New member question

Hey all, I recently applied for my Illinois FOID card (my wife did as well to avoid the legal issues it could create if she uses in home defense) and will be buying my first firearm as soon as I get my FOID. I've decided I'm going to get a Mossberg 500 12g Field/Home combo so I have a shotgun usable for both home defense and casual clays with my in-laws who are long time gun owners.

Now, I'm already considering what my second purchase will be. I've considered a 9mm hand gun or rifle. I'm leaning towards the rifle since I'm already comfortable with a long gun and am mostly interested in plinking/informal target shooting, but I'm also considering the pistol because it would be more useful for home defense. I've seen a lot of literature favoring a .22lr. I know the ammo is incredibly affordable which would be great for plinking. However, I wouldn't mind having something more "potent" for SHTF scenarios and I probably won't get to go plinking incredibly often so having to pay a little more for ammo wouldn't be that bad.

Just wanted to get some input on what direction to go on my second purchase.

Didn't realize that .22 LR was hard to come by right now, everywhere I've read has recommended it simply due to availability. One thing pushing me away from rifles is that should I get into hunting, IL is pretty much a shotgun only state so far as I know so a rifle would pretty much just be plinking and SHTF.

OldBrownDog said:

Do you know anyone who owns a few guns? Or have any ranges near you where you can rent a wide variety of guns? I think you should try/shoot as many different types, actions and calibers of guns as you can. Decide what you like best and go from there. I think a .22 rifle and a 20 or 12 gauge shotgun should be virtually mandatory for every red-blooded American, but that's just me. You might also want to consider buying a rifle (highly recommend starting with a .22LR - lots of fun for plinking, and cheap in normal times) first and a handgun next or vice versa. Sorry, but my answer to "which gun?" is inevitably "both".

My $0.02 (and it's worth what you paid for it).

Click to expand...

Didn't get a chance to respond to this til I got to work, but my father-in-law is a gun owner (pretty sure he has at least a shotgun, rifle, and handgun, don't know what they are though) as is my brother-in-law although I think he just has a .22lr rifle. Talking with him was one of the thing that led me to being interested in investing in a firearm.

I have shot a Mossberg 500 (pretty sure it was a Mossberg but it was about 10 years ago) before when shooting clays with some friends in high school so I've shot it before and know I can handle it as far as function, recoil, etc.. My wife has also shot a 12 gauge before with her father and while she's not as comfortable with it she could use a shotgun in a defensive situation if necessary. I figured it would be the best first investment since my main purpose is home defense and I've shot mostly shotguns in the past (I've shot a .22lr a couple times and a 30-06 once) so I'd be most comfortable with it. I also feel like living in town I'd have to worry a little less about over penetration with a shotgun.

I asked my wife if she'd prefer to have a handgun as a second gun potentially for her use in home defense and she was really indifferent to it. We do live in a rural community (population maybe 800) so break-ins aren't common but they are starting to happen more often. Living in town though, I can't plink on my own property so it really would limit the use of even a .22lr although I can go out to my in-laws property pretty much whenever I want. So, that's how I had narrowed down my options after a shotgun to:

1. .22lr rifle (or other rifle), which isn't very useful for home defense but would get used for plinking/working on marksmanship. As of now, Illinois doesn't allow rifles for hunting (only shotguns, muzzleloaders, and handguns) so it wouldn't be used much for that except maybe occasional "pest control" at the in-laws which is the same place I would be plinking.

2. 9mm handgun (for ammo availability/cost), which I honestly probably wouldn't plink with as much but would be more useful in home defense.

Figured that a longer explanation of what my potential uses were was worthwhile for informed opinions, sorry for the novel. I've found usually on forums it's better to provide too much information on what you're looking for than too little.

And actually, instead of starting another thread about it I figure I'll ask a second question here...

As far as storage of a long arm (shotgun in this case), what would you guys recommend when we don't have room for a gun safe in our bedroom? Living in a 80+year old Craftsman style house, room sizes aren't that big and we really don't have any room to add a gun safe. I was thinking about getting a two gun case (figuring on the second gun down the road) and putting a push button padlock on it for easier access in the dark, and keeping it under the bed. We don't have kids but probably will in the next year or two.

Ya, ceiling and walls are lath/plaster construction. If they aren't original they're darn close. Would rather not open up walls as there's a good chance there's asbestos we might disturb given the age. In addition to the locked case idea, I have seen safes designed to fit under beds and extend a "drawer" when unlocked as well as "coffin" style top open safes. If the case w/ a padlock will be OK, it would be cheaper than the other options but I've seen posts about guns in cases being more prone to rust.