New shooter looking for help

[GTRich]

Hello all,

I posted this in the introductions, but I thought I would preface this post by re-introducing myself. I am a freshman and Army ROTC cadet. I've loved my time in ROTC, but at times I feel the training is less than adequate, and the majority of attention is paid to the third-year cadets before they go to the Leader Development and Assessment Course.

Anyway, this is the weapons forum, and my question does pertain to shooting. Seeing the Lawyer's post about .22s made me think about posting there, but I didn't want to hijack his thread. I was raised by liberal gun-hating parents. The only rifle I have ever fired was an M16 at AP Hill at an ROTC event. We only fire twice a year here, and I seriously doubt that this is enough for me to gain an adequate level of proficiency with a weapon. Even if it is, I really just want to shoot more.

Would getting a fairly inexpensive rifle help my skills with an M16? I have been told by some of my friends from more gun-friendly parts of this great nation that I should get a .22 rifle and .22 pistol, that both would be a good, inexpensive way to improve my firearm familiarity. Would this help? I was planning on taking basic rifle and pistol courses offered by the NRA anyway, but would extensive practice with civilian weapons boost my proficiency with the M16?