Best rifle for non-gun person?

I am Uk based, so bow in acknowledgement to all those posters that are speaking from a rather more pragmatic stand point etc.

However, a friend and I used to operate the university rifle and pistol club. Toward the end, we had more female members than male - and it sure wasn't our good looks!

Many of those that came expressed an interest in the defensive aspects of firearms ( see other threads on UK position ). Without becoming elitest, that is the ultimate use of your firearm. Aside from a few 'naturals', far better to start with basic fundamentals, get everything near right and then progress to the defensive weapon.

The .22 gives the student time to grow - much easier to spot potentially fatal errors that can come later.

Read Mas Ayood, Cirillo etc and appears you revert to training under stress. In that vein, whilst remembering that the best defensive weapon is the one you hit the target with, advice seems to steer away from shotguns - unless over penetration is the main issue. At typical defence ranges, shot spread mandates reasonable precise aim - and the shotgun is harder to use than a carbine size rifle. Only you know the precise circumstances - home set up etc. I have not read the thread, but the pay load of a .410 shotgun would seem to risk really annoying an attacker.

I understand that the .223 with soft point/ hollow point loads has a good OSS reputation. Within your existing weapon choice, that would be the way to go. THough, as noted, I am not familiar with the pistol calibre carbines that it appeared you listed.

Finally, my friend and I ended up marrying two of the ladies in question! We have life long ( married 12 and 10 years respectively ) soul mates - and great shooting buddies. Defence with a gun not really an issue in the UK, but both wives could 'cut the mustard' because they are shooting enthusiasts. Some of the other ladies still shoot. Those that came and stayed fixated upon defence gave up shooting and whatever skill set was acquired will by now have greatly diminished.

You are more likely to serve your purpose by encouraging an ongoing general interest in shooting. Also make buying extra kit, guns, goodies much easier!
 
The .22, low recoil is sound advice.

I recall the advice of Yoda on this one " There is no try, do or do not" in reference to the non-gun person. They must become one, Its like my mother lives alone in the country and I have seen her make incredible shots with .22 and air rifle. But now she is older and worries about her isolation and I feel forced to suggest less than lethal means like avoidance, bear-spray canister etc. Why? Because usually a person has to be a "gun person" to have the one thing you really need to shoot for real. That's the will to use a gun and to kill. Many gun-toters at the range lack this too. Remember from THE movie, the rifle is but a tool.....it is a hard heart that kills. Its not the noise and flash of my shot that counts, but hits. I will hit. Will a "non-gun person" ???

So as much as I worry for my mother I can't steer her towards a gun or convince her how to effectively deploy her .22 rifle because she does not have the will to use it. She is the original Al & Jesse foot soldier and truly believes peace, love and all that crap, thinking that as a good person she will be led through. Yet she still worries because the cops are 30+ minutes away. She sees the problem but can't make the leap to self reliance.

Then my cop rant. As a city employee she recieved a self defense course from the city PD. The advised the usual, kick,scream, whistle, mace deal. They were even bold enough to mention that a ladies hat pin, a common purse item (IN THE #%#@1850's!!) was an effective weapon. The hypocrites did not mention maybe a real knife in that purse or a gun. Once again I feel that they would need to be trained to become gun people, but its doable. And no, our friendly peace officers were not packing S&W pr-ban hat pins.

If you do take the lady to the range learn a gentlemanly way to cousel on dress. As Oakleaf alluded to there are differences, and while the branded boobie dance is fun to watch from a distance, you do not want to have to drive home with the star. Plus pain is a teaching tool and they will probably never want to learn to be that gun person evere again.
 
I'm pretty sure there's a rule written somewhere about learning to shoot a rifle on a .22 LR. Anyone know for certain if that's etched in stone, or is it just pass-down knowledge?

Get a bolt-action .22 LR, a brick of ammo, grab the "newbie" and head out!

(Hands up: How many of YOU learned to shoot in just the above-mentioned fashion?)

You can move them on up from there, but getting accustomed to sight pattern, trigger and breath control, and the other things that go into shooting well are best learned with the Old Standby.
 
SKS Trick

If you end up using an SKS but do not want to deal with semi-auto at first but do want to teach feeding from the magazine (fewer fingers in the action that way) just remove the gas piston and you now have a stright pull bolt gun.

as for .22 training you can skip a lot of problems but remember that the lack of recoil can produce problems later. If you can get one a single shot .22 bolt gun is a great way to learn accurate shootin and not blasting (which is also fun)

Good Luck.
 
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