What was your first gun?

Either a Bauer .25 or a .22 bolt action of some make or other. We had just moved into an unfinished tract house in Murphy, Oregon. I found the .25 in an old couch in front of the house and the .22 between two studs in a closet. I kept the bolt of the .22 with me for some time, so I got to keep that gun longer than the .25.
I was five years old.
-I also found a hard-rubber 1911 in a chest of drawers that was sitting right beside that old couch. Mother took that one away immediately.

Two months later my sister was born.
Three months later Dad and I were hitch-hiking to Los Angeles. All that I could keep was what could fit in my little red leather suitcase... .

Bolt action 410. It was my dads when he was a kid. Took many a rabbit and bird with it. Still have it and still use it.

12 gauge 870 Express 28" vent rib/smooth bore slug combo.

Got it when I was 16. Brochures to buy highschool rings were sent out and my parents told me what they could afford to buy me. I told them I'd rather them take that money and get me a shotgun instead of a class ring. Mom thought I'd regret it, Dad though it was a great idea. It's now 20 years later and I can say with certainty that I made the right choice.

Dad was in the 1st & 2nd WW---he did not like guns.
When I was 13 I typed a letter giving me permission to buy a gun. I took the streetcar downtown & purchased a Savage 22410 ( over under) that was the model number back then,Dad found it 6 months later & let me keep it.
That was the first of many.
Between guns & reloading it has been quite a ride.

The first one that I bought for myself was a new Ruger Bearcat .22. I was 16 years old and had saved most of the summer for it. IIRC it cost $42.25 w/tax. I laid two twenties and a ten on the counter and said “I want that one”. The clerk got one in the box and wrote out the sales receipt. He handed me my change and said “Have fun with it”. Things were much different in ‘64! Still have it!

A S&W 469. Consistantly shot low, and in my case for the left. Thick for what it was.

The first I held and learned with were a .22 Luger and some breakdown rifle or another.

First one I was told was mine! was a Ruger 77/22 in 1985! I still have it and the box!

Dad paid $15 for this Winchester model 55. Gave it to me when I was 14. Still have it.

In 1975 my Dad picked up my brother and I for the weekend.
On the way to his house he stopped off at , if I remember right, Sears. We went to sporting good and Dad said we could each get a 22 rifle.
My brother got a Remington 553 Speedmaster. I was into cowboy shows so, I picked out a Winchester 9422 XTR.
When Dad dropped us off on Sunday with our new rifles, Mom was pissed. I still remember the smile on my Dad’s face as he backed out of the driveway.
I still have the Winchester.

TC Contender, 10" octagon barrel in 22mag. Me and the wife put thousands of rounds through it.

Montgomery Wards Hawthorne single shot bolt action .22. Got it in 1960 I think. Still have it and it's still a tack driver. I think they were made by Colt for Monkey Wards. I've babied it for about 60 years and it's still in nice condition.

A Winchester Standard Model 1906 .22 rifle. Based on the serial number, it was made in 1910.

My father's mother's brother gave it to me when I was ten. When a grandkid shows up, I'll pass it on.

Here's a photo I took a moment ago.

First rifle I shot was a Winchester 9422M. Still have it. First one that was mine, was a Savage 99 243 and I still have that. First shotgun was an H&R Topper Jr. 410, my grandson has that one. First handgun was a S&W K22 Masterpiece and I still have that one.
I have 'first-gunned' all three of my grandkids (and one 'second gun')
The Topper Jr and a Rem 600 Mohawk in 243
a Cricket in 22 and a Savage Cub in 22

Got into firearms late, 32. Came from a non-firearm family. First firearm I got was a birthday present from my wife for pest control in our rough but new to us rural home. It was a New England Firearms R92 nine shot .22. Sort of an oddball. Smallish j-frame grip with a six inch bull barrel. Gave it to my stepson to give to his daughter later on in life. My last dog was having a stroke and my stepson put him down with it. I made the decision and was going to do it but my wife asked him to do it knowing it would crush me. None of us want to touch that .22 now. My granddaughter will get that revolver not knowing this. She loved that dog. Btw, never count on those 24/7 veterinary places. Two of them in my area and none of those pr**** would answer their d*** phones! For over two hours! Ban me if you want mods but I still cry about that day! And I also learned that day that dogs can scream when they're in pain. Not a pretty sound. Especially out of a 95 pound muscle bound ox.

