[shnozberries]

I'm realatively new to shooting, and was looking for suggestions for good shotguns or rifles for practice. I've shot a bit before, but I want something good. See, a few guys keep giving me hell for being a girl and interested in shooting, so I need some pointers to help me eventually show them up!

 

[FLEA]

!

I know plenty of girls that a great shots. Find some ranges in your area. Lots have the option to rent guns and thats a way to try out a bunch of different types. You can even join some gun clubs and a lot of the time those people in the club will be happy to let you try thier weapons. Its a lot harder for a guy to get the oppertunity to shoot other people guns then it is for a lady......just don't show them up or it will be the last time they let you borrow it. :wink:

 

[Jeff_850]

for your first rifle (if you dont have one alrday)
you might want to consider low cost get a .22 just for target shooting, no recoil whatsoever, cheap ammo and some of them (for little money i might add) are very accurate, ask other peopel in the sight what kind of .22 to get they could tell you more than i could
my first gun was an M4 Carbine, that or any other AR-15 is good too...
$1000 for a 20" target model from bushmaster.com they are great guns for range work though some people might not like the design for field guns they are perfeclty reliable if maintained well and not dirty and they are all accurate... make great range weapons and can go a bit further than a .22 LR

and there arnt too many women around here who do shoot but most of them who do are better than most of the guys

 

[Dan]

FLEA's suggestion that you ask around at the local gun range is the best advice for someone like yourself. My advice is to take a look at the sports/ranges they offer to see what interests you the most.

Because of the widespread popularity of the shotgun sports (trap, skeet, sporting clays), I would suggest you take a look at them because you can pretty much shoot them at any public range. The rules are nationwide and they're competitive sports anytime you shoot them. They're fun games, too.

I've been target shooting for a few years now, and doing shotgun sports off/on for about a year and a half. The people I've met in either would loan a gun for you to try out if you show some competence. All it takes is a geniune interest (which you seem to have) and politness.

 

[mele]

Everyone has made great suggestions, to continue on the theme:

Once you have decided what interests you in shooting, then the search for the firearms can begin. If its competition shooting, there are many options including the shotgun events already mentioned, small bore (.22 LR) three position shooting, there is siluette shooting, high power rifle, IPSC (pistols), etc etc etc. There really is tons of competition options, but you'll need to hit a local gun club/shooting range to see what people are doing.

If you are just looking for a plinker to just go out and have fun while working on becoming a better "shot" we can make suggestions there also!

MEL

 

[Nekekami]

As the others, I'm also going to suggest going to the rifle ranges. And don't ever give up.

If you need inspiration(And something to make the bigots shut up), look at people such as Magdalena Forsberg(6 time Biathlon World Champion, and Swedish Army Sniper School instructor and did a short stint as an instructor for the German Federal Border Police), Ursi Disl(World-class Biathlete, and together with a couple of the other German female biathletes a sniper in the German Federal Border Police), Pia Hansen(Skeet shooting olympic champion) etc etc. In Biathlon, the competition is far more fierce among the women than among the men, with far more individuals capable of reaching top-10 than among the men.

And, Magdalena Forsberg is a special example, since she's the only person so far to have won 6 biathlon world championships. And she won them in a row, through extremely consistent and accurate shooting.

 

[FARMER JOHN]

i say the 17 hmr. its just a bit stronger than a .22 mag, u can take out squrills from aboyt 300yds with that dude

 

[Jeffvn]

I agree with everyone else - keep at it and practice. Find a good training manual and USE the breathing and trigger pull techniques that are discussed. When you get tired of praticing, go practice some more, and then go practice. (there is a hint of what is important here)

I agree with Mel the .22LR is a perfect first rifle to hone technique, trigger control and reading the wind (and its really cheap to practice). If you can shoot one of those guys sucessfully out to 200 yards, then you have virtually all of the hard stuff nailed down pretty good.

Look in to the Russian Sniper program in WWII, where I think you'll find that several of their most sucessfull sniperss were female.

Afeter you've been practicing a bit and burned a bunch of ammo through your rifle, then you might consider moving up to a centerfire rifle and taking some precision rifle classes or entering some competitions (be they 22LR or centerfire) in your local area.

 

[Yimmy]

re

Just my small opinion, but I wouldn't waste any money and time with a .22LR rifle, unless you wish to use a small indoor range.

As long as the round does not have any risk of causing a flinch, any small centerfire round such as .222 would be fine.

 

[Jeff_850]

Yimmy:
a .22 LR rifle allows you to get in much more time shooting for much less money, i dont have a .22 LR rifle yet but i ahve a conversion unit that cost me $150, just a simple bolt that replaces my M4's bolt, dirty's the barrel with foul .22 LR rounds and puts junk down the gas tube i have to clean but ultimately saves me a LOT of money, im thinking of getting a Carbon 15 upper for an AR-15

well ill give you about what my average monthly ammo consumption is:
1500 rounds of budget .22 LR: $30
160 rounds of .223 surplus: $30
160 rounds of .308 surplus: $30
sometimes using match ammo instead of surplus in smaller quantities or other more expensive loads for testing or long distance shooting or other occasions im not paying for the ammo

and i was making some spetcacular kills on squirrles with my friend's tweaked couple thousand dollar Ruger 10/22 at over 200y at 100y it shoots through the same hole
not talkin the occasional 3 shot group in 1 jagged hole either
im talkin a slightly jagged hole for a 10 shot group @ 100y
400y zero is about 75 MOA ajustments up but if you can go up that high you can hit something (in no wind)... i tried (unsucessfully) to nail a varmint byond that range... 10 rounds and he dodged all of them... bah fine i missed him

 

[muzzleblast]

Hey, no matter what kinda shooting you're into, there's a .22 that suits it...and having a rimfire thats really close in design and function to your main gun is a great help

 

[badshot]

My opinion pulling the trigger is the same whether its on a 22LR or my 300 RUM. To be accurate you still have to hold, breathe and pull that trigger. My RUM just hurts alot more than a 22LR. My next rifle is going to a Ruger 10/22 solely to work on pulling the trigger, breathing and holding on the target.

I wish I knew where I could get parts for my old Benjamin pellet guns that I had as a kid. I kinda miss snapping my fingers in them pumping them up.

 

[sholiz]

Why not something like a 22-250 ADL? I'm sure you can find one for under $500 and top it with some Leupold 3-9x40 glass or something, and your probally going to be under $700. And ammo is fairly cheap, especially Hornaday varnmit - $10 for a box of 20, now that's not 1/2 bad if you ask me.

 

[Jeff_850]

$10/box is a bit expensive for a target load
could spend less than $4/box of .223 budget ammo
still the ammount that i shoot the only afofrdable way to do it is .22 LR