# What Was Your First Gun?



## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

What was the very first gun you were given or purchased? Do you still have it? I'm not talking BB guns.
My first was a Rossi 62SA Pump Action .22 S, L or LR....My Dad gave it to me for Christmas in 1983. Still have it. Still looks brand new.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Marlin semi-auto 22. I still have it. My Dad put it on hold at Smith and Edwards and I would call the gun counter everyday to see if he had picked it up yet. Those poor gun counter folks had to deal with a phone call from an impatient kid everyday when I got off the school bus!


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Stevens double barrel .410 followed shortly by a Browning .22LR "Takedown". Still have them both.

-DallanC


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

Remington .22 LR my Dad gave me when I was 13 yrs old back in 1983 still have it.


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## willfish4food (Jul 14, 2009)

Ruger 10/22 bought with my birthday and Christmas Money. Dad was excited for me, mom was concerned. Still have it. Use it from my back porch "blind" to pick bunnies off when they're in my garden.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

My uncle gave me his Savage 30-06 back when I was 5 years old. 

I have no idea of how many rounds that he shot through it but I put a bucket load of rounds through it. 

Right now it will still place the first shot right where you need it, but after that all bets are off. It now resides in my safe

Sent from my SM-J737V using Tapatalk


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

pollo70 said:


> Remington .22 LR my Dad gave me when I was 13 yrs old back in 1883 still have it.


Whoa - 1883? Dang homie . . .


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

pollo70 said:


> Remington .22 LR my Dad gave me when I was 13 yrs old back in 1883 still have it.


I'm gonna have to call BS on that! Especially since the .22LR wasn't introduce until *1884*!! I remember the day well!!!


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

Mine was a Marlin Golden 39M .22 my Dad gave me for Christmas in 1973.
I was a senior in high school, I had used his guns up until them.


Still have it, don't have a clue how many rounds have been thru it. 
it's a little worse for wear and tear, but still shoots quite good. Even cleaned it the other day. 
All three of my girls used it for their hunter safety class. Then bought them their own .22 when they turned 12.


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## bfr (Apr 26, 2009)

JC Higgins mod. 52 30-06 & Remington single shot 410. Got them for my 12 th birthday and still use them 60 yrs later.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

The first gun I could call my own was a Glenfield Model 20 (made by Marlin) clip fed .22 S,L,LR I got for Christmas when I was 15. Dad told me Santa got it on sale for $25. Of course I still have it, in fact I loaded it up with bird shot and popped off a few gophers with it just last week. I used to go through about 500 rounds a week with it when I was a teenager, but I believe they've replaced most of the pock marked road signs by now though.....:shock:


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

Mine was a Marlin Semi-Auto .22. I don't have it anymore though. I shot it so much that no amount of cleaning would prevent frequent jamming or misfires.

It was given to me as a gift from a great uncle whom I had only met one time in New Mexico. He took me out one morning to shoot some jacks and although I didn't hit a single one it changed my life forever, for the better.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Ruger Bearcat .22 I earned working part time in the local sporting goods store in high school. Still have it.


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

CPAjeff said:


> Whoa - 1883? Dang homie . . .


Correction 1983... LOL


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

pollo70 said:


> Remington .22 LR my Dad gave me when I was 13 yrs old back in 1983 still have it.


I was 13 years old in 1983 too.


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

Mine was also a Marlin semi-auto .22 (model 60). I still have it, though I never shoot it because it jams so much. I got it for Christmas, but I found it about a month before hidden in my parents closet. I'd sneak it out and admire it when nobody was around. I acted appropriately surprised on Christmas morning. 

As a side note, what I really wanted was a BB gun, because I wanted to kill every songbird that entered our airspace. My parents were very, very wise.... I didn't own a BB gun until I bought my own 25 years later.


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## SX3 (Jun 3, 2014)

Remington Nylon 66. Bought it for new in 1972. I was 10 years old. Earned the $49 price tag helping my dad clean the European Health Spa in Billing Montana. I still think it is the most reliable semi-auto 22 ever made. Feed it decent jacketed 22LR shells and it spits them out as fast as you can pull the trigger.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Mine was a POS JC Higgins tube fed bolt action .22 rifle. I call it a POS because that thing was a jamming SOB. I can vividly remember the frustration of having jacks just sitting there begging for it while I scrambled to get the empty out and get a live one back in just in time for them to dart into the brush. I still have it, but haven't shot it in years. Last I was using it I was operating it as a single shot just to make it somewhat functional. When I was 16 I got a Henry lever action .22 and have been MUCH happier with it. Me + Henry lever action .22lr + a fine bead = a whole mess of dead jacks and whistlers over the years.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

First Gun I used for me was a New England Arms single shot 12 ga. I had to use it for the first 2 years. Then the first gun for me was a Remington Express 12 ga. I still have it. I sanded down the stock when I was a teenager and refinished it, sort of. 

My sons still have to use the single shot for 2 years. They will learn to value the first shot. My 14 year is a pretty decent shot. I can still beat him with trap. He shot 18 and I shot 24. There's always one where I pull my cheek.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

I got a New England Firearms single shot youth 20 ga for my 12th birthday. Then we went and hit the Lee Kay Center where I shot 3 rounds of trap for the first time ever. Lucky #63 was my first break (and ended up being the only one I had that day!). That was the start of a lot of fun! 

