I just reviewed the Smith & Wesson SW22 Victory. (That be Jon Wayne Taylor smelling like Victory at The Range at Austin.) Certain members of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia were underwhelmed with both the gun and my review.
Ralph compared the Victory to a plumbing project. Dyspeptic Gunsmith groused about the lack of a proper accuracy test. Yes, well, I would have given my left testicle to own a Victory back when the aforementioned body part hadn’t begin its journey southwards.
My actual first gun? A Benelli shotgun, purchased in my fourth decade of life. Go figure. Meanwhile, what was your first gun? Do you still have it?
S&W 686+ 357mag, 4″ bbl. First gun I ever fired was a 686+ snubby, and it got me hooked. It’s what I use to get new shooters hooked as well. Will never sell it.
A gas operated .30 caliber semi-automatic shoulder weapon on loan from my Uncle..in 1961..
That’s a really annoying uncle. He’s all cool and stuff until you catch him rummaging through your wallet.
On the plus side, he loaned me a .22 caliber rifle that was older than me and provided a quality summer camp where I learned to shoot it.
That’s pretty damn funny!
pwrserge +1, I went to that same summer camp with that same annoying uncle in 2000
Rummaging?
More like strip mining, only without the strippers that should be a part of that invasive experience…
To be fair, I do get to keep the majority of the cash that should have gone into my wallet. I’m just tired of my uncle cruising the hood and giving away my cash to worthless lowlifes. Infrastructure, DoD, and law enforcement are the only major legitimate expenses of the federal government. The other 70% of the budget needs to be axed.
@serge, agree, let’s start the axe with the CDC.
1895 Chilean Mauser in 7×57 (7mm Mauser).
Single shot Winchester 12 Ga. About 7 years ago.
And, because it pisses of the antis, I bought it LEGALLY from a Co worker out of his trunk at a city park next to work, where we weren’t supposed to have firearms.
I sold it after dad gave me his single shot 12. I figured I didn’t need two, and the “new” one had more sentimental value. I miss it from the standpoint that it was my first, but at least it was the first (of many) for the friend I sold it to.
.22 single shot Winchester model 67, probably took more nuisance sparrows out with it then any other youth alive, lol
Hah mine was a Model 68. Was my grandfather’s from when he was a kid. Loved it and still have it.
First purchase was a Ruger P95
^P95 as my first pistol. (50 yrs old)
Marlin 60 as my first rifle. (17 yrs old)
(Yep, took a little time off…LoL)
First gun I ever shot (@16): Enfield In .303 British… without ear protection.
(Thanks cousin!! My damn right ear still rings.)
Winchester Model 69A in 1961, when I turned eleven. First handgun was a Ruger Bearcat around 1967, purchased for $39.95 from the first mink caught in my trapline. I was 16, walked into the store with money and out with the revolver, and they threw in a free Hunter holster.
Winchester model 62a was first gun I shot (if you don’t count a BB gun), around the age of 8. It was my dads old rifle. First gun I owned and still own is a Springfield XD .45 that I bought after I got laid off from work, but my wife and I just found out we were having a girl so I did side work to pay for it.
Glock 19
I’ll answer for my son:
Sig P229 Stainless Elite.
Well, mine was a Ruger 10/22 Carbine with the wooden stock. Considerably more boring than some of these entries, but I still have it in the original stock, the only change has been the fixed 4x scope on top. It was bought in January 2013 in the buying panic following Sandy Hook. I paid an insane $300 for it. I see the same rifle on the shelves of local gun stores for $180 – $195 recently.
“I see the same rifle on the shelves of local gun stores for $180 – $195 recently.”
Sounds like it is time to purchase a second one. It is really nice to have a spare in case the first one fails … which actually happens from time to time.
It’s been around along time. I bought mine in I believe the late seventies.
I then purchased a 30 (I think) round plastic magazine which is now outlawed here in NY state.
Just recently added a scope and laser.
Not counting the M14 and BB guns it was the first firearm I shot and owned.
The first pistol was a Ruger Bull 22.
Same model here, but, it was a new model, had just been introduced. got it at a Kmart for around $80. Which was probably more real money than $300 now.
on my 18th birthday, me and Dad went to a walmart, in california no less, and I dropped $125+tax on a ruger 10/22 and $12 for a 555 bulk pack of remington. later that month we went to a LGS and got a 500 pack of super-x hollow points for $15 for varmits.
Still got it, got a new hammer for better trigger pull and had to replace the extractor as it wore down to the point of not extracting over the course of 10k+ rounds.
