Question on reusing animations

Hello everyone,

I don’t have much experience on animations at all, so I wanted to ask some questions to make things clear because it gets really weird in my head.

So question #1:
If I make “template” animation for rifles, can I use it for different kinds of guns of the same class? For example I make animation to hold AK47 but then I reuse the same holding animation on M4A1 but the front handle should be a little bit further. Can I use the same animation but move the bone of the hand forward in the engine? Or I have to make different animations for each gun?

Question #2:
When reloading a gun, are there two animations or one? I think they are two, one that moves the magazine of the gun and a second one to move the hands of the character. If so, do they both play at the same time and how do they sync?

Question #3: Any beginner tutorials? Not on youtube please, I tried youtube and it didn’t work for me haha.