My First Rifle

[SmeeAgain]

Back in the early 1960s I attended a Hunter Safety Class at a Sears store.
I really thought that was a big deal.
After that I had standing permission to use my father's bolt action .22 without asking each time... with certain provisions.
Like cleaning it if I shot it or not. Making a mistake OF ANY KIND, or the slightest scratch and I'd be visiting the doctor to have it surgically removed from my backside.
The fear of the slightest thing happening to it took all the fun out of it and it just wasn't worth the risk.
So... a friend just got a new rifle and offered to sell me his old one for $5.
That was all the money I had in the world but I broke the land speed record running home to get it.
It was a Savage, single shot .22 bolt action.
That evening I proudly showed it to my dad. He told me it was junk & I paid too much for it etc. I didn't care... it was mine. If I somehow scratched it, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
I saved up for what seemed like an eternity until I had almost enough money to go back to Sears & buy an Ithaca Model 49 Saddlegun.
It looked like a 94 Winchester but was another single shot .22.
It was $49.95 plus tax.
I ended up selling my Savage for $10! So I had merely pennies left over but I had a brand new rifle, that was 100% mine!
Of course being a kid, my dad had to do the actual buying.
Then the guy at Sears tried to sign me up for the Hunter Safety Class lol & I instantly whipped out my card to show off. I remember my dad saying "God no! We aren't going through that again! Last time he didn't shut up for weeks about it!"
Then the guy asked if I needed bullets for it. I said I didn't have enough money left and I'd get them later.
To my surprise my dad said "Give him a box of shorts, I'll cover that."
Then even more amazing, the Sears guy put a box of .22lr in the box with the rifle when my dad wasn't looking & stuck his finger over his lips like "shhhh". So a new rifle and two boxes of ammo! I was set for life!
For years I rarely left the house without it!
Then days after I graduated high school I left for Vietnam.
By the time I came home, my parents had sold the ranch and moved into a condo in town. One of the first things I asked was... Where is my rifle?"
My dad said "We didn't expect you to come back so I threw it away with the rest of your junk when we moved."
I was devastated! Just a few years ago I finally found another... seriously beaten on & worn out, but the same model.
I paid $250.00 for it. In reality it's not worth $50 but I had to have it. I'll never shoot it, I'm not even sure if it works... I just had to have it.
I did find a model 49R which is the repeater version, in excellent shape, for the same price and I have used it. But... it's not the same. Some will get it, some won't.
So... what was your first?

 

[Deus Machina]

My first personal rifle was an AK. A Saiga in 7.62x39. Chromed bore in a good barrel from the actual Russian factory. Converted it to proper form and AKs have just felt right ever since, and it spoiled the cheap ones for me.
Of course that was back when you could spend the same on a cheap 'proper' one or convert a nice Saiga for the same price, and get a whole lot more from the Saiga.

Eventually sold that for rent money when times were tough, but got back at least what I put into it, totaling the cost of the rifle, parts, and tooling I bought for the machines I worked on it with.

A Mosin Nagant M44 soon after I got the Saiga. It and a can of 400 rounds were under $100 out the door. Miss those days.
Do not miss that first range day, really. I bought one of those cheap rubber bolt-on butt pads before the second range day. Ouch.

 

[SmeeAgain]

My first was an AK. A Saiga in 7.62x39. Chromed bore in a good barrel from the actual Russian factory. Converted it to proper form and AKs have just felt right ever since, and it spoiled the cheap ones for me.
Of course, that was back when you could spend the same on a cheap 'proper' one, or convert a nice Saiga for the same price, and get a whole lot more from the Saiga.

Then a Mosin Nagant M44 soon after. It and a can of 400 rounds were $100 out the door. Miss those days.
Do not miss that first range day, really. I bought one of those cheap rubber bolt-on butt pads before the second range day. Ouch.

Try that today... with ammo & IF you can find it, you need to mortgage your house to walk out of the store with it.
Feels like "the good ol' days" are gone.

 

[George Dickel]

The first gun I bought with my money was a Remington Nylon 12 in 22lr. Worked for a neighbor farmer plowing fields for $1.00 an hour. If I remember correctly, it cost me $40, all the money I made that week. The Nylon series rifles were fairly recent on the market and were cool looking. Was really proud of it.

 

[gobsauce]

An all matching SKS for $400. I had been saving for an AK, but I couldn't pass up one of my grail guns. All matching Norinco SKS, with an extra internal 20 round mag, extra BCG, and about 2k rounds.

Wherever you are,Wes, thank you for selling my my first purchase.

My first 4473 was at Sportsman's Elite, for a Mosin.

