps me activly working, good habits have saved me hundreds of times over the years, Build them.
A shotgun is high on the list, a short barreled pump action is highly recommended Remington 870's and Mossburg 500 are relatively inexpensive and very reliable.
12 or 20 gauge is personal opinion I'm a fan of 16 gauges but they are quickly becoming antiques and make the ammo expensive and hard to find.
Hmm no one mentioned cleaning kits not big expensive one just a cleaning rod, cleaning solution and gun oil / rags. You can buy cleaning patch's but you will quickly realize that they are just cheap white cotton, just cut up a cotton T shirt out of the rags bag, one will produce hundreds if not thousands. its something I do in front of the idiot box with a pair of scissors.
You should be able to get whoever sells you the gun to show how to take it apart and clean it.(even more important how to get it back together again) if your not mechanically handy get them to promise to not laugh at you if you have to bring it back to them to show you again
Have your gun nut watch you do it a few times, taking notes if that helps you.
An old about to be thrown out toothbrush is a really nice gun cleaning tool to add to your kit as well.
Just remember when you say gun nut smile, the ones who smile back you should move to the front of the list to take you shooting.
The average cop is not the best gun handler despite hollywierds take on things, the rare ones are, stone cold pro's and I apologize to them. If you can find a pro they can be very good. Some folk you can learn from even if its you never want to be around them and guns again.
Have fun, enjoy, its a sport that is useful too.
Dutch

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SW Minnesota
Been a fool most of my life and still help as best I can:
knowing no good deed ever goes unpunished.

well your getting lots of good advise , personaly we start cub scouts on bb guns at 6 years old , had 100% qualify junior marksman last year , then they move on to 22 rifles when 10 and can join boy scouts. i actualy taught my son the other way around from a bench at 25 yards with a scoped 10/22 my 6 year old was putting 5 shots touching in the bull with maybe an hours instruction and practace . my 8 year old had problems with the scope she prefers open sights but does just fine also , i would get a ruger 10/22 or marlin model 925 the ruger is very nice and is they most customizable firearm around
the marlin is plain simple accurate and a very good choice for a home stead prices around 139-159 avg at lease here

many have recomended the remington 870 if you or on a tight budget as i usualy am look at a NEF (new england firearms) pardner pump they sell for around 200-230 dollars
NEF is owned by marlin who also owns remingtion the pardner is basicaly a metric 870 copy for lack of a better description some parts i hear are interchangable while the threads i hear are not , i would not suggest interchanging parts just using that to explain they are that exactly identical the finish on the pardner is simple not as refined but the pardner costs less it is made outside the usa but budgets are budgets and we have to work with them.

i have shot deer with slugs form a smooth bore 12 gashotgun since i was 12 my dad , uncle , grandpa and older menbers of our hunting party have been doing it since the early 70s when our zone was made shotgun only shots out to 100 yards are very doable this means you can use the same barrel for defence and deer easily.

i would get a 22 every house needs one in my opinion , second a shotgun you need one of them when your comfortable with the 22

get a few extra mags for your 22 or whatevery you get removable are the way to go in my opinion (not much of an option for shot guns)
i have the young children , they know not to touch my guns even if left out, i let them handle the guns with my supervison if they are curios , basicaly there wasn't anything to be curios about once they had a chance to get their questions ,look, and touch out of the wayall the same i like to leave one gun accessable , but unloaded , with mag loaded , but seperate under my control it is my personal comprimise for safty and avalability .if i am not carrying a holster and loaded pistol this is the ultimate in avalability.

not sure it is anymore but for a long time statisticaly a 22 was the most commonly used firearm to stop a home invasion 22lr why people have them even if they have nothing else they genraly have a 22 and they are usualy the most accessable and while not the man stopper a 12 ga is or a .45acp is bad gugs don't like to be shot with either and many are actualy killed with a 22.
that said if i had a choice of what to stop a home invation with it would not be a 22 but i would rather not have a home invasion in the first place and one does have to admit they are convinient and inexpensive, and most are more likely to have a coon in the chicken house than a human home invader.

