Anywhere to keep a gun BESIDES my house?

[phrogg]

I'm 17 years old, and my parents are completely anti-gun. They don't want me keeping a gun in the house at all whatsoever. I want to buy a Mosin-Nagant 1891/30, in really good condition, from one of my local sporting goods stores for $80, then just buy milsurp ammo from online (found two cans, 440 rounds each, $120 shipped).

My dad told me he'd let me buy a gun and keep it under his name if I could find somewhere secure to keep the gun besides my house. I could probably drag my dad shooting with me once in a while, and I could definitly get written permission to go shooting alone (that's all you need in California - i rented a gun, bought ammo, and spent the day shooting without a parent present, all legally).

Basicly, aside from my parents hating guns, my older brother is somewhat psycho. He's 18, and I doubt he's moving out anytime soon, so my parents do have a good reason for all this.

I looked into keeping it at one of my friend's houses, but I only know one person who might let me do that, and it wouldn't really be practical for me to drive 45 minutes up to his house, 45 minutes back, then half an hour to the nearest shooting range to go shooting.

Does anyone know of any gun clubs near Folsom or Sacramento, CA that would let me store a gun in one of their gun safes? Does anyone know if it's even possible for me to store a gun at a gun club or somewhere like that? I'd really like to get into shooting, and maybe even competitions, because I'm a good shot and have a lot of fun with it.

[BattleRifleG3]

That was my situation when my mother and I lived with a mentally ill relative, though I was of age to at least buy my own guns. I kept my guns with friends an hour away. If you have any friends that shoot, I'd suggest doing so with them and keeping your guns with theirs, even if it's farther away. Also the best way to keep on top of your skill and safety.

If that's all settled and your father's willing to help you buy the gun, that's great. Parents can warm up to guns if they have the opportunity to try them as well. One grave warning I'd offer from experience is that parents can have a harder time learning such things from their kids, and that they may act in an unsafe manner. Mine felt the need to pick up my shells in front of my chanbered semi-auto, or try to grab it from me while in a similarly hot state. Just be mindful of the need for maximum safety awareness. Having them read up and reviewing it beforehand is a good idea, so that they don't dangerously question your judgement on the spot.

Don't get me wrong, parents are wise people, but they're just as dangerous with a gun as you would be without the same safety training you have. I guess I'm pretty adamant on that because I saw the safety risks first-hand, and I think my parents handled guns a long time ago.

All that said, if being 17 is a big difficulty to getting a rifle, consider how quickly that won't be the case. It really goes by faster than you think. If you're already having to keep it away from home, and have the means to rent various rifles at your age, I'd recommend waiting on buying a gun.

On the other hand, if by some miracle you can help your parents to understand guns better, that's a golden opportunity. Regardless of their gun owning practices, all parents (heck, people) should understand guns because they are a reality in this world whether we like it or not. They are machines with serious yet limited capabilities. And knowledge is power, no matter who you are.

[Big Dog]

You and your Dad might look into getting a gun safe - one of the smaller models, usually a hundred bucks or so at K-mart for a six-gun locker. Keep the gun in the safe, the bolt and ammo locked away elsewhere (pad-locked ammo can), a cable lock thru the action and magazine body (floorplate open). No way for Brother to misuse it.
Make sure you have the only key.

[SPOCAHP ANAR]

You could always buy a small safe for about 30$ and give y our dad the key and lock the bolt in it so that only he will have access to it.


If your parents were anti gun they wouldn't let you own one period. I presume they just have a fear of guns.

You can't buyb ammo unless through the mail unless you are 18.

[phrogg]

Originally Posted by Big Dog

You and your Dad might look into getting a gun safe - one of the smaller models, usually a hundred bucks or so at K-mart for a six-gun locker. Keep the gun in the safe, the bolt and ammo locked away elsewhere (pad-locked ammo can), a cable lock thru the action and magazine body (floorplate open). No way for Brother to misuse it.
Make sure you have the only key.

