What should I buy first?

[ChristisKing]

Hi all I've read some of the thoughts on this thread and I keep hearing about 22s being the first firearm purchase. I do believe everyone should have a 22 rifle of some kind and a 22 handgun wouldn't hurt, but as your first firearm I don't know if I would recommend that. I know that we are all talking about costs so let me throw this in, most of us have been buying guns for years that have many different calibers and you don't have to have everything all at once. For defensive purposes I would say start with a good defensive handgun+get a basic handgun course under your belt right away. learn the fundamentals of shooting a handgun then save your money and buy a good quality combat rifle and save for a carbine course and take it. No body is going to be good to go without the education needed to shoot. Why buy a gun that you can shoot for cheap but isn't a viable defensive weapon and you still haven't received training on how to shoot? Why not get trained first with the most versatile (in america ccw home defense ect.) weapon and then move to the rifle and get training there? No one is going to survive without a real means of defense. If you need a rifle for shooting critters with to eat that can be your 3rd purchase. Also I keep hearing about training, I took a great 22 analog course through Dave_M a couple of summers ago. Why not by a nice 22 conversion and a few mags for your ar15? You can't really practice malfunctions, and reloads but you can practice shot placement and trigger control on your main battle rifle for about a tenth of the price.
Just a couple of thoughts hope this helps someone and doesn't step on any toes.

[J.C.]

The reason I recommend a .22 is:

1. No frills shooting - you focus on learning marksmanship not the pretty toys
2. You will do a lot more shooting, not only due to cost but also the tamer recoil means you will not get tired as quickly (I shoot easily twice as much - sometimes much more - when I just bring a .22 to a range session)
3. You will reduce the risk of developing a flinch that will take a lot of time to correct

Getting a defensive handgun at the same time is not a bad idea either. I wouldn't want to tell anyone not to get a self-defense firearm as long as they have a plan to learn to use it safely.

[ChristisKing]

Well that's exactly what I was saying. If you have someone interested in a firearm for defensive purposes follow my plan that I laid out. You get educated and you have a viable combat weapon. Remember no military or law enforcement group goes to fight with a 22 and that's for a very good reason it's just not as combat effective as a hundred other choices. Self-defense is combat so you want to be prepared with a combat proven caliber/firearm. Also no military or law enforcement group will send anyone into harms way without educating there ranks on proper shooting fundamentals.
You can't beat quality shooting with quantity shooting.
If you just want to spend a cheap day at the range by a 22 and go have some fun.

[Finch]

A semi auto rife

[Lawmaker]

My first rifle I bought when I was 18 was a Ruger 10/22. Had it 10 years no issues. Sold it, regretted it and bought another one.
My first pistol was a G19. Still have it will never sell it. Thousands of rounds no issues.

I agree get a .22 first. Then if that works out for you, I would suggest an AR-15 with a .22 bolt conversion. I have a Rock River and a POF with CMMG conversion.

[Danger]

10/22 rifle
then a handgun for personal defense, I like the XDM9 but no one on this forum can pick a gun for you. Go to the range and rent a few before buying. At a minimum go to a gun show and just pick up every type possible to at least see what fits your hand.

[w3rdtoyamama]

After reading this thread, its easy to see who is biased to what type of firearm.

I personally will never own an AR. Sorry, I'm not a mall ninja or in the military. I wont act like I am.
I own multiple 22's, a few rifles and multiple shotguns. My first gun was a 22. Which I would agree with would be one of the better routes to go with.

However, I wont sit here and preach my biased opinion, so I'd say the person should just see what the firearms purpose will be. Then decide if concealed, long range or up close power is needed.

[Danger]

I personally will never own an AR. Sorry, I'm not a mall ninja or in the military. I wont act like I am.
I own multiple 22's, a few rifles and multiple shotguns.

You don't have to be a "mall ninja" or in the military to enjoy a very accurate, low recoil rifle, with inexpensive readily available ammo like the AR. It's one of the most popular sport rifles in the US.

[Cpt. MelonBuster]

I personally will never own an AR. Sorry, I'm not a mall ninja or in the military. I wont act like I am.

Owning a quality, capable rifle makes you a mall ninja? Or is it owning a military rifle makes you a mall ninja? Because if that's the case, M1 Garands, anything with a Mauser action, and Mosins make you mall-ninjas too.

[Shinhao]

Einherjrar's got it right - there's no single good answer. It depends on what the person wants.

Xbox-playing mall-ninja wannabe: Lots of interest and internetz-knowledge in guns, wants a tacti-cool AR-15 in 6.8 SPC...I'd recommend a Sig 522, S&P mp15-22 or something like it, just to slow them down a bit. At ~$500, they're much cheaper than a AR-15 with a .22 conversion, and more reliable. They'll be less of a danger to everyone if their first gun is a long-gun with a manual safety.

Person who just got mugged or broken-into: Unknown levels of future commitment and mechanical aptitude, wants a self-defense handgun. I'd recommend a double-action .38/.357 revolver with a 3" barrel or more, while insisting on a quality holster. Hard to beat a nice S&W 686, but they might want something a little cheaper. For home-defense, 12ga or 20ga pump-action shotgun. With low-brass #00 buck please, no slugs.

Person interested in getting into guns as a hobbyist: I'd recommend a .22 rimfire pistol or rifle, whichever they prefer. No rush to self-defense calibers, they'll get there later. Develop good habits on a .22 first. They'll also make better-informed purchases down-the-road, when they have a better idea of what kind of grips, sight-picture, and trigger pull they prefer.

