DPatty,

The first thing you need to do, imo, is establish your gun-buying philosophy. Are you buying them as a hobby? to hunt? for self defense? as collector's items? To re-sell later for profit? Other? Obv it can be a mix of two or more of these.

Personally, my entire gun-buying practice is directed by one thing: my desire to defend myself and my friends/family. If I somehow knew that I would never need a gun in self-defense, I would instantly sell all mine and never look back. Owning guns is a hassle: storing them takes up space, cleaning takes time, etc. Between the guns themselves, extra magazines, ammo, and other supplies, it is also quite expensive. Plus owning guns, especially in CA and in my family, makes me look like a huge nutcase. It would be so much easier to for me not to own guns. But the chance that I will ever need them is big enough to warrant me owning them.

Point is, self-defense is my only goal. And once I knew that, it was fairly easy to decide, or at least narrow down my list of potential gun purchases.

Very well put ScottySo.

Personally, I hunt, target shoot, am interested in self-defense, etc, so it is really hard for me to narrow down my list of potential gun purchases.

If home defense is your thing, you really cannot beat a good pump action/shorter barreled shotgun, imo. Nothing is really as effective in those circumstances and if I could only choose one for that purpose, that is what I would certainly choose.

Pistols are good obviously for "mobile protection."

+100.

As one of the best trainers I ever knew once told me; "There are three types of guns, guns you look at, guns you play with, and guns you'd bet your life on. Make sure you can tell the difference when you walk into a gun store or a gun show"

Thanks for the advice...greatly appreciated. My greatest intention for owning a gun would be for defensive purposes. I'm also adequatly rolled where I feel like I could afford a hand gun, rifle, and shotgun ultimately. I was planning on looking at the rifle and hand gun first as I was under the impression that shotgun ammo would be more expensive and right now I'm just wanting to do lots of practice at the shooting range to just increase my overall "gun comfort".

Thanks for this, going to take me a while to digest. I need to do more homework but I thought I heard that an AK is illegal in Canada and so the Russian SKS was the "AK equivalent" up here. That could be flat out wrong though...again, I'm just starting on doing my homework now.

Out of curiosity, is there any advantage to a bolt-action rifle over say a semi-automatic? Would it simply be that bolt-actions are cheaper? In general I'm just wondering why someone might choose a non semi-automatic gun when they could have a semi-auto one.

Thanks for that ammo break down....I recognize most of those names so that's good for me right now

I'm a total gun newb but basically I'm prepared to spend roughly $5,000 on guns and ammo in about 2 months time. I've got till then to figure out just what exactly I wanna get. I'd like to build an armory with defense in mind and right now would ideally like to have guns that are cheap to practice with as I want to feel as comfortable as possible with them. I also really enjoy going out to the range and just working on a skill such as accuracy.

Bolt action rifles are are generally much more accurate. They are used in situations (such as sniping and deer hunting) where accuracy is a much greater need than being able to fire multiple shots in a very efficient time frame.

You say you're concerned with "defending yourself." Against what?

Without knowing you, I'd say against home invasions or whatever. If that's the case get a 12 gauge pump shotgun, which can be as cheap as $300 for a base model Remington 870. Then get a bunch of 00 buckshot and you're set. The nice thing is you can use the same gun to hunt rabbits, deer and clay pigeons. The 12 gauge is hands down the most versatile gun you'll find.

A handgun isn't a bad idea either. I know a lot of VERY knowledgeable people when it comes to ammo and stopping power and all that crap. And you know what, if you get 3 VERY knowledgeable guys in the same room and ask them, "What's better? .45 ACP or 9mm?" You can go to the bar, get drunk, go to a motel with a bar scag drive her to her drug dealer's house, and then go back home and you know what? Those people will still be arguing 9mm vs. .45ACP.

My rule of thumb is if there's a giant debate between a few people who have tons of knowledge then they are all correct and you should go for the round that you like the best.

Personally, I like 9mm because the round is smaller so you can load more rounds in a magazine giving you more chances to hit your target. Other people like the .45 because it's bigger and packs a bigger punch.

So anyways, I don't see how a rifle fits into your idea of self defense, unless you're talking about defense from zombie hordes or the collapse of society with roving gangs looking to steal your food. A rifle is a long range weapon, as in, if you need a rifle to shoot someone, then by definition they were too far away from you to call it justified self defense.

Edit: If you live on a farm and have a problem with coyotes eating your livestock then that's a good reason to have a rifle also and could sort of fit into the idea of "defense."

Additionally, the bolt action rifle is so accurate b/c you control the bolt and feeding mechanism instead of letting the recoil blow a bolt back, reducing recoil and increasing accuracy. I have a Winchester 770 .300 magnum, it is a cannon but it lets me make my own mistakes, instead of correcting the barrel and putting shots down range I aim and fire.

I don't see why a semi-automatic AK would be illegal and the same type of semi-auto SKS wouldn't. They fire the same round and are more or less the same gun with a few minor differences. Fully automatic machine guns are probably definitely illegal.

