Hello everyone! I am new to the whole scene of firearms and shooting. My neighbor, who lived in PA for a while, lives back here next door and took me shooting for my first time at the Brick Armory right before they closed. So I've only shot his 3 handguns so far, a Ruger 22/45, Smith and Wesson M&P9c and a Springfield XD45. Since then I have (recently) acquired my FID card and applied for a permit to purchase a hand gun, which could take 4+ months to be approved. For a handgun I want to shoot and decide between a Ruger SR22 or Smith and Wesson M&P22 Compact (American made). In the meantime I have been debating picking up my first rifle, and as much as I would like a Ruger SR22 rifle or SW M&P 15-22, they are very expensive for what they are, so I'm probably going to end up with a Ruger 10/22 and I'll just customize it from there to my liking.

I live near the shore (northern Ocean County), and am excited to read up and learn as much as I can. I'm the kind of person who researches everything extensively before I make any purchases, so I tend to be more of a lurker until I have an idea of what I'm talking about, so for a while I'll just be browsing around