First time buyer questions

[Guest]

Greetings all! I am looking at purchasing my first handgun and shotgun. While I am not new to guns, been shooting for numerous years, I have never looked into purchasing any. My wife owns a Remington 870 and a Benelli B76. I don't want to look like a complete fool when I walk in to make my purchase.

With that said, I am looking for steps I need to accomplish prior to selecting and paying for my weapons of choice. I understand I need to pass the HSC test administered by a licensed CA firearms dealer or DOJ instructor.

I am located in the East Bay (Oakley - CoCo County) and was considering going to Irvington Arms (read a lot of good things on here about him). Could anyone provide me information prior to my purchase. Thanks

Oswald

[Ratters]

You only need to pass the HSC if you are getting a handgun and you can do it at the shop. If you do get a handgun when you pick it up you need to do a handling test showing that you can load and unload it safely but the store guy will demonstrate and walk you through it. Really no big deal. The HSC thing is really more of a tax than a safety measure.

Go in and tell them that you are looking at your first gun and they will help you out. Just remember that a lot of what you hear are opinions and not necessarily fact. For instance a guy in a shop recently was purchasing his first handgun and was directed to a compensated one because of the purchasers fear of recoil. My opinion on that is that the recoil difference is not nearly significant enough to warrant the disruption to night vision that compensated barrels cause by blasting to streams of flash right in the sight line. But hey, that's just my opinion. Just have a clear idea of what you really want the gun for and let the dealer know and most often they will steer you in the right direction.

BTW, Antioch Armory right near you is a good shop, I've had a couple good experiences there. And if you want to check out a larger range of firearms there is a gun show in Vallejo at the fairgrounds this Saturday and Sunday.

Irvington Arms is a great shop with a great owner, in fact I'll be there Wednesday to pick up a shotgun I had transfered, but his selection of new firearms is pretty limited, though he does have good prices on what he has. He has some really good deals on Kimbers right now too. And when I was in there last week he had a really nice CZ75 in .40S&W for $380, which is a great price for a very solid gun.

Hope this is sort of what you were looking for?

[Guest]

Ratters: Thank you for the input. I have already downloaded and am reading the HSC, most of which seems to be "common sense" but I can respect having to pass the test. So all these dealers like Irvington or Antioch will administer the test, correct?

I do have a very good idea of what I want when it comes to a handgun and a shotgun. I have shot both guns previously and now is the time to take the next step.

I will check out Antioch Armory today. I was planning a trip to Irvington on Saturday and if time permits on Saturday or early Sunday I might hit Vallejo!

Again, thanks for the information!

[imported_dadoody]

The HSC is very common sensical

ie.
"Where should you always have your gun pointed
a. At me
b. At you
c. At a baby
d. At your intended target

How many beers can you have before firing your weapon?
a.0
b.1
c.2
d.3
"

People who acctually NEED to study to pass, should not be owning a gun...


Anyways, the process is pretty simple. Long guns are the easiest to aquire without much problems. Handguns you just need to do the HSC and keep it in a safe place so you don't have to keep taking the test over again whenever you want to buy more handguns.

As for your first handgun, I would suggest going to the shooting range first and firing off all the guns that interest you if you don't have one in mind already. I should have done this when I first purchased, but I didn't and so I had the buyer's remorse for awhile.

I'm still looking into buying either a shotgun or an SKS. Will probably go to Big5 or turners unless I can find a better quality guns for less somewhere else.

[bu-bye]

"You can check out anytime you'd like, but you can ever leave..."

One to two guns is never enough as you will soon find out. Welcome to the club.

[icormba]

Originally posted by Oswald:
trip to Irvington on Saturday

If you go by Martin's shop (Irvington), try to make sure he is actually there and let him know you found his shop through the Calforums.

I've been in there on the weekends and it seems like a total different shop when he isn't there.

example...
One Saturday I went in to look at the Yugo SKS's and the guy there(not Martin) let me look at the 2 on the wall. That was it? The guy said yeah, but he had more in the back but couldn't bring them out. ??

I went back on a day Martin was there and asked the same thing again... Can I checkout the SKS's? He was busy that day, (also 1st time I met ROKIT88 & Ivananimal) but he still helped me out. I looked at the 2 on the wall again & he said he had 4 more in the back. He brought out 1 at a time for me to look at... per his offering! I kept running him in circles while he was running around helping other folks at the same time.

Well, I ended up buying 3 of the SKS's from Martin that day!

[ivanimal]

Well, I ended up buying 3 of the SKS's from Martin that day!

And they call me Animal!

[Guest]

Well after touring the East Bay on Friday and part of Saturday, stopping at some of the previous mentioned shops in this thread and others I ended up buying locally. Saturday I took the HSC, passed and purchased a Glock 22 and a Mossberg 500 from Antioch Armory. I will pick them up on the 21st.