Taking into consideration the excellent info you good people have provided, I made my first firearm a Buckmark .22. I know its not a hand cannon of sorts but to learn how to shoot and how to shoot well it should serve me just fine. Now, I'm wondering about a few things:

1. Do I need to "break in" a gun? If so, which type of ammunition should I use?

2. What does ammo "gr" mean (180gr, 280gr...etc) Also on ammo, JHP =? FMJ =? CCI =? Also all kinds of terms like "sub-sonic" and "Hyper Velocity" come up. What the **** is all this?

3. Is there anything I should do/not do before and after I fire the gun for the first time?

Thanks in advance ladies and gents! Sorry for all the questions.

Taking into consideration the excellent info you good people have provided, I made my first firearm a Buckmark .22. I know its not a hand cannon of sorts but to learn how to shoot and how to shoot well it should serve me just fine. Now, I'm wondering about a few things:

1. Do I need to "break in" a gun? If so, which type of ammunition should I use?

2. What does ammo "gr" mean (180gr, 280gr...etc) Also on ammo, JHP =? FMJ =? CCI =? Also all kinds of terms like "sub-sonic" and "Hyper Velocity" come up. What the **** is all this?

3. Is there anything I should do/not do before and after I fire the gun for the first time?

Thanks in advance ladies and gents! Sorry for all the questions.


Congrats...good choice, no matter what else you shoot in years to come, a good .22 is still the most useful handgun.

1. Break in would be to just shoot it (after #3 below).
2. Gr. is an abbreviation for "grain" which is a unit of weight. Are 7000gr. in a pound. JHP is jacketed hollow pont...FMJ is full metal jacket...and the various velocity ratings are often listed as "sub-snoic" (below the speed of sound), Standard, hi-speed, and Hyper Velocity.
3. there is one thing I'll always do first: read the manual.

Welcome Weak Sauce -

You made an excellent choice! Keep posting your questions - that's what these forums are for. Have a great time and I totally agree - read the manual front to back.

When I get a new firearm - I always clean it first, even 'fresh' from the factory. It will have been fired at the factory and the spent case sent with the firearm. Cleaning the firearm forces me to read the manual first and also it familiarizes me with the firearm before I shoot it for the first time. If you have never disassembled a firearm before, just ask a friend who shoots; he/she should be glad to help.

For target practice (I have a Buckmark and S&W 617) I like to use the CCI standard velocity, which is barely (1070fps) sub-sonic. The bullets are not jacketed so you'll want to run some solvent swabs through through the barrel every 100-200 rounds, but they are great for target shooting. The bulk Remington hi-velocity gold-colored copper coated rounds are cheaper (you can buy them as a brick at Wal-Mart), and I shoot these out of my 10/22 which does not like unjacketed rounds. Eley is high-end stuff that is best shot out of higher-end bolt action target rifles.

Cheers,

Many thanks guys! Im currently disassembling/reassembling the buckmark now and I've just completed an order for several types of .22 lr boxes (nothing bulk) and will be heading out to the range as soon as they arrive. Hopefully I can find a decent shooting instructor to make the most of this new hobby.

Accuracy tip: Concentrate on keeping the front sight in the rear sight notch, then get the front sight on target. The least little amount of sight misalignment puts you further off centre than having aligned sights slightly off target. It's simple geometry, and with the sights on a handgun so close together compared to a rifle, the error gets big fast.

Bye
Jack

Accuracy tip: Concentrate on keeping the front sight in the rear sight notch, then get the front sight on target. The least little amount of sight misalignment puts you further off centre than having aligned sights slightly off target. It's simple geometry, and with the sights on a handgun so close together compared to a rifle, the error gets big fast.

Bye
Jack

Really hard to understand until after the fact...buty the vast majority of us (old hand and new guys aline) would have turned out to be much better shootsrs if there were someone standing directly behind us to wack us on the back of the head and yell "front sight" in our ear. The natual tendency is to look at the target...fight that tendency...keep that front sight razor sharp.

2. What does ammo "gr" mean (180gr, 280gr...etc) Also on ammo, JHP =? FMJ =? CCI =? Also all kinds of terms like "sub-sonic" and "Hyper Velocity" come up. What the **** is all this? All this **** gives the shooter a description of the ammo so that the correct ammo can be used for a particular purpose.
Examples:

For .22 cal. target or plinking, a solid nose standard velocity bullet is ideal as it is generally more accurate.

For .22 cal. hunting purposes a hollow point high velocity bullet may be more preferable as the bullet expands on impact and the higher velocity allows the bullet to shoot farther but with slightly less accuracy.

It's a good idea to pick up on all this ammo "lingo" as you may be paying more for features that you really don't need. Kinda like putting premium gas in a Volkswagen beetle. Enjoy your new gun! :D

Most handguns dont require a break in time. There might be some break in for higher caliber auto loaders, but revolvers and .22-.40 cal handguns dont usually need any break in time. Some .45acp pistols by the finer makes require some working in because they are so darn tight. Rifles in hot calibers usually have a break in time. They vary from make to make and caliber. Usually if a gun needs a break in, the owners manual will specify.