[10bv01]

Let me start by saying, PLEASE do not jump all over me.

I'm 17, and when I turn 18 I want to get a shotgun. My uncle collects guns, both legal and illegal, and I've always had an interest in them. He has told me that he will teach me EVERYTHING I need to know, cleaning, handling, safety, taking it apart and putting it back together etc. He was in the Seals so he knows his stuff. What do you guys recommend for a first gun. I've never been hunting or anything, and it wouldn't be for hunting, just a first gun to start my collection. I would like to take it out to a shooting range every now and then to shoot. I really don't know anything about guns in general, so anything would help. Also, is it true that I have to be 21 before I can even get my concealed weapons license? Any other guns besides a shotgun that I can buy at 18? I want to start with something good, and I want to learn everything about it, any recommendations?

 

[jgo]

Start with a 22 cal. rifle. Lots of fun, cheap to shoot. Your first handgun should also be a 22 cal. Join the NRA. An armed society is a polite society. Happy shooting.

 

[UnitedGrayGTi06]

I'm a fan of revolvers, like smith and wesson. Just for fun, rounds are cheap, looks kick ass.

 

[10bv01]

You have to be 21 though, which is why I said I'm looking for a shotgun, not a handgun.

 

[superwagen]

Yeah first thing to do if you want to learn about guns and accesssories is to join the NRA do this first and they will probably have some recomendations for you. I was in the same boat that you are in when I turned 18 other than I do hunt, and before anyone has comments i eat everything i kill. I got a pump action 12 gauge shot gun to hunt quail, which be the way is delicious. Good luck and happy shooting.

 

[marksmanesq]

Start with a .22. Fun, cheap, and easy to develop good habits with. Your first gun should serve the primary purpose of familiarizing yourself with good safety, maintenance, and shooting habits. A .22 rifle or pistol is perfect for this.

At 18 you can buy a handgun through a private sale legally. Alternatively, a family member can legally buy a handgun and give it to you. This would not be a straw purchase because you can legally possess a pistol at 18, you just can't buy it.

Every collection needs a .22 to start with, a 9mm handgun for self-defense, a shotgun for hunting and home defense, and a semi-auto rifle for range fun/ shit hits the fan/ etc (I would suggest an AR15 variant).

Also, you'd be surprised what you can buy legally so long as you take the necessary steps. I set up a trust using a software program (took 5 minutes to do) and I use this to buy suppressors (aka- silencers), short barrel rifles, and even machine guns. Cost is $200 for the paperwork from ATF.

If you're set on a shotgun I suggest either a Remington or Mossberg. Try both, either is a sturdy, well-priced candidate worthy of trusting your life to, years of range use, and several hunting excursions.

 

[10bv01]

Start with a .22. Fun, cheap, and easy to develop good habits with. Your first gun should serve the primary purpose of familiarizing yourself with good safety, maintenance, and shooting habits. A .22 rifle or pistol is perfect for this.

At 18 you can buy a handgun through a private sale legally. Alternatively, a family member can legally buy a handgun and give it to you. This would not be a straw purchase because you can legally possess a pistol at 18, you just can't buy it.

Every collection needs a .22 to start with, a 9mm handgun for self-defense, a shotgun for hunting and home defense, and a semi-auto rifle for range fun/ shit hits the fan/ etc (I would suggest an AR15 variant).

Also, you'd be surprised what you can buy legally so long as you take the necessary steps. I set up a trust using a software program (took 5 minutes to do) and I use this to buy suppressors (aka- silencers), short barrel rifles, and even machine guns. Cost is $200 for the paperwork from ATF.

If you're set on a shotgun I suggest either a Remington or Mossberg. Try both, either is a sturdy, well-priced candidate worthy of trusting your life to, years of range use, and several hunting excursions.

You really know your stuff, thanks for the advice.

I was using this site, http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/ftp/forms/ls-16.pdf (page 8) when I said that I have to be 21 to carry a concealed weapon. I really would prefer a handgun over a shotgun, I just thought that I wouldn't be able to legally. As of now, I don't have much money at all to spend on a gun, so I would start off small, and work my way up. My uncle has ALL kinds of guns, two coolest are the 50 cal sniper and flamethrower (does that count?) He never uses these, nor does he use any of his machine guns, he just has them as a part of his collection. My dream collection includes two silver custom engraved silenced pistols, a big ass pump action shotgun, a sniper, M16 and countless others.

I really haven't researched guns much at all, so I don't know very much. I can't wait to turn 18 and become very familiar with everything there is to know.

 

[10bv01]

page 8, not page 8) sorry.

 

[Fast Freddie]

My fav gun I have is a Mossberg 20 gauge pump, pistol grip, short (barely legal) barrel. My brother was a gunsmith at one time, I of course grew up in the backwoods of texas on Black Mountain where the shooting range was.

