My first was a Cooey Model 82 Training rifle. I still have it. It looks and feels like a full-sized Lee Enfield in .303, but is a single-shot .22LR. They made them for the Canadian Army and Air Force Cadets.

Great rifle for a kid. It's bolt-action, but you still have to cock the firing pin (like a Crickett) after you chamber a round.

Look at the advertisement. $9.95 for a new one, or $18.00 for two!

I don't remember if it was the first, but I distinctly remember my dad finally letting my 10-year-old self (after considerable begging) shoot his single-shot 12-gauge Ithaca in the middle of a tobacco patch, where he suggested I draw a bead on the flower at the top of a nearby plant and squeeze the trigger. I was promptly knocked on my keister and dropped the shotgun too.

He made it up to me by giving me for Christmas a little .410 Sears & Roebuck bolt action that I still have, and that brought me back into a right relationship with shotguns.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Father passed before I was born sadly.

However my grandfather taught me how to shoot. At the ripe old age of 10 he handed me a large gun with a pump action. I shot it and flew across the yard. His buddies and he laughed hysterically. It was a 10guage :/

The first guns I ever shot were a .45 ACP Colt 1911 and a double barreled 12 gage shot gun. I was age 10 and those were the only two guns we owned. I did not yet have a bb gun.

The 1911 was one my father brought home with him from WWII and the shotgun had a hand carved stock on it that he made himself as a boy. My brother still has that 12 gage today. The 1911 got away from us.

12ga with rifled barrel and 3.5" deer slugs. Shot it from bench. Scope hit my safety glasses. He was sighing it in and I wouldn't leave him alone, because I wanted a turn.

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I probley was 5 or 6 years old and think for handguns it was probley some model of a high standard or colt auto 22. For a rifle it was no doubt his winchester model 61. I can remember once when I was about 5, dad comeing home with a bloody hand. I seem to think it was when a slide on a auto somehow sliced him.

A Remington Nylon 66 which I believe is still in my grandfather's old house where my uncle currently live. After that there were a couple of .22 revolvers, one top-break, I'm thinking it might have been a S&W, but could have been a Great Western, and one hand ejector, can't remember the manufacturer. Had a cool old western holster go carry it around with. Those were the days. When we'd go visit my grandfather in the country first thing I would do was run in the house, load up the guns (I used to save up the $2 for a box of 50 rounds), put on the belt and holster and take off for the fields and forest to see what I could shoot.

Winchester 1907 .22 pump.

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Mafuta54

First gun I ever fired was a M102 howitzer. First rifle I ever fired was a Winchester 67 and I was probably 5 years old at the time. The rifle was bought new by my G-Grandfather the first year they came out and my daughter has custody of it now. So 5 generations have been shooting it.

My mother wouldn't allow any guns in the house.

I learned how to shoot in college and in the Army.

I did however know how to field strip an MP40 by the time I was in 8th grade, having gotten my first copy of "Smallarms of the World" between 7th and 8th grades.

The first gun my dad let me shoot was his High Standard double nine .22
We would shoot walnuts off the tree in the front yard and those were the days. I have the gun now that he is gone. It is one of five hand guns that he left me and one of those was a S&W. All of my other hand guns are Smith& Wessons.

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After my Crossman, first real shot was Dads Marlin 39. It was roughly 35 years ago, and he still won't let me have it. I do have the second one though, it was his Marlin 336RC, which I do have now.

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Dave

JC Higgins 9 shot .22 snubby. I think I was five. I remember I held the revolver and Dad's hands were over mine. He cocked it and said "Squeeze the trigger".

Our house was a gun free zone when I was a kid in the 50's. I had all manner of cap guns, but nothing that would be considered a real firearm.

I would think my first exposure to a real firearm was about 1958 at Boy Scout Camp. Some sort of bolt action singe shot .22 rifles.

LTC

Dad was not a gun guy, so I didn't shoot my first until he passed away and I was able to buy a Ruger 10/22 myself. Been hooked ever since.

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NRA Life member

.410 mossberg pump shotgun was about 9-10

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Rob

My first was my Daisy Red Ryder lever action BB gun which I used mercilessly on sparrows that infested the barnyard. Never really knew if the BB would fly true so I developed a very fast lever.

Next was Dad's Winchester Model 62 which Mom gave him in 1939. That rifle eliminated the pigeons infesting our barns. I still have the rifle which Dad gave me before he passed.

