What was your first gun?

[DLCTEX]

I was just reminiscing today with a friend about guns we had owned.Mine was a Winchester single shot 22. I think the model was a 24 or maybe 27. It had a 16" barrel IIRC, leather butt plate. and was bought new by a neighbor . This neighbor had daughters (late teens, good looking even to a 8 yr. old, in 1953) but no sons. He took a liking to me and would take me with him when he worked a farm he had about 20 miles from home. This place had pasture and cultivated land and was overrun with rabbits, jacks and cottontails, so he would take me by a country store that sold 22 shells cheaper than anyone around, 35 cents for shorts, 50 cents for LR. I'd buy whichever I had been able to beg money to pay for and would give the rabbits a hard time while he plowed or hoed his crop. That fall he made a deal with my grandfather to trade the gun for 100 lbs. of milo. I knew he was giving the gun to me as milo was probably $2 a hundred or less. At age 14 I bought a used Mossberg 22 in model 142K for $25 at the hardware store. I had to get my mother to call and give permission . It had a fold down forearm and a sliding peep sight. It was a great shooting gun, but I didn't care for the 8 round clip having been used to the family model 144B Mossberg that held 20 LRrounds in the tube mag. I passed on the Winchester to my next younger brother and thought he would pass it down as there were six of us boys, me being the oldest. He kept possession of it and still has it. That little Winchester may have been the most accurate 22 I ever owned, but the model 142 that followed it rarely missed. I broke the stock through the pistol grip by dispatching a wounded jack with a butt stroke. I patched it back together, but it looked rough and I traded it off. I have owned many many guns since then, but those first two hold a special memory.

[Lead Fred]

that would be a staple gun.

My first firearm was a Mossberg target 22 bolt action. It weighed a ton
yet got me ready for my first hunting rifle an A303 Springfield

[.357]

A russian .22 bolt action I paid for it myself at 8 and it did me well through years of 4-h rifle and plinking. My dad keeps it out on the farm now for varmints. I shoot it every time i go home.

[wallenba]

A Savage model 24, .22/410. A hand- me- down then. Wish I still had it!

[Dframe]

Remington 66 Nylon (mohawk brown). Still in my safe and WILL BE the day I die. Unless of course I ever have a grandson!

[StarMetal]

My first gun was a 22 rimfire zip gun I made when I was in Junior High. Made it from a Crosman pump up 22 caliber pellet pistol. The first factory gun I bought was a Ruger Super Single Six.

Joe

[chaos]

The first firearm that was given to me as a youngster was a Crescent Arms single shot in .410. It had belonged to my grandfathers oldest brother who had passed away long before that day. The barrel is pretty heavy compared to todays standards. I took many upland birds, squirrels and Ducks with that little gun ( way back when it was legal to use lead shot).
It was pretty much "used and Abused" by the time I got her...... Complete with Rat gnaw marks all over the stock as she resided in the barn for probably 40 years.

I will never part with that gun.

[winelover]

First long gun was a little used Winchester Model 12 in 12 guage complete with a "Leg-of Mutton" leather case. Bought off a jeweler, across the street from the pool hall I hung out at when I was 17 in 1968. The proprietor turned me on to it's existance and I promptly returned with my dad and the $75 asking price.

First handgun was a brand new six inch 357 Colt Python in blue steel in around 1975. Fed this gun a steady diet of Bluedot and 158 gr J-Bullets until I wore the forcing cone out at about 6000 rounds. Trapper Gun (of after market gun spring fame) rebarreled it and I became a caster right then and there!

Still have them both!!

[leadman]

Wallenba, my first gun was a Savage 22/410 also. Mine has the selector on the right side of the receiver. Which I had it still, sold it to a guy I worked with long ago.
I do have a 22mag/20ga. now.

[bisleyfan41]

Win 94 in .30-30 I bought in 1985 after saving all summer cutting grass. Mom had to "buy" it as I was only 15 at the time. I still have it and it would be the last to go should something force me to sell my guns off. It's killed many a deer and spent countless hours with me in the woods.

