Sunday, April 12, 2009

Basic Pistol, Day II.

Slight letdown: it turns out that your performance with a target .22 will not be entirely representative of your experience with a compact 9mm. Nonetheless, it's more about knowing what to learn than about becoming perfect during the class, and anyway I'm still massively better even with the 9mm. I'm also a bit safer and a lot more mechanically, legally, and practically informed. At $50 for 14 hours of extremely personal and helpful instruction, that class leaves me feeling like I ripped them off.

I want a rifle now. I want a .22 bolt-action rifle and I want to put a nice scope on it and I want to shoot very teeny things from very far away. I think this would be fulfilling.


(I also want a single-action revolver in a big caliber and a shotgun and a .30-06 rifle, but my bank account informs me that as long as I'm dreaming, why not a pony too?)

18 comments:

  1. you could ride around on your pony shooting at ants. how sweet would that be?

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  2. Don't bother with a bolt action 22, go get a 10/22 or better yet a Kel-Tec SU22 and SU16CA! Ok, this is now what I want...

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  3. What Bruno would buy: http://www.ruger-firearms.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=1121

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  4. Sean & Bruno - Holly has seen that 10/22 in youth model (probably appropriate as Holly is untall) and pink wood! Holly could have pink gun! Holly is enthused.

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  5. 10/22 for the win. I have one of those things and it was not only my first gun that was mine, it remains the single most fun thing to shoot I own.

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  6. Definately go with a 10/22. They're just as much of a lego gun as the AR series...

    Make it to my neck of the woods, and we'll introduce you to the Automag... ;)

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  7. Holly: a very inexpensive alterntive to a .30-06 would be a Russian Mosin-Nagant 91/30 bolt-action rifle. These were made for many decades and are available as inexpensive milsurp (Military Surplus) in most gun shops. The Mosin-Nagant fires the 7.62 x 54R cartridge, which is very similar to the .30-06 in power, and is readily available in the surplus ammo market. Price of these rifles averages less than $100. You can see people shoot them on YouTube, just do a search "Mosin Nagant 91/30." You can even buy aftermarket stocks if you don't wish to keep them in their military configuration.

    For a .22 you already have been given good advice in the Ruger 10/22 that has been mentioned already. Its not a bolt action but is inexpensive, reliable, and can be customized in a myriad of ways with aftermarket parts.

    If you want a basic pump shotgun you can find them cheaply on the used market and in pawn shops. Most shotguns see less use than you might imagine, and buying one used is a good alternative to buying new. Just stick with reputable names such as Mossberg, Remington and Winchester and you'll do fine. Ithacas are good, too, if you can find one.

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  8. See? Gunblogger!


    Told you, I did.

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  9. I have always found the Marlin Model 336 to be a very attractive, very effective rifle. I used one to great effect shooting groundhogs on a vegetable farm.

    I need to go shooting. There are few things as cathartic as putting round downrange at a rapid pace.

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  10. The Mosin-Nagant isn't bad, but beware, then you have to buy a Mauser K98, and a SMLE, and then an M1, and a Swiss K31 Mauser...

    Trust me on this one.

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  11. Pretty soon, you'll be reloading your own ammo, wearing a tinfoil hat, and carrying a BOB everywhere :p

    Check out gun shows and pawn shops for good deals on... everything! Bolt action .22s can be had for under $100, but I'll second the 10/22 while recommending a Marlin M60. As far as big-bore single actions go, you can't go wrong with Ruger. Check out the Bisley grips; much more friendly to the hands, IMO.

    Remember, gear is nice, but there's an old saying: beware the [wo]man with one gun.

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  12. Everybody - I think I'm pretty sold on the Ruger 10/22 for my next gun.

    Bob - I don't want anything where the ammo could potentially be a pain in the ass to find, and "readily available on the surplus market" sounds like it might be that.

    And yeah, I know a good gun pawn shop, and even though it's sort of politically iffy for me to shop there (they fired my friend... but he really was being a douche), they have good shotguns for pretty cheap. It's more a matter of me pacing myself and getting competent with the last gun before I go grabbing a new one.

    Peter - "BOB"?

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  13. BOB= Bug Out Bag. A bag full of emergency stuff for when the hurricanes or zombies come.

    As for the Mosin-Nagant and the 7.62 x 54R you can get the rifle fairly easily from any gun show, reasonably sized gun store, or even a Big-5 if you have them. You can order the ammo off the internet. It's one of the few cartridges still available.

    However research the gun first. I have one of the short models and the recoil tends to be a bit of a bear and the bolt can be hard to work.

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  14. Yeah, on the Nagant I've seen it said in all seriousness to bear in mind that the things were made to be shot while wearing coats appropriate to Russian winters... I imagine much of the tales of their recoil is in-joke, but not all.

    I still want one.

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  15. Holly: 7.62 x 54R is also available readily online and in any gunshop, althought it might not be available in every Walmart in America, if that is where you shop for ammo. My point about the availability on the surplus market is that it's a ready source of cheap practice ammunition; imagine paying $89 for 440 rounds of the stuff, which works out to around a nickel per round.

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  16. I never had the slightest interest in guns (nothing against them, though) until I visited my sister last month and her husband took me trap shooting. My shoulder hurt for days and I had a big-ass bruise on my clavicle, and I can't WAIT to do it again! I'm totally with you on wanting to shoot small things from a distance.

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  17. I would be careful, studies show that most incidents happen with the victim's own pony.

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