How old were you when you got your first gun?

[Zaydok Allen]

bump

 

[GrOuNd_ZeRo]

I was 25 when I purchased my first firearm, already had some experience shooting my FIL's Marlin model 60 .22LR prior to that.

My first firearm was a Hi-Point JCP .40S&W mainly as a inexpensive firearm while I was working a minimum wage job, I still own it 7 years later and still works without any issues, I am spoiled with my M&P trigger so when I shoot the JCP it feels terrible but shoots just fine with excellent reliability.

 

[Resist Evil]

The first shot I made with a firearm was when I was fourteen. I was in DeMolay and a bunch of guys got together to shoot .22 rifles. My dad reluctantly allowed me to go along. Not only did I get to shoot a borrowed .22 bolt action (I bought my own ammo for it at the Western Auto in 'downtown' Fair Oaks, CA), but I got to shoot a round of .45-70 through a rifle that was nearly as long as some of us kids was tall. All I really remember about the rifle was the octagonal barrel and the three clicks of the hammer when it was cocked back.

Watching blood streaming from the nose of one kid after shooting his turn with the rifle, I learned to be careful with thumb placement. Shooting that thing was quite a kick!

Since my dad did not at all like guns and but barely tolerated me, I knew that if I wanted a firearm, I'd have to buy it myself. I remember asking his permission, asking if it'd be OK to have a .22 gun in my room. I think my request momentarily impressed him enough to give his assent. As was his wont, he answered with only a single word without embellishment.

That first firearm was a new Ruger Mk-something .22 semi-auto pistol around 1971-72. In that same time period, I also acquired a new Remington Nylon 66 and a used Miroku .38 spl snubby. That was it for the next ten years or so.

 

[lobo9er]

10 or 12 I had a BB gun shot guns with grandpa but never had one that was mine till I was 19 or 20. A 22 I worked on with my grandpa when I was a kid that became mine when he passed. still have it still shoot it. Its my rat gun now occasionally a mouse needs some lead shot medication.

 

[41magsnub]

11 years old. Dad bought me a Winchester 120 20 ga youth shotgun and a Remington something or other .243. Those two covered all the big game and bird hunting for a lot of years. I still have and use the shotgun and wish I hadn't stupidly sold the .243.

 

[roadliner]

17
Savage .22 bolt action rifle.
Didn't come from a hunting/gun owning family, thus the late start. I picked up the paperwork at the local Western Auto, had my mom sign it, and picked up the rifle. Try that today.

 

[Levi]

I remember my buddy bringing his new .22 to class after Christmas for show and tell.

The teacher told everyone not to pull the trigger and to leave the bolt open before she passed it around the roomful of 3rd graders

 

[Levi]

Of course, I'm older than dirt, too

 

[iceman7668]

12 years old. Harrington and richardson topper jr model 410 single shot. Prior to that my cousin and I were used as the dogs, getting into brush piles and ditches kicking bunnies up for our dads to shoot.

 

[DeadFlies]

Dad bought me a Chipmunk (a real one, before Rogue River and whoever owns them now) when I was about 7 or 8. That was thirty years ago and I have it now. Still shoots like a champ but it doesn't fit me like it used to.

 

[Showman]

I so admired my father's Belgian Browning Sweet 16 A5 shotgun. It was his constant companion on quail hunts in the 1960s and the only gun he owned for a long time. It was always a treat for my younger brother and I when he'd pull it out of the gun sleeve he kept it in (it's a wonder that it didn't rust, but I guess the material didn't make the metal "sweat".)
So I guess that it was inevitable that my first real firearm (given to me as a 10th birthday present and bought at our local Western Auto- remember them?) was an FIE single-shot 20 gauge shotgun. I remember the pride and disbelief of finally taking that step closer to "manhood" just having the thing.
But I still remember how hard the gun kicked!
About a year before that, I had a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun.
I was kind of a serious kid back then, and wanted to please my father and be "good". I was told not to load my shotgun except with him around and only out in the woods. That was good enough for me. I remember being closely watched and monitored whenever we were out hunting, too.
The very thought of a parent turning a youngster loose with any dangerous implement (motorcyle, firearm, automobile, power tool, etc etc) makes me positively shudder. Every parent who has a child old enough to have a natural curiousity about guns needs to take the child out and shoot an orange or grapefruit with it just to show him or her just how destructive guns can be when abused.

