Gun Informational Reference Thread - For New and Veteran Gun Owners

[chevysoldier]

I'd kind of like to make this a informational thread for new or veteran gun owners to reference to. Would be great to spread some knowledge around. I've seen quite a few people posting up about wanting to get or just got their first firearm so maybe this will help.

This first video I watched all the way through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v-mxvnFLfc

This video I skipped thought but seemed like good stuff. There is 5 other parts of this series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk1VOTyo8I0

I'll add some of my own tips and rules. Please feel free to add your own stuff to help the new guys out.

-Always handle a firearm like it is loaded. Finger off trigger until ready to shoot. Pointed in a safe direction away from anything you don't want to shoot.

-When you hand a gun to someone, verify it is unloaded. When you are handed one, you should verify it is unloaded.

-Teach your children about firearms. If you get rid of the curiosity and inform them, you reduce the risk of them doing something stupid. My daughter is 3. She has been around guns all her life. She knows not to touch them at this point in time. She helps me clean them and is right with me when we shoot. When I feel she is ready, she will be shooting with me.

-Hearing protection. If you keep a gun for defense, I recommend shooting it once without hearing protection. Get used to the deafening sound and the ringing in your ears. Remember if you need to use it for an intruder, you won't have time to put in ear plugs. You need to be ready for what will happen. Don't do this with an extremely loud gun, maybe use lower level ear plugs. Also do this outdoors to minimize the sound. Remember that hearing loss is permanent so do so at your own risk.

-Shoot your ammo you use for defense. Some ammo can get expensive and many people don't like to fire the stuff they store in the gun. Just like hearing protection, you need to know what to expect. When I got my shotgun, my wife didn't want to shoot it with the 00 buck load. This is the ammo that stays in the magazine at home. I made her shoot it because I wanted her to know what the recoil will feel like if she needs to use it at home. Shoot some hollow points to make sure your handgun feeds them properly. You don't want to be in a situation where you find out your handgun doesn't like the ammo you loaded into it.

-A firearm doesn't make you invincible. You are only as good as you train. Shoot it often. Shoot from different positions. A bad guy will not stand there at exactly 50 feet and not move. You might be ducking behind a wall, laying on your side. Try different positions out. Practice in your home and know how your home is laid out, from a tactical standpoint. Of course do this with an unloaded gun and keep your finger off the trigger.

-Know what is behind what you are shooting at. This goes for range time and in defensive situations. Bullets can travel for miles and you are responsible for every single bullet you fire.

-Clean your firearms. Not only will this keep it in pristine working condition, but it helps you to understand it. Be one with the gun.

-Have the right frame of mind. I personally have a loaded sidearm on me or within a few feet 99% of the time. One time I knew I was in the wrong frame of mind. I took the magazine out and the round out of the chamber. Know yourself and what your stress levels are. Don't put yourself or others in danger because you cannot handle what's going on in your life at the moment.

I'm sure I have other stuff I'll think of later.

DISCLAIMER: The information in this post and the rest of the thread is "use at your own risk." I will not be held responsible or liable for your actions or improper use of a firearm. These are only my views and thoughts and may not be suitable for others. Please read the safety manual that came with your firearm. Remember safety first and don't shoot yourself or others.

Edited January 1, 2011 by chevysoldier

[Jst2fst]

Coming from a new gun owner this shed some light on gun control. Thanks

[vf1000ride]

-Hearing protection. If you keep a gun for defense, I recommend shooting it some without hearing protection. Get used to the deafening sound and the ringing in your ears. Remember if you need to use it for an intruder, you won't have time to put in ear plugs. You need to be used to what will happen.

I agree with all your tips except this one. There should be a few caveats mentioned for this quote. Yes it's a good idea to know how loud your gun is when fired without earplugs. Doing this at an outdoor range is your best option as it will reduce the recoil blast somewhat. Also ask that anybody else at the range hold their fire so you are not hit from all sides with muzzle blast. You should have the full understanding though that with larger caliber / higher powered rounds your hearing loss may be permanent. Especially if the gun is fired indoors. You can fire a .22 without hearing protection in a large field and have very little if any ringing in the ears, but fire a snub nose magnum indoors and you may never hear again. I use 32DB soft foam in ear hearing protection, and my .357 when fired at an indoor range still makes my ears ring. It comes down to the gun used and your own acceptable level of risk. In any caliber though I would not recommend making it a regular habit of shooting without hearing protection. I have moderate hearing loss in both ears already and am trying my best to keep what is left.

