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I am in the market for some firearms. Any suggestions on where to get good deals and legal? I dont know when the Del Mar gun show is but will look into it. Would that be a good place to buy? I dont mind used if not abused. Any advice appreciated.

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U just missed the gunshow, there will prolly be another one in July. great place to buy stuff if you know exactly what you want, and you know your stuff. Just like any swapmeet type deal there's plenty of people trying to tell you things are something they aren't. But if you know what you want you can find it there.

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The folks at EEE (Triple E) are cool. Good deals for LEOs.

Yup, you just missed a pretty good gun show.

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Turners sucks. So does Duncans. So do the gun shows, unless you head a bit up north to OC, or out to SAR in Phoenix, or you want to buy beef jerky, glass unicorns, t-shirts, or stuff miwall sells. Only shop I'd bother with is in Solana Beach or Escondido, but it all depends on what you're looking for. Plinking, carry, self defense, home defense, precision, hunting, 3 gun, zombies, wall hangers...whatcha gonna do? I might have some more suggestions if you give a bit more info.

Calguns is a decent place...again, depends on what you're looking for.

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U just missed the gunshow, there will prolly be another one in July. great place to buy stuff if you know exactly what you want, and you know your stuff. Just like any swapmeet type deal there's plenty of people trying to tell you things are something they aren't. But if you know what you want you can find it there.

Agreed.

Know what you want before going.Do your homework.

The next local Crossroads Gun Show is May 19 & 20 in Del Mar.

Keep in mind that you are spending $21 bucks before you buy anything.....

S

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Calguns.net marketplace is good.

Turner's isn't the best, but they have sales every week and the deals aren't bad. I found their customer service has improved, but that's just me.

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Bum,

Funny you posted this. I just spent the whole day up in Escondido at the range. ( Yea ... In the wind and rain ! ) My daughter shot in her first Junior Rifle Match today. Good advice from the other guys. I would just add that maybe you cruise up to Oceanside off the 76 and check out Iron Sights. They have plenty of different Handguns and other weapons that you can rent and try out there at the indoor range. Kind of see what you like, what feels good. if its for home defense bring the wife. If she isnt comfortable with the weapon she wont train with it.. Precision Arms in Escondido is my favorite, but I've been around guns and Bowhunting my whole life and have never had an issue with any purchase from Turners. Even Big 5 occasionally has good deals on Mossberg, Remington and Winchester pump shotguns if your on a budget. Like the others already stated..... depends on what you're looking for.

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Thanks for the replies. I am not an end of the world nut, but I do believe in being prepared. I want to get my basic firearms before I cannot get them. I am looking for two pistols. One for my wife and one for myself. I am also looking for a high capacity shotgun and a rifle. I am looking for a high capacity rifle with good stopping power and accurate at for long range (hunting).

I do have weapons now. Unfortunately a .50cal pistol is a owner specific weapon and just more fun than functional :coolio:

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I do have weapons now. Unfortunately a .50cal pistol is a owner specific weapon and just more fun than functional :coolio:

I can see you being a Desert Eagle kinda guy. :coolio:

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Thanks for the replies. I am not an end of the world nut, but I do believe in being prepared. I want to get my basic firearms before I cannot get them. I am looking for two pistols. One for my wife and one for myself. I am also looking for a high capacity shotgun and a rifle. I am looking for a high capacity rifle with good stopping power and accurate at for long range (hunting).

I do have weapons now. Unfortunately a .50cal pistol is a owner specific weapon and just more fun than functional :coolio:

A place like Iron Sights in O'side has a good selection of pistol and revolver choices to rent, which'll give you a good sample. At the least I'd spend a range day there, feeling the differences. I settled on Glocks, even though I'm more partial to the 1911A1's. Many folks out there are very happy with their S&W M&P's, and I might have gone that route except I've had Glocks for years. Another thing to think about is spare parts, and how easy it is to get the tool repaired, if need be.

High cap shotgun - either Remington 870, or a Mossberg 5xx series. Those are about as basic as you can go. If you want a good deal, there are police 870 turn ins out there that are in decent shape, along with 870 police barrels. For the shotguns, Big 5 does have decent sales on them, and the prices for used shotguns are pretty close to the new, unless they're seriously pimped out, but I figure you can go that route once you know how you want to use it. If you're looking for a fully loaded shotgun, then I'd go on the Calguns forum and look there. I prefer pump actions, but lots of folks are quite happy with semi. I'd go with a 3" mag action, but I wouldn't turn down a regular 2 3/4 action just because it won't handle the large rounds.

