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Argent**, you are the bastard son I never had and I love you dearly, but you are talking out of your ass there. Cops and reservists are not, by and large, gun enthusiasts in my experience. I say this as a former deputy sheriff and former National Guardsman.
Clubs that host frequently competitions are a better bet for finding a safe environment full of knowledgeable shooters, IMO. They have gatherings of people from many clubs who are serious about what they are doing and who are actively trying to improve their skills. Places that are slovenly in their safety regs seldom host matches.
Cop-centric gun clubs are like cop-centric bars. They are places to gather, hold bitch sessions, and reinforce bad habits.
Understatement of the year, right here. 
According to this PDF from the VT Fish and Game, there is a range in Bennington, however I have no idea what laws are like concerning transporting firearms across state lines…
Fake edit: I looked and found their website. The mailing address is Bennington, but they are actually in Shaftsbury, so another ~20 minutes away. You’re probably better going to one of the ones in the Capitol District and asking what it takes to get a membership.
I’m in northern Idaho so the range stuff is outside my wheelhouse, I just shoot in the yard.
As a woman, I haven’t noticed much in the way of sexism, as others have said, shooters are happy to help other shooters. People, particularly salesmen, will make assumptions about what you want since you’re a woman. That can be frustrating but you are a woman in a city and a lot of what they recommend will probably work for you.
Don’t discount revolvers; they are simple to operate, easy to clean and maintain, they don’t fling brass everywhere, they come in all shapes, sizes, and calibers. A double action revolver is an excellent self-defense weapon - there’s no manual safety, there’s no mag release, you can grip and rip it or cock the hammer for a lighter trigger pull.
Obviously you should do what you’re teacher recommends but I’d start with a long barrel and a low caliber. You might get steered toward a self-defense course right off the bat which is fine but they’ll probably focus on training what people would carry concealed - that means you’ll end up with a shorter barrel and it’s more difficult to be accurate with a small sight radius.
I like starting new shooters on a single-shot .22 rifle with open sights. There’s no recoil and it’s a single-shot so you can focus on safety and fundamentals. Have fun and keep us posted!
Nothing to add except, for the love of God, please don’t buy a pink gun!
Yeah, go vermillion.
Here is an idea you might consider. Air rifles are less powerful and more city friendly that firearms. You might enjoy firing one as much as you would a firearm. It provides similar enjoyment for considerably less cost.
Not a good idea, you’ll shoot your eye out.
OMG, so much info. Let me read through all of it and i’ll respond. But THANK YOU ALL!
Of course you need a pink gun! Like this pink AK-47 that was just auctioned off at my local high school to benefit the scholarship foundation. See at about one minute in.
Now, in many areas you are not allowed to bring guns on school property. Here, we auction them off for the scholarship fund.
Yes, it is a real, pink, AK-47. No, I am not making this up.
I would never buy a pink gun. I’m not that much of a girly-girl, to be honest. Anyway I really posted this thread because I’m sure now. Before I wasn’t sure, but while we were in Vegas we went to a range and I got to shoot a variety of guns. Yes, I understand that I won’t be able to fire anywhere near the same variety - but I really enjoyed the whole experience.
Now that gun instructor was obviously very used to girls shooting and I really liked him. If I could pack him up and ship him to NY I probably would…
I’m going to follow all of your suggestions. Addressing a few:
I live in a fairly small town. Sure, I border Albany, which is a large town, but if I went to Colonie cops, I bet they’d be super nice. In my experience, it’s usually the firemen that are really insular (and they are here, too)…but still really nice. And I know if you ask respectfully and nicely they are almost always willing to help. We don’t really have a lot of jerk cops here, and i really don’t have a hatred for cops like many people do. They see the worst of us every day, naturally it’s going to make them jaded.
I will also check out the NRA site, and the training courses. Thank you all for the helpful links!
So I thought I’d update our progress.
About a week ago we bought our first official gun - a Marlin 795, .22 caliber.
This past weekend we had to go visit my dad in Poughkeepsie, so we also went to a range down in Goshen. Well, things didn’t go so well.
As we fired the gun, whether I fired it or he fired it it was misfiring every few rounds, and we had to keep on clearing the chamber. We tried different ammo loads but it made no difference. we managed to get some shooting in, but every magazine did the same thing. We didn’t have a spare magazine - this gun seems to be very popular and there weren’t any magazines for sale - so we couldn’t replace that.
Well, he was firing when it made a horrible noise and the shell did not eject and smoke started pouring from it. We called the range officer over, who told us it was a “Case Separation” and that we should stop firing and take the gun back for repairs.
We’d bought the gun at Dick’s Sporting Goods, so the very next day - Sunday - we took it back. They don’t do returns or exchanges but they are going to send the gun back to Marlin who will diagnose and either repair or replace the gun.
So I’m sorry to say my first real attempt at shooting didn’t go so well. But it hasn’t soured me on it. I kind of want my own gun now.
We’ve got an air pistol at home and have set up a target, and also plan to practice with that when we have time.
As to some of the concerns I had. The older range officers were the nicest ones. You guys were right in one thing that they pretty much assumed he was dragging me along - almost no one addressed a comment directly to me unless I did first. Never rude or anything, so I don’t care about that.
It being Goshen, we were not only the only non-whites in the range/shop, but probably the only non-whites in the entire town. 
But we’re used to that.
All in all I enjoyed the time. Thanks for the reassurance; it really helped.