Sig 2022 .40
.22 chipmunk rifle. My dad still has it and I can’t wait to pass it down to my son or daughter.
I had one of those. It was a gift for my first birthday. Alas, my father is a turd, and mine is lost to history. I have a now nine year old daughter that I would have loved to pass it on to, but she instead got a purple laminated stock Crickett with no annoying lock. She has that same twinkle in her eye that I did when it’s time to trot it out to the range. Good times.
Ruger Mark III Hunter. (The fluted long barrel caught my eye.)
And yep, I still have it. Great for newbies.
First gun owned was a Winchester 62a pump action gallery rifle in .22 short. First gun I fired was a Ruger super single six when I was 3 don’t know if my dad put long rifle or shorts in it though
A Harrington and Richardson Plainsman 22lr
A Steven’s 410 single shot break open. 1977 the year I received it.
Remington 512-x bolt-action .22LR with a Tasco scope given to me by my Grandpa when I was like 12 or 12. You better believe I still have it!
Unfortunately it got stored improperly for years, due to some illness in the family, and when I finally was able to dig it out a few years ago I had to refinish the stock and blueing. Still shoots great and now it looks even better. Not that it had much value $ wise to begin with. So refinishing it was totally okay in my book.
My first gun I bought new was a 1851 Colt Navy.
Does that mean I’m old? I was already a grandfather when stores were hesitant to carry something called a Glock.
mine was an 1862 Tower & no it was issued to me……..btw got it in 1962!
A S&W model 10 in .38 spl.
I was 15 and bought it from a friend for a hundred bucks. Wish I still had it.
Know what you mean. I had a couple of model 10’s, a 13, and a 65 that I traded over time, dumb dumb dumb, damn things keep going up in price and you can’t buy that same type of craftsmanship.
That was one of the first handguns I shot. My buddy’s Dad had an old nickel-plated model 10.
A Remington Model 511 Scoremaster 22 bolt action rifle with iron sights. Was my father’s and he gave it to me to take to college. To this day, it is my favorite gun to shoot even though my monovision forces me choose whether I want the target or sights to be in focus. But I can still put a group in a 4 inch circle at 100 yards with cheap 22 ammo. Someday soon, I will pass it on to my son.
I purchased my first firearm when I was about 16 years old: a Marlin Model 60 semi-automatic rifle with a tube magazine … chambered in .22 LR of course. And yes, I still have it.
I also purchased a really inexpensive off-brand 12 gauge pump-action shotgun about the same time. I discarded that shotgun in college when it broke.
I suppose I should have my children start thinking about purchasing their first firearm.
Daisy Golden Eagle at age 5. Still have it. 🙂 Now if we are talking guns that shoot real bullets – AR7 (brown swirl stock and custom whittled pistol grip!) bought by me (age 13) from my uncle and about a year or 2 later traded for a TL250 Honda dirt bike that I would ride 6 miles to town to aggravate the “townies”. Wish I still had the AR7 it was an Armalite. Dang it.
I was given a Daisy Golden Eagle also, but at age seven. I can’t remember who gave it to me, but my mother always claimed it was “an enemy of the family.” My first cartridge gun was a Stevens Gould Model .22 single-shot target pistol. I wish i still had both of those.
My dad bought me a Marlin 60 so I could shoot tin cans when I was at his house. The first gun I bought for myself was a Mosin 91/30, I needed a deer rifle and for $90 it fit a broke young mans budget. Still have it and still shoot it, even though I own much better rifles now I would never sell it.
Remington 580, .22LR, bolt/single shot.
Traded for Ruger 10/22 because magazines.
First handgun: Taurus 66 .357Mag. Circa 1982. Long gone.
Remington Sportmaster .22. Was given to me by my grandfather. He got it when he was young back in the 40s. Still have it, just doesn’t get shot as much anymore.
Remington Speedmaster here also. I still own and occasionally use.
First was a Savage 64F, .22lr. I bought at 18, because a friend and I were tired of wasting money on BB guns, and decided we were adults and could buy an actual gun. Wish prices were still that good. $7.99 for a brick of .22
A Ruger Blackhawk Convertible in .45/.45ACP. I definitely still have it, and I don’t think I’ll ever sell it. Not exactly a self-defense gun, and looking back I would’ve preferred the Vaquero, but who says I can’t have both? Maybe someday.
I had a Super Blackhawk and later a Vaquero, both in .44 mag. The Blackhawk was more practical, but the Vaq had a certain cowboy cool to it. If you get one, you may find yourself practicing your quick draw a lot.
