What Should I Buy When I Get My Licence?
I get this question a lot from students, usually on Sunday afternoon before the final Restricted written/practical tests start. Students have been handling guns all weekend and are excited of owning their own firearms in the very near future.
My answer? "Buy a .22LR pistol and rifle."
Usually their faces sink because they want some heavy duty .45 1911 to go to the range with and already think the .22 is a wimp gun. The point is, as a new shooter you need to shoot as much as possible as often as possible. The best way to do this is to be able to afford to shoot as often as you can and a .22LR is the way to do it. Practice single hand and two handed hold at 5m then try going out to 20 yards. You'll be surprised how much skill it takes to punch tiny holes in paper at 20 yards single hand hold. I always recommend people try to buy a good quality Semi-Auto pistol with adjustable rear sights and at least a 6 inch barrel in .22LR There are a lot of them around the GTA and fairly affordable. They shoot amazingly well and are very easy to maintain and clean.
Somegreat brands to consider would be: The Ruger Mark IV, S&W Victory and the bet of the bunch, the Volquartsen Black Mamba (my personal favourite)
The next firearm I recommend is a bolt action Savage rifle in .22LR. Savage rifles are made in Ontario (Lakeview near Peterborough) and are not only affordable new but extremely accurate and have the amazing AccuTrigger which is fully adjustable and one of the best triggers out there.
My advice is, before you buy a 1911 chambered in .45, you should practice accuracy and your handling first. I can't tell you how many times I go to my ranges and see a shooter in their spiffy new shiny tactical pants shooting a target 10 feet away using two hand hold and missing the paper 7/10 shots fired! PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. You'll become a better shooter if you start on .22 and work your way up.