For me there are several:

1) First gun

2) First "collectible" gun

3) First upgrade of a gun I already had to a better example of the same gun

With respect to each of the above it has been an ever accelerating spiral with no chance of pulling up

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My first pistol was a Springfield GI .45 (WW serialed) that I bought in 2007. I will never get rid of it. I don't think I'm a bad parent but they would go hungry before I'd sell it. Not true but I really like it.

I have genuine GI pistols I'd get rid of first.

My first S&W, Model 25-2. I've had N-frame lust ever since.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

My first pistol a Browning High Power Sold.

My first collectable pistol a Browning High Power engraved Renaissance model Sold.

My first S&W a mod 58 that a buddy added sights to Still have it.

I have my first gun, a Sears and Roebuck Ranger .22 rifle. actually a Marlin 80. Still shoot it and will never part with it.
collectable: 1908 Colt Vest pocket .25 made in 1922. Nice gun and a good shooter.
Upgraded: Ruger MKIII target that I added fiber optic sights, MKII hammer bushing, Volquartsen adjustable trigger and a rail with a light.
I do have a Colt 1911 that I changed the Main spring housing on but can't really find anything wrong with the way it is stock. It is always tempting to change things on a 1911 but I always have gone back to the factory parts.
Peace,
Gordon

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better have that checked

I was perfectly happy with 2 S&Ws and one Ruger handgun until I found the S&W forum..

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Eccentric old coot

Yep.....kinds of sums it up.......... I'm way past 'need" thanks to you guys/gals!!!

For decades I never had more than a handful of guns......concealed carry auto and revolver.......a 6 or later a 4inch L-frame...... and one or maybe two .22s!!

So; IIRC about 2002 and then Oct 2005.................from my office

Finding out that full auto could be owned legally. I wish I had known decades earlier and bought 100 Fleming sears.

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Smith & Wesson beat four aces

A while back now I bought a Second Model, Third Model and a Fourth Model HE.
All Target Models, all 6 1/2, all 44s, all one buy from one guy.
I have actually had larger size money buys, but those were always with resell in mind. Like the time I bought a case of RedHawks.
But this was by far my most memorable buy.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

My watershed moment in "gun collecting" was when I received my first gun a Savage 220A single shot 410.

The reason for this is there was a single shot 410 that belonged to my grandpa that was being passed down through the male cousins to use until they got a better gun. This process somehow skipped me and to say I was disappointed would be a gross understatement. I never said anything to my father about this but he knew it and told me that if I saved half of the money for a new gun he would put in the other half.

In 1957 these guns cost about $35 which was a lot of money to a 8 year old boy. I was determined to do this and shoveled snow and mowed lawns to earn the money. I of course kept my father informed of my progress, probably on a daily basis, so he would not forget his offer.

I am not sure how much money I had saved but one day when my father got home from work he had a box that contained my new Savage and two boxes of shells.

Sixty years later I still remember opening that box. Strangely the thing I remember most is the smell.

I, of course, still have this gun and would like to give it to my grandson but his mother won't allow it, maybe someday.

havin a fear of them rusting I keep my guns away from watersheds or any water for that matter

my first gun was a Remington nylon66 in my early teens.
i'm not positive but I think my first handgun was a s&w model 459 that I bought new in the early 80s.
collectible is subjective and I can't really say which gun would qualify as my first collectible as I've had a few over the years and still own 1 or 2.

Yes, I feel like two watershed moments in my meager shooting collection were when I added a four screw K22 and a five screw Highway Patrolman to the mix. Of course, adding a P&R 2 1/2" Model 66 was kind of cool too.

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My very first gun was a Brand new S&W Model 28. Everything since has been icing on the cake.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

The great Divorce collection split and sell off was a large one for me. I had less then a week to decide what to sell, what I would keep and what the ex would keep. I sold a little over 100, they all went out of the house at once, after they were catalogued by my ex, my dealer and me. The proceeds were split 50-50 by me and my ex, that is what I lived off of for 6 months while the divorce finialized. I am have been rebuilding but the collection now is different, more shooters, less safe queens, one lesson from this, life is too short for safe queens!

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Life NRA, Life TSRA, C&R FFL

Had three watershed moments:

Realized I liked Smith & Wessons much more than Colts or Rugers.

Realized buying really nice Savage 99's made more sense than crummy Winchesters.

Retired and no longer had to save for retirement, and that a C&R license was a darned handy thing when my wife dragged me on vacation.

Being left handed and a dominant left eye, when I was starting out and actually for a good portion of my shooting career learning to deal with non-tang safeties was a major issue. Getting my first over under, Winchester 101, with a tang safety sure made quail hunting, dove hunting, etc. a lot more enjoyable. Then getting a tang safety rifle, Ruger M77, made rifle shooting more enjoyable also. The same applies to revolvers vs. single action pistols!

