Posted on 12/12/2012 5:38:05 PM PST by RightFighter
I'm looking for a recommendation for a gun for my son for Christmas. Just to lay out the basics - he just turned 15 and is about 6'3" and weighs 235. Yes, he plays high school football. His mother and I have been divorced for many years, and she absolutely forbids him to have anything to do with guns in or near her home. His cousin recently received a .22 pistol, and my son's mom wouldn't let him hold it. I don't know whether she knows (but I assume she does) that he has shot my HK .40 USP along with some rifles at a friend's house a few times.
I think it's important that he learn to respect guns and use them properly, so I'm considering getting something for him for Christmas.
So, the first question - should I start him out with a .22? I have looked at several possibilities. One is a Smith & Wesson M&P .22 pistol, seen here:
It's supposed to be a 1:1 copy of their larger caliber pistols. I played with it a bit and it's a really smooth pistol. Feels very nice in the hand. The other one that I have been gravitating towards is a little more "fun," I think. It's an H&K .22 AR-15 clone. This one is really well built, with metal parts where you expect metal parts on a "real" AR-15. As you can see, it's got all the rails that one would need to feel like they were building a true AR-15, and one day if he decided he wanted one, he could just sell this gun and move to a true AR platform gun.
Or, should I just go ahead and spend a few hundred more and get a "real" AR-15 or a larger pistol for him? I figure with a .22, he can shoot as much ammo as he wants and it's not going to cost much.
“If I posted this question on Facebook, I would expect these kinds of responses, but here on FR, I expected simple advice about the gun, nothing more. What has happened to this place?”
It is winter, it is cold and dark under the bridges, and the trolls are restless.
Ignore them. It is good for them as it raises their respiration rates and increases their adrenalin level - all of which keeps them warmer under their dank, cold bridge abutments.
As for firearms recommendations, I suggest whatever gun you and he can shoot together the most. Range time with Dad is priceless, and hunting (even if just squirrel or rabbit hunting) is even more memorable.
Ruger 10-22 or Marlin 60
“yeah well I guess because I am FEMALE I can tell when he is trying to get his wife’s goat better than you can, nabab”
May this mere male ask the Wise Female Lawyer what a “nabab” might be?
Absolutely agree! Even if you don't kill something, the bonding time is priceless.
I’m really not trying to “dig” at her. That’s not my style, and in fact it is more of her style to dig at me every chance she gets. I simply am acknowledging the fact that his (2 year younger) cousin received a pistol for an early Christmas present and that’s all my son talks about. Since I KNOW he will be around that gun, and all the other guns his cousin has, I would like him to learn about gun safety. The only way he’ll learn about gun safety where it will “stick” is if he has a gun of his own to learn with and practice with. I fully understand that his mother may not like it, and as I’ve stated, I was completely ready to accept “don’t buy him a gun” as advice from those on this thread. What I wasn’t prepared for was to have a blowhard question my fathering skills simply because I’m trying to do something nice for my son that will benefit him for the rest of his life.
For the record - I’ve never missed or even been late on a child support payment, I was an active Cub Scout leader and Cubmaster, I’m teaching him to drive, I taught him to swim, and I’m constantly teaching him about how to be respectful of other people, IN PARTICULAR his mother, who gets much more consideration from me than I’ve ever gotten from her. For instance, I take him out to buy birthday and Christmas presents for her, and every time that she’s ever come over to pick him up from me, I’ve made sure he was cleaned up and ready to go when she arrived. She’s never done any of that for me. He’s always in the middle of something when I get there (at my regularly scheduled time) and has to go around collecting his things before he even comes to the door to greet me. But somehow that makes me a “father” instead of a father. Up yours, yldstrk.
Since I forgot to ping her in my previous comment, I’m pinging the nagging harpie now.
Trust me, whatever you get him he’ll be happy!
The only time better to buy your son a firearm is his Birthday. Kinda like “coming of age”...
If it is a first gun, I’d get him a single-barrel 12 gauge. Easy to operate, ammunition is affordable, has multiple uses, and they generally make good starters that can be used that way for several generations. He can pass it own to his own son, someday.
