Shooting For Young Adults?

I myself am 17 years old and about to turn 18 in May.

Am really into guns and firearm history ( expecially Second World War).

Yet I've only been shooting twice in my life, even though I really like guns and going out shooting.

Two reasons for that:

Nobody in my family owns guns....

Cost, going to range when I was 13 or so striped my mother of money. Never went again

I am hoping remedy this by getting my firearms license as a b-day gift from my parents, which they have agreed to.

Just due to the cost of buying both a gun and ammo. I dont think I can go passed getting my license....

Not really sure what to do. I really want to go out and partake in something I love, however I just dont think that I can bloody aford it :/.

#1 - Get the license, it won't go bad.

#2 - Start with a cheap gun that shoots cheap ammo. I was just at a gun show, there were several perfectly serviceable .22's sold for under $100. Ammo can be had for between $30-$50 for 500 rounds or so. So you can blaze away at pop cans and such, working on your fundamentals without breaking the bank.

#3 - While you're out having fun plinking, you can start saving your pennies for the next gun. Many, if not most of us started out with old secondhand firearms. As you age, your income will increase accordingly and your collection will slowly grow in both quantity and quality. You'll figure out what sort of firearms turn your crank through owning and shooting a variety of them, and find your slot (or slots) in the shooting community. I started out with a hand me down 16 gauge single shot and a pair of .22s bought at a farm auction for $80. Couldn't afford to upgrade anything until I hit 20, so I borrowed hunting rifles and was handed down a muzzleloader. Then I bought a third or fourth hand .308 my uncle had fixed up, and my first brand new gun, an inline .50 cal muzzleloader. Now that the apprenticeship is done, I buy a few guns a year, selling or trading the odd one. I counted 30 the other day....getting to be way more than I can shoot on a regular basis so I may need to trim the fat a bit....

Be patient, start small, practice, be safe and enjoy. The rest will come.

Oh, since you're into WWII s##t....

http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/...psm0n5uml5.jpg

The Mosin Nagant 91/30's on the right end can still be found at dealers for as low as $180. Those are a 1938 and a 1941 if memory serves.... The SVT-40's in the middle are over $300 now, but still affordable. 1940, '41 and '42. And the SKS's on the left were designed in 1945 but the war ended before they were pressed into service. They're still an interesting Cold War relic, and have seen action all over the world right up to current conflicts in Africa, Asia, the Ukraine and Middle East. Those two were made in Russia in 1951. Still available for around $200 if you shop around. History doesn't have to be expensive ;). And the Russian stuff still has plenty of relatively cheap surplus ammo kicking around.

Kennymo has given you very good advice. Obviously step one is get your license. Also when you do - talk to people and members here and on other gun forums who live in your area and see if anyone will take you either to the range when they go or if they shoot in the woods (i don't know if that's a thing there - here we do it all the time). If you live around here i'd take you out no problem, i'm sure others would too.

And once you get your license you start looking like crazy for that really cheap first 22. Mine, very much like Kennymo's, were a hand me down 22 single shot and a 16 gauge single shot shotgun. I had a hell of a lot of fun shooting those and learning good marksmanship, And over time you'll get a better idea of what kind of guns you like and what style or kind of guns you'd like to own next.

You never know - once you have your license if you're poking around you might even find someone who'll give or loan you a gun to get you going.

22 ammo is cheap, and we can tell you how to make fun reactive targets and there's all kinds of things you can do with even a single shot to improve skill and knowledge and then when you get a different gun you'll already be a long ways towards being very accurate with it.

22 is totally the way to get going in this sport.
Once you are going to the range more you will get to know people and most are more than happy to let you try different firearms if you just start asking questions just don't be a pest.
Next in line could be something like an SKS that are still fairly reasonably priced and are relatively cheap to feed and are a stepping stone onto bigger and better things.
The Mosin 91/30 is low cost but not a great starter rifle. It kicks like a mule and can quickly discourage a new shooter but with some experience they can be fun and reasonably inexpensive to shoot if you use surplus.

I went through the same as the rest of these guys it seems, .22s with 25rd magazines were a blast.
fear debt and abhor credit, as another life lesson

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Originally Posted by greywolf67nt

22 is totally the way to get going in this sport.
Once you are going to the range more you will get to know people and most are more than happy to let you try different firearms if you just start asking questions just don't be a pest.
Next in line could be something like an SKS that are still fairly reasonably priced and are relatively cheap to feed and are a stepping stone onto bigger and better things.
The Mosin 91/30 is low cost but not a great starter rifle. It kicks like a mule and can quickly discourage a new shooter but with some experience they can be fun and reasonably inexpensive to shoot if you use surplus.

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You forgot to mention the twenty pound trigger pull some of them come with. One of the ones in the photo was so stiff I needed both hands on the trigger to remove the bolt :). A little filing shimming and polishing moves them into the useable category.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kennymo

You forgot to mention the twenty pound trigger pull some of them come with. One of the ones in the photo was so stiff I needed both hands on the trigger to remove the bolt :). A little filing shimming and polishing moves them into the useable category.

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I must be lucky.
Trigger pull on mine are comparable to my sons 30-06 with having done nothing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kennymo

Oh, since you're into WWII s##t....

http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/...psm0n5uml5.jpg

The Mosin Nagant 91/30's on the right end can still be found at dealers for as low as $180. Those are a 1938 and a 1941 if memory serves.... The SVT-40's in the middle are over $300 now, but still affordable. 1940, '41 and '42. And the SKS's on the left were designed in 1945 but the war ended before they were pressed into service. They're still an interesting Cold War relic, and have seen action all over the world right up to current conflicts in Africa, Asia, the Ukraine and Middle East. Those two were made in Russia in 1951. Still available for around $200 if you shop around. History doesn't have to be expensive ;). And the Russian stuff still has plenty of relatively cheap surplus ammo kicking around.

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Mate, I wish I knew you in real life...

Still, $200 is a lot of money when your mother is disable by spina bifida and your father is about to take away child support....

I've tried to find work, but am in Alberta the land of the jobless.....

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Originally Posted by KB_TheDireWolf

I've tried to find work, but am in Alberta the land of the jobless.....

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don't complain

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Originally Posted by KB_TheDireWolf

Mate, I wish I knew you in real life...

Still, $200 is a lot of money when your mother is disable by spina bifida and your father is about to take away child support....

I've tried to find work, but am in Alberta the land of the jobless.....

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Keep trying. Can't get a job sitting on your ass at home. It'll come, and remember everyone gets a couple of crap jobs before they settle in and become a bitter tradesman. Warehouses, shovelling horse s##t, unloading pallets of feed, delivery boy....I did it all...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kennymo

Warehouses, shovelling horse s##t, unloading pallets of feed, delivery boy....I did it all...

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They give the plumbers all kinds of silly jobs as apprentices too?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kennymo

Keep trying. Can't get a job sitting on your ass at home. It'll come, and remember everyone gets a couple of crap jobs before they settle in and become a bitter tradesman. Warehouses, shovelling horse s##t, unloading pallets of feed, delivery boy....I did it all...

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True. Looking for work is a full time job. Someone's going to say yes sooner or later.