The high capacity rifle...well, high cap here means 10 rounds max. Good stopping power means .30 cal of some sort, and accurate for long range hunting means either bolt or accurized semi. If it's a bolt and you're just getting into this, either a Savage or a Stevens, in .308. Triggers are decent, barrels need to be broken in properly for real accuracy, or you can just replace the barrel with something nicer right off. If you want higher end, Remington 700 is a good starting point. Doesn't sound like you want to go Surgeon or something high end, but if you do, there are plenty out there. If you want a semi, then I'd look at an AR10 pattern rifle. I like the Tactical Machining receivers, but there are a few other choices out there. Not quite as many choices as an AR15, but still enough to boggle the mind. PTR, FAL are both good battle rifles, but unless you reload, or find a really nice lot of shelf ammo, don't expect great accuracy. M1A's and M1G's can both be accurate, but that comes at a serious price. One nice thing about both of those is that you can legally use detachable mags in this state.

Also, lots will depend on what you mean by long range. Your definition is probably different from mine....

If you want a good overview on prices and what's out there, look for a Shotgun News at your local newstand - I used to get mine at Stater Brothers markets.

Good quality suppliers for defensive rifles, at least AR patterns - Daniel Defense, Lewis Machine & Tool (LMT), Bravo Company Manufacturing (BCM), Colt, and a few others.

All this is my opinion, and we know what that's worth :heh:

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A place like Iron Sights in O'side has a good selection of pistol and revolver choices to rent, which'll give you a good sample. At the least I'd spend a range day there, feeling the differences.

I agree with you on the selection, Czechsix, but I would caution that they are not the friendliest nor most helpful there (in my opinion). I took a buddy there that wanted to bring his wife and daughter to the Friday night classes and was checking it out. We were there for an hour and no one would even recognize us or ask if we needed anything, even when we were standing at the counter and no one else was around. Trying to get help was a total waste of time (seemed like if they didn't recognize you they didn't want to acknowledge you).

Just my .02 I was pretty disappointed when I was there. Not to say everyone would be treated the same, and maybe they were having a bad day.

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A place like Iron Sights in O'side has a good selection of pistol and revolver choices to rent, which'll give you a good sample. At the least I'd spend a range day there, feeling the differences.

I agree with you on the selection, Czechsix, but I would caution that they are not the friendliest nor most helpful there (in my opinion). I took a buddy there that wanted to bring his wife and daughter to the Friday night classes and was checking it out. We were there for an hour and no one would even recognize us or ask if we needed anything, even when we were standing at the counter and no one else was around. Trying to get help was a total waste of time (seemed like if they didn't recognize you they didn't want to acknowledge you).

Just my .02 I was pretty disappointed when I was there. Not to say everyone would be treated the same, and maybe they were having a bad day.

Agreed on the customer service comments, I've had bad experiences there too. Then again, I've been ignored in every gun shop and range in SoCal, LOL. For some reason, gun shops seem to attract lousy sales people. There are plenty of good ones out there too, but lots of bad ones too. Precision Arms is a good one man store, but I also got along with Jerry and Gene back when, and Jerry, at the least, was crap for customer service LOL. For tacticool stuff, Parallax Arms is good, has a good selection, but also has the customer service issues at times. Direct Action Solutions is also good, in Solana Beach.

Time for a DS San Diego Gun Shop Tour!

Also, I like using Gussler's for out of state transfers - one of the last home FFL's around there. Good guy.

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Thanks for the help. Pistols choices are just mind boggling. I have been looking at the calguns site. I am liking some of the ar10 stuff, but so many different options and configurations. I do see weapons coming with 30 rnd mags. Would those be illegal? They are listed as living is CA. Shotguns are fun because they are not that expensive. Seems pistol grips are all the rage. Someone was selling a shotgun with an 18" barrel(stated by manufacturer) but the range would not let him shoot because it was 17 3/4. Is 18" the legal limit?

Question- If someone is selling an AK assault rifle that they own in CA, can it be legally transferred?

From my cold dead hands people! Looking at guns can get you pumped.

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High cap magazines aren't legal in California. Handguns are limited to 10 round mags. Even having a high cap magazine in your possession is illegal.