If you intend to do me harm though and the choice comes down to my hearing or my life, I will gladly learn sign language.

My best tip for anybody buying a gun comes down to one simple thing.

>Practice<

It was mentioned before and is worth repeating till people are sick of hearing it. Practice with your guns, know how they work, know how they function, know what ammo they like and what they don't like. Just like motorcycles, guns are machines. They can function great when the user is well informed and knowledgeable about what they are doing. When you have the uninformed twat behind the trigger with a hero mentality and you combine that with zero knowledge and a lack of skill, people can get killed.

Second piece of advise. Consider how the gun fits in your hand, buying a gun that you can't get a comfortable grip on makes it hard to shoot. Regardless of what caliber and gun style you end up purchasing one of the most critical aspects of being accurate with a handgun is to be able to form a proper grip with your hands. A good grip on your gun is fundamental in becoming proficient with it.

Last thoughts for now. Look at the sights and see if you can align them and see them clearly. When you are at the gun store looking at guns try not to be like everybody else. Pointing the gun up at the ceiling to look down the sight is a good plan so you do not inadvertently sweep the muzzle at another person in the store. This is a good plan for the most part, but when doing this don't point it at the lights to see what the sights look like. Point it safely at the darkest thing you can find and see if the sights are still visible. I can't tell you how often you see people point them at a light and exclaim how easy they are to see well no shit. Criminals tend not to break into your house wearing brightly colored clothing that is well lit with industrial fluorescent lights. You need to be able to see your sights in low light, high stress conditions when the criminal is wearing dark colors.

[SWing'R]

I'd kind of like to make this a informational thread for new or veteran gun owners to reference to. Would be great to spread some knowledge around. I've seen quite a few people posting up about wanting to get or just got their first firearm so maybe this will help.

Great idea. You should have a mod make the thread a sticky, and include all the different links you guys gave me in the other thread.

Links are good! Here are some of the links you guys provided me...

LEGAL STUFF

- Ohio Gun Legislation Guide

- Ohio Gun and CCW Laws

- Ohio's Concealed Carry Laws

- Ohio Attorney General - Concealed Carry Info

- 2009 Ohio Concealed Carry Laws Booklet

- ORC - 2923.126 Duties of Licensed Individual

- HangunLaws Ohio

- Concealed Carry Permit Reciprocity Maps

GUN SHOPS & SHOW INFO

- Vance Outdoors

- Columbus Gun Shows

Edited January 3, 2011 by SWing'R
added another link

[chevysoldier]

<Info>

All good stuff. And good point with the hearing protection. I should have been more clear about not making this a regular thing. Once, maybe twice would be sufficient. And not a good idea to use a super loud gun. You could use some lower level ear plugs. I have seen people shoot without ear plugs and it scares them. Some to the point of nearly dropping the gun. Now in a life or death situation that could be a costly mistake. Thanks for the input.

Great idea. You should have a mod make the thread a sticky' date=' and include all the different links you guys gave me in the other thread.

Links are good! Here are some of the links you guys provided me...

[/quote']

That's up to a mod if they want to do that or not. I'll put up more link when I get the time. Thanks for posting those up though.

[scottb]

This might be a cool section of the forum. There are many areas to focus on when selecting a firearm. I will share my thoughts on what worked for me. Your results may vary.

When I started my search for my first firearm, I knew that I wanted a home defense shotgun. I have not been for or against guns, but honestly, just woke one day and thought due to the economy and for the piece of mind, I needed something. Asking a few friends, the choice was between a mossberg 500 and a Remington 870. BOth of these are pump action. I knew I could not afford anything fancier, such as the autoloading type of shotgun. I selected the 870 based on reviews, price and I knew a few people that had one.

SO, after that "need" was covered, I wanted a target shooting rifle. The only bit i knew was the difference between a bolt action and a semi-auto rifle. I selected a Savage Arm bolt action 22LR. I liked the fact that with the bolt action, the chamber is not loaded until I provide the feedback of pulling the bolt back to eject the spend round and then push forward to load a live round. This bolt action thing was fine, until I got to shoot a semi auto 22LR ( a Remington 597 from another member here on OR). Now that I had a sense of shooting and understanding of gun safety, the semi auto looked like the next choice, so I picked up a Marlin 795. So far, total money spent on both 22 lr rifles is about $300, including scopes and carry cases.