I outgrew that gun 8 months later, and my dad still has it. Fun little gun.


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## deljoshua (Jul 29, 2013)

Mine was a Ruger p89 9mm. I do not have it anymore but I did buy another p89 years later.


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## 7mm Reloaded (Aug 25, 2015)

When I was 11 got a Harrington and Richardson 410. 3 inch 28 inch full choke single shot for Christmas and I still have it. Probably going to be my grandsons .


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

AF CYN said:


> As a side note, what I really wanted was a BB gun, because I wanted to kill every songbird that entered our airspace. My parents were very, very wise.... I didn't own a BB gun until I bought my own 25 years later.


This mirrors my experience almost perfectly. I didn't end up with a BB gun until I was in my 30's.


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

Single shot 20 ga. I got from my dad when I was 14 or so. Only thing I remember about it, was the extractor would fling those spent shells right out of the breach, and the shells would land several feet away. It wasn't supposed to fling them out, but it made for some pretty quick reloading.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

KineKilla said:


> This mirrors my experience almost perfectly. I didn't end up with a BB gun until I was in my 30's.


I should say a Crossman 860 Pumpmaster was my first gun. I shot that thing to death, literally. I even shot a skeet out of the air with it. My dad had the scouts up above town skeet shooting and threw the trap, I shot and it broke, and no one else shot.

That brought back a load of memories. Thanks for that.


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

deljoshua said:


> Mine was a Ruger p89 9mm. I do not have it anymore but I did buy another p89 years later.


My first auto pistol was also a P89 Ruger double action grey & black I also sold it and bought me a Ruger 357 black hawk revolver 6 1/2 " barrel.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Winchester model 61 .22 pump.

My oldest sister has it now.


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## OldGeezer (Jun 3, 2014)

The first gun I got to use was an old single shot 22 Remington. All of my brothers got to use it until they were around 12 when my dad bought each of us a Browning T Bolt 22. That was in 1968 for me and I still have it.


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## BigT (Mar 11, 2011)

My first gun was an old bolt action Remington 22 long rifle. Still have it though the front site broke off. Many jack rabbits met their demise from this old gun. Now it sits in the safe.


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## APD (Nov 16, 2008)

ruger 10-22, then rem 870 and marlin 30-30.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

My dad would not buy a BB gun for me much less let me have one. He felt it did nothing but create bad habits (kids being kids) and .22 were what we started out with.

Bought my first pellet gun at 65 years old. It is still the cheapest to shoot.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

My very first gun as a gift was a pump Crossman .177 pellet/bb combo when I was 11.
I learned to shoot small game and waterfowl with a single shot 16 gauge, which I borrowed from my Grandpa.
Which I have now inherited.
At 14, I got a Mossberg 12 gauge pump 3" mag. shotgun for Christmas.
I learned to deer hunt with an old 30-30 Winchester that I borrowed from my grandpa.
I have now inherited that rifle too.
But I bought my first deer/ elk rifle when I was 19. It was a Savage 110 30-06. 
Which I still have but I'm finally going to sell it in the next few month.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Growing up I had lots of guns that I thought were mine. My dad was a gun nut, and usually had 20-30 in the house at any given time. I learned to shoot on an old plastic stock scoped single shot .22. I always said it was mine, but it wasn’t. All my siblings used it too. 

My first gun that was really mine was actually two guns. For my 12th birthday my dad gave me a Mossberg 500A 12 gauge pump. Man that thing shot a lot of ducks over the years! My grandpa, on the same day, gave me a Model 1200 20 gauge pump. That was a fun clay pigeon gun, but haven’t used it for much else. 

I still have both of them. I don’t think I’d ever be able to get rid of them even though I don’t use them anymore. My first guns. Good memories for sure!


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## bowdude (Aug 11, 2019)

I bought my first gun... a bb gun when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade, saved all summer for it. That was 1963 or 64. Somewhere around 1967, the hunting laws changed and you could hunt waterfowl at age 14 if you hunted with someone over 21 and took hunters education. My father picked up his old shotgun from my Grandfathers house, maybe it was Grandpa's. Anyway, it was an ACME 12 ga. double barrel damascus barrel shot gun with **** hammers you had to pull back to fire. I have no idea how old it is. It is so old it doesn't have a serial number. My Father bought me a Springfield 12 ga. pump shotgun and we started hunting waterfowl together. My sister has the double barrel shotgun now. Someone broke into my house and stole my Springfield shotgun about 20 years ago, along with my Remington 270 that I bought in 1970 or 71. They also took my Fathers Remington .22 bolt action that he used when he was a kid. My first hunting rifle was one I got from my Father to use when I turned 16, 50 years ago. It is a modified WWII Japanese rifle. It was rechambered to be a 300 Savage. It still has the Japan Rising Sun emblem stamped on it, although it has an X filed into it. I understand that was a requirement to own one of those rifles. I still have it today. My son used it for his first deer kill. I replaced my Father's .22 with a Winchester lever action and my .270 with a Remington 30-06 and my shotgun with a Mossburg 12 gage pump. I can't remember the last time I shot the shotgun, about 5 years ago for my 30-06 and 3 years ago or so for my .22. My wife purchased a .22 pistol for me as a Christmas present 2 years ago. I have shot it twice. She likes hand guns and owns a couple so she thought I would enjoy the .22 so we could go shoot together. I am just not a gun person anymore. Now Archery equipment, that is another story, I have 3 bows and I shoot very regularly with them... That's my story and I am sticking with it.:smile:


