First Guns.

[spartan231490]

I've been looking for a nice lever action rifle for a little while now, the idea just kind of popped into my head and I want to get some suggestions. I would prefer if it shot .357 magnum ammo since my next purchase is going to be a .357 magnum revolver and I'd like to be able to share ammo between the two. Any suggestions? I'm not well versed in lever action rifles, I used to hear that marlin lever action rifles were really good but after they got bought by Remington they apparently went to crap.

Speaking of which, why does nobody seem to make modern lever-action shotguns? Sure, you get reproductions of things from 100 years ago (Winchesters), but new designs of pump or break action rifles and shotguns come out all the time, as well as new bolt action rifles and the odd bolt action shotgun.

Lever actions lost popularity when pump came out. A lot of people(myself included) think that pumps shoot faster and are more intuitive.

I've been looking for a nice lever action rifle for a little while now, the idea just kind of popped into my head and I want to get some suggestions. I would prefer if it shot .357 magnum ammo since my next purchase is going to be a .357 magnum revolver and I'd like to be able to share ammo between the two. Any suggestions? I'm not well versed in lever action rifles, I used to hear that marlin lever action rifles were really good but after they got bought by Remington they apparently went to crap.

Look for a Henry Repeater rifle, they can be a bit hard to find, but it's a lever action .357 magnum, and who can resist owning a piece of history. The Henry is the rifle that won the west. Fair warning, if you live in NY state you might want to get it before April, if they manage to beat the injunction on the SAFE Act the Henry will be illegal because it has an 8 shot internal magazine.

I don't live in New York, I live in California, the second most restrictive gun state in the US, but wouldn't you be able to beat a ban like that with a simple magazine block?

Yes and no. A mag block would work, but only if it wasn't "easily convertible" to hold more than 7 rounds. Even if you could do it, a permanent mag block in a gun like that would probably cost half as much as the gun, and you'd probably have to go out of state to get the work done, since I don't think it would even be legal for the gunsmith to import the gun in order to modify it. All told, you're probably looking at doubling the cost of the gun.

 

[Wayneguard]

My first gun purchase was a Springfield XD9 service (the fullsize grip frame with the 4" barrel). Picked it up for $430 and it is one of my daily carry weapons. Of all my semi-automatics, that xd9 fits my hand the best and is the most comfortable for me to shoot. The xd9 isn't my favorite though. That honor goes to my 6" stainless GP100. I've shot the hell out of that gun and the trigger has worn to be butter smooth single-action or double-action. It's a good piece to carry when you're camping or otherwise out in the woods and concealment isn't an issue. Love that gun. it's my baby

 

[Vault101]

Put a full sheet of plywood behind your target. It's pretty hard to miss a sheet of plywood at bow ranges(~10 yards). I used to use one as a back-drop so I wouldn't lose my arrows. The target tips will bend, but I don't think the arrows will go through, even with a heavy draw. Always stopped the arrows of my 45 lb draw after only a couple inches of penetration.

yeah I did think about that (did check out a spot where there was less chance of it hitting a person) it is still a fairly densly packed little area and of coarse theres no way I could do it without my sister pitching a fit XD

but thanks for the advice!

 

[Grant Hobba]

So I recently got my A and B class licence and got around to grabbing my first two rifles.

I got a fairly good deal and they don't seem to be lemons (although as a novice shooter I am sure some better marksmen will tell me otherwise)

I am curious to any shooters out there what were your first guns ? do you still have them? did you regret choosing that set up ?

I bought a Marlin xt .22 lr, blued barrel and synthetic stock. I also got a Remington 700 in .243 sps tactical with synthetic stock and stainless barrel, for that I bought an Elite 4-16 by 40 scope and put the free sabre 3-9 by 40 on the Marlin.

I only paid 1100 for both rifles brand new with bags, the 3-9 scope and trigger locks and i paid 560 for the better scope.

Probably a little too much for a first rifle but I do love them (I've only shot out to 200 meters so I am not really proficient just yet )

Experienced shooter here. That sounds a bit high for those two rifles, but I'm guessing from what you mentioned about licences you're from a strict regulation country, so a good chunk of that is probably some kind of tax or importation cost. The Rem 700 is a great rifle, to get a better one you'd either need to spend 2-3 times as much or have a gunsmith put one together from the ground up, and frankly there isn't much reason why you'd need a better rifle, unless you're gonna do competition bench-rest shooting the rem 700 is as good as you need. The marlin is a rifle I've never shot before but they're supposed to be good, they're right up there with the ruger 10/22 in reputation so I would say you did a damn good job picking your first two rifles. Only suggestion is trigger locks kinda suck, if you've got kids in the home you are gonna want some sort of better lock, at least cable locks and probably a gun safe or cabinet.