Once I got my target rifle, I then looked into a pistol. So then, I had to look at revolver versus the semi auto, single action versus double action, brand names and caliber. Ask questions, talk to people and ask why they selected what they have. I picked up a used FEG 9mm Browning hi-power clone for $200. It is single action, semi auto,14 round, fit my hand and the price was right.

Then to wrap this up, I have turkey hunting shotgun and a skeet shotgun.

Next I will be on a quest for a hunting rifle.

[chevysoldier]

I had a member here email me a bunch of questions about shotguns. I'll try to cover some of it.

Shotguns tyically fire a number of small pellets called shot or a single solid projectile called a slug. Many different operating mechanisms used including single barrel (one barrel), double barrel (two barrels) or combination barrel (one rifle and one shotgun barrel) , pump action (uses a hand grip pumped back and forth to eject spent round and chamber a new round. Most common) , bolt action (shooter grabs a handle on the bolt itself to eject and chamber round), lever action (uses a lever underneath trigger to eject and chamber), semi auto (a trigger pull will fire, eject and chamber new round) and full auto. (Keeping the trigger pulled will continue to fire rounds until the trigger is released.)

There are many different sizes available. The most common are 12 and 20 gauge. The smaller the gauge number, the larger the round. .410 and 10 gauge are also used. Birdshot uses a large number of pellets for shooting birds or clay pigeons. Buckshot uses larger diameter pellets for larger game such as deer. Slugs are becoming more common for this use though. Bean bags or rubber slugs/bucksshot are used for riot and animal control.

You can control the spread of your shot by using a choke. Chokes on are the end of the barrel, either crewed on or part of the barrel itself. Using a smaller choke will give a tighter shot group and using a larger choke or no choke will give a larger shot group. Your target will depend on if and what choke you use.

Barrel lengths vary from 18.5in to 34in. Typically the closer the target, the shorter the barrel, 24-28in. Long range targets a 28 to 34in barrel would be used. For large, small game a 22 to 24in barrel is common. 18.5in is a common length for a home defense shotgun due to the close quarters in the home and the distance an intruder will tend to be. A single shotgun can be outfitted with many different barrels depending on the application.

That's just a quick overview. There is a lot of information I didn't touch on but this should get you started.

[chevysoldier]

LRN practice ammo.

WC and SWC make nice clean holes in paper targets... good for competition scoring.

SJ designed to penetrate and expand.

FMJ designed to penetrate.

SJHP and JHP designed to expand on impact. Each expand at different rates.

RBCD designed to disintegrate on penetration leaving greatest shock. Also called frangible ammunition.

Edited January 1, 2011 by chevysoldier

[chevysoldier]

Common Firearm Terms

Some stuff I'll add:

CHL - Concealed Handgun License

LTCF - license to carry firearm

CC - Concealed Carry

OC - Open Carry

CCW - Concealed Carry Weapon

Concealment - Hides you from the enemy

Cover - Protects you from incoming fire

Shot group, grouping or pattern - Design made on a surface by all the impacts of a series of shots fired under similar conditions. A tighter grouping is better.

ND - negligent discharge

AD - accidental discharge

FFL - Federal Firearms License

[chevysoldier]

These can all be found at http://ohioccw.org/ohios-concealed-carry-laws.html

Ohio Revised Code:

9.68 Right to bear arms - challenge to law.

109.731 Prescribed forms.

504.04 Exercise of powers under limited home rule government.

1547.69 Firearm prohibitions.

2305.40 Owner, lessee, or renter of real property not liable to trespasser.

2305.401 member of the firearms industry not liable for harm sustained as a result of the operation or discharge of firearm.

2921.13 Falsification - in theft offense - to purchase firearm.

2923.11 Weapons control definitions.

2923.12 Carrying concealed weapons.

2923.121 Possession of firearm in liquor permit premises - prohibition, exceptions.

2923.122 Illegal conveyance or possession of deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance or of object indistinguishable from firearm in school safety zone.

