Rifle or Shotgun: First Firearm Questions

Shotgun slugs are maybe 50 - 75 yard mankillers, not beercan plinkers. They kick hard and cost far more than .22 lr. A riot gun makes no sense at all for "casual shooting."

When I was coming up, a kid got a bb gun followed by a .22 rifle (or a field type shotgun IF hunting was on the schedule.) You could do worse.

Get a .22, the ammo is way cheaper and u can shoot it all day. A shotgun would be great for home defense and lots of explosive fun but the ammo is ,sadly, high priced.

A semi auto .22 (aka Ruger 10/22) IMHO is one of the the ultimate plinkers and .22 caliber reigns as a cheep date. .22 has decent range but not so good for defense, better than a sharp stick though.

12 Guage with a smooth slug barrel is a great HD gun, good deer hunting gun for under 100 yds (in areas with terrain like upstate NY). I would not call it a plinker or cheap cost/rd though.

Maybe look into a .22 mag or .223 (or 5.56 AR15) if you want something more serious. Of course costs start to rise fast.

+1 on the ruger 10/22 vote

Get the .22. I can recommend Savage; they're inexpensive and very accurate.

.22s are cheap. Shotguns are cheap. Get one of each; you can even use the same 4473 form at the same store if purchased at the same time. What's the budget?

When I was 19 and had no money I purchased a Mossberg 195K bolt action 12 GA with the idea it was an all around survival and defense gun. I mounted a 1X scope with a mount that allowed the scope to be pushed aside via a hinge attachment.

I shot numerous slugs at the target range and now have the mother of all flinches. Not that it is completely to blame--my brother's Argentine Mauser in .30 '06 played a large part.

Get a .22 for fun or maybe a lever rifle in a pistol round like the .357. A tad more expensive than .22 of course.

+1 to what king ghidora said. Marlin 60 generally outshoots the 10/22.

They are far more accurate than a 10/22. It isn't even close really.

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The Ruger I would think has more aftermarket support, more mods available and holds it value well.

Crazy but true 10/22 story: when I was a kid my father tacticooled mine out (this was probably 1986 or so and I was around 10 mind you). We were regulars at local shows and he somehow got a trigger for mine that had a little brass button at the top of it that made it FA when you pressed up. Yes I was a 10 year-old with a select fire .22. After he died a sheriff looked over the gun collection and deemed my 10/22 too dangerous for a kid (he did not even know about the trigger mod). I told the FFL who was tasked with selling his arsenal (his close friend) and he had a good laugh. It jammed like crazy (probably gue to the crappy plastic wind up high cap mags) but was fun when it ran well. Believe it or not

-How accurate would slugs be out of a 18" smooth bore barrel?
-Would shotgun shells be comparative in price to .22LR?


On a good day I can shoot slugs that way down to about 2" at 25 yd by centering the front bead no rifle sights.

Comparing ammo prices. 25 rds of 12 ga is cheap at $5-6/25. That's birdshot you won't find slugs at that price. Good 22s like CCI are about $5 /100. Bulk 22s get even cheaper.

Start with a 22 rifle. I have a Ruger 10/22, Marlin 702 Plinkster, and Marlin 60 in the order they shoot for me from best. The Marlin 60 shoots well but not as good as the other.

I also second the 10/22.
Great plinker out to 100 yards against balloons or aluminum cans and quick follow up shots help make up for the lower power of the round. Not ideal for defense, but it's not out of the question either.

I agree though that if you have the money, there isn't any reason not to buy a .22 rifle and a shotgun.

The Ruger I would think has more aftermarket support, more mods available and holds it value well.

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Yes, there are more aftermarket gewgaws available, but do we really need more moderators policing our threads?

It depends on your personality. I also say get the .22. Clays, hunting and HD are what a shotgun is for. Hunting, target practice, plinking and general fun is what a .22 is for plus its cheaper and more range friendly.

As to your personality, are you the type that likes to tinker, likes to blast away without any real precision or someone who likes to take their time and get it right every time?

If you like to tinker, get the 10/22 as its the lego of rifles (next to the AR). If you just want to pull the trigger and burn through boxes of ammo, any semi will work.

If you want precision, look for a bolt or single shot. The single shot is the slowest of the group (obviously) but will also teach the best mechanics of shooting and would potentially be the most accurate.

Get the .22 to learn your fundamentals on - form, aiming and so forth. It will be a lifelong companion even after you acquire other guns, anytime you want to plink at tin cans or put some hurt on the local rabbit or squirrel populations. Ammo is cheap enough that you'll have no excuse not to practice until you are proficient - $15 for a box of 500 rounds or thereabouts.