The year was 1962. It was a Savage Springfield single shot .22 rim fire. It cost all of $15.00 and ammo was 50 cents a box for .22 l.r. I bought ammo at the local hardware store and had only to walk down to the end of my street to shoot till my hearts content.
No one panicked back in those halcyon days when one saw a person carrying a firearm. It was in another age and on another planet. Days gone forever to the dead hand of the past, never to return. Friends now dead for over half a century, a town changed so much by overpopulation the dead brought back to life would not know what town they were in. Wild game all but extinct, farms now paved over shopping centers, crime so rampant you have to be armed to go to your mail box whereas years before no one even locked their doors at night. The cost of living was so low a family of 7 lived on $20.00 worth of groceries for an entire week. One could save up for a new gun in only 2 weeks and the gun was made of solid steel forgings with a knock out blued finish and gorgeous walnut stock not modern junk plastic or junk castings or junk stamped sheet metal.
Today with only pure junk being made the average gun owner would not recognize an old fashioned quality firearm if such a gun walked up and shot him in the foot.
Ahh… Thems wuz the days; when flintlocks roamed the earth…
A Dixie Gunworks cap and ball Remington 1860 revolver kit gun, built on my kitchen table about 50 years ago….
An M59/66A1 Yugoslavian sks. And yes, I’ve still got her.
SW 442. Sold it to friend, his first gun also, and still has it.
Lithgow manufactured Lee Enfield No.1 Mk.3* produced in 1918 so I’ll be holding a 100th birthday party for it next year by taking it out and shooting the shit out of it with a bunch of mates.
First time shooting was an F-88 Austeyr on a school cadet camp and as an 11yo I can definitely say that full auto goodness was a hell of an intro into the world of guns.
First gun I ever shot: Colt Police Positive in .38 spl (mine now; thanks pops)
MY first gun: Stevens 94C 12 ga. break-open (Still have it)
First Handgun/First gun I bought: Ruger SR40 (Sold!)
Smith & Wesson 686, 6″ so I could shoot .38 Specials to learn. I’ll never sell it.
O2
The first gun I actually purchased is a Colt .38 Diamondback. Young, in the Navy, married with child and looking to deploy for 6 months. Knowing my wife and son would be in a less than desirable neighborhood, I asked the shop owner for the finest .38 he had. Still have it. Looking back and knowing what I know now, I wished he had sold me the Python and told me I could shoot .38s in it. Nonetheless it is a fine gun.
The first gun I ever purchased was an SKS. This was before I was a serious gun guy and really did not know anything about guns or gun laws. My first serious gun purchase was a taurus 840 (no jokes please, I was young and needed the money). After it broke for the second time I got rid of it, but I never did hate that gun. It was extremely well designed and ergonomic. I just wish it was built better.
Pump BB rifle
Co2 pellet revolver
First real gun
M1 Carbine I don’t remember the manufacturer(s)
When I was in 5th grade for Christmas I got 870 . My buddy got one to and we shot Al kinds of shit we shouldn’t of
1961 12ga Remington 870 Wingmaster 30″ dove barrel. Grandfathers gun passed to my dad, who passed to me. I can guarantee who the next owner will be….
First I ever bought, Ruger SR9 love every shot and won’t be letting that one go either
First gun: Ithaca lever action single shot .22. It accounted for lots of nuisance critters.
First gun I bought new for myself: Ruger 10/22. It accounted for a whole lot more of nuisance critters. My mom would encourage me to eradicate the blackbirds and crows around the property. I still have it. It’s a tack driver with CCI Mini-Mags.
First handgun I bought for myself is a K frame Smith .38SPL. I still have it.
LIthgow single shot .22 made in 1945 from the same steel as the .303 service rifles.
Present in 1975 from retired farmer who became a neighbor (in rural terms). Still have it and bring it out to teach people you can shoot with iron sights.
SA XDM 4.5 in .40SW when I was 18.
A Hipoint .45 was my first pistol, and a Mosin Nagant M38 my first rifle. Still have the Mosin, Hipoint traded in on Taurus .357 snubbie, which in turn was traded in on a Zastava EZ9 which was traded for a 6″ GP100, which I later sold. Now I have at least a dozen handguns, and 20-ish rifles.
Remington Nylon 66. I was 12, had 20/10 vision and could circumcise a gnat with it at 25 yards.