 

[Gun Runnerz]

My Dad bought me a Marlin .22lr when I was 13. Even after all of the AR's it's still my favorite rifle.

 

[Davek1977]

Still have and shoot the Marlin 881 I received for Christmas the year I turned 12. Still remember shooting the first empty coke can with it 22 yrs later

 

[Aged 1]

Yep Winchester

Still have it...a Winchester 12ga side-by-side double gun. Age 15...I think I remember correctly. Lived in rural upstate NY..hunted small game...lousy hunter...most critters were safe.
Many years learned trueism: Vegetarian old Indian word for lousy hunter.

 

[SeanSw]

I was 21. In Illinois it is the earliest you can purchase a FOID without a parents or guardians signature. Being raised in a 2A unfriendly family it was the best I could do. My first firearm was a S&W model 67.

 

[Tomcat47]

I got my first Rifle at 12 .... Ranger 22 Bolt! Still have it today. I was off squirrel and rabbit hunting in my teens around our land and the neighbors land.. they had about 60 acres plus our 12 acres so I had plenty of hunting ground.

I was shooting the same rifle supervised probably from around age 7 up until he gave it to me for my birthday.... that was a good birthday!

 

[Chris-bob]

I was 12, my brother was 14 and the oldest brother was 16. We saw a Marlin model 60 at a garage sale and pooled our funds together and bought it for $75 without parental consent. Dad said we did good when we got home with it. I later bought my two brothers' shares and owned it for many years. Then a few years later I gave it to my little sister as a Christmas present her senior year. She still has it and remembers that Christmas fondly. As for my kids, I bought my son a .22 when he was 6, my daughter got a .22 when she was 4 and my other son when he turned 2.

 

[Detachment Charlie]

I was a 16 year-old HS sophomore at one of the best private schools in the state. The problem was that the school was in a neighborhood that would make most of Detroit look like Sarasota. Because I was active in several extra-curriculum activities, I was often waiting for the last bus to the burbs. (I was the only white kid in like four square miles.)
My father, a city homicide detective, gave me my own S&W round-butt, Mod. 10, 2" barrel, a good holster and belt. Then came the training --most on the police range. I carried that gun through all my college years, and never shot a soul. I did pull it once, resulting in very quick exit by the would-be thug.
Thanks, Dad.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Lots of votes on this pole. Nice results.

 

[Jitterbug]

I received a Sears single shot .22 on my 6th birthday and still have it....54 years later.

 

[SFsc616171]

I was 12, when I was part of the Junior NRA Club, on Otis AFB. They were organization-owned Remington .22LR Target Rifles.

I was 18, and in my 6th week of Basic Training, at Lackland AFB, and issued, a Colt M-16 rifle. One day instruction, one day qualifications. (Thanks, NRA!!)

I was 20, stationed at U-Tapao RTNAF, and issued a Smith and Wesson M-15 Combat Masterpiece, and another M-16, with which to guard "the back 40" of the airbase.

I was 31, when I actually laid out cash, and purchased a British Enfield SMLE MkI, .303 British caliber.

 

[teetertotter]

65 five years ago.

 

[tritonguy]

Christmas, 12 years old, 1960. Being a city boy I asked for a bb gun. Parents were divorced. Mom gave me a new .22 cal. Remington 572 Fieldmaster pump with Tan wood and a steel sleeved, copper colored aluminum barrel. Dad gave me a used .22 cal Savage 87d semi-auto. Paternal grandfather gave me a used Stevens sxs double barrel in 20 ga. which I was told he bought for me while I was still in the womb. He waited 'till I was 12 at the request of my mother.

I still have and shoot the Savage and the Stevens. The Remington has been passed down to my oldest grandson.

 

[Inebriated]

Was probably 8 or 9 when I first shot a gun, 11 or so when I declared the gun I usually shot as mine, 18 when I bought my first.