My actual first rifle was a scrap Marlin 60. Given to me as payment for basically overhauling the entire engine for a '95 Ford Ranger. Took a lot of motivation to figure out the rifle and fix it.

 

[Spats McGee]

My very first rifle was the Standard Issue 10/22 that I got for my 12th (or so) birthday. I still have it, even though I've replaced the stock, the barrel, gotten a trigger job and stuck a new scope on top of it.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

My first was Remington 512 .22 with the tubular magazine. Still got it...

 

[HowieG]

The first rifle I bought with my own money was a used Remington 722 in 300 Savage. It cost me a hundred bucks if I recall correctly. It had on old Westernfield scope on it. This was in 1971. The scope is long gone, but I still have the rifle.

The first brand new rifle I bought was a Ruger M77V, 22-250 in 1973.

 

[HowieG]

My first was Remington 512 .22 with the tubular magazine. Still got it...

My first inherited rifle was my grandfather's Remington 511 Scoremaster. Still got it. Awesome 22 rifle. Remington had a winner with that series.

View attachment 1059891

 

[.308 Norma]

So... what was your first?

A Model 55 Winchester. Mom and Dad bought it for me for my 10th birthday in 1958. I still have it.
If you don't know, the Model 55 Winchester was a single-shot, semi-auto .22. You cocked it first, shoved a .22 round (short, long, or long rifle - they all worked) in through a trap door like thing on the top, and as you shoved the round in, it automatically put the gun on "safe." When you took it off "safe" and fired it, it re-cocked itself as it ejected the spent case out of a hole in the bottom of the stock. The spent case was very hot of course, and until I grew some, I often wore blister in the palm of my hand.
I've seen other Model 55s at gun shows. The sometimes have signs on them that say "Winchester's Edsel."

 

[HowieG]

A Model 55 Winchester. Mom and Dad bought it for me for my 10th birthday in 1958. I still have it.
If you don't know, the Model 55 Winchester was a single-shot, semi-auto .22. You cocked it first, shoved a .22 round (short, long, or long rifle - they all worked) in through a trap door like thing on the top, and as you shoved the round in, it automatically put the gun on "safe." When you took it off "safe" and fired it, it re-cocked itself as it ejected the spent case out of a hole in the bottom of the stock. The spent case was very hot of course, and until I grew some, I often wore blister in the palm of my hand.
I've seen other Model 55s at gun shows. The sometimes have signs on them that say "Winchester's Edsel."

What the heck was Winchester thinking when they came up with that?

 

[.308 Norma]

What the heck was Winchester thinking when they came up with that?

I'm not really sure. However, I think Winchester might have thought people would buy it for their kid's first "real gun." I know the fact that it's a single-shot and has an "automatic safety" are two of the reasons my folks bought it for me for my first "real gun." Dad told me as much.
When they bought it though, Mom and Dad didn't realize that my arms were just the right length so that I'd place my hand right under the ejection port. Whenever I get that rifle out and shoot it nowadays, I have a hard time believing I was ever that short.

 

[bigmike45]

I hunted with a pre-64 Model 94 Winchester Carbine in 30-30 when I started hunting at 12 years old until I was 18 and bought my first bolt action/scoped rifle. It was a Winchester Model 70 in .243.

 

[HowieG]

I'm not really sure. However, I think Winchester might have thought people would buy it for their kid's first "real gun." I know the fact that it's a single-shot and has an "automatic safety" are two of the reasons my folks bought it for me for my first "real gun." Dad told me as much.
When they bought it though, Mom and Dad didn't realize that my arms were just the right length so that I'd place my hand right under the ejection port. Whenever I get that rifle out and shoot it nowadays, I have a hard time believing I was ever that short.

LMAO! Glad you grew up.

 

[twarr1]

Store brand 22 single shot when I was 12. The next Christmas my brother and I both got a Mossberg 410 bolt action. Later, we learned my brother’s gun was paid for but my Dad still owed on mine and couldn’t pay, so the seller came and took it not long after Christmas Day. To this day I still feel bad for my Dad.

 

[BigBlue 94]

I inherited my grandpa's collection.

However he bought me a camo stocked marlin 25 in 22LR as my first rifle.

But the rifle ill always cherish from my childhood was my dads Stevens 22-410. I carried it all over our yard looking for squirrels and crows. I could shoot the eye out of a squirrel at 200 yards, or so i imagined lol. Still have em all.

Firat rifle i bought myself was a Rem700 SPS in 308. Topped it with a Leupold scope and i nestled it down in a custom camo AICS chassis with thumbhole delete.

 

[Dr T]

My first was a Savage Model 63 .22 single shot. I managed to wear it out--twice. I shot it so much that the firing pin wore out the hammer.

