I shot my Grandfather’s 22 and 20ga until at age 14 I got my own Remington 40X Range Master 22 single shot target rifle. This served me well for local club and later ROTC rifle team competition. Then I quit shooting it and decades later sold it. Big mistake! ;->
The first that I used was dad’s old K-Mart Special No4Mk1. Too bad that it was “bubbaized” or I would convert it back to military specs. The first that I bought, through my dad when I was 16, was an M1 Garand.
Other than toy guns as a kid, my first was a Sig P239 in .40 S&W that I bought when I was in my early 20s. Sadly sold it after a few years when finances were tight.
My pop gave me a Ruger Bearcat for my birthday in 1974 – I believe it was the last year of the “old model”. Still use it to control the squirrels around the cabin. It’s smooth as silk and shoots pretty straight after 37 years and God knows how many rounds.
A parts 1911 made from an WW2 era Ithaca slide, Auto Ordnance frame, and GI replacement barrel.
No idea how it got that way, and I didn’t ask the guy who gave it to me. It was payment for a week of watching his house. Eat his food, sleep in his bed, and watch his TV and I get a free 1911? Yes Sir!
I certainly caught the 1911 bug, 4 out of my 5 handguns are 1911s or 1911 style handguns.
My first shotgun was (is, I still have it) a Browning Lightning 12 gauge that belonged to my granddad. I was given this gun back in 1979.
My first rifle was (is, I still have it) a Remington Gamemaster 141 .35 cal. Got this one from my granddad too.
My first semi-auto handgun was an Interarms Silver Cup 1911 that I bought in May of 1997. I wish I still had it but it was sold to finance a 92FS Inox. So at least it went to a good cause.
My first revolver was a Taurus Model 66 Stainless .357 I bought in June of 2003. I still have it and it performs security duty in casa Fritz.
All of these guns get taken out to the range as often as possible. No safe queens. That Browning and a box of clay birds is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
My first rifle, was a Mohawk Brown nylon 66, still have it. My first pistol was an R.G. industries 22lr, 8 shot revolver. It really puts the cheap in Saturday night special. A cop gave it to my mother for protection.
First gun: Hercules .22 single shot pellet rifle. It still shoots well, and is a good teaching aide.
First “real” gun: 1938 Turkish Mauser, 8mm. Got it at Big 5 for $100 some 14 years ago. It kicks like the proverbial mule (it can, and will, rattle your teeth if your cheek weld is not just so) and spits a very impressive 5 foot fireball out the business end. After 70 years, it still shoots straight.
A 12-gauge H&R single-shot. Shooting 3″ magnum BB shot through a 5-pound 12-gauge probably wasn’t the best choice for a skinny teenager, but it taught me not to fear recoil. Not too much, anyway.
A Remington single shot .22 bolt action that some SOB stole from me about 30 years ago. My dad gave me that gun and has since passed away, sure wish I could find the SOB who stole it.
A used J.C. Higgins .22 single shot bolt action w/ manual cock on the back of the bolt, received Christmas of 1979 IIRC. My stepmother carved my initials on one side of the stock & an eagle in flight on the other & my father refinished the stock, hand rubbed tung oil…
My first real gun was a Daisy BB gun I got for Christmas when I was eight (which was 33 years ago? Really?).
My first firearm was a Marlin Model 60 I got a couple of years later. My dad bought it for me when it became apparent that I was a pretty good shot for the 4-H rifle team.
I still have the barreled action and trigger group from that Marlin, and planning to get a replacement stock for it sometime.
The first one I’ve fired? M-16, it actually belonged to the USCG, but it was in my care, custody and control for years.
First one I’ve owned is my current 6 month old Beretta PX4 .40. I’ve discovered in the last 6 months that they are addicting. You can’t just have one.
I learned to shoot a Marlin Model 60 .22LR when I was probably 10 or 11. My sisters actually bought me a Remington 870 for my 18th birthday which was what really got me into guns. The first gun that I bought for myself was a Savage Edge in .308. In the three years since then I’ve bought a half dozen more guns. My first handgun was a Springfield XD40SC.
In the late 50’s my mom took away an old no-name Belgian top-break .44 from an inebriated friend. After he sobered, he told my mom to keep it.
I fired thousands of rounds of the old Speer reusable plastic .44 primer powered rounds in my basement. I also bought several boxes of the Herter’s (the REAL original Herter’s) reusable plastic .44 rounds and, and fired the heck out of them. Back then (in the early 60’s) large pistol primers were dirt cheap and I bought them by the thousands from Herter’s. I used those reusable plastic .44 rounds until the primers fell out, or the plastic bullets were hopelessly mangled.