for practice in a 22 the bulk 500 round packs for 10-15 dollars are fine , for varmint and soft targets get soem cci stingers they are about 3.50 -5 dollars a box of 50 but they are worth the extra 5-7 cents a shot when you are shooting a wood chuck , coon , or such.


this is my advise for genral home / homestead use if you feel you have a different need by all means research it or mention it here we are not short of opinions by any means.

also yes check out your local laws i know NY has a 10 round mag limit someone else mentioned a permit for a pistol so check them out.



go to your library if they get american rifle man magazine look thru a bunch of the armd citizen pages

Not to be a know-it-all but. . .

To all of you who have suggested 22's I must point out Shygal's second point (with emphasis)

2. I want something for PROTECTION FIRST, also something for predators, or if I had to put an animal out of its misery in case of any emergency, etc.

If she had asked about which weapon to buy to learn to shoot and shoot well I would have agreed with you. Nothing currently on the market is better for that than a rifle which will fire the full range of 22 rounds or at least short, long and long rifle rounds.

But she specifically said she wanted first to have a weapon for protection but which could be used for the rest. While better than nothing a 22 offers no where near the protection of a shotgun.

With that said I will hammer another point again: The shotgun will do anything (and more) that any other firearm on the market can do, just at a shorter range.

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the police are just MINUTES away!

Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. . .Davy Crockett

I don't know, I think you can have enough but you can never have too many.

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There not much I can add to what others have said. I would agree with most of it..

Start with a 20 ga shotgun and a 22lr rifle.
Then find a neighbor, relative or friend who has different handguns that you can try.
I have been known to help those of a smaller stature find a handgun that suits them(I'm the tall one in the family and I'm only 5'2" and the other 3 are women), since I have at least 14 different ones in my inventory.

As to brand that is a personal choice, but try and stick with the known brands, such as Remington, Mossberg, Winchester, Marlin etc..

A good lever action 22lr is made by Marlin and Henry

If you want you can get a Marlin 1894 in .357 and a revolver in .357 also. That way you are using the same ammo. The drawback is the .357 doesn't have the range of a good hunting rifle.

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Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1 Section 21 "The Right of the Citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned"
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An observation:

I've never met anybody who can shoot a firearm at all, that cannot shoot a 22LR.

In have met people who cannot handle, for whatever reason, anything more powerful.

Over half to 75% of all ammo sold in the U.S. is .22LR. The first rule of a gunfight is to have a gun. And, as Bill Jordan said, in a gunfight, there is no second-place winner, which is a nice way of saying you better hit what you are aiming at. Until you've had you hands in a man's lungs that are just so much mush due to a .22 bouncing between his ribs, don't denigrate the lowly 22LR.

Yes, if given the choice, I'd personally like to have more oomph. But I'll take a .22 over a sharp stick, anyday...

There's also no rule that says you have to buy one gun and THEN another, with a long wait between them

You could just buy two to begin with, although I'd suggest waiting a week between purchases to avoid having to report a "multiple purchase" to the BATF, assuming you're buying both from the same FFL dealer

Buying used from an individual, there are no reporting requirements, unless NY has a statute about it.

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A good pump shotgun ...preferably 12 guage.
A good .22 rifle...10/22 ruger comes to mind.
A good REVOLVER pistol ....a .357 so you can fire .38 specials also.
A good rifle...a .223 mini 14 ranch rifle comes to mind.

Just my 2 bits worth....


A shotgun is pretty universal....a short barrel home defence gun that holds alot of rounds is a good first choice.

While it's already been said, a 12 gauge and 22 LR is really the way to go. I'd recommend a Remington 870 or Mossberg 500. I've shot both and both are great guns. I lean toward the Mossberg, FWIW. For the 22, I'd recommend the ruger 10/22 or Marlin model 60 for a semi auto.

