Beginning target shooting and classic firearm collection

Question
Paul-

I am an 18 year old kid and am interested in learning as much as I can about the sport of recreational target shooting.  When I was younger, my best friend often took me out and we went shooting with his Ruger 10/22 and a .22lr winchester repeater gunning for squirrels and soda cans.  

Recently I heard from another friend who had obtained a rifle and was looking to get involved in target shooting.  My family has never been involved in the shooting sports, but my parents had voiced an interest in me learning my way around firearms for safety.  I wish to take this training to the next level, by getting involved in the sport.

I am running on a college student's budget, so a Bushmaster is out of the question at this point, but the .223 caliber seems to be good for the kind of shooting I want to do.  (100 - 300 yds)If all else fails, I'll invest in a small bore rifle to get me started, but that is the area that I hope to get to eventually.  

I have also developed an interest in procuring military firearms as army surplus.  I think it would be an interesting project to restore something like a springfield, an SKS, or a K31.  It has become aparent to me that in order to obtain these weapons, I must have a C&R 03 license allowing me to posess them.  

My questions are these:

1-  What is a good weapon/caliber to use when looking to do target shooting on a budget of around $500?

2-  What federal and Maryland state regulations are there for the posession and purchase of these firearms, as well as classic firearms bought military surplus?  (I realize that you may not know about Maryland law)

3-  Is there anything else I should know about getting involved in this sport?


Thank you for your help

Mike O

Answer
If you want to get involved join NRA/CMP affielated
gun club.  You can start by using a club owned gun.
You can look up your local club
odcmp.com
or
NRA.org

I would look into getting a M1 rifle from the CMP,
the M1 is a fine rifle, extremely accurate.