4 great beginner firearms for $500 or less.

REMINGTON 870/MOSSBERG 500

These two shotguns are arguably the most popular 12 and 20 guage shotguns available to the American market. They have an effective range of 40m for most shots and can be effective with slugs as far out as 200m. Having been the bedrock of American sporting since the 50's, modifications are widely available. They will suit just about any purpose, from home defense to hunting.

$275 - $400

MOSIN NAGANT

The Mosin Nagant has been in production since 1891. Where there is armed conflict, there are Mosin Nagants. This rifle has seen combat from WW1 to war in Donbass and Aleppo. It is the ultimate beginners rifle.

It is a bolt action rifle with a 5 round internal non-detachable magazine chambered in 7.62x54mmR. With a few hundred rounds of practice, shooters can effectively engage man sized targets at 300m and area targets at 800m.

While it is not necessarily an effective weapon for hunting or self defense, there is no better rifle to learn the fundamentals of marksmanship on. Ammo is dirt cheap and the weapon is cheaper. An estimated 17.5 million have been made with about 1 million being imported to the United States in the last decade. In 2012 I purchased my piece for $95.

$100 - $300

GLOCK

The Glock is an Austrian made handgun that is the keystone of American Law Enforcement firearms. It is a short recoil "safe action" firearm with three independent safeties. It is a robust, safe, simple, and reliable handgun with consistent accuracy and operation. A shooter can become very proficient with this handgun in only a few hundred rounds. There are many models of the Glock available ranging from .380 to 10mm. The most common models are 9mm, .45, and .40.

$475 - $1200

SAVAGE ARMS .223

The Savage Arms .223 is the rifle to learn long range shooting on. I've seen too many shooters buy larger caliber rifles to learn but fail to learn to consistently shoot at distances past 500m due to the cost of ammo. Averaging at 23 cents a round, a shooter can get 1000 rounds of experience on this platform for around $200. The same would cost around $500 for .308 and just under $1000 for common hunting rounds like 7mm, 30-06, and .270.

I highly recommend A Vortex Deadhold II Scope and a Harris bipod as fantastic beginner equipment. ($250 - $350)

$400 - $500

(As a side note, the M&P .380 Bodyguard is great for those those with small hands. A great piece for teaching kids to shoot or individuals hesitant to shoot larger weapons.)

$300 - $500

(Not a cat) Tax

(EDIT: This is my own personal opinion and the first four firearms I personally owned after giving alot of thought to what would be the best for development of my skill, long term use, universal use, and most of all price. I see alot of beginners drop thousands on weapons when they dont even have basic marksmanship fundamentals. These four weapons are what I consider to be the cheapest route to the most complete collection.)

FP Edit; Send ammo