You will be flooded with opinions.
Mine is that you should attend a few matches in your arrea, introduce yourself as an interested bystander, and wait for foks to start handing you guns to try out.
Styles will run the gamut from Colt cartridge and cap-and-ball, to Remingtons...also cap-and-ball and cartridge, S&W, and a host of others in every barrel length imaginable. You will also see many originals and may be allowed to handle or shoot them, too.
That's just the pistols. You'll get the same treatment with long guns.
Unless you're in some all-fired big rush, take your time and spend some time looking around and seeing what suits you. You might even want to "settle" for a Ruger (Boy, am I gonna catch hell for that.)
Stay in touch on the wire, too. It's the greatest source of info you can find without a library card and a lot of time searching Google.
Enjoy, and welcome aboard.