Prepper: Wants guns purely for social purposes. Glock 19/17, with a quality holster. Reliable, durable, lots of parts and accessories, good-enough stopping power, with more accuracy than any combat-grip shooter can use.

In all cases, insist at least a few sessions with an instructor.

[Cpt. MelonBuster]

Einherjrar's got it right - there's no single good answer. It depends on what the person wants.

Xbox-playing mall-ninja wannabe: Lots of interest and internetz-knowledge in guns, wants a tacti-cool AR-15 in 6.8 SPC...I'd recommend a Sig 522, S&P mp15-22 or something like it, just to slow them down a bit. At ~$500, they're much cheaper than a AR-15 with a .22 conversion, and more reliable. They'll be less of a danger to everyone if their first gun is a long-gun with a manual safety.

Person who just got mugged or broken-into: Unknown levels of future commitment and mechanical aptitude, wants a self-defense handgun. I'd recommend a double-action .38/.357 revolver with a 3" barrel or more, while insisting on a quality holster. Hard to beat a nice S&W 686, but they might want something a little cheaper. For home-defense, 12ga or 20ga pump-action shotgun. With low-brass #00 buck please, no slugs.

Person interested in getting into guns as a hobbyist: I'd recommend a .22 rimfire pistol or rifle, whichever they prefer. No rush to self-defense calibers, they'll get there later. Develop good habits on a .22 first. They'll also make better-informed purchases down-the-road, when they have a better idea of what kind of grips, sight-picture, and trigger pull they prefer.

Prepper: Wants guns purely for social purposes. Glock 19/17, with a quality holster. Reliable, durable, lots of parts and accessories, good-enough stopping power, with more accuracy than any combat-grip shooter can use.

In all cases, insist at least a few sessions with an instructor.

While there are a few slivers of information I actually agree with in this post, most of it is just drastic generalizations. Also, including the words "stopping power" in your post discredited most of what you have to say.

Nice text formatting though.

[Matt E.]

If not duty bound-
If I could only have 1 firearm, it would be an A list US service pistol in a service caliber. If I could only have 2 firearms, I'd have another pistol from the same list.

Then, I'd get a long gun.

[misanthropist]

This makes a lot of sense to me...

G17/22/19/23/MP9/40/45/USP9/40/P30 etc...any of these are, IMO, the number one gun purchase for anyone. The next most important thing is probably having a second one, preferably an identical copy of the first.

Then a quality rifle...in the US I would take a Colt/BCM/DD AR15, or possibly a quality AK.

In Canada, a quality AR or a VZ, or, if you have the bones, a Sig 55x.

I don't have a ton of use for .22s, except as training analogs. I do own an accurate .22 bolt gun, but I never use it. I haven't been in the AR game much so I don't have a .22 upper. I do have an AA .22 kit for my G17/19.

I find that .22s are of somewhat limited utility and I believe they are best used by people who already have a very solid grounding in centerfire shooting. Otherwise, the minimal recoil and muzzle blast can, in my experience, result in some screwy habits with real guns. So I don't get in to the whole "start with a .22" thing.

[Canteen15]

I think it really depends on the person. What I would tell them is to go to the pistol and rifle ranges and try different guns and get a feel for what they are comfortable with first, then work them up to outside their comfort zone. Discuss the benefits and draw backs of different calibers, wheel guns, auto-loaders, bolt actions, etc. If they are looking for survival guns, is it for covering the widest variety of scenarios? Scenario specific? Self-defense, hunting, urban, wilderness, and so on. There are just too many factors for a blanket answer.

[Necrowerx]

Regarding .22 bolt action rifles, it sounds as if there isn't much difference between makes. Rather than ask for suggestions to buy, is there any particular make or model to avoid?

[Canteen15]

Whatever you do don't buy an AR-7 Survival rifle. They have feeding issues around 400-500 rounds.

[Braticus Caticus]

Easy answer
Top Tier AR.
Because you don't want to trust you or your familys life to anything less than the VERY BEST, who cares if you are inexperienced or cant afford it.
Save as long as it takes while leaving you untrained and your family unprotected during that entire time, but boy oh boy will it be worth it.
(Just be sure to not use that reasoning for any other purchase in you life, like on your car/ tires/ alarm /etc....just your AR.)

Damn...sorry 'bout that, I mean a Ruger 10/22

[mough]

I'm going to join the club with a .22lr

If a rifle I would go with a single shot h&r

If a pistol I would go with a single action revolver

After putting a bazillion rounds through it, then get something with a little more umph

[lokifz1]

Quality .22 is the best starting gun both to learn how to shoot and to have on hand for your preps.

If they are actually going to train and practice, then a Semi-Auto would be ok. If they like most gun owners are going to buy a gun shoot a few rounds through it and put it away for an emergency and hardly if ever shoot it then a double action revolver would be the better purchase.

The simple manual of arms of the double action revolver is the best answer for someone without practice and experience needing to use a gun while under stress.

[strm_trpr]

A good solid handgun should be first, handgun shooting and rifle shooting are 2 different beasts. I am great with a had gun due to lots of fun LEO training but I have no formal rifle training. I learned how to shoot a pistol with a springfield XD 45 and had no problems doing so.

[greenjason]

Ruger 10/22
Ruger GP100 .357
Ruger mini 14


all your bases covered

[strm_trpr]

Ruger 10/22 good gun, but not good for self defense
Ruger GP100 .357 good gun but it is low capacity and revolver reloads take a lot of reps to master
Ruger mini 14 I can't recomend a mini-14 after selling mine and building an AR-15, just not enough accuracy, mags are too expensive and spare parts are too expensive.


all your bases covered