After several thousand rounds were fired, the hammer on the .44 finally broke, and the pistol was so loose and worn out, that I sold it for a few dollars at a gun show to a guy that was going to break it down for parts.
The first firearm I ever bought myself in the mid 60’s (actually my older brother bought it because I was too young) was a Marlin 989M2 22lr carbine. Now almost 50 years old, it is still in excellent condition, and in my gun safe; I still fire it occasionally.
As soon as I turned 18 (mid 60’s) I purchased at a gun show in Greenbelt Maryland a mint Belgian Mauser in .30-06, which is also now in my gun safe and fired occasionally. A short time later, at another Greenbelt gun show, I purchased my first handgun, a surplus, unfired, Remington Rand 1911A1 that was wrapped in brown wax paper. Several thousand hardball rounds later, it is still in mint condition.
Age 7 (1959), a Remington 514 single shot 22 rifle. It got traded for something else after a couple of years but ended up back in my possession in 1982 as a wedding present from a neighbor who bought it from the store my dad had traded it to.
First gun I ever shot was my Dad’s 9mm EAA Witness. He’s since moved on to higher quality arms.
My first firearm purchase was a 91/30 Mosin Nagant. As a poor college kid it was all I could afford. But it made an impression, and to this day I’m a big fan of old mil-surp bolt-actions.
The first handgun I bought was an old Ruger Security Six with a lot of holster wear. Again, all I could afford as a poor student, but that old work horse is still more than serviceable.
After my Grandfather passed in the summer of ’98, the garden where he’d throw all of our pumpkin seeds after every Halloween sprouted some of the best looking pumpkins I’d ever seen. Then groundhogs ate them all.
My Dad took me out to K-Mart, and we picked up my first gun, a blued Ruger 10/22 Carbine (I was ten). The first couple rounds he fired at the hogs went right into the shed, but I spent many days after school just waiting in the kitchen window to get a shot off at those groundhogs. Many thousands of rounds later (and about 5 groundhogs) it is still one of my favorites.
The first gun that was “mine” was a Ruger M77 Mk II in 30-06 that my father bought me as a hunting rifle. It kicks like a pissed off mule, but it’ll group under an inch at 100 yards. The first gun I bought myself was a Marlin 925. I put a Burris 4x scope on it, and it has rid many pastures of gopher infestations.
a 10/22 with synthetic stock i got for my….10th birthday? First I bought for myself when I moved away for college about 5 years back was a used mossberg maverick 88 shotgun, cheap, but reliable! in that 5 years my collection has grown way more then I let my parents know 🙂
The first gun I owned was some kind of a .22 rifle, a birthday gift from my godfather. Lucky for me it stayed in the closet and my father didn’t pass on the obsession for guns that many of your father’s passed on to you.
H&R single shot .410 as a Christmas present one year. My dad took me out to shoot it that afternoon, we scared up a covy of quail and I took one on the first shot out of the gun. Quite a thrill for a kid of about 7 or 8.
Today I just got my first gun, I am 17 and bought a Yugoslavian SKS at the local gunshow. It is amazing with a bayonet and grenade launcher, to bad I cannot get grenades. I go to army basic training in 10 days, so itll be awile before I get to even shoot it
The first firearm my Dad specifically purchased for me, afte just a little begging, was a Ruger Single Six .22/.22 mag – I loved that thing!
A Marlin Golden 39 in the summer of ’76. Still a great shooter after all of these years.
My first baby was a CZ-83, i’ve been collection since, and it’s still my CCW option.
Love the little fella.
Greetings From Brazil.
I shot my Grandfather’s 22 and 20ga until at age 14 I got my own Remington 40X Range Master 22 single shot target rifle. This served me well for local club and later ROTC rifle team competition. Then I quit shooting it and decades later sold it. Big mistake! ;->
First gun I bought for myself (which is why I count it as my “first” gun) was my beloved Star 30M. Still a fantastic shoot after all these years.
The first that I used was dad’s old K-Mart Special No4Mk1. Too bad that it was “bubbaized” or I would convert it back to military specs. The first that I bought, through my dad when I was 16, was an M1 Garand.
Remington Sportmaster Model 512 .22.
The first firearm I bought for myself was a Remington 870.
Marlin 25N, about 10 years ago
I still have it, and shoot it regularly, and in fact, I free floated the barrel on it last weekend.
Other than toy guns as a kid, my first was a Sig P239 in .40 S&W that I bought when I was in my early 20s. Sadly sold it after a few years when finances were tight.
Glock 21. It’s had its internals upgraded a number of times, and the night sights are dead, but it still shoots.