Next was a bolt action box-fed .410 shotgun from Sears or Wards....that gun was stolen by a former BIL while I was in the Army.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

That would be his Mod 63 Winchester. I now have it in the safe.

The first one my Dad let me shoot was a .22 bolt action that you had to stick every round into the chamber. Don't recall what brand it was. After closing the bolt you had to pull back the knob on the back to cock the rifle. I was around 8 when this happened. Now for the first one I shot (if he knew I probably wouldn't have gotten the .22) was about 6 months before I got the .22. I was at my cousins house (on the farm) and everyone went to town except the kids. He knew where his Dad's shotgun and shells were. (are you getting the picture). This was a double barreled one that you had to cock the hammers on the side. I, being the brave one, (actually the dumbest) shot it first. I put 2 shells into it, cocked both hammers, and pulled the front trigger. Little did I know that the gun would fire both barrels at the same time. After I picked myself out of the dirt, we quickly cleaned the gun and put it back. I figured we were pretty smart. Still remember that like it was yesterday.

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Minimize the variables

Zilch, none..... My dad had a shotgun and a pistol but I never fired either. He just wasn't a gun person and was too busy working to raise 5 kids. I got into it on my own in my early 20's. I did have a BB gun though.

My Dad bought me a (Mossburg) Revelation 12 gauge pump full choke 30" barrel in 1972. he was a fisherman, not a shooter/hunter. I still have it.

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

An old JC Higgins Semi Auto 22lr...great little rifle. That was 40 year ago and we still have it.

I was around 4 or so. My father didn't have it long. He was always accepting guns in return for carpentry work and turning around and selling them. That was back in the 50's and he was making around $2500 a year as a state trooper and with three kids he needed the money more than the guns. A lot of guns passed through our household that I would love to have today.

My first range time had to been when I was about, 9 or 10. Still have it to this day...1930s Winchester .22 single shot bolt action...I forgot the model.

First shotgun was a cheapie Sears 20 gauge. Still have it, got my first deer with it when I was 12 if I recall.

Good memories...

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Rather be outdoors

I think it was a Stevens 20 gauge pump, but soon afterwards he got me a single shot 410. Don't remember the manufacturer but within a few years my dad sold it and got me an almost new Browning A-5 light twelve that I still have.

The was back in the early-mid 60s. Only shotgun I've owned (other than an A5 Magnum 12 I inherited from dad). I've never wanted another shotgun other than the light 12.

It might have been a single shot .410 or a .22 bolt....my memory ain't what it used to be. My first gun was a Glenfield bolt action .22 and later on for my 12th birthday, a Nylon 66 in Apache Black...the Apache is still in my safe next to a pristine '65 Marlin 39A.

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

My mother taught me how to shoot my first firearm, her grandfather's Remington M 514 T in 22 LR. It was his rifle for the Yale Rifle Team in the 20's.

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442

My grandfather let me shoot his BB gun a few times, but the first time I got to shoot something with gun powder was at a fair or circus. It was a bolt action and I guess it was a .22 short though I had no idea what it was at the time. I was under five years old. It was a thrilling event...

Rifle: 03A3 in the basement with wax bullets/primer load
Pistol: My Dad had home made a single shot 22 lr pistol that I remember had an exposed hammer and slide that locked into battery.Reminded me of an old Woodsman After the gun control act of 1968, he cut it up so as so he would not be breaking the law. Really wish I had that gun now as Dad is 20 years gone.

A 'Sears' single-shot .22. Not sure who the maker was, nor the type of reddish wood the stock was made of, wasn't walnut. Prior to that I started my shooting hobby with my very own Sheridan Blue Streak 5MM (.20 cal) pump air gun. Sadly, both were stolen from a home break-in, as well as many others. Good news I still have my very first gun 50+ years later, a Browning semi-auto .22 (SA-22). Made in Belgium, has shot thousands and thousands of every type of .22 ammo without a hiccup. Was a Xmas present from Mom & Dad. Still goes to the range with me to this day, although the range officer is always trying to figure out what I'm doing - it's loads through the buttstock via a rod. Growing up in the country with no neighbors offered a kid daily opportunities to hunt. Try as I might, was never able to wipe out the rabbit population, but I really, really tried! Suckers kept reproducing faster than I could shoot.