A couple months ago, my mom found the manual, hangtag, warranty card, etc. and the original sales receipt of the sale. Oct. 21, 1985 price was $169.97. I still remember how I felt walking out the door of the store with it to this day. 24 years of memories.

[IHMSA]

My first gun was a Stevens Model 311 20 guage IC-MOD from the early 60s. Walnut from that era sure is purty.

[462]

S&W Model 28 Highway Patrolman.

Dframe,
Granddaughters can shoot, and deserve to be given guns, too.

[piwo]

1st I could call my own, a Ruger 10/22 back in the early '70's, I was still in High school. Still own it, a daughter will inherit it. Only got 40 or 50 thousand rounds through it and I don't know how many tree rats met their maker with it. Still shoots darn good...........

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

My first gun was a Harrington and Richardson .410 shotgun my Dad bought for me to hunt with. He bought a single box of number 4 shot and explained to me what I could hunt with it. Then he sent me out with my brother (fresh back from military service) to learn how to hunt. To date, I've probably taken more game with that little shotgun than anything else I have. It was loaned to my oldest brother's son for a few years, but now resides in my gunsafe, waiting for my son to have a son, as he was so much a ball player, he never did go hunting much. I'm betting his son will though.

Regards,

Dave

[shooterg]

First .22, Sears Roebuck "J.C. Higgins",(same as Marlin 80), with a Ted Williams 4x scope(new in 1963).
First shotgun - Crescent 20 gauge double(very used in 1964 !)
First pistol - Ruger Super Single Six with both cylinders
First centerfire - Ruger .243 M77, serial number 2215, 3-9x Weaver(steel by gawd scope) 1968

Still have the .22s and the M77, wish I had the double.

[Heavy lead]

Still have it, I think it was 73 or 74 Christmas. I was 7 or 8, had shot dad's first rifle before that a Winchester 67. Accurate little falling block still have it, case hardened receiver is still gorgeous as is the real walnut, my nephews have all shot it as there first rifle, but I never gave it up, I chose to buy them their own new in the box guns (all shotguns actually) and keep the crackshot. Killed a lot of squirrels with that rifle.
I remember I used to shoot shotgun shells at 25 yards with it until I got good enough to shoot 22 lr brass at 25 yards. Wish I could even see them at 25 yards today!

[Marine Sgt 2111]

It was a Winchester Model 250 leaver action in .22 and I got it for christmas 1967. I still have it and will only part with it when I cash my chips in....for the last time...

[oldhickory]

Of course it was a .22, a Mossberg M42B. It was actually the first .22LR we had, the only other .22 around the place was a Winchester 1890 in .22WRF. Shortly there after dad bought a Remington 512 and all was well in the .22 department.

The first handgun I ever bought on my own was a Colt M1903 U.S. Army, (.38 Long Colt Ctg.). Some times when I had money I would go to Martin's general store and buy a box of .38 Colt, when they didn' t have longs I bought shorts, couldn't hit anything with it either way!

First rifle I bought was a Krag through the mail, an 1896 Rifle with the 1901 "improvements". It had been totally rebuilt, new barrel, stock, sights...Everything. It would shoot circles around the old man's M95 Winchester!

The Krag is now in the safe, and the Mossberg resides on the back door of the summer kitchen, just in case of the odd feral cat or groundhog in the hay field. The Colt 1903 Army is long gone, I traded it and some cash for a Colt .22 Police Positive.

[Down South]

Not counting a BB gun, my first gun was an antique crack barrel sawed off 12 gauge shotgun that killed on both ends. I never could shoot that thing more than 4 or 5 times in one hunt. My shoulder would be black and blue.

[Jon]

Mine was a Mossberg bolt action 20ga with an adjustable choke on the end. I think my dad paid $50 for it. I think I was 12 at the time, and could finally go out hunting with my own gun.