Late 1940s. A single shot 22 that I believe was of German origin.

For the most part, my grandfather taught me to shoot and though I can't remember now, it would have almost certainly been one of his 6" Colt Official Police's. He's got two, one in .22LR and the other a .38 Special that was his first sidearm as WVSP Trooper issued to him in the mid 50's.

Springfield or Stevens (same company, I think), single shot, bolt action .22 that my dad learned to shoot with in the 1920's. I still have it & by far the most accurate .22 sans scope I have in the safe. I still love the wide buckhorn rear sight & front gold bead combination. This one must have been a mid-range or higher rifle as it is a cock-on-closing action versus hand-cock striker that were more common back then.

ahh the memories< gotta love em

Can't remember which was first but it was either Grandpaws
Savage .22lr over 410 break open, or H&R topper model 20
gauge break open single shot.
Lots of groundhogs and squirrels fell to those two old guns.

Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

I was ten years old when my dad took me to a friends autoshop that had a junkyard in the back. I thought we were just going out just to go visit his friend, but on the way we stopped at the local Western Auto in dad's small town and bought 12gauge bird shot and slugs. We were out back in this junk yard and dad found this old rusty beater that he said was too far gone to get parts off of and restore, so that was the target. The first gun I ever shot was my grand father's Savage 12 gauge double barrel side by side shotgun. My dad is not a gun person and I am not sure why he has the guns but he has that and my grand father's 410 single shot Savage.

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Livin’ Life From The Blindside

Mossberg 20g pump,still have it.

The little 22 in my avatar and the date was early 1942 somewhere in SW Texas. (Presidio county I think)

Don't know where the rifle went though. We started moving around with the US Army.

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NRA Life Benefactor

AH Fox Sterlingworth...12 gauge...low brass paper Remington #6. We stood an ear of corn up in the mud. I shot most of the kernels off one side of the ear. This was 1957 when I was 8 years old.

An old single barrel 12 Ga shotgun that his dad had passed on to him. It has "Wide Awake" on the receiver and lives up to it's name. That thing nearly screwed me into the ground when I pulled the trigger. I still have the gun today.

A Winchester 1892 in .25-20. Dad died when I was 12 and as a young man I foolishly let it get away from me. At least I still have his shotgun.

My dad never owned a gun, never. I didn't get interested in guns until many years after I left home. Now I own several and really enjoy this hobby.

BTW, he was a GREAT dad, been gone for 25 years and I still miss him.

A WWII surplus M1 Carbine. Got to shoot a full 10 round mag, at ~ 6 years old. Still have it and love it.
Guy22

The first gun I shot was a crack barrel .410, I was about 7 and I was too short to see out the duck blind so my grandfather brought me a bucket to stand on. He would call in a flock of ducks and let them land in the pond and he would cock the gun for me and I would shoot the ducks on the water. Since he passed away 8 years ago I no longer have the urge or want to go hunting anymore.
My first rifle I shot was a Buckskin Tan Remington Fieldmaster 572 pump action aluminum .22lr rifle that my dad got from his dad.

1935 Winchester M12 12ga in the late 50s.
We were pheasant hunting in central Illinois (somewhere) - I was one of the dogs
He balanced the gun on his shoulder and I shot (and killed) a rabbit.
And so it begins.....................

I still have the 12 - UNFORTUNATELY when in my late 20s I tore up my knee and had to sit in a chair for a couple of weeks - NO cable, satellite or internet back then.
The shotgun's stock was cracked. So - I buy a new one, sand it, oil & rub it and oil & rub it and rub it - Beautiful. Threw the original stock away and put the new one on.
I could kick myself - The beautiful stock just doesn't look right on the old gun
I sure wish I'd kept the original......
The stock of the 12 had a crack in it.

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In dog years I'm dead.

Either a Remington single shot 2 1/2 in. .410 or a S&W 32Long I frame.I was 5Yrs. old and I never stopped.That was 73 years ago.I just climbed down from a tree 4 hours ago with a Model 57 I bought unfired last year.I'm hoping to get it bloody before the deer season is out.God has been good to me!

