Sitting there, and my anti-gun friend asked me...

Excellent.

Next step is a good defensive pistol class.

Make sure he starts with .38 SPL, do not let him start with .357. You want to make sure he doesn't get gun shy out of the gate.

Good job! One at a time.

Take him to the range to try some guns, otherwise he might just drop money on a scandium .357 and a box of 180 grain loads and get turned off of guns. Let him try a few guns out and then turn him loose to buy his own gun afterward if he wants.

IMHO if going .357 start him on something with some heft to it and as mentioned above start with .38s.

My wife was not anti gun she was just not a shooter. She detests my complicated, hot brass flinging, bottom feeders. A beater, 4 inch Taurus .38 changed things for her and now her bedside choice is a 4" stainless .357 SP101 that we both feel confident about.

You didn't suggest an AR-15 instead, with hundred round clips and a shoulder thing that goes up?

Seriously, this looks good for you and him (and anyone he's been talking to.)

Yet he voted for the scum obama. Isn't that just neat.

Just as you should work your way up in caliber with a new shooter, you have to have the same attitude concerning styles of guns. Especially when they are on the fence or apprehensive. Once you get them to shoot more "culturally accepted" firearms like revolvers, bolt action rifles, pump shotguns, etc and they start to comprehend the notion that a gun is an inanimate object, you'll have an easier time getting them to realize that semi automatic sporting rifles are much the same as the others they have fired and are to be respected, but not feared.

Grassman said:

Yet he voted for the scum obama. Isn't that just neat.

Click to expand...

Maybe he won't next time, guns have a way of making single-issue voters out of people.
Bravo to the OP, and I hope your friend enjoys his new gun.

I've been seeing a lot of that going on, too.


Of course he won't find much ammo for it for a while.

I hope his wife comes along as well. You guys can't have all the fun now!

Too bad .22 is so hard to come by, it would have been my suggestion, especially for a new shooter with boys who like to shoot.

Be sure to help him out find some ammo too!

A 4" steel-framed .357 magnum or .38 Special (everybody should have one), and a box or two of .38 Special 148 grain wadcutters (that's actually decent for self-defense, as well as "training-wheels" ammo)

Remember all the liberals in CA who were raging pissed at the waiting periods they championed into law for handguns during the LA riots, when they were lining up out the doors trying to buy handguns? Many of those guys sold the guns back after the riots were over at a huge loss, or the gun sits rusting away on some closet shelf. They went right back into hating private gun ownership. I doubt that little event in history really changed their minds.

Just because someone shows interest in buying a gun doesn't mean they support gun ownership. People are funny like that and they can make contradictory ideas like that work in their minds. I'm a pessimist at a lot of these "new leaf" types popping up all over.

James Beat said:

Grassman said:

Yet he voted for the scum obama. Isn't that just neat.

Click to expand...

Maybe he won't next time, guns have a way of making single-issue voters out of people.
Bravo to the OP, and I hope your friend enjoys his new gun.

Click to expand...

Oh, he won't vote for Obama again, that's a certainty -- Obama has had his two shots at the oval office.
The question is; who WILL he vote for in 2016?

Good for you! And him! My suggestion would be for you to offer to go with him, if possible, to help him find something. Pickin's may be slim, and he could probably use an experienced guide.

A wonder 9 works great as well. (CZ75, 92FS, etc)
Not a lot of recoil.

My wife is a lot smaller than the guy the OP spoke of. Yet, her idea of stress relief is to take my Ruger Blackhawk to a range and shoot up a box of 125 gr 357 ammo. I don't think your friend will be overwhelmed by a 357 mag.

What makes it hard on people that start shooting as adults is they skip the formative stage of learning to shoot. When teaching a teenager to shoot traditionally everyone starts with a 22 rifle or a 20 ga shotgun. By the time the kid is 18 and has a real need for self defense they pick up a handgun and use it like it was second nature. But when adults learn to shoot they jump right on a handgun, the most difficult weapon to master. This logic makes no sense at all to me.

Obviously, you informed him he has to join the NRA first.

Right - right?