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High cap magazines aren't legal in California. Handguns are limited to 10 round mags. Even having a high cap magazine in your possession is illegal.

Incorrect.

If an individual owned magazines prior to Jan 1, 2000 they are legally grandfathered in. Sale, import, and manufacture of high capacity magazines is banned, possession is perfectly legal.

http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/dwcl/12020.php

10+ round mags cannot be purchased with any new weapon. If a magazine is sold disassembled, as a parts kit, it is legal to sell. Assembling it back into an 11+ magazine is a felony.

AK47's and AR15's, along with any other pistol grip/magazine/semi-auto centerfire rifle requires a magazine lock in CA. If you see what appears to be a 30 round magazine, it is probably blocked to hold only 10 rounds.

The laws are very confusing, educate yourself before getting into CA gun ownership and know the laws. I don't take my guns anywhere without some of this stuff printed out, the ones enforcing the law are just as confused as anyone else.

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Thanks for the help. Pistols choices are just mind boggling. I have been looking at the calguns site. I am liking some of the ar10 stuff, but so many different options and configurations. I do see weapons coming with 30 rnd mags. Would those be illegal? They are listed as living is CA. Shotguns are fun because they are not that expensive. Seems pistol grips are all the rage. Someone was selling a shotgun with an 18" barrel(stated by manufacturer) but the range would not let him shoot because it was 17 3/4. Is 18" the legal limit?

Question- If someone is selling an AK assault rifle that they own in CA, can it be legally transferred?

From my cold dead hands people! Looking at guns can get you pumped.

Yup what he said above lol

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What I don't get is that u can buy a said "repair kit" for your legal high cap mag (assuming u owned it before 2000) but no one ever registered how many high cap mags they had. Or am I wrong? Basically if you have one legally owned high cap mag, there's no way of someone telling u recently bought a "repair kit" and assembled it.

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AK47's and AR15's, along with any other pistol grip/magazine/semi-auto centerfire rifle requires a magazine lock in CA. If you see what appears to be a 30 round magazine, it is probably blocked to hold only 10 rounds.

The laws are very confusing, educate yourself before getting into CA gun ownership and know the laws. I don't take my guns anywhere without some of this stuff printed out, the ones enforcing the law are just as confused as anyone else.

I will agree with the laws being confusing...remember that you can actually have a centerfire rifle with a detachable mag in CA. It just needs to be a "featureless" build, use the 10 round low cap mags, or grandfathered normal cap mags. So this lets me have a featureless AR build, with detachable mags. Likewise AK, FAL, PTR, PS90, etc etc

Calguns has a terrific aid to configuring legal firearms, both online and pdf printable. When you get on their site, look at the "Flowcharts and OLL assembly guide" section at the top of all pages. Doesn't hurt to have a few printed out, and in the range bag.....

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What I don't get is that u can buy a said "repair kit" for your legal high cap mag (assuming u owned it before 2000) but no one ever registered how many high cap mags they had. Or am I wrong? Basically if you have one legally owned high cap mag, there's no way of someone telling u recently bought a "repair kit" and assembled it.

Correct, it's a gray area, and one that hasn't had a decent judicial test. Lots of people do use them in this state, legally grandfathered in. Probably as many or more have normal cap mags, but don't want the hassle of trying to educate folks, so they don't use them in this state, even though they're legal.

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AK47's and AR15's, along with any other pistol grip/magazine/semi-auto centerfire rifle requires a magazine lock in CA. If you see what appears to be a 30 round magazine, it is probably blocked to hold only 10 rounds.

The laws are very confusing, educate yourself before getting into CA gun ownership and know the laws. I don't take my guns anywhere without some of this stuff printed out, the ones enforcing the law are just as confused as anyone else.

I will agree with the laws being confusing...remember that you can actually have a centerfire rifle with a detachable mag in CA. It just needs to be a "featureless" build, use the 10 round low cap mags, or grandfathered normal cap mags. So this lets me have a featureless AR build, with detachable mags. Likewise AK, FAL, PTR, PS90, etc etc

Calguns has a terrific aid to configuring legal firearms, both online and pdf printable. When you get on their site, look at the "Flowcharts and OLL assembly guide" section at the top of all pages. Doesn't hurt to have a few printed out, and in the range bag.....

I own a featureless AR, I didn't want to introduce even more confusion! It's so difficult to explain this stuff to people, especially people from other states where gun ownership is a lot easier.

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