As others have said, bolt action rifles tend to be a bit more accurate (a reason why the military still often uses them), though semi-autos are getting better and better everyday in this department. Also, in the event of a misfire, I find it is much easier and faster to cycle the round with a bolt action.

Tbh, if your primary concern is defense, then a rifle probably isn't the best choice. Unless you are engaging some military force where you need to shoot far or take on a whole SWAT team/military force/zombie hordes/cyborg terminators invading your home, you are much better off with a shotgun. The ammo for a shotgun isn't that expensive, and you don't have to worry about a high powered rifle bullet going through your wall and killing someone in your family or something like that.

Well with 5k you can get plenty to start out with.

For defense, I'd recommend starting off with something like this:

http://www.jaxonsgottagun.com/Remington870.jpg

It is a Remington 870. There are several variations that are good. I'd go with either the Home Defense, the Police, or the Marine Magnum models, personally.

A Mossberg 500 is also a great selection (may even prefer its ergonomics to the Remington).

Either one of these is capable of being modified in about any manner anyone would ever need or want to.

No I know what size the SK is. I ment buy a "full sized" pistol or if you need a small gun buy one of the tiny revolvers..... I wasnt being clear.

Boro,

can you repost the link to your model of the 1911 firing? The wife and I were talking about your project, she is a game programmer and thought it sounded like a cool project but I cant remember your youtube channel and all google gets me is that soccer player.

OIC.

My dad just got a sweet Beretta Stampede in .357.



He was debating whether to get the Stampede Marshall which has the Bird's head grip (which personally I think are more comfortable), but it only comes in 3 1/2" barrel and he wanted a 4 3/4". He originally wanted it in .45 LC, but settled with the .357 because we already have lots of ammo for that.

THIS! also a gun newb can learn to fire relatively effectively and reload a shotgun in about 10 minutes

And for those that desire absolute home defense options with their 12 gauge shotgun:

http://www.deltaforce.com/catalog/pg31.html

Particularly the Terminator X rounds, the Rhodesian Jungle rounds, and the Pit Bull rounds.

Ridiculously expensive for 3 shells though.....

I haven't posted it yet. I haven't been able to get the barrel to rotate back up into the locking lugs yet. Not sure what the problem is.

And so far it's not firing; just trying to rack the slide. I don't have geometry for the magazine, and I haven't made geometry for a .45 caliber round yet. I did post a video of a 9mm bullet being firing down a rifled barrel that I made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojql3GMkhho

I wouldn't be surprised if Canada has some kind of ridiculous assault rifle ban and the 30 round magazine is an issue.

A nice double action revolver(L or K frame S&Ws, for example) is a better first gun/self defense gun than a shotgun imo. Even easier to maintain/load/etc., cheaper ammo.

oh, thats pretty cool! nice work, I thought you had posted a 1911 firing external view. maybe it was something you didnt make. Anyhow keep us posted.

but orders of magnitude harder to hit with than a shotgun.

True. Always remember, you aim a rifle or a pistol. You POINT a shotgun. That comes from the GA Hunter Safety course, so you know it's good info LOL.

I posted a picture of the 1911 mesh I created from geometry I found on the web:



The problem is that it's a bitch because I don't have a single geometry of the fully assembled pistol; I have all the parts in separate files, and they all have different orientations and origins, so I have to do a lot of work by hand to move all the parts around and fit them together. As you know, the parts have to fit together correctly, but also have some play, like the barrel bushing.

Canadians don't like guns.

Success:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeJyrOIN14s

I guess the SKS doesn't qualify. I guess I'm used to SKS' with a pistol grip, so meh...

Disagree. **** is much easier to hit/kill with a shotgun in a home than with a revolver. Though when it comes to pistols, DA revolvers are better for home defense imo because if one of the rounds doesn't fire, just keep pulling the trigger until one does....

DA revolver with laser (that you can turn on and off easily), a shotgun is odd to swing around a corner. Now i feel the DA revolver is for the beginner, I would prefer a Glock or similar AL with a strobe tac light and a laser. Most homes are closed quarters, unless you living in a palace or can "legally" get a sawed off shotgun, I think it is overkill. But I can't disagree that it is easier to hit the target with a good 00.

DPatty is in Canada which affects his gun decisions.

AK-47's are expressly prohibited in Canada. The maximum legal magazine capacity for a centerfire rifle is 5 rounds. An SKS is okay and cheap in Canada. The magazine will be pinned to only allow 5 rounds. Lots of cheap surplus 7.62x39mm ammo available.

Getting a pistol in Canada is probably not worth the trouble. The only thing you can legally do with it is shoot it at your gun club's range. You cannot carry it. Besides, a handgun is the weakest self-defense alternative, to be used only if you can't get to your rifle or shotgun.

DPatty says his primary use for firearms is self-defense, so I think get a shotgun (Remington 870 or Mossberg 500) first and then a rifle. The shotgun is the best home defense weapon, so might as well get it first. Bother with a pistol only if you really want to shoot targets at the range with it for fun.