School me on guns and ammo

I know nothing about guns but am cautiously interested ?
I guess let's start with rifles now and handguns later. Im pretty sure my first will be a rifle of some sort.
One of my questions is why the shortage on certain bullets (22lr "whatever that means" and such)
A 22 seams like such a dinky little bullet.
Im thinking maybe a shotgun could be were im headed.
I need schooling as you can tell.

What do you want to do? Hunt, target practice, home defense, daily carry?

There are as many rifle/pistol/ammo options and combos as there are cars/jeeps/trucks and modification options..

You need a basic starting point.. plinking/target shooting is what the majority of my use it. I love the 22lr (small, cheap, quiet, no kick) for this reason. The wife and kids can shoot all day long, and it costs $50.

My bigger hunting rifles are $1.50/shot.. so a day of shooting isn't reasonable.

Shotguns are cheap and ammo is cheap. great for play, but louder and harder kicking. Very good for defense/snakes/etc.

AR15's are all the rage, but I personally don't like them. it costs about $0.50-0.75 per trigger pull in clips of 30 rounds.. Gets expensive fast, and does no more than my 22lr ($0.06 per trigger pull) while plinking

Starting with a 22 is a good option, but people sometimes think since it doesn't kick and isn't super loud that it doesn't need to be respected. All of the same safety rules apply. It can kill and can travel a long way and still kill.

If you are thinking a rifle, a Ruger 10-22 would be a good start. There are a million mods available for that gun, so as you grow as a shooter, you can mod it to grow with you. Precision barrels, modified stocks, etc.

22Lr (Long Rifle) is the most common ammo. Back in the day, "common" used to mean that you can find it anywhere for cheap. Now "common" means that everyone is shooting it, therefore everyone is buying it. In massive quantities! It can still be bought, but you just have to plan ahead. Order it from Cabelas or Gander mountain when they have it in stock online. Cabelas will usually do free ship to store, and Gander Mountain usually has free shipping at around $50. Buying in bulk will save you money, but you will also contribute to the ammo shortage. $.06 per round is a good price to target.

Shotguns are great! I think everyone should have at least 2! But their use is a little limited. If you are not an avid bird hunter or skeet/trap shooter, then it will mainly be sitting around waiting for the zombocalypse to begin.

I try to keep things simple in this area. 12 gauge, 22 lr, small rifle cartridge of your choice (.223 in my case), large rifle (30-06 in my case--one could make a strong argument to replace that with a .308 but...) and a pistol caliber or two (9mm and .45 for me) is where I sit. Some guys like having 20 different calibers. I try to keep it simple. You'll notice my calibers are VERY common. Under normal circumstances, that makes ammo available. We've not had "normal" in the shooting industry in 8 years. Obama administration has sold more guns than any other factor EVER. Good time to be a firearms/ammo mfg but that could change with the swing of a pen in the form of an Executive Action or similar.

For home defense, a shotgun is a great choice, IMHO.


I'll have to try to buy a few more guns in the future. Those that I had were lost in an unfortunate boating accident

My Henry lever action 22 is easily my favorite gun. It chambers shorts, CB (we call them city bullets) and LR. It hold 16 rounds in a tube magazine and feels like your playing a video game when you shoot it. I like it much better than any semi auto 22 I own.

mbryson said:

Those that I had were lost in an unfortunate boating accident

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You had one of those too huh?

- DAA

DAA said:

You had one of those too huh?

- DAA

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Boats are dangerous. Lost a pocketknife my grandfather gave me and everything

Cool thanks for the info. Since we are both weary of guns, we are looking into a gun safety class before we purchase anything .
The armory is near my work, we'll go check them out soon.

Jeeper :::: how do you like the shotgun/22 combo you picked up at Walmart I was reading a thread on here ? Seems like that could be a good option for our first real gun.

I enjoy it a lot. It hasn't had much use yet though. However, it has developed a weird feeling (like a reverse kick) after the pressure leaves the barrel.. haven't figured it out yet..

deviant said:

My Henry lever action 22 is easily my favorite gun. It chambers shorts, CB (we call them city bullets) and LR. It hold 16 rounds in a tube magazine and feels like your playing a video game when you shoot it. I like it much better than any semi auto 22 I own.

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I have two of these, Golden boy and a youth model and I concur, I enjoy them more than my 10/22's unless I need the scope.

As a starter gun, especially for kids, I don't think you can beat a single shot .22. Won one a few years ago and has become my stand by for teaching new shooters. Takes an extra step to be ready to fire and less risk of accidentally remaining loaded. Mine is a Henry- don't know cost for sure but pretty cheap.

I also have a Marlin semi-auto .22. Very accurate and I think they are significantly less than a Ruger 10-22 (at least used to me, I have had mine for about 35 years now.) I have wanted to get a lever action .22, still on my wish list.

.22 also great place to start on a pistol. Have Browning semi-auto, want to pick up a revolver as well. Again, cheap and easy to shoot compared to other caliber handguns.

Once you start looking into protection guns or hunting, then things get more complicated.

Unless idea is concealed carry, the best home defense gun is a pump action shotgun.

For hunting, depends on what you are going to do and who is doing the shooting.

I have both pump, semi-auto and single shot shotguns. The single shot is great on back packing trips, but kicks like a bugger.

My big game (deer and pronghorn to this point) is all done with 30-06. Have a Savage, which is a very accurate gun for a reasonable price. Good quality scope (I have Nikon) is a plus. My son started with a .243. great for pronghorn, works for deer at moderate range. Huge advantage of less kick compared to 30-06, so can be a good step up from the .22.

jeeper said:

I enjoy it a lot. It hasn't had much use yet though. However, it has developed a weird feeling (like a reverse kick) after the pressure leaves the barrel.. haven't figured it out yet..

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Do you have any info about this gun or if they even have the same deal.
I asked the guy at Walmart last time I was there (just for shits/giggles). He had no idea what I was talking about.
Typical WM employee.

Goggle search brings up the Savage 24.

I have the Rossi 410/22 combo. I got it at walmart.. $160?? ish

jeeper said:

I have the Rossi 410/22 combo. I got it at walmart.. $160?? ish

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I gave one of these to my daughter, great quality for the money.