A myriad of choices

I took a call from a new shooter a couple of days ago, someone who is just starting out and yet to actually own any firearms; There were many questions.

Most revolved around equipment: Safe's and storage, range gear, bags, cleaning kits and earpro plus firearms themselves. Now just to be clear I have been shooting for thirty years but it doesn't make me an expert on firearms...I mean, I'm not like those people who play video games then talk a big game around knowing all about the latest weapon systems or anything like that - That level of understanding stupid is hard to match.

Nope, I'm no expert, but I know some stuff about some stuff and feel qualified to have conversations like this one and to help people find clarity and make informed decisions.

Can you guess what these rounds are, the calibres? See below for a little competition I thought could be fun.

Considerations

The conversation turned towards which firearms may be suitable; A very important consideration and one that must be carefully measured well-prior to making an actual purchase to ensure the right decision is made.

What type of shooting will be done? Mainly range shooting at this stage as she doesn't have access to private properties to shoot on and, of course, her budget were discussed.

We also talked about whether she'll be reloading, [making her own ammunition like I do] and that was a resounding no, not yet Which is smart to be honest, it's a whole other thing and isn't cheap to set up - There's enough to know about firearms when starting up that I think this is something that can wait.

We talked about handguns, shotguns, rifles and the various types of rifles meaning centre fire or rim fire and how they may work for her, or not; Not every firearm is going to suit every person.

As part of that discussion was the various disciplines she may be able, or want to, shoot; Will she hunt, compete or shoot just for for fun? We discussed recoil issues, cost of ammunition and her frame in respect of what she may be able to handle as far as firearms go; She isn't a big person so there's little point in buying a firearm she simply cannot lift like my own long range guns - Just far too heavy for her.

There's actually a lot of considerations and no simple answers; It is all a compromise to be honest however the more it is thought over the better the choices will be when one is handing over the money.

I had let Mikayla shoot a lot of my guns when she was at the range with me a couple months ago and based on that she feels a handgun and rifle will start her off nicely. So there was a start and we began to narrow it down from there.

She won't be hunting, at least not initially and probably never, and is looking for shooting disciplines that are a little dynamic rather than simply standing on the shooting line popping rounds off at paper. Boring. She wants to run and gun. It was narrowing down.

The options

Eventually we came up with some possible options:

• 9mm handgun, probably CZ SP-01, a good all-round handgun that will allow her to shoot several different disciplines including run and gun IPSC matches.
  or
• .22 handgun also allowing her to shoot competitive disciplines but would means she can't run and gun in IPSC matches.
  or
• .22LR rifle which again would permit her to shoot a few competitions including a series I am personally involved in as an event organiser - A run and gun/precision shooting event. It's loads of fun and a very nice social environment rather than super-competitive.
  or
• .223 rifle which would mean she can shoot a match or two and possibly do a little hunting for small game should she decide that's what she wants to do.

Considering she wants a handgun and rifle we have to choose a combination that's going to match her needs plus keep her interested, provide different disciplines to shoot and room to grow. A decision hasn't been made just yet however I feel it's close and that the 9mm handgun and .22LR rifle will be the winning combination. I would agree with those being the right choices for her too, and most shooters starting out to be honest.

The rifle choice is because she likes the flexibility of being able to shoot static competitions from a shooting line plus the run and gun competition I host. It is a great calibre to learn the basics on through low noise and recoil, the ammunition is super-cheap and she will have the ability to hunt small game should she wish to - I don't think she'll do the latter, but the rifle will handle it if she does.

The 9mm handgun because she will be able to pick up a decent second hand unit, probably with the holster rig and additional magazines also, from someone upgrading or exiting the sport. There's always SP-01's on the used market. It provides more scope for usage than the .22 handgun also.

The cost

The .22LR rifle, assuming a new purchase, will cost about $650-$850 plus a scope at about the same cost. A bipod, a few extra magazines and gun bag might be another $300-$400 so around $2000 for a basic scoped rifle system. I would rather see her buy a slightly better scope so I'd say $2000-$2200 should cover it all.

The 9mm [SP-01] handgun, assuming a second hand purchase, will be about $1500 which should [may] include the holster rig and some additional magazines [I run six]. The CZ Shadow 2 like mine plus the holster rig and so on, would be about $3,200 so the second hand option is the way to go for a new shooter I think. She will almost certainly be able to sell it for close to what she has spent in time to come if she wants to upgrade.

There is a myriad of choices when it comes to selecting firearms and a lot of consideration needs to be taken to ensure money isn't wasted; I have seen so many buy on emotion only to find out they purchased the wrong thing - That's a very costly way to go, especially when buying new.

There's no real reason to rush into a purchase, in fact I often try to slow people down. They can use the [shitty] club guns and in Mikayla's case one of mine as I know her fairly well. It's a good way to go also as one will often get to shoot various guns at the range, try things on for size, so to speak. There's many out there who do not have that chance though and that's probably why the second hand market is so strong - One person's mistake is another person's gain!

If you're a shooter [I know, not many around here] what considerations did you take when thinking about your first, or any, firearms purchase? Did you buy on emotion, get hand-me-down firearms and so no choice, or did you put some careful consideration into it?

Also, there's bragging rights to be won if you can correctly name the calibres in the picture I took above. Start left to right and name them all for a big round of applause, and a little hive prize probably too. I mean the top image of the ammunition lined up here, not the firearms image.