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About dry firing. I used to use info available for gun before deciding whether or not to dry fire. Owners manuals will usually tell you if manufacturer recommends against dry firing, but often says nothing if they think its okay. I like to dry fire a new revolver several thousand times before taking it out to shoot for real because the action smooths and lightens during that period.

When I bought a BNIB Colt Anaconda .44mag, the manual said nothing about dry firing. So I called the company and spoke to a technical expert. He said no amount of dry firing would hurt, and snap caps weren't necessary. So I dry fired several thousand times over a period of many days. Action smoothed and lightened and stabilized. Then I took the gun to the woods. She failed to fire on the third round. Broken firing pin. Did the firing pin break because of all the dry firing without snap caps? I don't know. But I'm suspicious. After that I've always used snap caps, even for just a few dry fires of guns supposedly unharmed by dry firing.
 
Which is why one should seek competent training rather than rely on boobtube.
A LOT, and I do mean a LOT of the "wrong info" I had to unlearn came from the days before Al invented the net. Not knowing anything it was easy to learn the wrong way from people who had been doing it a long time and "seemed" to know what they were doing. The difference with the net is you can find TON's of info and it's far easier to sort out the "experts" who are self appointed and know little from the people who really do know what they are talking about. One of the most blatant examples of poor, to dangerous advice I have seen over many decades came from people who worked in a shop and called themselves "trainers" or "experts". At times its all I can do to not say something when I hear one of them bending the ear of some novice.
 
"Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

This an uncommon thought, unfortunately. The saying is good for new owners to hopefully realize that they are 100% responsible for their gun.

-Robert
One of the top LE Agencies used to drill into their people, you are responsible for every round you fire. Just because a round hits something you did not intend to hit, its still all on you.
 
One of the top LE Agencies used to drill into their people, you are responsible for every round you fire. Just because a round hits something you did not intend to hit, its still all on you.
You're responsible for every round including what it hits on the way to the intended target, what it hits after going through target, what it hits when missing target, and what it hits ricocheting off of target. Make sure there's not another hunter on the other side of that deer. Bullets ricochet off water unless the angle of encounter is pretty steep.
 
Bullets ricochet off water unless the angle of encounter is pretty steep.
@hellotyler There's another good one! To remain on the safe side, NEVER shoot at water...

Also, I'll go back to what I said earlier about knowing the laws of your state WRT firearms use.

Also read up on the state's laws in terms of gun ownership. As much as I hate the Nanny-State and its ludicrous laws surrounding guns, you should familiarize yourself with those stupid laws.

Storage: If you have little kids in the home, or little kids visit your home, you need to be aware and take precautions for safe storage. Older kids, too... Suicidal kids and/or adolescents kyping your gun and shooting their classmates is gonna come back on you if they acquired the gun at your house. Now, granted, most of the time these "safe storage" laws will render the firearm useless for its intended purpose (self/home-defense), but if a kid gets hurt or killed cuz you left your gun lying around where they could get it, you're gonna fry for it.

Same with transfers... Know the legal definition of what a firearms "transfer" really is. It has a very specific meaning. In WA, loaning your firearm to a non-family member constitutes a crime (technically, you can't even loan it to a family member; it has to be a bona fide gift). If you loan your gun to someone, then under the law, you just transferred possession of the firearm to someone who did not go through a BGC for that transaction. And you'll fry for it.

The above are WA State laws, and your laws in OR may be different. As I said, know YOUR state's laws. Your clowns in Salem just passed a storage law last week that Gauleiter Brownshirt will undoubtedly sign. See this thread on SB 554.
 
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2) Buying anything "tactical" before even having skills and knowledge to use what they already own
Don't feel 'incentivised' to buy anything 'tactical' at all if it does not interest you.

The 'traditional' world of gun of gun ownership is alive and well so don't feel 'pressured' by what you might think is the 'norm' by today's standards.
 
Don't feel 'incentivised' to buy anything 'tactical' at all if it does not interest you.

The 'traditional' world of gun of gun ownership is alive and well so don't feel 'pressured' by what you might think is the 'norm' by today's standards.
Well, for clarity, the word "tactical" is flim flam marketing more than anything now.
 
