I'm a bit amused to see you carping about the cost of a .22LR rifle and recommending an AR-15 in the same post. He'll sure spend a lot more learning with an AR, even forgetting about the 4x price of the gun. If you don't reload, .22LR is as cheap as it gets. Sending 1000 rounds of .223 downrange will exceed the cost of that .22 rifle in ammo costs alone.