The shotgun may well be your second purchase, but it's going to kick a lot harder and ammo is around $25 per 100 for birdshot, going up to $0.50/rd+ for buckshot and slugs. Save all that until you've got the basics down with the .22 - and once you do get a shotgun, run through a couple cases of birdshot before you think about touching buckshot or slugs; going straight for the 3" magnum shells is a great way to develop a lifelong flinch.

Take a look at Savage for your .22 - they're cheap and accurate, and you've got the choice of semi or bolt rifles with or without an Accutrigger. You might also try to find an old wood-stocked Marlin 60 at your local pawn and gun shops; the new plastic-stocked ones feel cheap and flimsy, but 60s are well-regarded and cheap by way of their commonality.

Get a .22 first. Any of the above suggested would be OK. I have a Mossberg Plinkster which I really like. Not everyone likes them, but it wasn't expensive. The Marlin 60 is good too.
Buy 3-4 bricks of .22 and start shooting.

gotta say get a 22 first also, learn the basics and then move on to bigger calibers, or an SG.

A Marlin 60 shouldn't be hard to find under $100. I don't know if I've ever been in a gun store that had more than 20 guns that didn't have a used Marlin. For that money, get it, learn to use it SAFELY, use it some more, and then get something bigger. You'll always pull out the .22 plinker, no matter how big your collection gets.

A .22 rifle isn't even the worst thing in the world for a HD gun. The .22 rimfire has a lot more power than most give it credit for.

-How accurate would slugs be out of a 18" smooth bore barrel?
-Would shotgun shells be comparative in price to .22LR?

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question 1, i will tell you next weekend after i try out slugs in mine.

question 2, no shells are no where near as cheap as .22lr. even if you get bird shot. i am gonna buy ammo for a shotgun training course soon, and while checking prices it was $23 per 100 shells, at wal mart. that is just bird shot, "00" and slugs can be a dollar a piece, well the good stuff.

To learn how to shoot you should start with a 22lr. Actually when I trained new shooters, I started with a a air pistol. With an air pistol you learn sight alignment, and it's easy for beginners to shoot. No flinching. Smoothbore shotguns are very inaccurate and kick alot. You should get a shotgun with a rifled barrel and a choked smoothbore if you are going that way.
BTW, to teach shotgun shooting I used a bb gun that had no sights. My students learned how to shoot both rifle and shotgun before they were given live ammo. I loved it when my students could outshoot thier parents. The best students had not shot before with one exception.

if you want to shoot clay targets, get a shotgun, but not a riot gun with 18
" bbl, you want something like 26-30", if you dont like clays, get the .22, you will shoot comfortably all day for less than 1/10th the price.
ken

For a first long gun, the shotgun is about as poor a choice as it is possible to make.

A shotgun will not help establish fundamentals such as breathing and trigger control necessary to become a proficient rifleman, and will not require the attention to detail necessary to obtain the level of precision needed to become a proficient rifleman. In the meantime, it will produce far more recoil than just about any novice wants to deal with on a regular basis while still applying what little basic knowledge they have towards achieving better groups.

A rifle is a far better choice. It is hard to go wrong with the old standby .22 LR. But it isn't necessary. Any good, accurate rifle chambered for a .22 caliber centerfire such as the .223 would work as well. I would go up to the .308 class cartridges for a first rifle, but not any higher. These rifles will allow the user to grow into them while not punishing them too much as they take their first steps, and will allow the user to extend their effective range out to 300 yards or more, which is as far as many have access to shoot. I would also recommend something with a good set of iron sights, and would recommend learning how to use them before mounting optics. An AR-15 or M1A could be excellent choices, provided the shooter has the discipline to conserve ammo. I learned to shoot on a semi-auto, but my grandpa only loaded one or two rounds at a time until it was apparent I knew how to use them.

Unfortunately, many modern bolt-actions don't come equipped with iron sights at all, so options may be limited primarily to semi-autos.

22lr, but I like a bolt action over the semi autos. Easily more accuarate, less choosy about the ammo they are fed. I have a marlin 60, and even though its more accurate than a stock 10/22, they usually aren't real tackdrivers. Look into a savage mark II so you can reach your potential. Its hard to improve markmanship with a rifle that shoots worse than you do.

Shotguns are great, but not for paper targets. The targets needs to be moving for a shotgun to be any fun. Slugs with a cylinder bore is not the tool for learning. They are not accurate enough to tell if you hit the target or not.

Skip the shotgun, get a .22lr to learn to shoot. You can learn the basics for cheap, and develop good shooting habits with the low to non-existent recoil of the .22lr. If you start shooting with a shotgun, I think you'll likely develop a flinch.