My pop gave me a Ruger Bearcat for my birthday in 1974 – I believe it was the last year of the “old model”. Still use it to control the squirrels around the cabin. It’s smooth as silk and shoots pretty straight after 37 years and God knows how many rounds.
A parts 1911 made from an WW2 era Ithaca slide, Auto Ordnance frame, and GI replacement barrel.
No idea how it got that way, and I didn’t ask the guy who gave it to me. It was payment for a week of watching his house. Eat his food, sleep in his bed, and watch his TV and I get a free 1911? Yes Sir!
I certainly caught the 1911 bug, 4 out of my 5 handguns are 1911s or 1911 style handguns.
My first shotgun was (is, I still have it) a Browning Lightning 12 gauge that belonged to my granddad. I was given this gun back in 1979.
My first rifle was (is, I still have it) a Remington Gamemaster 141 .35 cal. Got this one from my granddad too.
My first semi-auto handgun was an Interarms Silver Cup 1911 that I bought in May of 1997. I wish I still had it but it was sold to finance a 92FS Inox. So at least it went to a good cause.
My first revolver was a Taurus Model 66 Stainless .357 I bought in June of 2003. I still have it and it performs security duty in casa Fritz.
All of these guns get taken out to the range as often as possible. No safe queens. That Browning and a box of clay birds is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
remington 870
My dad gave me a Remington Nylon 66 fifty years ago. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of him, and that little .22.
My first rifle, was a Mohawk Brown nylon 66, still have it. My first pistol was an R.G. industries 22lr, 8 shot revolver. It really puts the cheap in Saturday night special. A cop gave it to my mother for protection.
My first gun was/is a Springfield Armory TRP. It’s still in my collection and I shoot it at least every 1-2 weeks.
First gun: Hercules .22 single shot pellet rifle. It still shoots well, and is a good teaching aide.
First “real” gun: 1938 Turkish Mauser, 8mm. Got it at Big 5 for $100 some 14 years ago. It kicks like the proverbial mule (it can, and will, rattle your teeth if your cheek weld is not just so) and spits a very impressive 5 foot fireball out the business end. After 70 years, it still shoots straight.
Sad to say it was a Goverment 9mm and M-16 for me, although I did shoot 1903 Springfields and M1 Garand on my highschool rifle team.
A 12-gauge H&R single-shot. Shooting 3″ magnum BB shot through a 5-pound 12-gauge probably wasn’t the best choice for a skinny teenager, but it taught me not to fear recoil. Not too much, anyway.
Glenfield model 60 my brother got me for my birthday.
First gun I bought was a Marlin 336C.
The Glenfield was retired several years ago but I still have the Marlin.
A Remington single shot .22 bolt action that some SOB stole from me about 30 years ago. My dad gave me that gun and has since passed away, sure wish I could find the SOB who stole it.
Anschutz 1903 bolt action 22 target rifle during my days on the junior rifle team at Massasoit gun club in RI.
A used J.C. Higgins .22 single shot bolt action w/ manual cock on the back of the bolt, received Christmas of 1979 IIRC. My stepmother carved my initials on one side of the stock & an eagle in flight on the other & my father refinished the stock, hand rubbed tung oil…
First purchased handgun was a Bersa Thunder .380.
First purchased long-gun was a Remington 870.
Nylon 66. Still have it. Wish I had a dozen more!
My first real gun was a Daisy BB gun I got for Christmas when I was eight (which was 33 years ago? Really?).
My first firearm was a Marlin Model 60 I got a couple of years later. My dad bought it for me when it became apparent that I was a pretty good shot for the 4-H rifle team.
I still have the barreled action and trigger group from that Marlin, and planning to get a replacement stock for it sometime.
Shotgun: Winchester Model 42 .410 I learned my lesson with this one–Never, ever sell a gun.
Rifle: Norinko SKS
Handgun: Springfield 1911
A Gene Autry cap gun
The first one I’ve fired? M-16, it actually belonged to the USCG, but it was in my care, custody and control for years.
First one I’ve owned is my current 6 month old Beretta PX4 .40. I’ve discovered in the last 6 months that they are addicting. You can’t just have one.
I learned to shoot a Marlin Model 60 .22LR when I was probably 10 or 11. My sisters actually bought me a Remington 870 for my 18th birthday which was what really got me into guns. The first gun that I bought for myself was a Savage Edge in .308. In the three years since then I’ve bought a half dozen more guns. My first handgun was a Springfield XD40SC.
Remington “Nylon 66” – .22 LR – 15 rd tube mag with one of the first synthetic stocks.