I have been partial to full-stocked rifles ever since. It finally took a CZ 452FS to scratch that itch.

But, I taught myself to shoot instinctively with the Savage and killed a lot of tin cans, aspirin bottle tops, and jackrabbits with it.

 

[SwampWolf]

Like many others, a Winchester Model 67 single-shot .22 on Christmas of 1957 when I was 14 years old; still the best gift I've ever received these many years later. A couple of Christmases ago, the little Winchester was given to my oldest grandson. His smile was as big as my own was!

 

[MosinT53Hunter]

Mine was a Springfield/Stevens Model 65, 5 round magazine in S, L, LR.
Found mine at a gunshow for $50 even. Very happy day for me! I lived right behind an abandoned hop kiln, and hunted woodpeckers to my hearts delight!
Bought a peepsight to go along with it, man that rifle was accurate.

Later on I gave it to my brother in law when I wanted to get into semi-autos. Still have many fond memories of it though.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Mine was a Marlin Glenfield M25 my dad purchased at K-Mart for my 16th birthday. There was absolutely no surprise involved, as I backed dad into a corner and actually left the newspaper ad on his nightstand:



Man, remember when a brick of .22 LR cost $7!

I don't think he minded one bit, and was probably secretly happy that I had found basically the same rifle one of my Boy Scout buddies had received for Christmas priced about $25 less (of course, my friend got the walnut stocked version, without the plastic triggerguard and front sight.) Thirty bucks went a lot further in 1976.

I used that Marlin extensively in the early 1980s when dad and I ran a small almond orchard that was overrun with ground squirrels. The stock got pretty beaten up from riding around in the tractor, so I later fitted a factory synthetic stock and had the barrel shortened and recrowned. I upgraded the iron sights at the same time, and later added a much better Nikon scope and unitized mount.



She still gets to the range pretty regularly and holds a good group.

 

[Poper]

My first rifle was a Remington 572 slide action. Got it used in 1971 for $45, IIRC. Still have it just like I bought it with the iron sights. Shoots as good (if not better) than it ever did. Generally speaking, the ammo is better these days and it shows in the old Remington!

 

[1SG Ret]

Remington 514 single shot .22. Got it for Christmas in 1964 and I still have it.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Did many of you have BB or pellet guns before a real gun? Or did you go right to a 22?

I had a few air and spring guns before a 22. Still have my first one. It was bought for me when i was but a few weeks old. A 50th anniversary Red Ryder. We are now 33 years old.

 

[SmeeAgain]

A Model 55 Winchester. Mom and Dad bought it for me for my 10th birthday in 1958. I still have it.
If you don't know, the Model 55 Winchester was a single-shot, semi-auto .22. You cocked it first, shoved a .22 round (short, long, or long rifle - they all worked) in through a trap door like thing on the top, and as you shoved the round in, it automatically put the gun on "safe." When you took it off "safe" and fired it, it re-cocked itself as it ejected the spent case out of a hole in the bottom of the stock. The spent case was very hot of course, and until I grew some, I often wore blister in the palm of my hand.
I've seen other Model 55s at gun shows. The sometimes have signs on them that say "Winchester's Edsel."

My $5 Savage was similar... Open the bolt, shove any size .22 in it, close the bolt, cock the bolt / hammer, let the safety off, aim... then start to cry because whatever you had planned on shooting had casually wandered off or died of old age by the time you were done screwing around.
Yeah, those were the good ol' days. I sure miss them.
Now my single shot Ithaca 49 would make Chuck Conners jealous. I became so proficient with it, if I tried it almost sounded fully automatic. OK maybe not quite that fast but still quite impressive for a single shot.

 

[SmeeAgain]

Did many of you have BB or pellet guns before a real gun? Or did you go right to a 22?

I had a few air and spring guns before a 22. Still have my first one. It was bought for me when i was but a few weeks old. A 50th anniversary Red Ryder. We are now 33 years old.

My dad had a theory about BB guns... that they were more dangerous than real ones. As we might be inclined to try something stupid with them "because they were just BB guns."
So... I had my .22s long before ever getting a BB gun.
Turns out he was "somewhat right". While not dangerous in any way, my brother & I would shoot the metal weather vane on top of the barn every time we walked by, then giggle that we made it spin.
We thought it was our big secret until 15 years later when I bought a new house. My dad came over with a "house warming gift"... that same weather vane with about a billion little BB dents in it!
I wasn't even done laughing before I had my brother on the phone telling him what Dad just did!
Later that day, my brother came by & the three of us installed it, then had a beer to celebrate.
My dad & brother are both long gone but that weather vane has been on every place I've owned since. Right now it proudly sits on the peak of my stable. BB dents & all!