My dad didn't own guns but the first time I ever shot one was at boy scout camp. It was a 22 rifle loaded with shot. I had a ball.

That was a long time ago...

A Springfield bolt action .22 with a wooden kitchen match as a rear sight elevator. I was 5 and we were at the town dump. Dad was shooting rats. Before we left he set up a brown glass Clorox bottle about 10 yards away and steadied me as I shot it. I was hooked.

When I was 12 he let me shoot a J.C. Higgins 12 gauge pump he had won in a raffle. He won the shotgun, a case, a cleaning kit and 3 boxes of shells in the early 60s. When he gave me the shotgun before his death 8 years ago there was a half box left. When I started hunting at 14 he let me use the shotgun whenever I wanted, but made me buy my own shells.

Both are in my safe. The only gun Dad ever bought was the Springfield .22 bolt he gave me the Christmas after I turned 14. He drove tractor for 2 weeks for his .22 and won the shotgun on a ten cent chance. I gave him a Colt Frontier Scout .22 Magnum in the 70s when I was out of the country. My son has that now.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

My brother-in-law was the first to let me shoot something other than a BB gun. It was a Henry 22lr rifle. He actually taught me about shooting & hunting.

I remember shooting a .22 bolt-action rifle as a Cub Scout in 1960.
My parents did not own guns and were sort of anti-gunners.
In 1970 Uncle Sam gave me a M-14 and I've been shooting ever since then.

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

410 shotgun, good ol stevens model 97.... 3 " green Remington still go the empty hull, lol

Winchester model 61 .22

Circa 1960,when I was less than 10,my father and I,along with some relatives,chartered a fishing boat out of Cape May,NJ.During a lull in the fishing,the captain pulled out a Marlin 39,and we took turns at shooting at floating refuse.I can still remember my fascination with the .22 short brass.

1946: an old double barrel 12gauge shotgun with exposed hammers, using #8 "Monarch" (sic) shells. One shot only on Christmas Eve night.

Fifty eight years ago when I was 6 years old my Dad took me to my great uncles farm and started me out with a Stevens Little Scout Model 14 1/2. After many trips to shoot the breech block failed using high velocity ammo and burned my right thumb and scorched my right eyebrow and caused ringing in my ear so that rifle went away, I dont know where, even with the bad experience I was persistent in wanting to shoot.

Later when I was 10 Dad bought me a used Stevens Model 22-410 with the tenite plastic stock, I still have that combo gun to this day, I even scratched my initials into the pistol grip cap when it was given to me, just in case.

terry

Who am I, that a King
would bleed and die for

But Dad was (is) neither a hunter or a shooter and I never handled a gun in his presence.

I do have a cool story though. When I was about three years old I had terrible nightmares and one night my Dad had enough and burst into my room with his shotgun and ran off all the boogeymen. He showed me that there weren't any boogeymen around and I confirmed that they had indeed hauled ***, never to bother me again.

A Dan Wesson .357 loaded with .38s
It was the kit with interchangeable barrel lengths and sights.
and there was a bb gun too

The first gun would probably be the childs 22 that he got me when I was 8 or 9,

The first of his he let me shoot was probably the Model 12 Trap 12ga when I was big enough to handle it.

The old Winchester or Remington slide action .22s at the Playland Amusement Park shooting gallery in the 50's. We spent a LOT of time there well before I was 9 yrs. About the same time he let me kill a stump in the back yard with a long barrel Navy or Artillary Luger that was the only gun in the house.

Sad, but it was my grandpa and it was his single shot bolt action .22 rifle. I have it now. My dad hunted and shot skeet but never took me out to shoot or even teach me how to handle a gun. In high school I took a gun safety class and was to bring a rifle or shotgun to class to shoot at the end of it. Dad let me take a 20ga shotgun but didn't even explain how to load it or handle it.

Maybe someday we'll share a moment.

Ruger 10/22 for rifle, then my uncle's Springfield 1911 GI.

Must have been a K-22. I was only about four years old but I do remember it was a .22 revolver and he only had Smiths, so... It's a great memory and I still like them Smiths just fine.

My dad never let me shoot anything. When I was 11 my dad decided I was old enough to be punched in the face and beaten like a grown man for indiscretions.
He did have an LC Higgins shotgun, and a High Standard .22LR that fell to me and my brother after he left about a year later.