Okay.most of us got a rifle as our first gun...what was your first handgun? Mine was a Browning Hi-Power...my brother's was a 6" Colt Python. We were both big fans of Starsky and Hutch at the time....of course, Starsk had a Smith 59 but after handling both, I realized you shouldn't pick a gun based on a fictional TV character.....

It was a stock 81 and around 90' it went to C&S for sights. trigger job and a safety...I've shot just about every kind of 9 since then and this is still my favorite auto...

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

No picture but mine was a Remington Derringer, .41 rimfire over and under. I was 16, 60 years ago and two years later my uncle gave me the other .41 which was the matching half of a pair. Wish I still had them.

My first handgun purchase was actually 2 at the same time,A M-586 and a M-29 both 6 inch.

Ken

M66, 6 inch

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Sure you did

Mod 37 in late sixties.

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Roger

Hi, first one was a Colt Woodsman Match Target third series bought in 1981.Still have it and will pass it to daughters.
Regards , Ray

Now you've hit a sore spot! The first handgun I bought on my own was a M586 (no dash) 6". I was still in the Navy and bought it in VA, 7/1983. I was home for a year and it was stolen!

All I have left is the box, docs and grips. It had Pachmayr Grippers on it when it changed ownership! (had it at the range that week) I replaced it with a 686-1 within 2 months and bought a 586-4 4" in 1994,

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RIP Shipmate

S&W 49 Bodyguard

Jun

Model 19-3 in the 8K serial range. Bought it from Meltzer's in Garfield NJ for $193 as my duty gun as an "Institutions and Agencies" PO. It's long gone. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Colt Government Model MKIV Series 70 .45 acp NIB, about 1977.

My first handgun was a Dan Wesson .357 with fixed sights and a six inch barrel. It was without a doubt the ugliest gun I have ever owned with the dorkiest looking grips! I could not hit a bull in the arse with it at 5 yards! I traded it off for a Smith & Wesson Model 36 with a 3 inch barrel which later also went on the trading block.
Steve



thumbnailCAZEUH51.jpg

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Steve

Mine was a .22 cal, 4 inch, Colt Diamondback that I later traded on a Model 17-4.

Oh, if I had only known back in the '80s how valuable that gun would be today!!!!!!!!!

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

My first handgun was a model 60. Got it when I was 49.

My first handgun was a Ruger, "Standard" (aka MK I), 4", fixed sight. .22 auto pistol. It was purchased in 1961 for $37.50. I kept it until about 1970 when I traded in a very poor trade! I don't even want to go there, I'm too embarrassed!

Years latter my son got a replacement, a MKII. Wheeeee!

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G.P. Charlie

Summer of 1973, Ruger New Model .41 Blackhawk 6.5" barrel. Saved all summer for it. Paid $119 for it. I was 16 at the time.

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Have Canon, Will Travel

5906. It is my bookcase/nightstand gun.

Six-inch Model 28 Highway Patrolman in 1973.

Had to get my mother to do a "straw man" purchase for me.

Seems I was old enough to register for the draft but not to buy a handgun.

Joined the NRA the same day.

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Life Member NRA Since 1985

Mine was either this Colt Frontier Scout .22 I traded for a recurve bow during a New Years Eve party or this Colt Police Positive with a Detective Special barrel which was given to me and was my wife's grandfather's pistol. Not sure of any dates here.

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649 Bodyguard. I still carry that one the most.

My first handgun was a gift from my Father. Actually not really a gift - he went back to the service around 1980 and never came back for any guns so I sort of 'acquired' all of them at that time.

It was/ is a Ruger single six w/ both cylinders from about 1970 or so.

It still gets some use but admitedly not as much as it should.

Still have it! Model 19-3 4", bought new in 1978 IIRC. I remember I wasn't 21 yet so my dad had to buy it. Lost interest in it later on and sold it to my Uncle, some years later when I realized the error of my ways, he sold it back to me. I don't expect it will leave again anytime soon.

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Jeff
S&WCA #2132

S&W model 28 4"

I had either sold or traded it when I was young...forgot which.

So I was heading back home many years latter with a replacement 28 and yacking to my best friend(of 30 years)......, told him I just got a 28........he then told me he was the one I sold the gun to all those years ago......he still has it(he never shoots anymore)

I should have figured....he then offered it back but I thought it was fitting he keep it as it was his 1st handgun and then it will go to his son(just 4 years old now)......who I am grooming to take care of me(we dont have kids)
when I am an old man

Ruger Super Single-Six, 1967.

Bill

I was in junior high school (1959) when I bought a pre model 18 from my dad for the princely sum of $35.00. Of course, dad kept it locked up until after I got back from Vietnam. I still have the gun... and my dad.