Well, I tried convincing him of something like that, and he forbade me to keep a gun safe in the house as well. Bah.

As for buying ammo, I'm sure he'd buy it for me from online then just tell me to put it somewhere else as soon as possible.

Basicly, my dad doesn't like guns, and my mom completely hates them. I've got airsoft guns, which are basicly replica weapons that shoot plastic, but the best ones get groups of about 6 inches at 25 yards. My parents aren't completely anti-gun, just mostly anti-gun, and they realize that they can't keep me away from the things.

I think I might just have to convince my friend to let me keep my gun at his house and get into competition rifle shooting with me. Worst case, he said he might be making a rifle range up there on his property (I've shot his 9mm pistol and his shotguns there before), so maybe I can just convince him to let me shoot up there and steal my rifle for competitions once in a while.

[BattleRifleG3]

I'd suggest doing everything you can to help your friend. A private range of private property is gold. It takes some simple effort to upkeep, so doing your part will make all the difference. And keeping the rifle there seems like the best idea going. Getting a friend involved is even better. Something somewhat lacking in shooting alone.

[sum1_special]

not trying to discourage you but... what's the rush? if your parents can't stand the sight of it and you cant keep it in your house then in my opinion its not a good idea to get a mosin, why not just wait until you move out of there? i think it would be a much better idea to shoot your friends guns or rent some when you go to the range. military surplus rifles take a lot of work to maintain. they are not something you can shoot whenever you want and put away for long storage like a .22. military surplus ammo is corrosive, you will need to throughly clean the rifle after shooting it or it will rust. and since the gun is over 50 years old you also have to deal with a lot of problems when you get it, which unless you practically live at your friends house would best be taken care of at home; disassembly & reassembly, cosmoline, sticky bolt, rust, pitting, firing pin protrusion(which if not set right could cause the gun to explode and kill you), ammo and firearm storage, cleaning supplies, ect. you also have to clean a gun a special way... so basically, unless you have a workshop, of which you dont, i wont recommend the gun to you nor any other surplus rifle.

The Mosin Nagant M1891/30 was my first gun all i can say is that it caused great heartache along with great joy. i had to learn so much and put so much work into it that i'm surprised my hair hasn't turned white from the stress, hell, i'm still learning!. just about every surplus rifle is a pain in the @$$ to maintain...

so what do I recommend for a first gun? a .22 rifle. you can put thousands of rounds through it without cleaning and then just throw it in a closet. recoil is low and ammo is god awfully cheap, so you can shoot until the rifle falls apart. But if I were you i'd still wait until i move out to buy a gun...

may I ask why you even want a gun? i had a friend who bought his first rifle just to show it off to everyone, not a very good reason if you ask me.

[Thrawn]

If you want a Moisin, better buy it now before I get 'em all.:right: If you use the supplied sling, you don't have to leave it anywhere. Just keep it shouldered.
(I'm not much help am I?)

[whirlwind]

bottom line is your a minor and its mom and dads house and their rules. they brought ya into this world so respect their ideas and wishes till ya move out on your own then do what ever ya want to. im guessing that since your parents are so anti-gun that youve not had alot of exposure to firearms,if that is so,please have the maturity to go get educated about firearms safety from someone who is schooled in it. we need all the young shooters we can get and we dont need ya to shoot yourself or someone else because of just not knowing the facts. i hope ya keep the interest in shooting! good luck bro!

[sum1_special]

oh, and one more thing i forgot to mention. your getting your a$s ripped off on the ammo.

have a nice day

[Shaun]

check with AllenT he lives in the area and may be of some assistance but at 17 you are limited -- it would be a better option if you waited until 18 and found a nice apt. then you can have what ever you wanted -- LIncoln may still have a good gun club or you can check for the sac gun club in Ione.

[Despoiler]

I was not going to respond to this thread. As Shaun said, yes I live in the area, but no you cannot store your guns at my house. Like Shaun said check with Sac Valley Range or Cordova Shooting Center.