The local Cabela’s had several of them in their used gun department about six months ago. I asked the guy working there about them. Apparently a local collector had passed away and his heirs were liquidating his things. I would have loved to have been able to buy one or all of them.
I shot my quals for my Boy Scout rifle shooting merit badge with one I had borrowed from the instructor. Of course, that was in 1967. . .
I had an early Kahr K9. Was in Arizona a few years after CCW passed. Later sold it, but have another one. Still carry it, but it is a CW9 / CW380 most of the time.
Surplus CZ-82 in 9mm Makarov; purchased on the recommendation of my ‘gun-nut’ friend (now I’m that guy to several new friends). Hadn’t so much as even heard of it before he suggested it but I asked around at a gun show, found one and bought it. I now have, and have had, several other handguns since then, but I’m still impressed by it and never plan to sell it.
4″ Springfield XD in .45, CA compliant.
Same here, except mine has a compact grip and NOT LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA on the box. 13 round .45 ACP magazines seemed pretty impressive to me at the time.
Remington 870 express 12 ga. Bought it at walmart in Beufort S.C. in 1997 when I was a you Marine Corporal.
Of course I still have it.
Same gun here, with the 26″ barrel. My better half opened up with a 10/22 takedown (which I have a bad habit of grouping into “my” collection).
The kids’ first is the Daisy Red Rider, although the boy is showing more interest than the girl, so I may just call it his.
1st gun was a Taurus 85. Wish I still had it because now the wife wants one. Shot my dad’s 22 bolt rifle and 22six gun as kid(no I can’t tell what make or model). That was 50years ago…
My first gun was a Nylon 77, but the first gun I ever purchased with my own money was a Walther P22 Target. I have a hard time letting go of any gun, let alone these 2.
Stevens 66B. I was an anti-gun college student. My roommate and I saw it on the used rack at a sporting goods store for $60. We split it and carried it across campus to an abandoned quarry, invoking the Second Amendment when the cops questioned us.
Ruger Super Beacat
Bought with my wages for maintaining a local church cemetery
I was 10.
Ruger MkI, purchased in ’75 at a pawn shop in Belton, TX, Still have it.
Winchester 514 22 single shot. BWW January 1950. Bought it for $5 when I was about 12. Still have it.
On that fateful Christmas morning I was gifted a Connecticut Valley Arms Heritage model .50cal rifle home-built kit. I once called CVA about parts for it years ago and the eldest employee there barely recalled it. Still works, sort of…the rifling is worn too smooth from being maintained by a noob. Still, it’s taken it’s fair share of deer and piggies and may yet be used by the wifey this coming season since the acquisition of my new Tradtions Kentucky rifle.
For Christmas 1977 my dad gave me a CVA Kentucky pistol kit. I slaved over that thing for most of the next year (I think the worst part was inletting the sideplates). The following Christmas I gave him a CVA Kentucky rifle kit for revenge! He finished it. Eventually. 🙂
Both of them got sold in a garage sale about 1998, and I don’t miss them. 😛
Charlie
Remington “Nylon 66” .22 – my grandma bought it for me with Green Stamps… and this was in Massachusetts. Shows you how much things have changed in 50 years
haha…just beat me to it
Remington Nylon 66
Still have it…operates flawlessly.
Steyr M95 carbine. It was Austrian, straight pull, and $125, all of which delighted me. Nearly fainted when I got home and discovered that 8x56R ammo was nowhere near as common as 8mm Mauser at the time. This was back when your choices were Hornady or milsurp, before PPU started filling the void and I reloaded. I still have that gun and enjoy its brutal recoil.
H&R 999 break top .22.
My first was an Ithaca Model 49 .22 single-shot lever action which I bought at the PX at Camp Lejeune in 1965. I took it to the camp’s indoor range to try it out and had a buddy spotting for me. That rifle kept putting one shot atop the last. Wish I knew what happened to it.
I don’t know what happened to mine, either. I think they go where the missing socks in the laundry go.
Winchester 94 “Thutty-Thutty”. Sold it for expenses in law school. Wish I still had it.
The first guns I shot as a kid were a Marlin Model 81-DL .22lr bolt action and a Colt Pre-Woodsman .22lr semi-auto pistol. Both were my father’s and now both are mine. I will occasionally pull them out of the safe and shoot them in his memory.
The first gun I purchased myself was a Benelli Super Nova 12 ga.
Mossberg 141M .22 semi auto rifle with Mannlicher stock. Supremely accurate & reliable; unfortunately sold it to a brother in law that gave it to another & is now long gone somewhere. Replaced it with a Ruger 10/22 Stainless Steel with a Mannlicher black/grey laminated stock. Great memories of the Mossberg, the Ruger helped me get over selling it.
