Hello . . .

I suggest a good bolt-action .22 rifle, perhaps a CZ-452. Start with open sights and eventually move to a scope. Eventually you might wish to try a good .22 semi-automatic rifle such as a Ruger 10-22. Eventually, if your interest in shooting develops and you want to advance to deer hunting or the like, you might wish to explore a .243 Winchester or 6mm Remington or .257 Roberts or 25-06 or .260 Remington and a number of other low-recoil, excellent performance, wonderful cartridges.

I also recommend you contact the local gunshops in your area and ask the people there where the gun ranges are, and whether anyone at the shops gives instruction on firearms safety and the basics of shooting. You're likely to come across some very good people who would be glad to take you under their wing and coach you into becoming a fine shooter.

TWD

If you are looking for ranges in Ohio I assume you will be hunting in Ohio, therefore hunting deer with a rifle is out of the picture. Quite honestly, if you own a 12 or 20 gauge shotgun and a .22 you can effectively hunt all animals in Ohio. The only thing other than a .22 rimfire and 12 gauge I use is a .22-250, which I shoot ground hogs with. If you are having trouble finding a range in your area and you live in the country you can build your own backstop by mounding up a dirt pile about 4 feet high and 6 feet long and shoot into that, just make sure the area behind the backstop is safe. I would start with the .22 rimfire to get the basics of safe handling, shooting, and cleaning downpat then buy your shotgun and get a skeet thower to practice with. I warn you though, once you start shooting you will soon find yourself spending all available time and money on practice, guns, ammo, and gear.

There are public ranges listed on the DNR website at:

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/wild_resourcessubhomepage/shooting_infol...

I go to Tranquility in Adams county. Ask somebody at your gun shop what rifle they recommend in the .22-.25 caliber range.

The nice thing about a .22 is that you can learn by putting a lot of rounds through it without breaking the bank or shoulder. A .243 would give you big game capabilities.

For a shotgun, I would recommend a Remington 870 youth model (unless you are a six foot tall lady then I would go with an adult version) in 20 gauge. A 410 is the shotgun version of a .22, but if you step up to the 20 gauge you will have more versitility out of your shotgun. And the "youth" notation is strictly referring to the length of the stock.

Pistol, a .38 cal revolver is one of the best. Automatics tend to be hard to operate because of the spring-loaded slide. They also have the potential to jam. Jams and misfires are more difficult to learn to clear in an auto. Revolvers don't jam, and if it misfires all you have to do is pull the trigger for the next round.

Consider single-shot guns. They force you to be more deliberate and concentrate on one shot at a time. I am a big fan of single-shot long-guns (rifles/shotguns). When hunting , the first shot is the important one anyway.

What ever you get, you will be able to operate with a little instruction. Don't let other people's opinions scare you off. Lighter cal. guns allow you to get away with less than perfect form, but even the fairest of ladies can shoot the biggest of guns with practice.

I used to live in Southeastern OH (Marietta), I went to college in North Central (Ashland), and live in Central. Up in Ashland there is a gun club with an outdoor range, down in Marietta there's the Fort Harmar rifle range, and near here there are quite a few ranges in Delaware, Columbus area, Lancaster, etc.. Just look up ranges online, you can get directions and everything. Most of my shooting is done on private land though, mostly for convenience.

I would go get yourself a Mossberg 500 or Remington 870 shotgun. NEF/H&R make a very affordable pump gun too, as well as a pretty good variety of single shot shotguns and rifles that are even more affordable.

If you really want to become a crack shot, get yourself a Savage or Marlin (again, you can get an H&R single shot for even less) target rifle in .22LR. so you don't break the bank and shoot it as much as you can. Fire it standing, kneeling, sitting, and prone.

You seem like you're already not very recoil sensitive, so maybe you should check out big game rifles now too. Who knows what the prices will do, so if you are interested, I would buy now. The Marlin XL7s or XS7s are excellent, accurate guns, all for under $350.

Buying guns feels expensive at first, but when you're shooting them 50 years later, you don't mind so much.

Just get out there and shoot as much as you can, try out as many guns as you can. You shouldn't have any trouble finding people that are more than willing to teach you anything you want to know about guns and hunting.

I would agree with what has been said here, except for shotguns. You should look at an autoloader or an over and under, they are easier to use for someone just starting out. All you have to do is load them and then pull the trigger. They are going to be more expensive, but you don't have to think about anything else but the target and the trigger.

Get ya a Ruger 10/22. It's a semi-automatic .22 rifle that's super reliable, very accurate, doesn't kick, and a blast to shoot. I got one for my first gun, and I still have it and love shootin' it 22 years later! I've put probably 15,000 rounds through the thing, and it just keeps going, very accurately too. I live in Mo, so can't help ya w/firing ranges, but unless human nature is drastically different in Ohio than it is in Missouri, I can't imagine a 21 year old female wanting someone to help her go shootin could be too much of a problem. Good luck.

You can get a Savage Mark II in 22LR, its all camo with a Simmons 4X32 scope mounted on it, I have the same rifle in 17 HMR (which in my opinion is a better round then the 22). Savage makes very accurate arms and the one I mentioned you can get for about $370, if the camo throws you off they have one thats all black too. They rifle is perfect for practice and small game hunting, I will include the links for you to check out.

http://savagearms.com/markII_xpcamo.htm

http://savagearms.com/markiifvxp.htm

Either rifle won't break the bank and you get it all set up with scope and all, mine is shooting dimes out to 100 yards and is an excellent small game/varmint rifle.

Good luck!

sorry about the double post before, but I stand to correct myself. The all black Mark II has an MSRP of $307 and the camo Mark II $432. I got my all camo 17 for $369.99 at Cabela's, with tax it came to just shy of $400

Everyone hits some great points but overlooked a major one, CLEANING. Once you get you gun Buy a cleaning manual for it.