That is the nice thing about guns. Just about all of them are useful.
I ran into a bargain on .22 magnum ammo around 20 years ago and bought 100 boxes. I had a Thompson Center Contender with a .22 mag barrel at the time.
Well that magnum barrel turned out to be a dog. The only bad barrel I have ever had with the contender. I eventually traded the contender and all barrels off.
With all that ammo, I have been wanting a .22 mag for some time. I settled on the CZ automatic rifle. While saving up for the purchase, I noticed someone advertising a Marlin model 25 for only $100 in the local paper. I phoned him and he came over immediately. I think he really needed the money, anyway the rifle had a cheap but good scope and three mags.
The rifle is not particularly well made. It looks ok but nothing extra. The good thing is the accuracy. Using CCI hollow points, it consistently put all shots into one large hole at 50 yards. Really unusual accuracy.
That rifle is very useful for varmints, wild dogs etc.
All in all, tho a good .22 LR repeater is the best gun to start with, either rifle or pistol.
I've always owned a .22 rifle and pistol. My current ones are both Rugers. I have 30 year old Mark I ( I know, they didn't call them that when they were new but since they've come out with the Mark II and III I feel like it's appropriate) and I've put thousands of rounds through it. I recently had to buy a new magazine because the original had a weak spring (after 30 years) and I was having feed problems. It's a very accurate pistol. The rifle is a 10-22. I recently added a cheap Simmons scope and bought a 25 round after market magazine. Lots of fun and an excellent way to learn to shoot.