My first... Ruger MkII 512 semiauto. (5 1/2" bull barrel)
Still have it and shoot it regularly.

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Memory of Randy Freas-Rimfired

Ruger 6in. standard auto.

I was in high school when the first Lethal Weapon movie came out with Mel Gibson. I fell in love with the Beretta 92F. I saved up my cash, and my Dad and I went to a gun show and we paid cash money for one. I still have it. It's somewhere around 20 years old now. Box and all.

That's easy to recall, a Ruger Super Blackhawk in on my 21st birthday in 1972. Dirty Harry was all the rage and we all wanted a .44 Magnum, but who could find or afford a Model 29 at that time?

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1st Signal Brigade, RVN '70

This combat mangle-'em my wife gave me for one of my first birthdays after we were married; still have it.

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Don't need no stinkin' sigline

Model 10-6, bought in 77 or 78. Still have it great shooter. Thanks Larry

Astra Constable in .380ACP - I sold it long ago for I don't remember what. It was actually a pretty decent little pistol.

Regards,

Dave

4" Model 19. Don't remember the dash number but it was P&R. Sold it a few years later to finance whatever it was that interested me at the time.
I have since corrected that mistake.

I bought my first three handguns at the same time. They were the 1917 made Colt USMC issued 1911 below. The 1903 made Colt Army and Navy Service revolver below that and a commercial 1921 made Colt 1911. I bought all three for $600 in 2004.



At the time, I didn't know much about any of these three, but I found out pretty quickly that it was quite a score.

Bill

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US Marine, 16 years+

Series 70 Colt in .45acp. I got it in college in '79. I carried it in the Army off and on. It was my primary self-defense gun for years until I had it converted to a bullseye wadcutter gun, which it still is.

My first gun was/is a Model 625-3 3". It is what started my love affair with both S&W and 45Wheelguns.

I did some work for a friend and in return he allowed me to pick between 8 or 10 handguns he owned. I wanted a Glock or a 1911 really badly. He took me to the range with all of them and I couldn't shoot a semi-auto to save my life. I picked up the 625 and put every round in the bullseye. I was sold.

I still have her:

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Dave

Traded an old cow for a single-six. Lost the box and .22 cyl. in house fire. But the Ruger was with me and still is used (yesterday) on a regular basis.

A 6" 686-4 for my 13th birthday. I still have it, but shoot my semiautos a lot more now. It's a great shooter, particularly after the addition of a Wolff spring kit, but I hate cleaning revolvers.

A 4" 28-2, which I soon traded for a 6" 19-4 in the late 70's. I still have the 19.

I am not sure if the 28 was my first or the .32 long I frame. I remember having both around the same time.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Ruger Single Six convertible bought in 1961.. Still have it.

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Eccentric old coot

S&W Model 19, 2-1/2" barrel, RR&WO sights. Still have it. However in it's place (to carry) I would reach for my Model 66 2-1/2" for its rust resistant properties.

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NICK-SWCA-NRA BENEFACTOR LIFE

cva copy of a 1851 navy. first cartridge gun was a mod 28 4".

Sir, my first handgun was a 6-inch stainless Colt King Cobra. It was handsome and had that Colt cachet, but the barrel was indexed incorrectly and required a great deal of left windage to get the shots to go center. That bugged me, so it wasn't long before I swapped it off on something else.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

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Wishin' don't make it so.

My first handgun was a Ruger Mark 1 with a five-inch bull barrel.
I was shooting Bullseye matches at the time and the Mark 1 worked fine for that.
Sold it when I got out of Bullseye for a while. Still wish I hadn't.
I replaced it 12 or 15 years later with a Mark II bull barrel.
My son is using it in matches, occasionally, now.

My first handgun was a 6-inch Nickel S&W 586 that I got in 1982 at the age of 16. Yes, my dad had to buy it for me, but I paid for it and kept in my room. I sold it in 1991 to my best friend.

A long gone Norinco 213 9mm Tokarev. Second was a 29-5 with the 8 3/8" tube that I kep longer, but also got rid of.

Colt Diamondback .38 in 1968.

Paid $125.95

My first handgun was a Smith model 459 bought in 1985 for 325.00 at a gun show. Wish I still had it.

I do have my brothers first gun which was a rifle. Its a Marlin 336 30-30 that I caught him about to trade away for a pistol. The gun shop was going to give him 125.00 for it. So I gave him the 125 bucks for it instead. That was at least 25 years ago. And now he tells me never to sell it unless it is back to him. I am planning on giving it to his son on his 18th birthday as a gift. I think that might make them both pretty happy.

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Kevin
NRA Benefactor Member

H&R top break.

Me too; even got a 10% discount...
Charlie and I must be about the same age.

My first was an 8 3/8 629. Bought it to hunt with. Still have it.

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SC Army National Guard