My favorite guns I've had, calico 9mm and .22 http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg57-e.htm
next was a little derringer I had with oversized grips that shot 410 shells.
Then my ruger gp100 357
my rossi double barrel shotgun taught at least 9 people the fear and pain of shootin both barrels.
franchi 150 anniverary .22
mossberg 12 guage slugster
remington 700bdl 270
mossberg 308
sweetsixteen browning
and about 30 other guns I used to have. LOL
FF

 

[Mr. Spool]

If your uncle was in the SEALS, he will proboly have a special place in his heart for the 1911. I've been shooting IDPA for the last five years, and I can tell you a 1911 is THE ONLY way to play!! I personally carry a heavily modified Kimber Stainless II. A company called EGW (Evolution Gun Works) in Quakertown, Pa does unbelivable work with stainless 1911's. Check out these pics. The first one is my Kimber. The second is me and my custom built M-4 (Armalite) chambered in .40 SW.

 

[Thalo]

I can't believe how many gun nuts there are here. I personally don't know a single person who owns a gun, nor did I when I lived in Massachusetts.

 

[jgo]

I can't believe how many gun nuts there are here. I personally don't know a single person who owns a gun, nor did I when I lived in Massachusetts.

Thalo,
I am highly offended by the term "gun nuts" See PM

 

[jgo]

Anyone going to the Annual NRA Convention. It is in St. Louis this year from April 12-16 Three of us gun nuts are driving up from Dallas on the13th. and spending the weekend. We will try not to shoot too many people on the way.

 

[ande1978]

First off, while this thread is in the right location, you might want to find a similar gun-owner forum for better info on guns and owning them (and keep from angrying up the non-gun owners here, remember this is not just a car forum, it's a Volkswagen car forum). That said, here's my take young man.

Here's two to start with:

Remington 870 Express
-should be less than $300 at Fleet Farm
-get the 12 ga. because you'll outgrow a 20 ga. too quickly

Ruger 10/22
-awesome .22 cal rifle
-should run you about $250 or $300 new also at Fleet Farm
-you can get big 30 rd. magazines to satisfy the survivalist in you, for a little while
-cheap as heck to shoot, fun just for the plinking

As for the pistols don't be in too much of a hurry. They're expensive as hell, get lost easily and it's also really easy to accidentally shoot your buddy in the ass at the range. Borrow one and have someone with some experience show you how to fire it, unjam it, and actually hit something with it.

NRA memberships are fine, but goddamn they bug you for donations every two days. I'm a fan of the freedom to not have to join any associations.

Conceal and carry is overrated. I carried in Alabama for like three months before I just gave up. For the most part you can't take a pistol to the places you'll likely frequent (ok gang, I know you'll all tear me to shreds here about proper posting and such, but the fact is "most" people don't like the idea of "you" carrying a pistol with you at the mall, Carl's Jr., the barbershop so really it doesn't matter if the signs got 3" letters and appropriate statute references). The permit and training is pricey. On the other hand, it's nice to have so you can forgo the new purchase waiting period. The classes will emphasize the responsibility involved with carrying a pistol for self-defense.

Truthfully I can't be trusted to take the goddamn garbage out, much less run errands with an H&K USP compact .45 with ghost-ring night sights, two 15 rd. magazines and a custom Bianchi lowrider shoulder holster.

Get your hands on that Remington 870, the Ruger 10/22 and you'll have a fun time shooting and learning what you like. Most gun enthusiats (whoa, almost said nuts) are happy to let you fire their weapons at the range after a little small talk. They might ask you buy your own box of ammo though. Also, take a DNR firearms safety course. It should run a couple times a year and in most states you'll get a cool certification on the back of your driver's license.

 

[marksmanesq]

I can't believe how many gun nuts there are here. I personally don't know a single person who owns a gun, nor did I when I lived in Massachusetts.

Are you a car nut? Classifying me as a nut because I take self-defense seriously is a gross mischaracterization. You'd be surprised. Most of us "gun nuts" are well-educated normal guys who you have nothing to fear from.

I'll tell you what I think is nutty: relying solely on a telephone call to the police when there's a home invader busting in your door at night. How much faith do you have that just your baseball bat is going to save you from a band of hoodlums when the police are at least 4 minutes away? The supreme court has already ruled that the police are not personally responsible for any one individual's safety, just that of society in general. If it's not the police's responsibility, whose is it? That answer is obvious.

I think most non-gunowners think that of guns like most of us think about funeral planning. It's an uncomfortable subject that we avoid. People think if they buy a gun, or even merely acknowledge the utility of others owning guns, it will make them more likely to use it.....and of course none of us want to be faced with a situation where we need to reach for a gun. Just like we avoid funeral planning because we don't want to think about our own deaths.