Marlin model 83 bolt action for Sears Roebuck (22s / 22 / 22 LR)
First firearm I owned: Winchester Model 370 “youth” (single shot .410); Xmas present when I was 10. Still have it and it still shoots fine, albeit the finish is a bit pitted from one year when my mom decided it would be a good idea to move it from my closet to the attic (>100F and >90% humidity conditions during the summer).
First handgun I owned: Thompson Center Contender (.22LR and .357 Mag barrels); 18th birthday present. Still have it and it’s still crazy accurate.
First firearm I purchased: Sig Sauer 228, as my first carry piece. I’ve moved on to a G26 as my EDC, but that particular Sig is still very sweet.
First gun was a single shot .22 from Sears, likely produced for them by Remington or maybe Marlin. Wandered around grandma’s place near Bedias TX shooting cans and fence posts.
First handgun was a (liberty model) Ruger Security Six. A pawnshop purchase made in 1977. Solid little gun… still have, still shoot it.
Either an AR7 or a Marlin 12ga shotgun. I don’t remember which came first, but I was 21-22, and no longer in California. The idea of paying money, filling out a form, and walking out that same day with a gun was absolutely mind-blowing to me.
Both are long gone now.
First firearm I owned: Winchester Model 370 “youth” (single shot .410); Xmas present when I was 10. Still have it and it still shoots fine, albeit the finish is a bit pitted from one year when my mom decided it would be a good idea to move it from my closet to the attic (>100F and >90% humidity conditions during the summer).
First handgun I owned: CVA black powder pistol kit; bought and built it when I was 15. Still have it.
First “official” handgun I owned: Thompson Center Contender (.22LR and .357 Mag barrels); 18th birthday present. Still have it and it’s still crazy accurate.
First “official” firearm I purchased: Sig Sauer 228, as my first carry piece. I’ve moved on to a G26 as my EDC, but that particular Sig is still very sweet.
First “gun”: a Crossman single shot .22 pellet rifle. I was around 13 or so.
First “firearm”: a S&W blued M-36 from Ivanhoe’s in Watertown, shortly after I received my government permission slip (i.e., LTC). Still have it!
HI POINT C9. I was fresh in Arizona from NJ, made maybe $30k a year and it was what I could afford at the time.
Eventually traded it toward an XD9. Wish I had kept it for nostalgia.
S&W 6906.
Oops, that was the first gun I bought. I had several given to me by my grandparents before then. The first of those was an H&R single shot .22lr target pistol. I loved it very much.
Mossberg 500
Winchester Model 1894 .30-30 made in 1948. I’ve never not had that gun. It was stored under my crib as a baby. Of course, I still own it. It has killed innumerable deer and pigs. Before I turned 12 there was also a rifle length ’94 made in 1908 that was mine. Sold it just a few years ago for what turned out to be a ridiculous amount of money. First gun that I ever truly considered mine though, the one I roamed the earth with as a child, took my first deer with, and my first quail with, was a Savage model 29 in .22Mag/LR and .410. I still have that one as well, and it was the gun my oldest son used to kill his first deer with when he entered Kindergarten.
I can’t remember which was my first pistol, a Ruger MkI or the Ruger Blackwawk in .357mag, but I had both by age 12.
First gun was a 12 ga mossberg, first handgun a CZ-52, first rifle a Norinco MAK-90.
My very first gun was a Beretta Silver Snipe 20 gauge. I think I was 11 or 12 when my Old Man gave it to me.
Daisy pump BB gun. Crosman .22 single-shot CO2 Luger. Sterling .22 LR 302 pistol.
Such an interesting post; brings back some fine memories when y’all name off those classics. All the old single shot .22’s and some shotguns too. And more Remington nylon 66 and 77 models mentioned here than I’d have believed! I hope that each of you still has theirs, at today’s prices especially. Quite valuable.
Even today I can’t look at a sparrow or crow without reminiscing of those days long gone with that old Winchester 67 afield.
9mm Shield. Also my CCW.
Marlin model 60. Cheap fun but I soon moved on.
My first “gun” (at least according to Illinois law) was a CO2 powered Crossman single shot target pellet pistol with adjustable sights and target grips, rifled barrel. And it had adjustable power. At full power it killed pigeons. At low power you could shoot all day on a single cartridge. My father gave it to me when I was 12 or 13. I gave it away in 1982 to a young man about 14 years old Great gun, very accurate.
