BigBlue 94
Member
Fantastic story. When was the last time you shot the weather vane just for old times' sake?
I was taught that bb guns could cause harm just like a real one.
My First Rifle
- Thread starter SmeeAgain
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I was taught that bb guns could cause harm just like a real one.
22250Rem
Member
Got my dad's old Winchester Mod. 67 .22 when I was about 10. He had gotten as a kid it back in the latter 1930's. Sometime in the latter 1940's / early 1950's something broke on it and a gunsmith told him it would cost more to fix than the gun was worth. So it then resided in the back corner of a closet for years. I was finally able to play with it as it had been deemed inoperable and therefore safe. Had it as a wall hanger in my bedroom for years. Finally had a gunsmith look at it when I was in my 20's and it turned out to just need a sear spring. It's a great shooter and as accurate as I can handle with an iron sighted .22. Also has the honor of being the first firearm my son ever shot, and also the only "pre-64" Winchester I've ever owned, LOL.
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sarduy
Member
My first rifle was a Gamo Shadow 1000, then a Remington 700 30-06
NIGHTLORD40K
Member
Uh....you kept all the dead crows and squirrels? Gross........
First rifle my Dad gave me was an AR-7, unfortunately the Charter Arms version. It mostly taught me about clearing jams and misfires.
Afer that was a Mossberg 377, the original Plinkster.
It wasnt much better. It will foul itself into unusability every 300 rounds or so. I did keep it, mainly because its wasnt worth selling, and eventually taught my oldest on it.
She loves the stupid thing and it lives in her safe now- except when she brings it over for me to clean it.
NIGHTLORD40K
Member
"Rimfire, complete WITH clip"
Lol.
I like the $17 tires.....with free mounting!
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SmeeAgain
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Guessing mid 1960s. Within months after going in the military, my parents sold the ranch.
The funny part was he knew about the weather vane the entire time & didn't mention it until the perfect time... years later lol.
Considering his age at the time they moved from the ranch, that was quite a feat for him to climb up on the barn roof just to retrieve it. All that effort, just to prove a point.
It's a treasured heirloom now. I hope if my son ever sells this place, he makes the climb to save it.
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Bandit67
Member
The first rifle I bought for myself was a used Remington 742 Woodsmaster when I was 17.
I bought it for deer hunting.
I bought it for deer hunting.
I guess my first powder burner rifle was a Model 60 Marlin.
I am flabbergasted that your parents did not expect you to come back so they just threw all of your belongings away??!?? What?
I am glad that you found a similar rifle for sake of memories.
3C
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BigBlue 94
Member
Ditto. I woulda punched him square in the gut. Then bought him a beer.
Hooda Thunkit
Member
Springfield/Savage mdl 187 .22LR.
I received it for Christmas when was 12. I asked for a Crossman air rifle, got a 22 instead. Happy Day !
I still have the rifle, and still shoot it. It now wears a Nikon Prostaff 4x scope. The scope is worth much more than the rifle, but I like it on there.
Now Nikon has stopped making firearm optics, and the 187 hasn't been made in decades.
I don't care. The rifle isn't worth much, but it doesn't matter - it's not for sale.
I received it for Christmas when was 12. I asked for a Crossman air rifle, got a 22 instead. Happy Day !
I still have the rifle, and still shoot it. It now wears a Nikon Prostaff 4x scope. The scope is worth much more than the rifle, but I like it on there.
Now Nikon has stopped making firearm optics, and the 187 hasn't been made in decades.
I don't care. The rifle isn't worth much, but it doesn't matter - it's not for sale.
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SmeeAgain
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Doesn't matter what retail value is... to you it's priceless. That's what matters.
redneck2
Member
We had a Nylon 66 that served split duty for my brother and me on the farm.
My first rifle was a Remington 700 BDL .22-250. We had an eleven acre bean field that was bordered on two sides by an open ditch. Groundhogs ate at least half the beans. Of course that was the year that beans hit an all time high, $9 IIRC. At 35 bushels per acre that was a LOT of money in 1966. My dad got me the rifle with a fixed 10x scope. The groundhogs population dropped significantly
My first rifle was a Remington 700 BDL .22-250. We had an eleven acre bean field that was bordered on two sides by an open ditch. Groundhogs ate at least half the beans. Of course that was the year that beans hit an all time high, $9 IIRC. At 35 bushels per acre that was a LOT of money in 1966. My dad got me the rifle with a fixed 10x scope. The groundhogs population dropped significantly
The first rifle I used was a Winchester .22 lever action. It belongs to my father.
The first rifle I shot extensively was my maternal grandfather's Cooey Model 60. It was inherited by his favorite son, who gave it to me before he died from a long agonizing cancer.