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

A few years back I wrote about my trusty 410 that is my first and possibly favorite gun I own: https://utahwildlife.net/forum/18-firearms-reloading/182089-my-first-shotgun.html


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## sambo3006 (Feb 25, 2016)

My dad gave me an H&R single shot 20 gauge when I was 11. We hunted pheasants with high brass loads. That thing had some kick to it due to the light weight and lack of recoil pad. I still have that shotgun and will pass it on to my son when he no longer objects to the recoil.


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## Slayer (Feb 3, 2013)

Grandpa's 30-06


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

My first was a Daisy Pump BB gun in 1957 when I was seven. The next year pops got me a single shot .410 to hunt doves in the California Imperial Valley. That first time out my pops took my .410 killing machine and traded it to the guy camped next to us for a 20 gauge single shot. When I was 12 (1962) dad got me a Remington Sportsmans 48 12 gauge for Christmas (still have it). My first hand gun was a High Standard Duramatic .22 . Oh the memories.


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## rtockstein (Mar 17, 2019)

My first was a really old Ithaca 20 gauge single shot that I used for deer hunting. The fore end of the stock would occasionally pop off in hand when shooting. My next was a birthday present from my dad, which is a really nice Remington 1100 12 gauge semi auto.


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## stimmie78 (Dec 8, 2007)

My first gun given to me was my Remington 7600 in .270 Winchester. In our family we had a deal that when you earn your Eagle Scout award, mom and dad would buy you a gun. I still have it. But I've grown away from it through the years. The first gun I purchased myself was a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 mag with a 7-1/2" barrel. I still have that one too, but shooting my 9mm is more fun and less costly.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

J.C. Higgins featherweight pump 12 gauge. Still to this day
have marks on my shoulder from that beast.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Stevens 16 ga single shot, serial number 953. Still have it.


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

My birthday is in January. The Christmas before I turned 12 years old was a big one. I had already completed hunter safety. I was counting the days until I turned 12 so I could get a small game hunting license. I would have a month and a half of rabbit season left. So for that Christmas, I asked for a shotgun. I figured I could hunt rabbits with it and then the next fall, pheasants and chuckers. Kids are clueless to the sacrifices their parents make for them. As I kid, I knew money was tight. We never ever lacked for food, shelter or security. But I had no idea how much my parents struggled to raise 5 kids until I became an adult.

Back to that Christmas morning. We had a tradition of gathering in my parent's bedroom for prayer, then my dad would go down the hall to turn on the Christmas tree lights before the horde of kids charged into the living room to see what Santa had brought us. I'm the oldest of the 5 and was the last one into the living room. As I walked down the hall, I could see a barrel of a gun poking up over the back of the sofa. My heart raced with excitement. As I got closer to it, I immediately recognized the gun in the dim light of the tree. It was my dad's 16 gauge 870 Wingmaster. He loved that gun, he bought it the first year my parents were married. I choked up as I hugged my dad and thanked him. I cherish that old gauge to this day. Someday, it will go to someone else in the family who will protect and cherish it as much as I do.


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## WillowCreekMan (Dec 17, 2014)

I have not been on here in a few years but I have to answer this one.
Marlin 30-30 lever action. Killed more deer with it that any other gun I have used


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

NHS said:


> My birthday is in January. The Christmas before I turned 12 years old was a big one. I had already completed hunter safety. I was counting the days until I turned 12 so I could get a small game hunting license. I would have a month and a half of rabbit season left. So for that Christmas, I asked for a shotgun. I figured I could hunt rabbits with it and then the next fall, pheasants and chuckers. Kids are clueless to the sacrifices their parents make for them. As I kid, I knew money was tight. We never ever lacked for food, shelter or security. But I had no idea how much my parents struggled to raise 5 kids until I became an adult.
> 
> Back to that Christmas morning. We had a tradition of gathering in my parent's bedroom for prayer, then my dad would go down the hall to turn on the Christmas tree lights before the horde of kids charged into the living room to see what Santa had brought us. I'm the oldest of the 5 and was the last one into the living room. As I walked down the hall, I could see a barrel of a gun poking up over the back of the sofa. My heart raced with excitement. As I got closer to it, I immediately recognized the gun in the dim light of the tree. It was my dad's 16 gauge 870 Wingmaster. He loved that gun, he bought it the first year my parents were married. I choked up as I hugged my dad and thanked him. I cherish that old gauge to this day. Someday, it will go to someone else in the family who will protect and cherish it as much as I do.


Darn gun and story almost made me leak. Allergies are tough this time of year. What a great story.


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