A revolver may be the way to go with a pistol. They are much simpler to operate, easier to clean, and safer then semi-autos. I have a Smith and Wesson 686 .357 with 6 inch barrel. It's cheap to shoot target with .38 special and has awesome stopping power with .357.

If I had to have one gun it would be a 12 gauge pump shotgun. versitile, easy to find ammo. Can be used for predators, home invasion, and hunting everything from rabbits to bear.

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I agree with a lot of what has been said. The shotgun is the most versatile.

If you want a pistal to carry aound the homestead and may need to use "snakeshot", you will have to get a revolver. However, most (or is it all) revolvers do not have a safety.

No one has mentioned pellet guns. A 22-cal pellet rifle will dispatch small vermin at 50 feet, can be used almost anywhere (even in the city), and make a great practice gun. However, you will not take down a coyote.

.22 rifle (bolt action) They almost never jam unless it's an ammo issue. You can shoot all day for $20

20 ga. pump shotgun

You could always get a pistol permit/pistol later after you feel comfortable with the rifle and shotgun.

You can probably find a shooting club/range nearest you with a google search as well as some nearby gun stores in your area.

If you ever come to Northern CT, I'd be glad to take you to the range and let you shoot some of my rifles.

I would agree.

Yep, the .22 still kicks up a lot of dust at the 100 yard berm.

QUOTE=Shygal;4442129]Hi everyone

Since I have bought my house, I have been wanting to purchase a gun or two for a couple different reasons. Ive never owned one before though I have shot rifles. I don't have anyone that can go with me or help me out with anything, so I have a bunch of questions

1. What should I get first? Handgun? Rifle?

2. I want something for protection first, also something for predators, or if I had to put an animal out of its misery in case of any emergency, etc.

3. New or used?

4. How do I find a reputable gun shop/dealer

5. How do I find a range or get training?

I had a hunter safety course when I was a teenager, and I have shot rifles before but never a handgun. I dont want a handgun that will be too heavy, but I want something effective for personal protection. A rifle/shotgun the same, I dont want something thats going to be too heavy to keep still to aim.

6. How do I know what a reasonable price is for something?

Im sure that I will have more questions about it, thanks in advance[/QUOTE]

Qustions 1 & 2) Shotgun. It is the obvious choice for your first gun. Ultimate in personal protection and very capable of handling most predators. All you need to know is which ammunition to use for each. For a woman especially her first gun I recommend either a 20 gauge or even a .410. before some of you scoff at the .410, remember the Judge by Taurus is a .410 pistol that seems to be all the rage. If it is good enough out of a pistol it is even better out of a shotgun.

My next choice, in your situation, would be a pistol small enough to carry on your person while out and about on the property. But that also carried a potent enough punch to drop a coyote or wolf, or a person intent on causing you harm. .38/.357 revolver or 9mm semi-auto could be decent choices.

I agree with others in adding a Ruger 10/22 rifle. Mine is 33 years old and works like brand spanking new. I also agree that adding a higher powered rifle eventually would be a good choice too. If for self protection and predator erradication something in .223 like a Ruger Mini-14 would be a relatively inexpensive choice.

3) I have purchased both new and used guns in my life and been satisfied with both. The key here is a reputable gun shop with honest, fair minded, workers willing to seriously help you make the right choice.

4) Tough question to answer with any certainty. Talk to people in the community that you know are shooters. Ask them where they go to buy guns. Ask them who they trust. have one of them take you along and introduce you to the owner of the shop so they know you aren't just some fly in fly out never to be seen again type.

5) Ask those same shooter friends where they shoot. Use the internet to look up ranges. Ask the gun shop owner if he has a public range. You can also him where to get some training.

6) Like with anything else you have to do research and perhaps shop around a bit. Gun stores may charge a bit more but they usually offer professional service by knowledgable people. Whereas a big box store may have better prices but no real gun experts on staff.

Good luck and have fun.