Let us talk about rifles from the ground up for a bit, starting at the least dangerous end: the stock. (This is all generalized and will apply to most all longarms you can buy, including rifles and shotguns)
A good stock, i.e. one that is adjusted to your height and length of arm, is important. Getting a custom-fitted stock or trying as many rifles as necessary until you find one that suits you, lying down, is important. My first rifle - which I inherited from my father, a .308 Mauser - had a stock that was just a few centimetres off. Reloading was a pain and it took me far longer to get a shot lined up after the first than it should. I don’t know the english term for it, but the Norwegian term translates to “gunsmith.” (“børsemaker”) Some gun shops or hunting shops might offer this and most will at least know someone that can do it. A clerk that scoffs at you asking is quite probably a moron.
The reloading system is mostly preferance, with some technical details that will grow more important to you as you get along. I prefer a five-point bolt action reload. In other words; draw the slide up to unlock it, draw it back to eject the casing, insert new bullet, push the slide in front to set the bullet and push it down to lock it again. I’ve had several hundred hours of practice and usually keep a fresh bullet between my ring finger and little finger, so re-loading is pretty smooth, without the complications of an auto-loader. This is, as far as my knowledge extends, a pretty normal system for a hunting rifle.
The trigger system is also a matter of preferance. I prefer a medium, smooth pull. In other words, I need to put 2lbs of pressure on the trigger and pull it evenly backwards. I don’t get the “click” feeling, where the trigger jumps, but hit an unmarked spot during my pull where the rifle “suddenly” fires. If you’re not used to it, it can be a bit disconcerting at first, but I prefer it to click-triggers because it tends to interfere less with my aim. (I’m not very strong - my father loves his “click” trigger, because it gives him a very tangible feeling of “now I’m going to fire the weapon.” My father is rather a lot stronger than me and has a very strong grip, so he compensates.) Pull usually scales from 1-3 lbs on rifle triggers.
Then there’s the body of the rifle itself. Someone else can probably give more information on this regarding the advantages of metal bodies or wooden bodies, but you should at least consider whether or not you prefer a “pistol grip” to stabilize your hold on the rifle while aiming. Some do, some don’t. I personally do, but it hasn’t had any effect on my precision as far as I’ve been able to tell, just my comfort holding the rifle. (In case you’ve not encountered the “pistol grip” term as it relates to rifles, it’s the “handle” behind the trigger guard in this picture. In my experience, you either have it and don’t care, or you absolutely hate it.
Then there’s the scope. Scopes are also matters of preferance, what ranges you would like to shoot at and how much money you want to spend. My dad recently got an awesome deal on two excellent 6x-24x (magnification) hunting scopes from the US (but produced in China.) ($1200 for 2, while their value over here would be around $2800 for 1) and I got one, but I haven’t had the occasion to test it yet. Some things to be on the lookout for:
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Magnification (4x-12x is pretty standard according to my experiences, but I’ll admit that it’s not very broad. Magnification in rifle scope terms is relative to the naked eye. Drawbacks with higher magnification is that A: it eats light, B: if the magnification is too high, the rifle will appear to be too responsive and C: At higher magnifications, you’ll have big problems leading an animal.)
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Light strength of the scope/lenses. A bigger diameter of the lens will let more light in, which will benefit you the higher the magnification, but since you for hunting large game will hardly ever need to go beyond 4x or 6x, this will be adding money for little good result.
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Reticles (crosshairs to you, I expect). Thin reticles are better for target shooting, but if you intend to go hunting with the same rifle, I’d advise you to get a thick enough reticle in your scope that you can easily pick it up even while aiming through or towards heavy underbrush. Duplex reticles will give you half and half - thick lines towards the edge of the scope with thinner lines towards the centre, giving you both the advantage of being easily able to find them in dark circumstances as well as a more exact aiming point in dark lighting. You can also look into “mil dot” scopes, if you fancy the trade-off of doing on-the-fly math to assist your aiming.
. Choosing a rifle scope is not easy. I’d suggest going very basic for your first and stepping it up from there.
I’ll leave the calibres to more knowledgeable posters, since I’ve only really shot with .308 and .300. There’s a lot of good information on this already posted.
(I’m sorry if I’m fuzzing with the technical names in the above - I know all the terminology from Norwegian and I’m kinda transliterating back to English.)
I’ll also leave handguns to the others, but I would weigh in with a heavy preferance for revolvers for target shooting. Also, start light. .38 perhaps.
As for gun safety rules, these are the Ten Commandments my father initiated me to when I turned 14; they may differantiate from what other posters have grown up with, so take it for what it’s worth.
- All guns are ALWAYS loaded.
- You did not just check that your gun is not loaded.
- The safety catch does NOT work.
- There’s a kindergarden behind that target.
- The Police will come knocking on your door tonight. They will pay intense attention to your weapon, licenses and safety legislation observation.
- The Police does not want you to own a weapon.
- If you shoot an animal in the gut, you will be forced to sit down with it and look it in the eyes while it dies.
- Corollary to 7: If you shoot an animal in the gut, you will be the singular person dragging it back to base, skinning and gutting it.
- Additional corollary to 7&8: If you shoot an animal in the gut, you will eat the meat.
- Your gun WILL explode in your face. Your extreme paranoia is warranted.
I can explain a bit about rule 1 and 4. Rule 1 was uttered during my first target shooting, where I forgot - in the midst of all the other stuff - to hold my recently fired rifle on my shoulder, pointing downfield with the bolt pulled open so the instructor could certify that it was unloaded and secured. He also commented, looking straight in my eyes and with a very level voice: “If you point a gun in my direction, I WILL shoot you first.”"
Rule 4 has to do with backdrops. Bullets can travel for several kilometres, so you HAVE to know where the bullet would land if you miss your intended target. Firing against a target highlighted on a ridge, i.e. with open sky as a backdrop, would get me violently beaten - even if I hit. I would then be made to crawl to where the bullet landed to assure the others it did not hit property or people. I would then be expelled - permanently - from my hunting group. Yes, this is hyperbolé, but I would seriously contemplate doing the above to anyone in my hunting group who did it. And I would certainly never hunt with them again.
Rule number 5 and 6 probably also deserves a note - my father doesn’t hate or even dislike neither the police nor the weapon laws. His intent was to impress upon me the necessity of keeping my licenses à jour as well as following the rules and laws for keeping weapons in my house. (In Norway, the weapon and a critical part of the weapon such as the slide house for a rifle, has to be kept at seperate places under lock and key. The ammunition has to be kept at a seperate place to the main body of the weapon, also under lock and key. A steel weapon closet is the preferred solution for the ammunition. My father got a two-part closet for the body and ammunition, with seperate keys for each part, but has the critical part locked in a safe in his bedroom.)
On a side note, you might want to start hunting by going bird hunting with a shotgun. It’s a lot safer, more enjoyable and requires less training and preparation than large game hunting. It’s also far less expensive both for quotas and will provide a far richer target environment.