I think the bigger issue is the situation with your parents, they are your parents and they don't want you have a gun. Honor their wishes instead of trying to find a way around what they want. As others have said it will be soon enough that you are 18 and then you can move out and do what ever you wish.

I am glad that you have found an enthusiasm for shooting. You can rent guns at both ranges that I mentioned. If you and your dad would like to go shooting some time PM me. I have a couple of mosins that I would let you two shoot.

Just my 2 cents.

[BattleRifleG3]

You know how they say you start to respect your parents a lot more after you've been away from home for while? While your opinion will most likely improve the most, so will there's. Show that you can make good decisions and they'll respect you a lot more. Regarding guns, if they're actually accepting of the idea of you having one elsewhere, I'd say go with it and show good judgement in the whole situation. 18 isn't a long way off anyway, so waiting till them may be the best idea, but in either case taking responsibility and showing that you can make good decisions can go a long way. Some times you have to respectfully disagree with them, and when you're an adult, it's a lot easier to actually go by your own decision instead of going by there's and being convinced that they're wrong. Sometimes you look back and think realize they knew more than you gave them credit for, sometimes you look back and still believe you did the right thing, but can be more respectful than ever of their position.

As I've said, I've been in a slightly similar position, having parents not entirely comfortable with having guns and having a family member who was mentally ill. Building trust and MUTUAL respect is the best thing you can do, however long it takes, however old you are. BTW, tht has everything to do with other good decisions, ie driving responsibly, choosing good friends and activities, drinking your milk, staying in school, and not doing drugs... You get the idea

[rodekill]

Just an idea......got an uncle or grandparent that lives near?
I had a similar condition (my wife is "fearful" of firearms) when the kids were younger I had to keep my only gun (single shot .22) dis-assembled and in the back garage.
patience is character building, I waited 22 years to start buying guns and I can be a character :gangster: :joker:
Now we have about 8 between my son and myself!

[phrogg]

...Ok, some of that stuff you people said is just wrong. I know all about gun safety (learned it in fourth grade), I've had exposure enough to firearms to know what I'm doing, I'm not being "immature" and trying to be a rebel or "get one over on my parents"... I want to go shooting. It's fun, and I'm good at it. It's too expensive for me to go renting guns like I did one day when I went to Cordova, and even if I did have the money, my dad wouldn't want to go spend all the time it takes to go shooting with me every weekend.

My parents aren't opposed to me shooting, rather just to me keeping a gun in the house. They gave me written permission to go to Cordova, rent a gun, buy ammo, and spend the day shooting, so I went on my own and had a day of fun.

I've got airsoft guns, which look like real ones (just with orange paint on the end), so they see those things all the time. They just wouldn't feel safe with a real rifle in the house, as opposed to something that shoots plastic. I can sure understand where they're coming from, too, because my brothers really can be stupid most of the time.

As for .22s... well, I can't buy .22 ammo until I'm 21 anyway, right? I may as well buy a pistol if I'm going to get one of those. The problem with that is that I wanted to go be a heli pilot in the military, so the pistol would just be sitting in my friend's safe registered under my dad's name for whenever my friend or his dad wants to use it... Not so practical, but definitly later in life.

AllenT - I'd love to do that sometime. Cordova is only about a half hour drive away from me. I'll get some money together and I'll see what I can do about getting the day's ammo to be on me - Milsurp isn't that expensive, and the guns just need a bunch of cleaning after, right? I'd be happy to help you with that, too.

[BattleRifleG3]

I would just reiterate (if I said so already) that if you have a friend who owns property you can shoot on, I would keep the gun(s) with him. Better than a friend who might live closer but cause an even greater drive to go shooting. Go there, shoot your guns, clean your guns, spend quality time, and go home. If you don't have a friend who owns or is close to a shoting range for the drive to be economical, then shooting isn't economical.

Good luck however you go about it, and safe shooting!