My first rifle was gifted to me by my father. Browning BAR .270 Winchester. I hunt the rifle season with it every year I can.
The first rifle I bought was a Browning Buckmark .22 LR. It was sold even if it was relatively good, looking brand new, after roughly 10 years and around 5000 rounds. It was complicated to clean properly. No regrets.
The first rifle I shot extensively was my maternal grandfather's Cooey Model 60. It was inherited by his favorite son, who gave it to me before he died from a long agonizing cancer.
My first rifle was gifted to me by my father. Browning BAR .270 Winchester. I hunt the rifle season with it every year I can.
The first rifle I bought was a Browning Buckmark .22 LR. It was sold even if it was relatively good, looking brand new, after roughly 10 years and around 5000 rounds. It was complicated to clean properly. No regrets.
Cornhusker77
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On my 10th birthday, i got a Wards Western Field M815A single shot .22 which was basically a Mossberg 320 or 321
5 decades later, I still have it. It's a bit rough on the finish, got some rust on it one weekend but a little steel wool took care of it.
The first one I bought was a 10-22, then a Winchester 190.
5 decades later, I still have it. It's a bit rough on the finish, got some rust on it one weekend but a little steel wool took care of it.
The first one I bought was a 10-22, then a Winchester 190.
LonewolfMcquade
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My 1st rifle (bought by dad) was a Remington 700 BDL in 30-06 topped with an old Redfield 3x9 scope, the one with the square lens. A few years later, dad had it rebarreled with a 26" Douglas barrel chambered in 25-06. Still have it.
1st rifle I bought myself, was a Browning Eclipse A Bolt II 270WSM. Has a beautiful green wood laminated thumb hole stock. The purchase left me flat broke at the time ( my early 20's). Took it over to show my dad after leaving Gander mountain, I was kinda proud of my purchase, wanted to see what dad thought of it. He looked it over, said I did good (A rarity). Then he handed it back to me laughing. "Well, now you're broke. What the Hell ya gonna do for a scope?" Yeah, I know dad. I'll get something down the road.
2 weeks later on my birthday, I am awoken by someone pounding on my front door 9am Saturday morning. Yep, dad! "Quit f-ing around & get dressed! We're going to Cabela's. " We walked in & he tells me to go look at scopes a while, he'll be over trying on boots. Of course everything I picked out or liked was stupid, wrong, junk, etc. I started getting irratated by hour 2 (as was the patient employee), dad kept asking yo see & hold EVERY dang rifle there. So finally I pointed the expensive Leupold 4-20x56mm scope with the varmint reticle, $1300. Dad grabbed it out of my hands, looked through it, then left walking towards the front of the store. Apparently went outside to view through it. Comes back 15-20 minutes later & says "we'll take it, I ain't standing around all day while YOU p*** around with scopes!" (all him tying us up, lol). Grabbed some Federal Premium ammo, & away we went.
1st rifle I bought myself, was a Browning Eclipse A Bolt II 270WSM. Has a beautiful green wood laminated thumb hole stock. The purchase left me flat broke at the time ( my early 20's). Took it over to show my dad after leaving Gander mountain, I was kinda proud of my purchase, wanted to see what dad thought of it. He looked it over, said I did good (A rarity). Then he handed it back to me laughing. "Well, now you're broke. What the Hell ya gonna do for a scope?" Yeah, I know dad. I'll get something down the road.
2 weeks later on my birthday, I am awoken by someone pounding on my front door 9am Saturday morning. Yep, dad! "Quit f-ing around & get dressed! We're going to Cabela's. " We walked in & he tells me to go look at scopes a while, he'll be over trying on boots. Of course everything I picked out or liked was stupid, wrong, junk, etc. I started getting irratated by hour 2 (as was the patient employee), dad kept asking yo see & hold EVERY dang rifle there. So finally I pointed the expensive Leupold 4-20x56mm scope with the varmint reticle, $1300. Dad grabbed it out of my hands, looked through it, then left walking towards the front of the store. Apparently went outside to view through it. Comes back 15-20 minutes later & says "we'll take it, I ain't standing around all day while YOU p*** around with scopes!" (all him tying us up, lol). Grabbed some Federal Premium ammo, & away we went.
SwampWolf
Member
Lots of old .22 rifles did that but, to my knowledge, the Winchester Model 55 (oddly, Winchester made two entirely different rifles having the Model 55 moniker) is the only single-shot rifle ever made that was also a semi-auto. Stranger than fiction but true.