I was about 7 and my dad would take me and shoot his S&W K-22. When I was 10, he bought me a Marlin 39 (1952). I still have both guns, along with the Mossberg 20ga bolt action I got when I was 12.

.22 cal Browning pump.
Steve W

NONE -HE NEVER OWNED ONE -He didnt need one. He could take of business on the spot. 94 & still kicking.

Model 74 Winchester .22 auto. Still have it today.......63 years later.

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Bill
Dis B. Leaf

A Winchester Model 62A, dad passed in 2010 but his gun are in the safe to remember him by.

1970, when i was five....Colt Detective Special and Remington 521T.

I barely remember shooting my old mans Mdl 36 ppc rig once early on. I was probably 6 yrs old. In 1980 at 8yrs old i got my Ruger 10/22 and its still just as fun to shoot to this day.

NONE parents were liberal dema craps I think I was adopted

Bolt action 22 but I don't remember what brand. I was probably about 5.

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God spelled backwards is dog.

Remington 11-48 12 gauge. Dad was a quail hunter. He set an old cardboard oil can (remember those?) up on a fence post in front of a dilapidated old barn they didn't use.
I think I was around 7 or 8 at the time, he had to help me hold the thing up. I wrapped myself around it, took careful aim and pulled the trigger. Next thing I knew I was flat on my back! Dad mananged to catch the shotgun. The oil can was still on that fence post. We got to looking and it appeared that I missed the whole barn.
Not long after that a friend gave Dad a Cresent Arms single shot .410 with a busted stock. He got the stock fixed and then gave it to me.
Still have 'em both and someday they'll belong to my sons.

Dad's M1' 30 carbine* .. Never forget it, new years eve' 1968
9' years old, 4th grade* ... 3 shots strait up in the air.
Dad even stayed on the couch & let me walk out on the back porch' still in view,
I wonder how many beers he'd had?

~ Joe

As a little note of information here in Brazil people are most shotgunners.Since I was a boy father used a Sauer&Sohn made double barrel in a gauge not common in the US, a 24 gauge.He still has it.
But my first gun was what is known as a Flobert.It´s belgian made and uses a small shotshell. It´s referred to as 9 mm shotshell.I still have it.
Regards, Ray

Colt Woodsman.

Other than once or twice in a shooting gallery, I never shot a firearm until college and ROTC. We lived in apartheid Chicago. My mother was a raving anti and wouldn't let my father own a gun. He had a few old .22 short rounds lying around the dresser.

I bought my first firearm, a shortened Commission '88 while in college. By that time, my parents had no control over what I shot or owned. By then, my mother had given up ANY hope of me not owning guns.

So long ago I can't remember if I was 5 or 6.A Remington single barrel 410 Ga. which only shot 2 1/2 inch shells.I immediately became addicted to the aroma of a waxed blue Peter's Hi-Velocity shell fired on a cool Autumn Day.Doves at a waterhole or squirrels in a hickory grove were on borrowed time.Not long afterward I shot his I frame 32 S&W Long and loved the easy trigger pull and loved to stroke the nickle finish.After that I never looked back,and gave in to my life long addiction.
That started 73 years ago,and just yesterday after sundown I climbed down from a tree with a Model 57 I was hoping to "get bloody".I bought it unfired last year and it is a beauty.
Yes,God is Good!!
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Colt Detective Special and I was about three years old. He was on the San Diego PD and it was his BUG. That may or may not be the reason I never developed any affinity for Colt DA revolvers. Who knows...

My father took me out and let me shoot his Browning Auto 5 20 gauge. He did not tell me it was a Semi auto, when the shell flew out I thought I broke something on the gun.

My first rifle that I got to shoot was a 1903 Winchester 22lr thumb trigger. I was about 8-9 years old. First hand gun was my maternal grandfathers Saturday night special no name pistol; 32cal short barrel single action. I got to cock it and pull the trigger 5 times I was about 9. I was not able to get any of my grandfathers guns when they died. I was in the military and overseas when they passed, my brothers and cousins got then.

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Carpriver.

My grandfather had a S&W New Departure in .32 S&W. He traded a mule for it. It has been said that whoever got the mule got the better deal. I have the revolver today.

regards

yashua

Winchester Model 75 .22 LR. I still have that gun, my mother gave it to him for his birthday in 1940. It is still a tack driver.