2923.123 Illegal conveyance of deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance into courthouse - illegal possession or control in courthouse.

2923.125 Application and licensing process.

2923.126 Duties of licensed Individual.

2923.127 Challenging denial of license.

2923.128 Suspension and revocation of license.

2923.129 Immunity.

2923.1210 Application form.

2923.1211 Falsification of concealed handgun license - possessing a revoked or suspended concealed handgun license.

2923.1212 Signage prohibiting concealed handguns.

2923.1213 Temporary emergency license.

2923.13 Having weapons while under disability.

2923.14 Relief from weapons disability.

2923.15 Using weapons while intoxicated.

2923.16 Improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle.

2923.161 Improperly discharging firearm at or into a habitation, in a school safety zone or with intent to cause harm or panic to persons in a school building or at a school function.

2923.162 Discharge of firearm on or near prohibited premises.

2923.20 Unlawful transaction in weapons.

2923.201 Possessing a defaced firearm.

2923.21 Improperly furnishing firearms to minor.

2923.211 Underage purchase of firearm or handgun.

Edited January 1, 2011 by chevysoldier

[scottb]

Question, if you have conceal carry licence, and you are on a motorcycle, how is that treated? can you keep your firearm hidden/concealed in a holster, just like you would in a car?

from this website: http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/ConcealedCarryBook the section Transporting in Motor Vehicle page 14 indicates "the plain sight provision has been removed from the law", Then, a few lines later, the guide states "motorcycles fall under the definition of motor vehicles. Thus the same requirements apply to licensees who carry a honadgun while on a motorcycle"

[chevysoldier]

Question, if you have conceal carry licence, and you are on a motorcycle, how is that treated? can you keep your firearm hidden/concealed in a holster, just like you would in a car?

from this website: http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/ConcealedCarryBook the section Transporting in Motor Vehicle page 14 indicates "the plain sight provision has been removed from the law", Then, a few lines later, the guide states "motorcycles fall under the definition of motor vehicles. Thus the same requirements apply to licensees who carry a honadgun while on a motorcycle"

The plain view deal was back when Ohio first adopted concealed carry. When you got into a car, you were supposed to keep the gun in plain view. This is where the buckeye tuck term comes from. People would simply tuck their tshirt in behind their guns while inside their cars. This was later realized to be stupid so they got rid of that rule. Now the gun can remain hidden inside a car.

Motorcycles fall under motor vehicle so when in motor vehicle (or on a bike), you must have a CHL to carry a loaded handgun no matter how it is being carried. If you are OC'ing and get into a car, or on a bike, it is now considered concealed. While on a bike you can carry just as you would in a car, given you have a CHL.

Hope that makes sense Scott.

Edited January 2, 2011 by chevysoldier

[speedytriple]

I carry my ccw in my tank bag most of the time when I have my leathers on. I also use a thumb break holster and carry it on my hip if I have jeans on.

[chevysoldier]

Fusion posted this link up in another thread. I forgot all about it so I thought I'd post it here also.

http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/ohio.pdf

This one is nice because you can select all the states you have a CHL issued from and see what states will honor them.

http://www.usacarry.com/concealed_carry_permit_reciprocity_maps.html

I have an OH and PA permit, so my map would look like this:

EDIT: LOL my carry map turned into a girl? haha

Edited February 23, 2012 by chevysoldier

[speedytriple]

Ya gotta love WI, and Il the pretty much suck for owning guns in those states.

[kawi kid]

I like how it says right denied....

[speedytriple]

Denied to the lawful people the criminals are free to rob and steal.

[Gump]

http://membership.nrahq.org/

[speedytriple]

NRA..... kinda mixed on that one use to be a member for years now I kinda feel they are in it just for the money. They have gotten real top heavy lots of big wigs to pay means less help to the people.

[Gump]

Not much else to do other than vote. I still like them considering the options.

[speedytriple]

There are local groups like buckeye firearms that do much more at a local level.

[Gump]

I'll check that out.

[chevysoldier]

There are local groups like buckeye firearms that do much more at a local level.

and Ohioians for concealed carry. www.ohioccw.org

[kawi kid]

Also one more thing about the nra, some ranges require you to be a member if you want to become a member of the range. I foind this out after I applied for our local one.

[eggs]

Great Thread, Lots of information, Bravo !!