Reloadron
Contributing Member
Loved the story. My first rifle was a Remington 510P. My grandfather and my uncle would go hunting upstate NY every Thanksgiving. I was 8 years old in 1958 when they first took me along. My uncle's friend Charlie had a nice summer home in the Catskill Region upstate NY. So off we went from Brooklyn to upstate and to say I was excited was an understatement. We arrive at Charlie's place and day one Charlie says heck, the kid needs a rifle so he gave me a Remington 510P to drag all over up and down the mountains, no ammunition of course but a rifle to carry with the grown ups. Then that first afternoon with hunting done my uncle and Charlie worked with me and that rifle, each day a box of ammunition and lessons.That was 63 years ago. All good things must come to an end as did Thanksgiving weekend 1958. As we prepared to leave and I thanked Charlie he gave me that rifle.
I still have that first rifle. Over the years many more 22 rifles came along including the 511 and 512 pictured above. I can't think of anything else in my life I have had as long as that rifle. Someday it goes to my grandson.
Ron
I still have that first rifle. Over the years many more 22 rifles came along including the 511 and 512 pictured above. I can't think of anything else in my life I have had as long as that rifle. Someday it goes to my grandson.
Ron
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SmeeAgain
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Thanks for sharing a great story!
BTW... your rifle rack looks nearly identical to the one I made about the same time!
My son is still using it!
Reloadron
Contributing Member
Ugly Sauce
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When we moved from NY to Southern Cal, about six or seven or eight years old someone left a trunk at our new (to us) house. Full of drapes and curtains and such. I dug down to the bottom and found a nice Winchester single shot .22. Don't remember what model it was. My dad surprised me when he said: "you found it, it's yours".
Had it for a long time, I used to get sent off to Iowa for the summers to my different uncle's farms, and my Grandmother's farm. My "job" was to control the gopher and black bird populations. That rifle was accurate, I sure remember that. Me and my cousin Robert would also go to the dump and shoot rats, and pigeons in the barns. Carried it right on the plane in a cardboard box going to and from Iowa. Kid traveling alone with his rifle. Don't see that much these days.
Then one time my Dad, my brothers and I were out in the desert shooting, and when we packed up to go home I left it leaning on a rock or something, forgot to grab it. Discovered I'd left it when we got home, and we drove all the way back, a good hour's drive at least, but it was gone. Still bugs me to this day.
Had it for a long time, I used to get sent off to Iowa for the summers to my different uncle's farms, and my Grandmother's farm. My "job" was to control the gopher and black bird populations. That rifle was accurate, I sure remember that. Me and my cousin Robert would also go to the dump and shoot rats, and pigeons in the barns. Carried it right on the plane in a cardboard box going to and from Iowa. Kid traveling alone with his rifle. Don't see that much these days.
Then one time my Dad, my brothers and I were out in the desert shooting, and when we packed up to go home I left it leaning on a rock or something, forgot to grab it. Discovered I'd left it when we got home, and we drove all the way back, a good hour's drive at least, but it was gone. Still bugs me to this day.
Thank you for your service, and I'm sorry to hear of your path to being without your first rifles.
My first rifle that was actually my own gun is the 1966 model 10/22 that I still have. The first rifle that I ever fired is also the same gun that I shot for the first few years of my shooting "career." I was allowed to take out anytime I wanted without asking, as were my brothers and sister (though she never was a shooter). It was/is my Dad's 1950 Remington 121 that I also still have. Despite my Dad's complete lack of selfishness, complete lack of threats or demands about taking care of it, the 121 survived all of us kids who took it out regularly, and is still in amazing condition today.
brunowbe
Member
Remington 522 Viper from Kmart for me when I was about 13 years old. Thanks dad!
I still have it along with 3 of the metal magazines for it (someone tried telling me once they never made metal mags for it til I showed them). I know these rifles had their issues and could be jam-o-matics, but mine runs just fine as long it gets fed Remington ammunition, any other brand and it jams up pretty bad. It’s also the rifle my daughter learned to shoot with.
I still have it along with 3 of the metal magazines for it (someone tried telling me once they never made metal mags for it til I showed them). I know these rifles had their issues and could be jam-o-matics, but mine runs just fine as long it gets fed Remington ammunition, any other brand and it jams up pretty bad. It’s also the rifle my daughter learned to shoot with.
hawg
Member
My dad bought me a Browning SA in .22 LR when I was 3. I think I was 5 before I could shoot it from the hip. About 7 before I could aim with it. I traded it back to him when I was 12 or 13 for a Winchester.
SwampWolf
Member
A great deal compared to today's prices-until you figure in the lifespan of the typical bias-ply tires of that time period. They gave up their treads at about the same time mufflers of the era were coughing their last breaths.
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