My Grandma bought it for me with Green Stamps…. how things have changed.
In the late 50’s my mom took away an old no-name Belgian top-break .44 from an inebriated friend. After he sobered, he told my mom to keep it.
I fired thousands of rounds of the old Speer reusable plastic .44 primer powered rounds in my basement. I also bought several boxes of the Herter’s (the REAL original Herter’s) reusable plastic .44 rounds and, and fired the heck out of them. Back then (in the early 60’s) large pistol primers were dirt cheap and I bought them by the thousands from Herter’s. I used those reusable plastic .44 rounds until the primers fell out, or the plastic bullets were hopelessly mangled.
After several thousand rounds were fired, the hammer on the .44 finally broke, and the pistol was so loose and worn out, that I sold it for a few dollars at a gun show to a guy that was going to break it down for parts.
The first firearm I ever bought myself in the mid 60’s (actually my older brother bought it because I was too young) was a Marlin 989M2 22lr carbine. Now almost 50 years old, it is still in excellent condition, and in my gun safe; I still fire it occasionally.
As soon as I turned 18 (mid 60’s) I purchased at a gun show in Greenbelt Maryland a mint Belgian Mauser in .30-06, which is also now in my gun safe and fired occasionally. A short time later, at another Greenbelt gun show, I purchased my first handgun, a surplus, unfired, Remington Rand 1911A1 that was wrapped in brown wax paper. Several thousand hardball rounds later, it is still in mint condition.
Mosin-Nagant 91/30 cheapo gun I could afford considering I only worked part time. Never shoot it anymore but can’t get myself to sell it either.
Savage 300 win mag
Age 7 (1959), a Remington 514 single shot 22 rifle. It got traded for something else after a couple of years but ended up back in my possession in 1982 as a wedding present from a neighbor who bought it from the store my dad had traded it to.
First gun I ever shot was my Dad’s 9mm EAA Witness. He’s since moved on to higher quality arms.
My first firearm purchase was a 91/30 Mosin Nagant. As a poor college kid it was all I could afford. But it made an impression, and to this day I’m a big fan of old mil-surp bolt-actions.
The first handgun I bought was an old Ruger Security Six with a lot of holster wear. Again, all I could afford as a poor student, but that old work horse is still more than serviceable.
Western Field .22 bolt action. I’m the third generation to own it and some day my progeny will get it as their first gun.
After my Grandfather passed in the summer of ’98, the garden where he’d throw all of our pumpkin seeds after every Halloween sprouted some of the best looking pumpkins I’d ever seen. Then groundhogs ate them all.
My Dad took me out to K-Mart, and we picked up my first gun, a blued Ruger 10/22 Carbine (I was ten). The first couple rounds he fired at the hogs went right into the shed, but I spent many days after school just waiting in the kitchen window to get a shot off at those groundhogs. Many thousands of rounds later (and about 5 groundhogs) it is still one of my favorites.
The first gun that was “mine” was a Ruger M77 Mk II in 30-06 that my father bought me as a hunting rifle. It kicks like a pissed off mule, but it’ll group under an inch at 100 yards. The first gun I bought myself was a Marlin 925. I put a Burris 4x scope on it, and it has rid many pastures of gopher infestations.
First thing I bought was a Beretta 92FS. Second was a Beretta Tomcat .32.
a 10/22 with synthetic stock i got for my….10th birthday? First I bought for myself when I moved away for college about 5 years back was a used mossberg maverick 88 shotgun, cheap, but reliable! in that 5 years my collection has grown way more then I let my parents know 🙂
The first gun I owned was some kind of a .22 rifle, a birthday gift from my godfather. Lucky for me it stayed in the closet and my father didn’t pass on the obsession for guns that many of your father’s passed on to you.
That is where it comes from isn’t it?
That would make an interesting poll, too: where did you come by your love (or animus) for shooting?
That would be cool. I would be interested.
I think I was 10 when I got my Savage Model 24C in 22 WMR and 20 gauge. Great gun; I still have it.
H&R single shot .410 as a Christmas present one year. My dad took me out to shoot it that afternoon, we scared up a covy of quail and I took one on the first shot out of the gun. Quite a thrill for a kid of about 7 or 8.
My dad bought me a Remington 572 when I was ten. First firearm that I bought myself was a S&W model 28 4″.
Today I just got my first gun, I am 17 and bought a Yugoslavian SKS at the local gunshow. It is amazing with a bayonet and grenade launcher, to bad I cannot get grenades. I go to army basic training in 10 days, so itll be awile before I get to even shoot it
My first gun was a .410, went partridge hunting with my dad. The good ole days.