On the same note, many years ago a friend had a number of .38 special rounds fail to fire in his police surplus S&W model 10. What's he do? He brings them home, paints the heads with nail polish to identify them and proceeds to use them as snap caps.
So... what could possibly go wrong? Well at least he was aiming at the dart board and not the TV... So... one 158 gr rnl thru the dart board, the wall and into the dirt bank on the other side of the lawn. Thankfully there weren't any kids playing on the lawn...
Good lord...I'd lose that friend quickly. That has to be one of the dumber things I've heard.
 
Don't feel 'incentivised' to buy anything 'tactical' at all if it does not interest you.

The 'traditional' world of gun of gun ownership is alive and well so don't feel 'pressured' by what you might think is the 'norm' by today's standards.

THIS!

Cate
 
There will be times when you are shooting with other people and there is no RO (Range Officer) present.
You have to police yourself in that case.

When the range is declared "cold" and people are downrange to service their targets and you are back near the "line"... STEP AWAY FROM THE SHOOTING AREA (TABLES, BENCHES ETC) AND DO NOT TOUCH ANY FIREARMS UNTIL EVERYONE IS BACK AT THE LINE.

"cold" range means you are under a cease fire.
"line" means area where you shoot from.
 
Don't think every firearm is the same. Just because you know one, doesn't mean you know all.

Never buy from cheaper than dirt.com

Don't "adjust" firearms in a holster.

Don't get complacent. Complacency kills.
A gun is always loaded. Especially Glocks.
You have to pull the trigger to disassemble.
Check for a round before doing that. Then check a couple more times.

Don't engage in problems just because you have a gun. Stay clear of them. Run from them. Unless you have NO other choice.

Learn the law. Follow it.
 
Something worth mentioning that isn't related to safety would be to clean the bore before firing. They usually ship with a good amount of oil and other contaminants.

On the safety side of things go to a real firearms safety course that includes use of force instruction. If that sounds to intimidating, hunter safety courses are also useful even if you don't intend to hunt. They cover safe use and handling of a variety of guns.
 
When shooting firearms of different calibers never have all of the ammo available on the bench. Only have the ammo for the particular rifle/handgun that you are currently firing open and available.
When I was a younger 'dad', I took the kids to the range to go shooting. I had one son on the bench to the left of me and my other son to the bench to the right of me. While helping them get setup with their 22's I mistakenly grabbed a 30/30 round and chambered it into a 7.62x54. It fit, it locked, and it went boom. That wasn't a good day. Lol
 
Well, he says in the second paragraph that it is a SA revolver... As to what the gnashing sound was, I haven't a clue...

Whole lotta good info for newbies here. I sure hope the OP returns to this page and reads up.

@OldBroad44's advice is especially important not just for new shooters, but for all of us to remember. We've all experienced FTFs, but as she says, not many of us have had squibs in our own firearms. I never have, but I was present when my instructor was shooting a USPSA match, and he got one. As many here might know, a USPSA or IDPA match is run for points AND fastest time, so squeezin' that trigger happens really fast. Plus, you train yourself to shoot really fast double-taps in the sport. But my instructor noticed the different sound, and ceased firing before his second shot. He took a totally crap score for that stage since he failed to finish it, but his gun survived, as did he, and the rest of us watching. Squib loads is not something I hear a lot of people saying very much about...
And the sound of a squib round may not be very different. I was shooting my .32acp 1903 Colt when on one shot something just didn't sound right. The slide cycled and all, but it just seemed like a weird sound. I stopped and opened the chamber, and a new unfired round popped out, so my next pull of the trigger would have fired it. With the slide locked open and the magazine removed I looked down the bore and couldn't see daylight.

At home I removed the barrel and used a wooden dowel and a padded machinist vice to push the slug out. No harm done. But I don't like to think about what might have happened had I pulled that trigger one more time.

BTW, always be suspicious of old ammo. The round in question was in a box that had been hanging around forever. The price tag read $2.95 and it was from a hardware store that had gone out of business 30 years earlier. I disposed of the rest of that box.
 

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