Finally bought a gun

Yep, bought me a gun.

It’s a sweet little .22LR/.410 combo rifle with interchangeable barrels. I bought a box of subsonic .22 and a box of .410 at the same time. I have practiced changing the barrel, read the owner’s manual, practiced de-cocking, engaged and disengaged the various safeties, and am ready to fire this baby. Unfortunately all my neighbors came home while I was doing all that and I don’t want to alarm them so I’m stuck until tomorrow.

At any rate, this should let me deal with the opossum problem I mentioned before. I was a little frustrated at first because the guy that sold me the gun wanted to know if I wanted 2.5" or 3" shells for the .410 barrel and I told him whatever would fit the gun, so he sold me the 2.5". I got home and saw .410 / 3" stamped on the barrel and swearing ensued, but after a few quick Google searches I found that it was ok to use shells that were shorter than the length specified on the barrel and the only time problems would occur would be if I used shells that were too long.

Not to worry, I am a responsible gun owner: the safety will be engaged, the hammer lock will be set, the ammo/shells will be stored separately and the weapon field-stripped when the kids are over here. And I’m going to get the Eddie Eagle video to show them too, which is probably a good idea considering the rural nature of the area and the higher probability they will encounter an unsupervised firearm at some point. Yes, Critter and their respective fathers should take the lead on this but seriously, should I take the chance?