Tell us about your first gun? (poll added)

[Don Fischer]

First one was an Iver Johnson 16ga single shot. Plastic stock and fore end. Plug in the stock to let you add weight. Next one was a huge set up in quality. 16ga Mossberg bolt action with a c-lect choke. Ah the good ole days of quality firearms!

[BOWHUNTER45]

My 1st gun was a model 37 Ithaca...20ga .. I could go on forever telling stories about that gun ..When I 1st got that gun I was 9 and it was a Christmas present ...the gun was about a foot and a half taller than me  it was my squirrel gun up to about 11 then I switched over to my .22 for squirrel hunting and used my 20 ga for rabbit -pheasant and grouse ...Man I seriously had one hell of a childhood ..when I think back to those days I get all choked up ..never had all these stupid laws to worry about ...did not need to put in for permits to hunt something ..just buy your license and hunt like a wild man ...I think we all would love to live those days just one more time and we better take every minute we can while we are still here to enjoy it ...

[Rob]

My first "fake" gun was a .177 cal crossman bb gun I got for Christmas.  Had no idea when I opened it that it was anything other than a toy till I got the safety talk from dad.  It slowly sank in that it could actually shoot stuff!  Birds were in real trouble at our place for several years after that.  I shot that thing till it disintegrated.

shortly after that I got a shotgun.  Break action single shot 410 with a barrel stamped "K-Mart".  I took that on many a duck trip until my dad forced me to move to a 20gauge. 

I still have that little tiny 410 and she gets out at least once a year whenever I have a small framed lady or child shooter that I am taking out who might be recoil shy.

great stories everyone by the way! 

[Boss .300 winmag]

Semi automatic .22 marlin bought at the Colfax Coast to Coast in 1980, still have it. I couldn't begging to count how many ground squirrels, or rock chucks that things has exterminated! 

Earned by pulling rouge rye from wheat, and barley fields, looking back on it it seemed harder to do as kid, but know it I think of all the long hikes I do and those fields seem small.

[flinter]

Winchester Model 94, 25-35. My dad bought it right after he was discharged from the navy, after WW2. He gave it to me when I passed hunter ed in 1963, I was 9 years old. I killed the biggest blacktail of my life with that rifle that year!! Its still in my gun safe.

[Eli346]

 Mine was an old Mossberg 22 LR, model 25A, single shot, bolt action that had a old match book folded up under the rear sights for elevation adjustment. I killed a ton of squirrels with that gun. I graduated up to a Winchester Model 94 30-30 that I killed my first deer with. I sold them years ago to a friend of mine because I desperately needed money. I regretted it for the longest time and tried to buy them back but he didn't want to part with them. A few years ago he just gave them back at no charge (although I ended up giving him a few things he needed in trade). They haven't been shot again yet but I'm going to hang onto them this time no matter what. A lot of memories go along with those guns.

[b23]

This is a great thread.  It's funny, I can relate to nearly everything that has been mentioned and it's taking me back to some GREAT memories that I can only hope my daughter will some day have.

All these anti-gun nuts think we are the ones who are crazy but they don't and can't understand the passion we posses for our guns and that it started when we were all just kids.  Those people have no clue as to what they missed out on.  Ok, I'll get off my soap box now. 

[jackelope]

My dad gave me my 1st gun for Christmas when I was 12. It was the 1st Christmas that my parents were divorced. He got me a Ruger 10/22. I still have it of course. It was a huge deal for him at the time due to all the other hardships and at 40 years old, I remember it like it was yesterday.

[OnHoPr]

Double barrel clicker gun on Xmas four days before my 2nd birthday 1960.

[hambone]

My first gun was given to me by my older brother i had just got out of the the navy in 1978 he had just bought a new 7 MM  so he give me his mauser action 30-06 i still have this gun put a new stock on it a few years back replaced the 2 stage trigger at the same time trigger broke so its sitting in the gun cabinet till i get it fixed will never get rid of this gun because my brother who started me hunting gave it to me it kicks like a mule but when you hit something its going down.

[Killmore]

After the Daisy thing,and that gun killed 1000s of birds, then I turned 8 or 9 I got a marlin bolt action, don't remember the model # Had that gun for 40 something years and then lost it to our house fire..I couldn't even find any metal parts to that poor gun, and boy did I dig around.

[CMG]

410's seem to be winning,
Mine was a Sears & Roebuck 410 single center break. Still have it today, my 11Yr. old is using it now. I believe my dad ordered it right out of the catalogue in 1975. 

[jyerxa]

My first was a JC Higgins 22 semi auto. It had been my granddads. I remember my dad and granddad taking me out to shoot it. Sure don’t remember how old I was. It was the first real rifle I ever shot. I still remember my grandpa trying to adjust the windage on it with a center punch and a rock that day.  The forward site was dove tail set and the rear sight only set the elevation. Well that gun always shot to the left after that.  They didn’t get it right.  So I ended up with it. I learned to shoot that with Kentucky windage and I could nail a muskrat at 150 yards. I gave it to my brother who still has it and probably never shot it. The Turkey.  He was supposed to give it to my son about 16, 17 years ago. He is a little late now. My son teaches me about the current and up and coming rifles and pistols on the market nowadays.

[seth30]

My first gun was a 1960's winchester single shot 22 that has no serial number.  My mom bought it for me at a pawn shop one year.   This was when I lived in wyoming and I would spend my summer days plinking praire dogs and any other cirtter that was dumb enough to come on our property    I still have that gun  and one day it will be handed down to my son:tup:

[Fl0und3rz]

My first gun was a 1960's winchester single shot 22 that has no serial number.  My mom bought it for me at a pawn shop one year.   This was when I lived in wyoming and I would spend my summer days plinking praire dogs and any other cirtter that was dumb enough to come on our property    I still have that gun  and one day it will be handed down to my son:tup:

I never had one of these single shot 22s due to a mostly suburban upbringing - we shot the barrel out of our BB guns though.  However, before our son was born, I picked up a pawnshop Remington 510 Targetmaster single shot for him (no SN also).  I can't wait for the day to present it to him.