The first firearm that I purchased was a Savage Mark II F in about 2002, as my kids had outgrown the pump pellet rifle. I got it with fixed 4x scope. I still have it, and will probably get it a variable power scope eventually since my eyes aren’t what they used to be at 100 yards. But that can wait until I can find some reasonably priced Remington Goldens, its favorite ammo. My second was a used 12 ga. Gold Wing pump that I eventually gave to my son, and the third, an XD9, which I also gave to my son.
Remington Apache 77, which was the K-Mart version of the Nylon 77, which in turn was the magazine-fed version of the Nylon 66. Still have it, still love it. In those days, Woolworth’s, K-Mart, and Sears all sold firearms.
Mossberg Persuader in 20ga (please forgive my 18yo self). Later put a proper stock on it and I still have it.
Marlin 780 22, 7 round mag. Received as payment from an older neighbor for lawn care the summer I turned 11. Put a 4X Simmons scope from Kmart. Still sits by my back door to dispatch squirrels,opossums and coons. I could never sell it as no one could afford it. It’s priceless.
First gun I bought myself, was a ’29 Tula M91/30 from Dragonman Mel. Paid $80 for it then, decided to never sell it when Mosin fanboys kept trying to offer me $150. Turned out it’s a fairly rare variation, even during the days when each fresh crate had at least one ex-dragoon, and every fifth crate had a Finn.
First pistol I bought, also from Mel, is a ’52 Radom TT-33. I paid a little bit more than $100, because he said Polish Tokarevs were the highest quality, and ones with the import safety-wart were junk
Savage 24DL. My grandfather bought it for me before I was big enought to hold it
.22LR over a 20 gauge. No serial number on it anywhere. Recently passed along to a newborn named Caleb. He ought to be able to hold it in another 10 years or so.
1st gun I actually purchased for myself? Well, I went big and bought a Springfield M1A scout squad. It was worth the wait.
Marlin 336 in 30-30.
Not sure why, don’t really have a use for it but I’m turning it into a project rifle.
Reviving the old Cowboy Assault Rifle.
First gun I remember shooting: Chinese MAK-90 sporter model with the thumbhole stock. First gun I ever bought: Springfield Arms 1911A1 GI. I think we both still have those weapons.
As a kid:
Rifle: Browning T-Bolt
Pistol: Ruger MKII Target
Bought myself:
Rifle: Yugo SKS
Pistol: Star BM
My father gave me his Remington 550-1 in 1963. Still have it. First gun I purchased was in 1976, a Bicentenial Ruger Mk1 Target. Still have it, too.
Mine was Mossberg bolt action single shot .410 when I was 12. When I was about 15 I traded it to an uncle to become my cousins first gun when he was around 12.
First gun ever was a Mossberg 410 bolt action that my dad gave to me when I was 12 that he got from his dad when he was a teenager. Extractor is a little sketchy sometimes but I will never sell that gun. It has taken untold numbers of squirrels.
First gun I ever bought was a Ruger American in 30-06 for deer hunting. I traded that gun for a 22-250 a couple years later.
13 years old, I bought my first rifle. 1954 Lee Enfield No.4 Mk.2 in .303 British. I am now 19, and still have it.
Marlin model 60. Actually the Western Auto branded version, purchased at an auto parts store, new, for $19.95. How times change.
“I would have given my left testicle to own a Victory back when the aforementioned body part hadn’t begin its journey southwards.”
Sorry to hear about your testicular misfortune. Then again, after two divorces, you’re lucky to have any at all.
Beretta silver pigeon ii with 28 and 20ga barrel set. From my dad so we could hunt and shoot skeet. Love of my life never sell it.
First gun I bough was a Remington 870 tac.
Modded to be super tacticool.
Remington 870 Wingmaster Youth Model in 20 gauge. Gently used, either late 70’s or early 80’s model. Not sure if the previous owner spent a lot of time buffing it, or the factory turned out a cherry. The finish was beautiful. The best-looking Wingmaster I have ever seen. The action was smooth and easy, but not loose.
Purchased by my Dad for my 15th birthday at Clark Brothers Gun Shop in Warrenton, VA. I outgrew it and traded it in a few years later when I was old enough to make that decision myself but too young to realize how foolish it was.
Remington 22 rifle. Model 550-1. Jan 1968 based on the serial number I looked up one time. Got it that year sometime (I was 9 years old) courtesy of Dad and Mom. Still have it and it’s still in great shape and a shooter.
