Excellent!
If you took a poll on here, I’d venture a guess the majority of our folks would state they cut their “firearm” teeth on a .22 rifle.
For a “first gun”, you made the ideal choice, in my opinion (which ain’t worth a whole lot
). Although it’s gotten a bit more expensive recently, .22LR ammunition is relatively cheap to shoot and you can shoot a lot of it without taking out a 2nd mortgage or selling your firstborn. A good number of indoor ranges will allow .22 rimfire rifles, so there’s a good chance you’ve got a spot somewhere nearby to practice.
In addition to live-fire range time, you can put a target paster/dot on the wall and do dry-fire practice...great things about dry-fire is it’s cheap (time is the only cost) and it pays huge dividends. That said, a rimfire is a bit unique in that you DO NOT want to dry-fire it on an empty chamber (possibility of damage to the breech face). You can buy snap-caps for dry-fire, but a cheaper route is to pick up some 4-6-8 x 7/8” drywall anchors...
View attachment 249768
You can get a bunch of em for relatively little costs. They’ll chamber and extract just like a .22 LR cartridge. I can usually get 15-20 dry-fires from one anchor.
Finally, check out
https://appleseedinfo.org/. They are a good organization, provide great instruction and as an added bonus, you’ll get some excellent history lessons.
Although a .22 rimfire may not be the ideal choice for defense of hearth and home, it’s what you can lay your hands on right now. Practice, practice, practice. Get as proficient with the rifle as you possibly can. I assure you the time you spend learning/training with the .22 and the skills you pick up will carry over.