First Gun advice

[-aper-]

Elon Musk's solution 
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/elon-musk-is-selling-a-boring-company-flamethrower-because-why-not/

[MickDono]

 


I went hunting for the first time this weekend and got to use a Steyr Pro hunter - which is awesome!  I found the trigger to be really nice. 
I did not shoot at anything other than paper though (I seen lots of animals - bobcats/coyotes/lots of small bucks and doe's)

I am going again this weekend and will get to try a Remington 308.

Will have some meat to show for it too hopefully!
 

[1stpar3]

  Seeing and watching is best part! When you get one, the WORK starts   Good Luck,Sir!

[Maverick]

Hunting is one activity where I do not feel it was a waste if I come home empty handed. If I saw various critters and had the opportunity to be out in the field I still had a good time. Getting my game is a bonus.

[FX1]

Hunting is one activity where I do not feel it was a waste if I come home empty handed. If I saw various critters and had the opportunity to be out in the field I still had a good time. Getting my game is a bonus.

This year I didn't shoot a deer and hunted hard. I shot a elk early in the season and had plenty of meat. Its 50/50 every weekend if I even fire a shot during the hunting season. Some days I am ok with just sitting looking at deer. If I feel the need to kill I can always go and take care of the coon problem we have at the feeders.

I even had a pack of coyote all around me and didn't shoot one. It was puzzling to me that they had no idea I was 10 yards from them so I just let them pass.

New hunters are blood hungry and most of the time will pull the trigger on the first thing that pops out. Give them a green light some guys will fill up the back of the truck full.

It's a'ok not to pull the trigger.

I like good looking firearms because most of their life you only look at them for what they are. Handling a work of art knowing some gunsmith spent days carving and making something that is passed down generations is just cool.

[Oldman731]

Handling a work of art knowing some gunsmith spent days carving and making something that is passed down generations is just cool.

<S> fellow dinosaur.  When I go into a gun store these days, it's very difficult to spot a rifle that has a wooden stock.

- oldman

[Maverick]

Funny how as you get older the old guns have more interest. Lately a Winchester pump 22 (1906) has been a fascination of mine. It hearkens me back to the days when an Uncle tossed a beat up rusty ranch rifle in 22lr (the Winchester) and told me to go get some rabbits for the ranch dogs. Later on I did some coyote thinning for him after they started stealing his chickens. That's where I learned to hunt. Spent many days when we visited his ranch, prowling the desert (southern AZ) by myself enjoying the outdoors.

[1stpar3]

Funny how as you get older the old guns have more interest. Lately a Winchester pump 22 (1906) has been a fascination of mine. It hearkens me back to the days when an Uncle tossed a beat up rusty ranch rifle in 22lr (the Winchester) and told me to go get some rabbits for the ranch dogs. Later on I did some coyote thinning for him after they started stealing his chickens. That's where I learned to hunt. Spent many days when we visited his ranch, prowling the desert (southern AZ) by myself enjoying the outdoors.

One of the first rifles I ever shot! Was .22 short Win pump. Gallery Special, I believe? Hex barrel even...a work of art, with a long history! Will have to unwrap it and get it out to check. I have 3 of these. 1 from each side of the family, and 1 for parts...well decided not to part it out. The rifle from Fathers side of tree, was a HOG gun(in days where they would start at the head of the creek and work up all the neighbors Hogs all the way down the creek. Somewhere, they wore the ejectors out and used a push rod to eject the cases. Needless to say that NOW, I believe you could shoot around a 80 degree angle from the bore! The last inch and a half of muzzle has been worn free of riffling. Its heirloom, so I left it as is. Still a beauty to look at though, it was well cared for....well to a point Not a speck of rust...just smooth bore now No desert though, my back yard was West Virginia hill country along Ohio river, and Foothills of Smokey Mountains in Tennessee Could stay in the woods to hearts content, as long as you showed up on time for dinner  Felt like Boone or Crockett,exploring the frontier!

[Becinhu]

For a deer rifle as long as you aren’t planning on shooting super long range, 400 plus yards, stick with a low recoil gun. It’s not worth beating your shoulder to death for a 150 pound whitetail.

I have hunted north central West Virginia my entire life. I use a Winchester model 70 in .30-06 with a 3x12 scope and can kill anything I’m every going to target here. Decent recoil for the knockdown power. My favorite gun is still my old Glenfield .30-30. Never lost a deer with that gun. My 14 year old daughter now carries it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cav58d]

Can't go wrong with a Glock as your first pistol.  I would recommend the 19, or the 19X (19 slide on 17 frame), because it leaves more room for your next to be a gen 5 34 MOS =)  That and 9mm is dirt cheap.

[Vulcan]

Funny how as you get older the old guns have more interest. Lately a Winchester pump 22 (1906) has been a fascination of mine. It hearkens me back to the days when an Uncle tossed a beat up rusty ranch rifle in 22lr (the Winchester) and told me to go get some rabbits for the ranch dogs. Later on I did some coyote thinning for him after they started stealing his chickens. That's where I learned to hunt. Spent many days when we visited his ranch, prowling the desert (southern AZ) by myself enjoying the outdoors.

I learned to hunt on my dads Browning 22 Pump (trombone) when I was young (12ish). He used to go salmon or trout fishing and I'd go kill bunnies, often across farms. It has his fathers and now it has been handed on to me. It has the a beautiful smooth action, I've dated it to the mid-50's.

[Gman]

A Rossi Slide/Pump action .22 was one of my first loves too. It was a copy of the Winchester 62, and worked pretty well for the cost at the time.  I often wonder if it was our fathers who thought a semi auto was just a bit too aggressive for us at that age, accounting for the obvious popularity of the slide/pump rimfire rifle in this thread and others...that was the case for me. I wanted a semi SO badly, but my father outright forbid it until I had a year of solid and safe rimfire rifling under my belt.  He relented a bit after 3 months of safe and productive daily bolt action .22 shooting, and got me the Rossi.  I was instantly in love, and didn't get my first Browning semi .22 until much later than he promised, due to not really caring any more.  Such a great little rifle, my nephew has it now, and has a similar affinity for it that I had, and has ample rabbits, gophers, and other varmints on his property to take care of.

[Oldman731]

I wanted a semi SO badly, but my father outright forbid it until I had a year of solid and safe rimfire rifling under my belt.

Wise father.  I had comparable experience.  My first gun was a Colt I-22.  When I Google it, I find it's now called the "Colteer."  How embarrassing.

http://www.nramuseum.com/guns/the-galleries/for-the-fun-of-it/case-45-plinkers/colt-colteer-1-22-single-shot-rifle.aspx

The thing is a tack-driver, though.  Trigger pull has enough creep to make you think you're holding Harvey Weinstein, but it's the only .22 rimfire rifle I've ever had.  Paid $21.00 for it in 1965, at Webber Hardware in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine.

- oldman

[Gman]

MickyD, since we got off track into the .22 rifles, that's something I would recommend you buy as well - get a good .22 rifle, either a  good bolt action, pump, or semi, as it's a great rifle to learn shooting skills with cheaply, and has a ton of utility to it as well.  Cost is low too to feed it ammunition.

A great page about .22 shooting feats of the past - Ed Toepperwein used an 03 Winchester semi over 100 years ago to hit 72491 targets out of 72500, he only missed nine, 3" wooden cubes tossed in the air by hand.  Incredible. 

http://showmanshooter.com/html/body_toepperwein.html

[Ciaphas]

My Marlin 30/30 is ‘ol reliable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk