I am in Skans's camp on this. The first gun is, at least for a time, the only gun, and for an adult, a defensive gun. If you start them with a .38 or a 9 mm, they meet their immediate need with a handgun that is not too difficult to learn. A .22LR makes a great second handgun for most adults.
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Beginners Gun Advice
- Thread starter nidhoggr
- Start date
Sabrewolfe
New member
I don't think the previous posters were talking about recommending BUYING a .22 first, but rather getting introduced to shooting via one. When I was first learning, everyone was like, "Here, use my .22 and we'll get you trained on the basics before you move up to a bigger gun, then you can go buy your own." If you have a friend with one or a range with one in the rental case, they are still a great way to introduce someone to firearms. The only issue with starting someone on a .22 I've seen is when they spend too long on the little gun and then don't want to use the higher caliber weapons because of the recoil difference.
I don't think the previous posters were talking about recommending BUYING a .22 first, but rather getting introduced to shooting via one.
I read the OP differently because of his reference to having a budget of $500, but if your reading is correct I absolutely agree that borrowing or renting a .22LR for early learning is a great idea. I just wouldn't make it a recommendation for a first purchase for an adult interested in owning a firearm for defensive purposes.
well a 22 can be fun, but the main thing it will do is get a person used to paying premium prices for small boxes of ammunition.
The cheapest 22lr i can find right now anywhere online is 19 per 50 shots.
if a semi auto is so much easier to learn to use, why is this forum and youtube loaded down with videos and articles on how to avoid limp wristing and messing up the ejection and feeding of that wonderful auto?
limp wrist a revolver, you just miss your target.
Ive yet to fing a semi auto that will let you change the grips, other then 1911s. or to change the size and shape of a mag release.
but its not that hard to change out a hammer or cylinder release or change the grips on a revolver. Ive seen to many posts on how someone wonderful at the store semi auto, sucks grip wise at home.
yet the people who complain about the grips feeling funny after a while on that revovler simply get new grips.
The cheapest 22lr i can find right now anywhere online is 19 per 50 shots.
if a semi auto is so much easier to learn to use, why is this forum and youtube loaded down with videos and articles on how to avoid limp wristing and messing up the ejection and feeding of that wonderful auto?
limp wrist a revolver, you just miss your target.
Ive yet to fing a semi auto that will let you change the grips, other then 1911s. or to change the size and shape of a mag release.
but its not that hard to change out a hammer or cylinder release or change the grips on a revolver. Ive seen to many posts on how someone wonderful at the store semi auto, sucks grip wise at home.
yet the people who complain about the grips feeling funny after a while on that revovler simply get new grips.
Hi, Hal,
I suspect your "not so long ago" is a different decade from mine. In my beginning time and place, shooting was done primarily for fun and sport, not with the idea of protecting oneself from vicious criminals or hordes of terrorists. A .22 may not be appropriate for either (except that one can easily carry 500 rounds to deal with the larger hordes), but it can help teach the basics at a reasonable cost without the trouble and expense of setting up for reloading. Light loaded .38 Special still has a greater noise and recoil than a .22, and cost about the same if you don't count the time involved in reloading.
I am certainly not against reloading; I have reloaded tens of thousands of rounds of various calibers.
But most of the folks on these sites, especially beginners, seem to want full (or even excess) power handguns, and all their thinking is directed at self defense, never shooting for fun. I guess it is just a more serious and maybe more cruel world. Kind of a shame.
Jim
I suspect your "not so long ago" is a different decade from mine. In my beginning time and place, shooting was done primarily for fun and sport, not with the idea of protecting oneself from vicious criminals or hordes of terrorists. A .22 may not be appropriate for either (except that one can easily carry 500 rounds to deal with the larger hordes), but it can help teach the basics at a reasonable cost without the trouble and expense of setting up for reloading. Light loaded .38 Special still has a greater noise and recoil than a .22, and cost about the same if you don't count the time involved in reloading.
I am certainly not against reloading; I have reloaded tens of thousands of rounds of various calibers.
But most of the folks on these sites, especially beginners, seem to want full (or even excess) power handguns, and all their thinking is directed at self defense, never shooting for fun. I guess it is just a more serious and maybe more cruel world. Kind of a shame.
Jim