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Wherever my mind isn't
Jim

Like most in here I collected guns in fine condition only. With quite a few elderly Winchesters, Savages, and Remingtons all built before I was born. Then I traded for a WELL used pre war Colt Woodsman and my life changed. I no longer needed to baby it. It was tied to snowmobiles and motorcycles, laid in the bottom of a leaky duck boat and was tossed onto the dash of many hunting cars. With this I had many grand adventures as I spent more time on the adventure rather than hovering over my gun hoping to keep it from being scratched. Now my adventure guns, fishing poles, axes, shovels and atv look no better. Every scratch, dent and ding means while others were cleaning their guns, I was having adventures with mine. Quite a watershed gun for me and fortunately it arrived on the scene early in my life.

only been in this hobby for 4 years now, started in my 50's when my in-laws handed me their late father's old Colt Challenger for my first gun (a '51, first was their grandpa's). I actually put 900+ rounds thru it my first couple years until I picked up a Buckmark to be my daily driver at the range (then added a compact .22). But as i've been a part of that family for 30 yrs now, that old Colt means more to me than the $ it could get so even if i dont play much with it, the only place it may go is to my grandson someday.
These SW's are addictive, as I tell the wife its the same as her Lularoo clothing can be for her lol.

I'd say my old Challenger given to me was similar; used on traplines, squirrel hunting, and just plinking on family land.... It isnt a pretty gun anymore but dang if it doesnt still shoot well

My watersheds are all about the men and women that owned them before it was my turn to be the caretaker and guides me in who I select to pass them on to...
the value is based on the heart and not the head... I have my late father's very first pistol... a 4 digit serial number red eagle Ruger 22... that was actually purchased by my grandmother because my father was too young by a few months when the Ruger first came out... on my mother's side I have my grandfather's only gun, a 410 O/U shotgun that came thru my aunt... I own guns worth much more money to others... but those two are priceless to me... and hopefully to my heirs as well...

all my handgun purchases were watersheds.
my 22/45 was my first handgun.
my single 10 was my first revolver.
my 15-4 was my first s&w.
so, it's not a collection, but i'm having tons of fun.

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susie

Finding an exact copy of the revolver my grandmother taught me to shoot when I was seven: a flat latch Model 31 snubbie from around the middle of 1958. As a result of that buy I found this forum. I'm a retired Air Force chief, and you all introduced me to the various models in the Chiefs Special serial number range: a birth year ('52) baby J, 36, 37, and 38 (still in the hunt for a 49). One of these days I'll do a collage of the chief's Chiefs, all blue.

Attached Images

Mod 31, S&W clippoint, Wyo 2 bits.jpg (95.6 KB, 9 views)

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Wrangler of stray Chiefs
Bob

First gun ever shot Marlin Model 60(18rd 22in bbl). Started it all.
First gun 1938 Mosin Nagant 91/30 "Katie"
First Smith & Wesson SD9VE "Lauren"
First revolver Smith & Wesson Model 64-5 "Sierra"
Yes I name my guns. I also name cars/trucks, motorcycles and any other machines that have a personality or mean something to me.

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young and smart

1st gun for 5th birthday, Marlin 1897 22lr
1st shotgun 6th birthday, Stevens 94 12g
1st deer rifle 12yr old, Rem 8 35cal
1st S&W, 14yr old, M17... Made me loose interest in other makes
and started liquidating others to replace with S&Ws.
Mine are for shooting, no for looking. I often wish I had written
down each gun that I have owned. Other times I'm glad I didn't
because it would make me sick, what they would be worth today.

The first pistol and auto that I have kept and will not sell is a Tanfoglio TZ 75 Series 88 .. The pistol popularized by the great Jeff Cooper who founded the American Pistol Institute .. I bought it from a couple that shot competitively and it had been set up as her new competition gun .. but she decided she didn't like it for some reason after he had done all the work on it .. sold it to me for his cost about 100 less then I could buy one for .. He had smithed it and polished everything to a luster shine .. trigger runs between 2 and 2.3 pounds according to the scale measuring it .. its light enough you think if you touch the trigger it fires .. Double and even triple taps are easily done on target in a second or less .. Trigger is slick as a baby's butt with a crisp break with no loading .. short trigger reset of about 1/8 th inch .. is a joy to shoot .. but strictly used at the range and wouldn't carry with that light of a trigger !! Its in 9 and .41 .. yes chambered for both in a kit with 2 barrels and magazines ..

More accurate then any gun I've ever shot including the Sig Legion I have or my S&W Compact in 40 which I have shot under 2 inch groups at 7 yards .. The TZ-75 will produce 1 inch groups at 7 yds if I do my part ..

Several wheel guns were bought and sold before that but I didn't seem to form any attachment to them .. A couple of Rugers I had in Alaska .. was easier to sell then bring them back with the shipping laws at the time and any way a friend there wanted to buy them at a good price..

My biggest "watershed" was when I realized that no one in the family wanted anything from my over 50 years of collecting. So I started selling my firearms. It has been bitter-sweet as I know I will never own again the gun I'm selling. I'd rather sell them now and a get a decent amount for them instead of leaving them for my wife to get rid of them. I'm sure they would be sold for 10 cents on the dollar as she is not aware of their value and wouldn't want to be bothered with selling them individually. The first "buy it all" offer would probably be accepted.

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Bill

I can kind of relate from a different perspective. My father in law was an avid golfer most of his life but quit golfing about 5 years before he died. He had a lot of expensive golf equipment that he never would part with and none of the children or grandchildren ever took up an interest in golf. As a result, about a year after he passed on my mother in law tasked me with getting rid of all that equipment. I'm no golfer . . . I don't even like golf. I ended up getting rid of it at pennies on the dollar. I sold one club for $10 that was allegedly worth hundreds. I guess I could have studied up on golf and golf equipment to find out what all that stuff was worth, but I just had no interest in doing so. I just wanted it all gone.

Moral of the story, I think your doing the right thing by not leaving your collection for your wife to dispose of.

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