 

[Fast Freddie]

Most of us "gun nuts" are well-educated normal guys who you have nothing to fear from.

Then there are the guys like me.
Just joking.
FF

 

[10bv01]

First off, while this thread is in the right location, you might want to find a similar gun-owner forum for better info on guns and owning them (and keep from angrying up the non-gun owners here, remember this is not just a car forum, it's a Volkswagen car forum)

Thanks for the advice, I really do appreciate everybody's input and I'm going to look into everything that you guys are talking about.

Regarding the "Volkswagen car forum" comment, there seems to be more people than I had expected responding to this, maybe the GTI is a completely different breed of VW 8). I definitely will visit other forums for more help though, and thanks for that advice also.

Then there are the guys like me.

And THOSE are the ones you need to look out for.

 

[Mr. Spool]

.

I can't believe how many gun nuts there are here.

"Gun Nuts!?!?!"

Nice.

Why don't you tell that to all of our Armed Forces Personnel overseas, fighting with weapons that they may very well live or die by!!!! Soldiers protecting the second amendment to our Constitution which was intended as an individual right of the American citizen to keep and carry his arms in a peaceful manner, for protection of himself, his family, and his freedoms.

marksmanesq...I totally agree with you, however in addition if I may.....just because an individual is 'uncomfortable' with firearms is 9 out of 10 times due to the fact that they themselves are under-educated as well as mis-informed. I quote Sigmund Freud: "A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." Most people have a common misconception that the world (today) as we know it is a happy-go-lucky kind of place where everyone is civil and nothing ever bad happens to the nuclear family of Mom , Dad, the two-and-a-half kids, and rover who all live in the really big house with the white picket fence at 123 'That Shit Don't Happen Here' lane!!!!!!

Wake up and smell the smoking barrel!!

Drugs, violence, poverty, disease, murder, rape, genocide........taxes. This is turning into a defend/kill or be killed kind of world. I'm thankful for my rights to carry my sidearm wherever I want, whenever I want. Because when you have to defend yourself (or more important, the ones you love) from harm.....the logic is simple....'It is better to have a gun, and not need it.....than to need a gun, and not have it!

Now you 'gun nuts'.......let's all praise the lord and pass the ammunition!!

 

[Thalo]

You can't compare soldiers to civilians when it comes to carrying weapons!

I think people who own guns (outside of those who need them for work, ie: soldiers, police officers) are nuts! I feel sorry for you all though, that you live in cities where you feel you need to carry in order to be safe. I guess I'm a bit spoiled that I live somewhere where guns are extremely rare (both in civilians and in criminal hands). Here's my reply to jgo's PM denouncing me as a left wing hippy:

Actually, in Canada we have a conservative government. I myself am a cardholding member of the Conservative Party of Canada and the province I live in is probably the most right wing province or state in North America (unless you know of a state that where 80% of seats in the State Legislature and Senate are held by Republicans and where Republicans have dominated politics for more than 70 years). You might say Canadian Conservatives are the equivalent of American Democrats but I would disagree. We support Bush and his war on terror, we adamantly oppose Kyoto, we oppose gay marriage, abortions, etc, and we oppose the firearms registry imposed by the previous Liberal government.

All that being said, I, along with most other urban/suburban conservative Canadians strongly oppose handguns and assault rifles. They have no purpose in modern society, other than to kill humans. Those few in Canada who exercise their right to own such firearms (and they do have the right to own them, this is not a dictatorship) are considered gunnuts/hicks/********, whatever you want to call them. They are basically a very tiny minority and are shunned by most conservatives/liberals alike.

The fact that there are so few guns here and it is so hard to get them makes our streets relatively safe. If you're mugged, chances are the assailant does not have a gun. I can generally walk down any city street and be safe in the knowledge that not a single other person in my vicinity is carrying a concealed weapon.

As far as guns as a defence against crime, I hardly see the point. You have a better chance of being shot by an armed assailant if you reveal that you are carrying than if you aren't. Myself, I am a bank manager and in times past bank managers took firearms training and had handguns in their offices to fend off a potential bank robbery. Since the 90s though, this practice has been stopped. If a bank is robbed by armed assailants we are far better off aggreeing to the assailants demands, slipping them a diepack and calling the police after they've left. The few tens of thousands they could potentially get away with aren't worth nearly as much as the human life potentially lost in a gunfight.

I think if you travelled to other modern, developed countries and observed their customs you will find that you Americans are alone in the world with all your guns. Guns simply do not have a place in modern society. If it were up to me, all handguns and assault rifles would be banned and anyone caught carrying, criminal or not, should be shot on sight by the police.

 

[10bv01]

Well I certainly did not want to start a battle royale here.


To each his own.