First semi-auto pistol: S&W Model 59 ( double stack 9mm )
First revolver: Ruger GP-100, .357, 4″ barrel
First shotgun: Franchi LAW 12, gas operated, 8+1
First rifle: Poly-Tech, fixed stock AK
Rifle: Romanian AK-74 (SAR-2).
Pistol: Springfield XD-45. I deeply regret consigning that pistol.
Remington 870 12ga. with the fancy stock. Later that year, Mom gave me her dad’s 1903 .32 Colt pocket auto. Still have both, plus numerous others.
Norinco 982, basically a 12ga 870P clone with ghost-ring sights. It rides in a case behind the seat of my truck. The thing is built like a tank.
Hmmmm, I just did a Google search on the Norinco 982 / IAC Hawk and then watched a review of the shotgun by Mrgunsandgear and now I’m seriously thinking about getting one.
My Dad gave me a Real Colt 1851 Navy when I was 11, I still shoot it.
First one I bought, a SVT 40 when I was 13.
Back then, except for the occasional box of Norma, 7.62x54r was nonexistent.
I still have them both.
Walther p99. My first gun and of the three I’ve sold the only one I don’t miss.
VEPR 308 Kalashnikov
Higgins 30 made for Sears by High Standard. I still have it, and it still shoots very well.
J. C. Higgins 30 made for Sears by High Standard. I still have it, and it still shoots very well.
.410 shotgun from Sears. I had just turned 10.
I had no interest in the family 12 gauge single, my first was a Marlin bolt .22 single, a “gold crown” if I recall, when I was barely into my second decade. Next was a Winchester model 77 .22 semi, at around 14, and believe it or don’t, my third gun was when I was in college, at 20, and it was my first Colt Python, 4″, cost me $160 NIB. It was stolen from my car around 4 years later, but I ended up owning 3 more, the last of which I (my son) still own, for which I also paid $160, NIB, in 1973 or -4. It is nearly unfired, maybe 300 rounds.
Marlin model 60. A really fun point and shoot for kids. I can still take golf balls and with open sights pop them consistently out to around 60 yards.
A J. C Higgins .22 rifle (Marlin 100, Sears branded) A hand me down 8th birthday gift from Dad. 59 years ago. Still got it. Still shoot. Still hit things with it.
First gun I had in my hands? M16A4… first I personally owned? BA-50 (yes, 50BMG, fun toy.)
Dad, my grandfathers, uncles, cousins had a fair variety of firearms from single shot shotguns. Blackpowder front loaders. Full auto trophies from ww2. Somebody in my family had it.
First gun I bought with my own money, at a yardsale, was a Mossberg .22. I was 13. Within a few weeks of that purchase, also at yardsales, I got a nicely sporterised 1903 Springfield and a badly worn break top S&W .38. That .38 didn’t last out the summer. It was pretty worn when I got it and I was shooting smokeless loads in it. It might have been a black powder version. I replaced it with an H&R .22 that had a lot of life left in it.
First rifle was a .22 lever action J.c. Higgins Sears brand Marlin, first pistol a Rugar Bear cat .22 and .22 Mag, they are no longer with me,
HK USP .45 Compact. I bought it a few weeks after I turned 21, and 15 years later, it still has yet to see its first malfunction. Knock on wood!
First rifle Marlin mod 80 centennial model. Handgun Ruger Super Blackhawk 44mag 7.5 inch barrel. Shotgun 20ga SxS labeled Pride of Spain 28in tubes gun has great lines. Still have them all over 40 years.
I started a lot later than most of you with a Hi Point 995 TS while deciding what sort of handgun I wanted. Purchased the 995 new at a good price in October 2012. By the time January 2013 came around and I bought the handgun (Ruger SR9C) there was almost nothing available and it was all at list price. Have them both plus a bunch more. The Hi Point is accurate at 100 yards with the basic ghost ring sights, and quite fun with a laser at 25 yards just placing the laser dot on the target without aiming.
Remington Gamemaster 760 in .30-06. My grandpa gave it to me when I was 12 and started hunting. I gave it a cleaning like no other last year and it was disgusting inside. I totally stripped the rifle to its components and cleaned everything and soaked all of the small parts in some Hoppes. The pump cycles very smooth now! Too bad magazines for it are an arm and a leg and the new mags have a cheap plastic floor plate. I need to hit some gun shows and look for some of the originals.
first shooting thing: crosman mkll. still have, and an earlier one for the boy.
first powder gun: .44mag super blackhawk, magnaported three screw. still has street cred.
