going to buy a rifle---advice?

[Finnster]

Originally Posted by jhautz

Dont shoot yourself.....

...or anyone else for that matter.

Serously tho. I would say make sure you get some proper training first before you go too nuts on it. A lot of my family are very avid hunters, and they never let me touch their/any guns before I was properly trained (by them and later hunter's safety classes) and had to follow strict safety rules when handling them else they were gone. Guns can be fun, but they are not toys.
I trust your friends are responsible, but young guys with little experience handling guns & trying to show off can be very dangerous.

Other than that, I would say get something not too big to start with. Big guns means pricey ammo and lots of recoil. If you are just shooting targets, it doesn't make sense to me to get something over the top unless you are just trying to be macho. Personally, my favorite target practice gun has been a 22 win mag I have. Its not for everyone, and I'm not a big gun nut, but I like it as the ammo is very cheap, very accurate and you can get lots of rounds in w/o killing your wallet or your shoulder & ears. Other than that I like shotguns for trap shooting. Poking holes in paper and cans from 100yds away gets boring quickly imo.

[JThiessen]

Ditto what Finnster said.
I'm a little concerned when I hear "all my friends have them"...and "I want badass looking..." when it comes to guns. I'm a hunter, not a "gun owner", so my attitude towards guns in general falls on the "serve a purpose" side as opposed to what looks cool.

That being said, you might want to review the ammo prices, and ask your friends how much they go through. Anyone I know that shoots a lot reloads their own ammo to keep the costs down - its not unusual to go through over a 100 bucks (retail) in ammo in an afternoon. And if they do it, don't assume they are going to donate their time to reload yours.