A newbie's guide to guns. Where and what:

[amaROenuZ 144]

So you just started the game, and you're looking for something with a bit more power than a flashlight. Here's some good stuff to know:

1. Find a barn. Odds are good that it'll have a shotgun in it, or at least a hatchet and some food, and there are rarely more than three zombies around them.
   
2. Find a deer stand. These are normally in the woods, and generally have two to three zombies around it. It's easy to sneak in, check for some high quality gear, and get out.
   
3. Don't shoot unless you have to. It's better to crawl around for 5 minutes than to fire three shots and let everyone and everything within 250 meters know where you are.
   
4. Know your gun. There's no reason waste valuable ammo for noisy guns on zombies if it's not an emergency. That M14/Enfield is for killing bandits my friend.
   
5. Don't spastically reload. In DayZ, each magazine has a certain amount of ammo, rather than each gun drawing from a pool.
   

An overview of guns a newbie will typically see:

Sidearms. These are found in residential areas.

1. Makarov: This gun is respectable for a fresh player, but it doesn't really handle well outside of experienced hands. Ammo is plentiful, the gun is fairly quiet, but it comes with the downside of requiring more than a few bodyshots to kill your average Z. It almost certainly will prove insufficient against a bandit. Stick to headshots if the Makarov is your first weapon.
   
2. 1911: The 1911 is much better for a fresh player than a Makarov, but it's got a couple downsides. Ammo is much harder to find, though per bullet, it hits harder, and you'll have one less round in the magazine. Otherwise, it handles much how you would expect a pistol to.
   
3. Revolvers: It's a 1911 with one less round, but significantly better accuracy. Use it if you're confident in your aim, and prefer longer range engagements.
   

Primaries: These are typically found in barns and farms

1. The Double Barrel Shotgun: It's the most common gun to see on a new player, and there's a good reason for that. The double barrel spawns frequently, and ammo can be found for it in virtually every area in the game. For a shotgun, it's a rather quiet weapon, and the reload on it is very quick. Slugs make it very accurate, pellets make it very easy to use. All of these can be combined into 8 round magazines to save space. If you find this weapon early, pick it up.
   
2. The Lee Enfield: Avoid this gun. While ammo for it is relatively plentiful, it's slow to fire and has a massive audible radius. There is no good reason to use this weapon if you aren't hunting people.
   
3. The Winchester 1886: The Winchester is slightly louder, and slightly shorter ranged than it's 12 gauge counterparts, but has a better inventory space efficiency than any other shotgun. The choice between this and the double barrel is mostly personal.
   

And there you have it. Later guns can be found on military bases and in deer stands. Finally, if you need help finding a barn or deer stand near you, check http://dayzdb.com/map.

[Suecra 2]

When did revolvers have better accuracy.

It's a revolver? But i'm not disagreeing.

[Trundle 6]

good guide. 411 and easy to read

[SentientRobot 16]

Good knowledge for anyone who has just begun, good job!

[burno111 1]

I thought the winchester was pretty quite for the type of gun.

[amaROenuZ 144]

The audible radius on all shotguns but the Winchester is 90m. The Winchester is audible for 125m. Not a huge difference, but it's there.

[jeijo25 7]

So you just started the game, and you're looking for something with a bit more power than a flashlight. Here's some good stuff to know:

1. Find a barn. Odds are good that it'll have a shotgun in it, or at least a hatchet and some food, and there are rarely more than three zombies around them.
   
2. Find a deer stand. These are normally in the woods, and generally have two to three zombies around it. It's easy to sneak in, check for some high quality gear, and get out.
   
3. Don't shoot unless you have to. It's better to crawl around for 5 minutes than to fire three shots and let everyone and everything within 250 meters know where you are.
   
4. Know your gun. There's no reason waste valuable ammo for noisy guns on zombies if it's not an emergency. That M14/Enfield is for killing bandits my friend.
   
5. Don't spastically reload. In DayZ, each magazine has a certain amount of ammo, rather than each gun drawing from a pool.
   

An overview of guns a newbie will typically see:

Sidearms. These are found in residential areas.

1. Makarov: This gun is respectable for a fresh player, but it doesn't really handle well outside of experienced hands. Ammo is plentiful, the gun is fairly quiet, but it comes with the downside of requiring more than a few bodyshots to kill your average Z. It almost certainly will prove insufficient against a bandit. Stick to headshots if the Makarov is your first weapon.
   
2. 1911: The 1911 is much better for a fresh player than a Makarov, but it's got a couple downsides. Ammo is much harder to find, though per bullet, it hits harder, and you'll have one less round in the magazine. Otherwise, it handles much how you would expect a pistol to.
   
3. Revolvers: It's a 1911 with one less round, but significantly better accuracy. Use it if you're confident in your aim, and prefer longer range engagements.
   

Primaries: These are typically found in barns and farms

1. The Double Barrel Shotgun: It's the most common gun to see on a new player, and there's a good reason for that. The double barrel spawns frequently, and ammo can be found for it in virtually every area in the game. For a shotgun, it's a rather quiet weapon, and the reload on it is very quick. Slugs make it very accurate, pellets make it very easy to use. All of these can be combined into 8 round magazines to save space. If you find this weapon early, pick it up.
   
2. The Lee Enfield: Avoid this gun. While ammo for it is relatively plentiful, it's slow to fire and has a massive audible radius. There is no good reason to use this weapon if you aren't hunting people.
   
3. The Winchester 1886: The Winchester is slightly louder, and slightly shorter ranged than it's 12 gauge counterparts, but has a better inventory space efficiency than any other shotgun. The choice between this and the double barrel is mostly personal.
   

And there you have it. Later guns can be found on military bases and in deer stands. Finally, if you need help finding a barn or deer stand near you, check http://dayzdb.com/map.

It's always nice to have a veteran player help the new players. Take my beans :D

[HMS 115]

I used the Enfield quite successfully my 1st / 2nd day, helping out friends who were getting chased by Zs. So don't be afraid of it. Some guns are loud but, I would suggest that you not be on a crowded server when you are new anyhow, so the risk is mitigated.

Anyhow, the common items seem to disappear just as I join a server, so beggars can't be choosers. :)

[ImpZ 5]

The thing for me with the Enfield, is I let the zombies get close before shooting. It is so slow firing, you do not have time shooting a bunch and missing. Just shoot them when they get close, barely have to aim. But yeah... It is loud. But I think it is dual purpose. You may not be hunting players, but if a bandit attacks you, you now have a fairly nice rifle to fight them back. Killed my first bandit before they killed me with an Enfield. Ambushed me and friends and everything, killed everyone but me. I was practically dead cause I reacted very poorly to the ambush, but even though they had some kind of semi or fully automatic assault rifle, I killed them with that slow fire rate before I was killed by some other bandits after a bit. So yeah, do not be afraid of it if you see it.

I say take it if it is the only thing you can get, if you can get more newb friendly guns, go for it.

[amaROenuZ 144]

I used the Enfield quite successfully my 1st / 2nd day, helping out friends who were getting chased by Zs. So don't be afraid of it. Some guns are loud but, I would suggest that you not be on a crowded server when you are new anyhow, so the risk is mitigated.

Anyhow, the common items seem to disappear just as I join a server, so beggars can't be choosers. :)

My concern with the Lee isn't so much the range other people will hear you, but the range at which zombies will hear you. New players normally don't often have ammo to spare. :P