My first rifle was a bb-gun that I was given on my 10th birthday. My first real rifle was a semi-auto tubular magazine fed .22 youth model made by nobody special that I got when I got my hunting licence at 12, along with my first shotgun which was a model 66 Ithica break action 20 guage. Couldn't have asked for better starting guns, both were more than sufficient to teach me the basics of marksmanship, and though I've upgraded my equipment since, those are two guns I will be proud to hand to my kid(s) and say "Your grandad got me this when I got my hunting licence"

If you don't mind me asking what are you using your rifles for and why did you pick the .243 caliber. Nothing wrong with the choice, I'm just curious.

Thank you for the feedback, finally got back on here and didn't realize the post had taken off

um to be honest I wanted a .222 or .223 but guy at the store recommended a bigger round because eventually I want to move to goat and pig hunting but didn't want a .308 or .270 so he said the caliber was the best compromise. In retrospect, shooting it a few times I probably would have preferred the smaller .223 but lesson learned for my next purchase

 

[Grant Hobba]

So I recently got my A and B class licence and got around to grabbing my first two rifles.

I got a fairly good deal and they don't seem to be lemons (although as a novice shooter I am sure some better marksmen will tell me otherwise)

I am curious to any shooters out there what were your first guns ? do you still have them? did you regret choosing that set up ?

I bought a Marlin xt .22 lr, blued barrel and synthetic stock. I also got a Remington 700 in .243 sps tactical with synthetic stock and stainless barrel, for that I bought an Elite 4-16 by 40 scope and put the free sabre 3-9 by 40 on the Marlin.

I only paid 1100 for both rifles brand new with bags, the 3-9 scope and trigger locks and i paid 560 for the better scope.

Probably a little too much for a first rifle but I do love them (I've only shot out to 200 meters so I am not really proficient just yet )

Excellent choice on the Remington 700. I started out with a '81 Rem 700 in 30/06. Kicked the like a mule. But it could hold 2 inch groupings at 750m on calm days. Still the best rifle I've ever owned. Get a nice scope on that Remington and its all you'll ever need.

I was actually thinking of maybe getting a 30-06 or a 270 in the remington 7600 pump or the new 783 do you reload your own ammo or are you a sucker like me and still pay 32 bucks a box like an me ?

 

[Antari]

So I recently got my A and B class licence and got around to grabbing my first two rifles.

I got a fairly good deal and they don't seem to be lemons (although as a novice shooter I am sure some better marksmen will tell me otherwise)

I am curious to any shooters out there what were your first guns ? do you still have them? did you regret choosing that set up ?

I bought a Marlin xt .22 lr, blued barrel and synthetic stock. I also got a Remington 700 in .243 sps tactical with synthetic stock and stainless barrel, for that I bought an Elite 4-16 by 40 scope and put the free sabre 3-9 by 40 on the Marlin.

I only paid 1100 for both rifles brand new with bags, the 3-9 scope and trigger locks and i paid 560 for the better scope.

Probably a little too much for a first rifle but I do love them (I've only shot out to 200 meters so I am not really proficient just yet )

Excellent choice on the Remington 700. I started out with a '81 Rem 700 in 30/06. Kicked the like a mule. But it could hold 2 inch groupings at 750m on calm days. Still the best rifle I've ever owned. Get a nice scope on that Remington and its all you'll ever need.

I was actually thinking of maybe getting a 30-06 or a 270 in the remington 7600 pump or the new 783 do you reload your own ammo or are you a sucker like me and still pay 32 bucks a box like an me ?

I'm way too lazy to reload, plus I don't shoot too much these days. Mainly use Winchester Super-X rounds 180 grain. Not the cleanest ammo out there but the price is reasonable (About the same as you after taxes). Just have to keep things cleaned up. The 783 looks like a nice rifle. Although I am a bit wary of synthetic stocks. They look like shit after a few years of use. Wood you can always refinish. I wouldn't recommend a pump action with a 30/06. Doesn't feel as solid during the shoot. More to maintain and break. Sure it lets you reload faster but not by that much.

I guess the only places I could see a pump action being the better option is if you hunt hog down in the everglades. When they charge it can be helpful to put that extra round down range.

 

[Shock and Awe]

The first gun I ever owned was a Marlin Model 60 my Dad gave to me when I was about 13. I still have it too. Fun little .22 repeater. The first gun I ever bought myself was a Mosin Nagant rifle. Its cheap, its crude, but holy hell is it a good weapon. Durable, rugged, and it eats really cheap ammo. Thank god for comm bloc military excess.