Darn shame of it was that thing made dime sized groupings at 15-20 yards with a rest. Not much bigger free handed.

First gun I bought for the household was a Snake Charmer. That came shortly after the NEF. Still have it, it's still doing pest control.

My first and by far the worst, a Taurus Model 83, 4" in Nickel. Only things done right on it was the nickel plating, which was very nice, and the grip. Spit like crazy, and the barrel was trashed so badly you had to chisel the lead out of it. It took 2 trips to Taurus in FL. They fixed the spitting issue, but both times, they insisted the barrel was "fine". Uh, isn't the rifling supposed to go all the way to the muzzle? It stopped and then started again just before the muzzle. When a lead bullet went through, it would shave hunks of lead off, and if you shot a jacketed bullet, it would rip the jacket off and by the time you shot a few shots, the barrel had jackets or lead hanging out of the muzzle and the cylinder would be almost locked up from lead coming out of the forcing cone. When it went to FL the first time, I bought a Dan Wesson 15-2 at a pawn shop, and the Taurus was never carried again, and when it returned unfixed from it's second trip to FL, it was sold. I didn't buy anything from Taurus again for many years. I had an 809 that wasn't great, a second one I liked well enough to keep it and it's 809C little bro, and I have 3 PT111 G2's. No revolvers, so far.

A JC Higgins 22lr rifle made by High Standard for Sears. I still have it. The first gun I bought was a Ruger P89, which I sold a long time ago.

The day before my 16th birthday i bought a Webley and Scott bolt action .410 shot gun. I carried it on my cycle and shot a lot of rabbits with it on the way to work. I really wanted the 12bore BSA snipe, a single barreled shotgun but the .410 was £11 and the BSA was £15. I was only earning 3 guineas a week and i was impatient to buy my first gun.

My 1st was a Marlin 780. My dad gave it to me when he was building our house, and my job was to thin the hordes of chipmunks that were invading. (well, we were the invaders, now that I think about it)

The first one I ever bought myself was my GP100. I still have them both!

montanaoffroader said:

Firearms International Bronco single shot .22 rifle, my birthday gift in 1974. According to my Dad he went to the Bazaar department store in Eureka, CA to buy me a pellet rifle, but this little .22 rifle was cheaper. IIRC, he paid $12 for it.
View attachment 827391
It is still in my possession, but it actually belongs to my oldest daughter now. She lives out of the country so it is stored at my place for the time being.

Click to expand...

I have one of those!
it's the first "rifle" that my boy has fired, as the length of pull fits him pretty well (just turned 7)
It didnt cost me anything, so I cut out the side so you can see the mechanism, and how all the parts relate and function with each other.

I was given a Ithaca 66 12 ga single shot when I was 11. A friend of my father's son wanted to get rid of it. I soon learned why.

It kicked like a mule. We were duck hunting and shooting some ducks that were almost over us and I ended up flat on my back in the bottom of the blind.

My stepfather and I were squirrel hunting the next fall and I still had it. He had given me grief about complaining about the Ithaca. He fell in a creek and started a fire to dry out. I was a few yards away when he spotted a squirrel on the ground and picked up my shotgun because it was closer.

He shot and spun almost completely around by the recoil. That Christmas I had a new Rem 870 Wingmaster 20 gauge and an apology from him. I gave the Ithaca to my BIL and I don't know what he did with it. I gave the Wingmaster to my son a few years back and it is still in my safe.

My first gun is a Remington 514 single shot .22, for my 16th birthday in 1960. I still have it and shoot it today. It's still in nice condition. hdbiker

A Winchester mod 94 30/30 when I was 10 yrs old... and within the same week a Brazilian knockoff of the nylon66.
I still have both

When I was born my grandfather bought or traded into a marlin 60 squirrel stock that was used but still had the factory stickers on the stock. I finally got to shoot it when I was 4.

When I was 15 I was having some trouble with chemistry (her name was Elizabeth and I couldn’t pay attention to anything) so my parents agreed to buy me a 22 pistol if I could pull a D up to a B. Luckily she moved, and I ended up with my first Phoenix hp22

My first long gun was a Mossberg 500 12 gauge I was short on funds and I wanted something versatile , and I figured a pump shoutgn covered all the bases . A fellow could head out and hunt almost anything from doves to turkeys and anything from rabbits to bear