Mika, sorry to hear of your issues with your first rifle, wish I had read the thread sooner, as I would not have recommended a semiauto anything for your first gun, best gun to start off with? A bolt action .22…
Cheapest alternative; Marlin Model 925 or Savage Mark II
More expensive alternative; CZ-452/455 series*
Luxury alternative; Anschuntz or Cooper
A bolt has fewer moving parts, less to go wrong and is generally more reliable and more accurate than a semiauto
Plus, the .22 is just a plain fun cartridge to shoot, it’s not just a kids gun or a starter gun, my CZ Ultra Lux can shoot dime sized groups all day at 50 yards, and the ultra long 28" barrel (most .22 rifles have 16-18" barrels) really quiets the gun down dramatically, with full power subsonic target rounds you almost don’t need hearing protection
Anyway, don’t worry about your rifle, Marlin has excellent customer service and the repair shop does good work, you’ll probably get it back running smoother than ever
Besides, .22’s are addictive anyway**, this is only your first gun, there will be more, stop over at rimfirecentral dot com some time, it’s a great place to discuss the humble .22, I go by MacTech there too
*if you can find a CZ-452 Ultra Lux I STRONGLY reccomend that one, they’ve been replaced by the 455 series and are getting hard to find, I’ll never sell mine, and i swap/trade guns a lot at my local gunshop, if you want more info, I can post a thread on it instead of derailing yours)
** I own, at last count, four .22’s, three rifles and one revolver, I had more, but have been thinning down and simplifying my collection, and these guns see far more use than my “bigger and better” guns, partially because the ammo is so cheap, $20 will get you either 20 rounds of .30-30, 50 rounds of .45 ACP, or 500 rounds of .22 …, and mainly because they’re so much fun
My small .22 collection;
Marlin model 25 bolt action, the first gun I ever owned, 16th B’day gift
Marlin 39A lever action, the 39 is the oldest continually made rifle in the US, even older than the venerable Winchester 18-somethings, and is still made even today
CZ-452 Ultra Lux bolt action
Ruger Single Six single action revolver
Too late now, but buy different ammo. I usually buy bulk .22 because I’m cheap. Although Remington makes some nice rifles and shotguns, and even centerfire ammo, IME their bulk .22 is crap. Federal bulk works much better. Their blue or red bulk boxes (can’t remember the difference) are what I get.
Yes, good point, .22’s are notoriously fussy about ammo, semiautos even more so…
Generally speaking, it’s best to stay far, far away from Remington bulk pack ammo (loose in a box) avoid “Thunderturds” (Thunderbolt) and “Golden Crap” (Golden Bullet), as they have a very high failure/dud/misfire rate, use a very dirty propellant and extremely soft lead bullet, if you do insist on shooting this garbage, be sure to run a “boresnake” pull through cleaner through the barrel every 50 rounds or so to clear the fouling/unburnt powder/lead buildup… Etc. out of the bore
The only Rem. ammo I use is their “CBee” line, these are ultra quiet rounds, around 760 feet per second, and are about as powerful as a mid-line air rifle, out of a bolt action gun, all you basically hear is a faint “pop” of the gun firing, and the “thwack” of the bullet hitting the target, the bullet impact noise is louder than the gun firing
Out of my 28" barrel CZ Ultra Lux, all you’d hear is “click—THWACK” it’s quieter than an air rifle
For general purpose ammo, I like CCI Blazer, CCI Mini Mag, the Federal bulk packs and Federal Automatch
For higher end precision shooting from a bench, I prefer CCI Subsonic or Green Tag (Subsonic is basically GT that was just a hair out of spec, not good enough to be GT, but better than minimags or blazers)
Ruger has some very good instructional videos. Click Beginner Shooting Tips
http://www.ruger.com/resources/videos.html
My 1938 Colt Woodsman Match Target semi-auto .22 pistol gobbles those up and spits them out happily; it was prone to stovepiping on other stuff.
My CZ Luz .22 rifle likes those brands and also does well on American Eagle.
Glad you got out to the range this weekend, but I’m sorry it didn’t go very well. Hopefully they figure out what is wrong and you get your gun or a new one back soon.
Have you guys looked to see if there are any First Shots classes going on in or near your area? They’re even free. My husband and I went to one this past weekend and it was excellent. There’s a classroom bit where you talk about safety and stuff, and then you get one-on-one training for about an hour or so. We shot .22s, both revolvers and semis. Like you two, the instructors assumed my husband was dragging me along, but it was actually his first time shooting. My first time in near 10 yrs, though. We had a blast.
I shoot .22LR CCI Pistol Match 40 Grain in my Ruger 22/45 Hunter.
http://cdn1.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd_images/lgprod/AMM-0762.jpg
Sorry to hear you had so many problems on your first trip to the range! If you keep the Marlin, try i with CCI Mini Mag ammo, no hollow points. That gun is notorious for frequent jamming and stovepiping with hollow point ammo.
Malfing .22 autoloaders are often from:
- Improper or inadequate lubrication. Were you running it dry?
- Bad magazine. Buy another and try it.
- Chipped or deformed extractor. These are a drop-in part.
- Rough chamber. Polishing with jeweler’s rouge is easy.
1 and 2 are the most common by a pretty wide margin. I’ve experienced 3 exactly once and fixed 4 in another guy’s rifle. Marlin is pretty good about fixing guns under warranty. They may or may not catch 2 as manufacturers seem to consider firing one shot to be test firing and they load only a single round in the magazine. If it fires and ejects, they consider the gun okay, though it has not demonstrated that it can feed the next round. Marlin is far from alone in this