Very first? Glenfield semiauto .22 rifle my dad bought me as a kid.
First I bought myself? Bersa .380 DA/SA pistol. Wish I still had it.
An 1991 Argentine Mauser in 7.65X53. I picked it out from the back pages of Popular Science (or some magazine), gave my dad the $17.50 asking price, and he ordered it for me. That must have been about 1962 which would make me 9 years old. When I got the rifle and stood it next to me it was taller than I was! It had a ground crest but the rifle was brand new. I must have worked for a week to get the cosmoline off of it.
7.65 Arg is a bit of an odd duck, so when I simplified my collection in 2012 it went on the auction block. I hope that whoever bought it enjoys it as much as I did.
Charlie
Oops. Make that an 1891 Argentine Mauser. lol
Marlin Golden 39. New summer of ’76. Still shoots very well after at least fifty or sixty bricks through it. A truly iconic rifle and a personal treasure. I have little doubt that my daughter and her children will embrace it as well.
my first gun was a chinese sks, back when you could pick them up at a gun show for about $80.
Remington Nylon 66 apache brown.
Brother bought it while in Air Force.
Yes, I still have it, but had to replace the original weaver 4x scope with a Simmons last year. No
1968, purchased a new in box Nylon 66 at Edgar’s Bait Shop in Woonsocket, RI for ~ $45.00. Later, I purchased a Weaver V22 scope for it. I still have both.
First sidearm; a Colt Series 70 MkIV Gov’t Model 1911 purchased as a Marine 2nd Lt. In 1974. Still got it. Still shoot it. Lovely piece.
H&R Reising Model 65, with military-style peep sight on the rear, and a guarded blade (akin to the Garand) on the front. Very heavy barrel for a .22. The bolt was cycled by pushing a plunger in the forearm, from the bottom.
First Gun I Shot: Ruger 10/22
This was ~33+ years ago. Dad took me out and taught me how to shoot it on a trip up into the mountains when I was 7 years old or so. Fond memories of that gun, and especially of the smell of Hoppe #9 when he would clean it at the end of the day.
MY first Gun: Walther P99 .40 cal.
Picked it up once I turned 21 back in, hm, middle of college in c. 1997 / 1998. Then, on a family trip to Germany, we stopped in at the Walther factory in Ulm where I bought a spare magazine (got to talk to the VP of Walther at the time and hang out in the corporate board room . . . that’s a fun story).
Dad passed away 11 years ago.
The Ruger 10/22 is now in my gun safe.
It was the first gun my son learned to shoot with.
I’m never parting with it.
The gun is 43 years old (built 1974).
In two months I’m taking it with me for my weekend Appleseed course.
.
Ruger Mk II purchased in 1985 in Killeen, Texas outside of my duty station of Fort Hood.
Still have it, love it. Nothing strange tho…….
I guess mine was the pellet gun I got as a boy. Shot that thing a lot. Not a real firearm perhaps, but the one that cemented my love of them.
The first gun I owned myself was my mosin. I miss that old warhorse. Should never have sold it.
My first firearm: a 7.9x57mm Commission 88 cut down to short rifle length, probably for the Turkish forestry service. Purchased mail order for about $32.00 during my sophomore year of college.
My first modern firearm: a 12ga. seven shot Ithaca Model 37 Deer Slayer Police Special.
My first handgun: a .45acp Colt Series 70 M1911.
A Webley-Vickers 50.80 which I later traded for a Webley-Fosberry 60.90 which was more powerful so I could hunt dinosaurs with it. SIGNED: WALTER MITTY.
Marlin Model 60 that I won in a raffle when I was 14. Still have it. Still as fantastically accurate as when it was new.
Remington 870 deer gun.
In 1980 I purchased a Browning BL-22. I was 19. I still have it.
A Mossberg 20ga bolt-action (figured out years later it was a Model 185) from a friend of a friend for $50. Someone at some point had sawed both the stock and barrel, and apparently misplaced the trigger guard. I was told that the barrel was “a quarter inch from the legal limit”. I had doubts about that, but shelled out the $50 anyway. I owned it for a few months before I began to seriously question it’s true legality and unloaded it for the same as what I paid for it.
1976 Browning BL-22 my grandfather bought when I was born and had my initials inlaid in the stock. Will only let it go when it’s time to pass it to the next generation.
Savage Anschutz 164 Sporter. Washed about 50 cars to save the money to buy it when I was 10. 45 years later still a beautiful shooter.
Comments are closed.