My dad had very little to do with it. To his credit, he had no objection when a friend's dad offered to teach me to shoot. As best I remember, it was a single-shot .22 of some flavor.

The thing that stands out was a third parent (presumably "conservative") who criticized my parents as "too liberal" for allowing me to handle guns. Go figure.

My first was my Daisy Red Rider BB gun. I was about 10 and got to shoot it in the back yard with him supervising. Later - after he felt I could be trusted - I was permitted to shoot it by myself - still in the back yard. One evening just about dusk I saw a bird sitting on a branch and on an impulse popped of a bb at it. Hit it. It fell and I was horrified at what I had done. I cried over its body and remember to this day the lesson I learned.

rolomac

Six years old. A single shot Bridge Gun Company single shot .410. I called it "death that wears walnut" because, when I went to c*ck it, if my thumb slipped, the hammer dropped and hit the firing pin, it went BANG! I learned at an early age to be VERY careful where that barrel was pointing. A friend was absolutely crazy to buy it even after I warned him how dangerous it was. I happy sold it to him and bought a short barreled Ruger Mk1.

Charlie

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SWCA # 2294

Mine was my father's Winchester 56 .22 short, which he was given as a boy in 1930, when he was 13 years old, and which he gave to me in 1960, when I was 13. Glad to say I have it today. I've dispatched many a woodchuck with it.

The 56 turns out to be a very rare and valuable rifle (little did I know all these years). Only 1,171 56 shorts were produced. Mine has the very rare stainless steel barrel, which makes nearly unique. The Win aficionados over at Rimfire Central have never seen one in stainless.

See the attached discussion (with pix), if you're interested.

Attached Files

Winchester Model 56 PDF Version copy.pdf (786.9 KB, 12 views)

Pretty close for me.

The first was a Winchester Model 63, which I took my first
squirrel with a couple of months before my sixth birthday.

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Ogy

I was 10 when my dad let me shoot his Cold Woodsman Match Target 22.
I still have it today.

In 1946 my father gave me a Marlin Model 81DL, tube magazine, bolt action, with adjustable peep sight. It came out right after the war and has a lot rougher stock than the later 81DLs. He taught me to shoot with it. I still have it; the headspace is a little long due to many bricks of hi velocity ammo.

My first shots, actually, were about three years previously when I was at summer camp and we had several sessions with 22s at 50 feet.

My dad was a WWII vet. RAF. Came to America (New York City) in the 50's. Not exactly sure why, but we never had guns in the house until I was 18 and old enough to buy my own. The first gun I let him shoot was a Ruger Mini-14.

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'Merica!

A Winchester Model 41 .410 sigle shot shotgun, folllowed by a Wichester Model 67 .22 the same day. Still have both in my gunsafe NOT for sale at any price.

My dad worked for the War Dept. in R&D during WWII. Dad bought a Colt Police Positive .22 target pistol from a friend, Carl Nix (very well-known shooter and gunsmith at the time) who had a range and cabin in Falls Church, VA and they would go shooting on the week-ends. They let me squeeze off my first shot at the ripe old age of 3! (Supposedly hit what I was aiming at, too). Still have that sweet little pistol...a prized possession!

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NRA Life Benefactor,Life NCGCA

My grandfather's Colt Police Positive in .32 S&W Long, 4-inch barrel; he bought it new in 1915. My dad was not a gun person, but my grandfather certainly was! Fired this, his bedside revolver, in 1953 for the first time and inherited the gun in 1970; one of my most prized possessions. Think of him every time I hold this tangible connection between the two of us.
It is in semi-retirement now but still as accurate as ever. The durability of Smith & Wessons/Colts never ceases to amaze me!

I was 7yrs old, 6" barrel Colt Python. He stood behind me, helping me hold it. I still have the pictures and the gun.

A Remington 22; not even sure where it is these days...but my Dad had a Luger, never let me shoot it, I have no idea where he got it or where it is today.....all this happened well over 50 years ago.

old 16 gauge Model 12. In 1957. I still remember it kicking the hell out of me.

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John