Hello. So I have been working on a fps game (first person shooter if you didn’t know what fps meant). I have a good prototype going and would like to add some animations for shooting. Know I know for shooting you have to have an animation montage, but I don’t know how I should approach making the animations. Which would be better for UE4? I don’t know if i should have my gun be part of the skeletal mesh, or have it separate and use sockets to attach it to the character in UE4? I am currently using blender to model and animate my meshes. Any answer will help 
Hey there!
Foremost, I’d advise using a better main question/title in order to get help faster~
Your current one is almost asking for an entire tutorial. 
As for which method to use, it depends on your needs and to a degree, preferences.
##Skeletal mesh
I’m assuming by this you also mean the gun is included in the character mesh.
- Ideal if the player is only ever going to use one gun;
- Allows you to focus on creating detailed animations that fit the weapon.
- Restricts your re-usage of the skeleton/animations.
##Sockets
- Allows multiple weapons to be attached.
- Allows the animations/skeletons to be shared among other characters.
- Cleaner approach in terms of modelling, files, etc.
- Allows you to detach the gun on death & physics shenanigans.
If any of this is incorrect, please correct me; I’m a tad rusty in this area. 