Also, they are pretty reasonable in price. Reasonable enough I would almost buy one and ship it to your son just to piss off your ex-wife, because I find anti-gun women irritating.
The Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22 is another AR-15 look alike that should be considered. It’s a very nice, reliable yet sexy firearm and shoots beautifully.
This statement is nuts.
If we didn't get attached to our tools why would we have so many variants in saws and drills as well as guns?
I bought my wife a Marlin 45-70 lever action for Christmas. Not the most practical rifle and the rounds are really expensive and won't be plentiful if the zombies rise but it is a fun gun. Just like my Henry repeating rifle which is a gorgeous rifle too. Another nice thing about the Henry even shooting .45 Long Colt it has all of the recoil of a .22 Long.
If SHTF then we can resort back to our more practical AR's but until then we will get attached to and have loads of fun with as well.
Two years ago she gave me a Mosin for Christmas and it tickled my pink. So did the Kerig coffee maker she gave e last year.
Here is a picture of two of them laid out with tender loving care and a ping to a few people who have shot the Henry.
Get a pair of upland game bird over/under shotguns and shoot clays and hunt together. A shotgun is a big boom and kick that any kid loves and it gives you two outside activities you can do together. If you keep them at your place it will motivate him to plan for you and you can learn that craft together as father and son.
Those are beautiful rifles! :)
Facts can be beautiful, and they can be ugly.
Fact, the boy has 2 (two) distinct lives. 1st life, is that with his mother. 2nd, with his father. I could do a "War & Peace" response, but brevity is the soul of wit. So what happens at the mother's home should not impede, and or cause dysfunction, on what happens with the boy's father, and the time spent between the boy and father. In the real world the two (life's the boy has) shall not meet. The father will have to decide if the boy is old enough, to keep the two lives separate.
If the father deems that the boy can keep the two lives separate, then and only then act accordingly.
Now on to the issue at hand, handgun vs rifle or what was not mentioned at all a shotgun?
I'm a believer in tradition(s) father handing down to a son, his first cartridge shooting device. 22 rifle(s) Bolt Action, and or Single shot 410 shotgun(s), hands down. It's a No Brainer. Homer Simson DUH!!!!!!
And for those who think what I've recommended, I simply ask as a body & fender / welder, guy, do you buy a HIGH END SPORTS Car, for your kid's first car? If you do, also buy a plot in the cemetery, you'll need it. Only speaking after seeing the outcome over and over again, but what do I know.
HIGH END SPORTS Car no parent in the front seat, a little booze that their not old enough to purchase, but always seem to have, equals a one way trip to the cemetery, that's what I KNOW.
Thank you!
You have been given some excellent advice and for my two cents worth I agree with the AR-15 with a .22 conversion kit.
As to the up thread bitching please disregard it as some folks would gripe if you made them a BLT with extra bacon.
;<)
For the record, I only bitch when they use that “turkey bacon” crap.
“If it is a first gun, I’d get him a single-barrel 12 gauge.”
No, NO, NOOOO!
Those light weight b*stards kick like a mule with even trap loads. If such a weapon is ever handed to a novice shooter, PLEASE make sure it has a good recoil pad on it.
Don’t forget “Eyes & Ears”, lest that novice have permanent hearing damage from his first box of shells.
Don’t ask how I know about the above.
Buy him ammo, targets, cleaning kit, etc. for now.
Two good possibilities.
Some sort of .22 or a Taurus Circuit Judge.
The Circuit Judge is good for birds, small game, deer, target shooting, self defense, about the most versatile gun you can buy.
Shoots .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun shells. 5 shot revolver rifle shotgun in one.
As he ages, get him a Judge. 5 shot handgun, They make black, stainless and polymer. Shoots all the same ammo.
Stevens makes a combination 22 / 4 10 over and under that is a great starter. It is single shot. You have to lower the hammer if you don’t fire it. I think it’s an excellent weapon to train gun awareness with.
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