Now I own the rifles above, a Gewehr 98, a Mossberg 100ATR, a Glock 19, and a WASR 10/63.

Spoiler: My stash

 

[spartan231490]

So I recently got my A and B class licence and got around to grabbing my first two rifles.

I got a fairly good deal and they don't seem to be lemons (although as a novice shooter I am sure some better marksmen will tell me otherwise)

I am curious to any shooters out there what were your first guns ? do you still have them? did you regret choosing that set up ?

I bought a Marlin xt .22 lr, blued barrel and synthetic stock. I also got a Remington 700 in .243 sps tactical with synthetic stock and stainless barrel, for that I bought an Elite 4-16 by 40 scope and put the free sabre 3-9 by 40 on the Marlin.

I only paid 1100 for both rifles brand new with bags, the 3-9 scope and trigger locks and i paid 560 for the better scope.

Probably a little too much for a first rifle but I do love them (I've only shot out to 200 meters so I am not really proficient just yet )

Experienced shooter here. That sounds a bit high for those two rifles, but I'm guessing from what you mentioned about licences you're from a strict regulation country, so a good chunk of that is probably some kind of tax or importation cost. The Rem 700 is a great rifle, to get a better one you'd either need to spend 2-3 times as much or have a gunsmith put one together from the ground up, and frankly there isn't much reason why you'd need a better rifle, unless you're gonna do competition bench-rest shooting the rem 700 is as good as you need. The marlin is a rifle I've never shot before but they're supposed to be good, they're right up there with the ruger 10/22 in reputation so I would say you did a damn good job picking your first two rifles. Only suggestion is trigger locks kinda suck, if you've got kids in the home you are gonna want some sort of better lock, at least cable locks and probably a gun safe or cabinet.

My first rifle was a bb-gun that I was given on my 10th birthday. My first real rifle was a semi-auto tubular magazine fed .22 youth model made by nobody special that I got when I got my hunting licence at 12, along with my first shotgun which was a model 66 Ithica break action 20 guage. Couldn't have asked for better starting guns, both were more than sufficient to teach me the basics of marksmanship, and though I've upgraded my equipment since, those are two guns I will be proud to hand to my kid(s) and say "Your grandad got me this when I got my hunting licence"

If you don't mind me asking what are you using your rifles for and why did you pick the .243 caliber. Nothing wrong with the choice, I'm just curious.

Thank you for the feedback, finally got back on here and didn't realize the post had taken off

um to be honest I wanted a .222 or .223 but guy at the store recommended a bigger round because eventually I want to move to goat and pig hunting but didn't want a .308 or .270 so he said the caliber was the best compromise. In retrospect, shooting it a few times I probably would have preferred the smaller .223 but lesson learned for my next purchase

The .223 is a good caliber, but in all honesty it is pretty small for something like pig. Personally, I wouldn't even want to use it with the newer bigger bullets, and those need higher-twist barrels to shoot straight. The .243 is also a good caliber, if you're not comfortable with the recoil, try adding a recoil pad before you make up your mind about the caliber. One of the better recoil pads might bring it down to where it's comfortable for you.

 

[Coppernerves]

In my country, we mostly just get bolt action rifles and break action shotguns for hunting/pest control.
(Unless you can get a replica pistol converted, and risk it exploding in ones' hands)

Still, if I wanted a concealed carry, (and if it was legal) I'd try and look for something compact that meets the following specifications:

Round: Undecided, max width 1cm; max length 2cm, recoil manageable while using torch and performing double taps at same time
Trigger: Double and Single Action, or Single Action Only
Bolt: Fires from closed bolt
Frame: Polymer (preferably matte grey)
Safety: External, can be active while weapon is cocked
Magazine Release: Accessible by thumb of trigger hand
Magazine: Single stack, 8 or 9 rounds (preferably 8 unless the grip's too short)
Sights: Fixed

I'm weirdly curious as to what kind of pistols meet those requirements, just for self insertion into tales of adventure.

I have a preference for matte grey because it seems like the most matter of fact, least "flashy" finish, as seems suitable for a solemn, last resort.

(Which is why I hate the look of a lot of pretty Berettas)

I would want to use a torch separate from the gun, so I could take a better look at things before I escalate the situation by drawing or aiming.

EDIT: Actually, I think I just found my "ideal" concealed carry, the Heckler and Koch P7M8.
Although I'd probably just spend the money on moving into a less dangerous neighbourhood instead.