you may also want to check with local groups. in mass Gun Owners' Action League - GOAL.org - "Protecting Your Freedom Begins Here" has classes on the 'modern sporting rifle' that usually covers ar-15 stuff that would also mostly apply to m&p-10. any decent gun store should be able to point you to someone who can go over the basics also. the biggest things to get started with brand new ones are first to get all that factory gunk out of it (took me about 2 hours with common cleaning stuff). then get some decent ammo, check the messages on here about Ammunition for some notes, there are some that the m&p-10 doesn't like such as the CBC stuff. Some users think it is picky about magazines, here in mass i don't have much choice but haven't had trouble with ASC 10 round mags. Then shoot it a bit to get it moving good. Be careful about changing the buffer tube/spring/buffer, there is some excellent stuff in another thread here about that, you have to get the right combination or you could have lots of feed problems or maybe damage the lower receiver.