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I'd recommend starting to carry around your house. You can start carrying unloaded if you'd prefer so you can get used to it. Then when you feel comfortable you can carry loaded. Getting the permit is easy, I just took some online course, but what's important is your safety and comfort level. From a safety standpoint, becoming comfortable with your firearm is essential.

As far as at home practice, I really enjoyed having this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NKY23E/ You can get it in other calibers too. It's not perfect, but it helped me practice my aim, especially while drawing. Its not necessary and I know it's not really cheap, but I really enjoyed having it when I first got into firearms and carrying. It helped me a lot with my accuracy. You can even buy targets that will beep or fall down when the laser hits them, but I didn't feel like it was necessary. I just focused on an outlet or something else small across the room and feel like it was good enough.

If you want real live firing training, I can't really help you there because I've never done it. What I've seen and what seems to make the most sense is ask your ranges near you if they offer private lessons focused on CCW or shooting from a holstered position.

Best of luck and am always happy to hear of another CCW person here. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a story of a citizen carrying helped stop a deadly situation that could have been a lot more deadly!

Reloading is a rabbit hole, you can spend so much time chasing the umpteenth thousandth of an inch of accuracy. Guys will hem and haw over the most minuscule details, brand loyalty, etc. I don't subscribe to that. I'm assuming you want "good enough for hunting and hitting your intended target at 600 meters and in".

You are asking about bottle necked calibers which have a few extra steps in the process but honestly you don't need all that much.

If you want to absolutely cheap out and "rounds produced per hour" (rate) isn't a concern you could easily do all that for sub $500. Something like the RCBS Supreme Kit has most of what you need, throw in dies and a cheap way to trim bass and you're in business. I spent my first two years reloading on a sub $300 kit in my apartment. My setup was a little tabletop box I could clamp to my kitchen counter and store in a broom closet.

If you're willing to go a little higher you can get a progressive press, which allows each pull of the handle to do multiple steps. This exponentially increases your rounds produced in a given time and does not sacrifice quality. Something along the lines of the Hornady LnL Auto or the Dillon 550-ish series are solid. I'd say probably $700 or so and if you can afford the little extra the boost to productivity is worth it. On my single stage I can reload about 50 rounds an hour and each round takes multiple strokes of the handle, fiddling with the press between steps, and can be frustrating. On my progressive that shoots up to 300+ pretty easily. Most progressive presses can be switched into manual mode essentially giving you a single stage press without all the fuss.

Reloading will NOT save you money unless you dedicate yourself to casting your own bullets or are shooting odd calibers. Even then the argument can easily be made that you'd be better off working extra hours and buying ammo with that cash.

Reloading WILL give you ultimate control over your ammo.

If you're in NoVa Elite Shooting Sports has a little reloading bar / area you can check out some stuff. They also offer some clinics but I haven't had a chance to sit through one.

We brought the plastic tables and some steel we setup at 100 yards. Some dude rolled up with like 6 Hanging steel target stands and some carboard stands, it was impressive. We usually toss down a few Orange ground bouncing targets and put up a few spinning targets and things like that to shoot at and usually supplement it with hopefully a pallet thats there and availible. They have steel torso targets you're free to shoot at too at like 80 and 100 yards, I had good luck on them with my P220 in 10mm and my g17L pistols

I paid for his course back when I first got my CCW. Excellent material. Excellent hands-on/live-fire. I highly recommend his training.

It was very heavy on the when and the why of using.

Combined with Andrew Branca's excellent Law of Self Defense (unrelated to fpftraining) and you should have a very solid foundation of the mechanics, the morals, the situational awareness, and the laws of concealed carry and self defense.

Thanks! Any recommendations on a good kit? I hit analysis paralysis last night looking at all the pros/cons of various tools and accessories last night. Do I need a bore guide? Can I keep using the aluminum pole I have for my .22 with different tips or should I upgrade to fiberglass?

Is the accutrigger setting mostly preference? Any reason to start higher or lower?

For hitting the range I got lucky. I have two friends who were former firearms instructors. One for the FBI, one for the USMC. They're both going to get me going on rifles.

Went with these guys to protect the scope
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00162OGRY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had an amazing time, getting to shoot basically every service rifle used in WW2 all in the same day was awesome.

Many thanks to the guys who shuttled my girlfriend and I up to the range and back down again. To the gentleman who gave us a ride back down (whose username I didn't get), the racks I use for my ammo cans are the MTM AC4C. Next time we're definitely borrowing a truck and maybe camping for the weekend.

Well, if the room is sealed, dehumidifiers can be run where they turn on and off on their own.

If you go the other route, seal it up as best you can and throw one of these in there.

You can also buy some test strips to see how good of a job it and the seal are doing.

I'd recommend Sterling Arsenal/Critical Koting. Best in the area IMO, and competitive pricing too. You could also use something like this gun blue kit for cheaper yourself.

I agree with this, and I'd like to say spend some money on a set of roll pin starter and roll pin punch set.

And wow, my full service, machine-shop smith, only charges $65/hr. I know that good work costs $$$, but.... Wow


edit: and some masking/electrical tape. Its not hard, but a modicum of appropriate tools and preventive measures for oopsies, is relatively cheap.

The short version for now is I would recommend this holster

Blackhawk Sportster Standard Holster with Belt Loop and Right Paddle with Matte Finish (Glock 19/23/32/36) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007YJYAAG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_VSpQAbAJD56Z6

It's the same holster I use, it's cheap, it's great, and it'll get here by Friday so you can use it Saturday.

I'll have more info later about using your existing holster when I'm not at work and can get behind my keyboard.

> post office / federal buildings

Be careful, the parking lot is considered federal land too.

>Seriously people they are like $20 to protect against smash and grabs.

That's probably not going to stop anyone, unfortunately. :/ When I was looking at small quick access lock boxes the best I could find was Fort Knox's pistol box. I know you said smash and grab, so I think anything that box would guard against is probably accomplished just by hiding your gun. IE: Take off that NRA sticker and stop wearing that ask me about my glock t-shirt. :)

I put in my name for email registration and hopefully it'll go through.

I have a question about sling. I have an AR rifle with a 2-point sling on QD mounts. Is that type of sling allowed for the lesson? Do I need to get different style of sling?

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edit: I'm registered for this weekend and joining /u/Austin-117 for weekend shooting lesson..anyone else joining from /r/VAGuns?

There are a large number of Security Bit sets that have a variety of bits that may work. For example, there are some that have two pins called "spanner" which are in this kit. You may be able to get two of the prongs into yours and then unscrew it.