My first was a Ruger SBH 7.5". I gave it to my brother who lives in Alaska, and about 15 years later, his careless son lost it while riding a snowmobile over on the Alaskan Pennisula. If you go there hunting, keep your eyes open for it.

The first handgun I got was when I was ten, my dad gave me a well used K-22 to shoot jack rabbits when I was plowing.
Wasn't a good shot at the start of the summer, but by the end I had improved. I still have the K-22.

Rule 303

Wow, that gun is still gorgeous! Refinished? Photoshop? Didn't shoot it?

29-2 1980

1974-A model 67 no dash with two boxes of Super Vels and a receipt for all totaling $174.00 tax included.

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Forum consigliere

Mine was a Ruger Standard Model .22 auto. I followed it up a couple of years later with a 4" S&W Model 10.

Smith & Wesson Model 28 Highway Patrolman, 4 inch barrel. Sold it to my ex-brother-in-law, no chance of recovery.

I believe the first one I bought was a High Standard Sentinel .22 revolver I saw advertised on a laundromat bulletin board. I traded it on a S&W Model 17 shortly thereafter.

Right after WW11 I traded a bolt action Stevens shotgun for a JP Sauer and Sohn 32 auto. Bad trade. Bad jammer.

My first handgun was a used Colt Government, series 70 .45. Shortly after I bought it I threw away the original box, didn't think I needed it. Rookie mistake, never again-
rfo1

Arminius HW7 9 shot 22 . Sold it about 20 yrs ago. just found a brand new one to replace my stupidity . 20 yr ago sale $25.00 . Replacement 6/09 a mere $300.00 . probably over paid , but sentimental makes you over pay !!!!!!!!

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gunnut2u
(Tim)

My first handgun was a 1979 Dan Wesson .357, 6" barrel. It was the model that had all the various interchangeable barrels but being a poverty stricken E-2 I only could afford the 1 barrel!

The first hadgun I owned was inherited, a 50 year old Colt 1911. I got interested in handguns after that and the first handgun I purchased was a sig P229 two tone 9mm. I still have both. Since then the collection has grown to about 20 counting both semis and revolvers.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it was my Ruger Blackhawk .357mag. That was at least the first handgun I bought new.
First S&W was a M-28 four inch.

Beretta 92FS

The first handgun that I owned was a three inch sq. butt 37.
Easy to carry,hard to see but I really felt the recoil of real plus-p
158gr loads of the time.73
Finally got another one a couple of years ago.

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I Love This Site

1976 a used Model 28-? six inch with a handmade holster and 100 rds of .357 for $150--. First NIB was a Model 39-2 for $200.-- in 1978. Wish I had them both back.

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"Very Dangerous-you go first!"

My Dad gave me a High Standard Supermatic Tournament for Christmas when I was 12. I'd been shooting a single shot Savage/Anshutz .22 rifle for awhile, but he knew how much that pistol would mean to me. I'll never forget opening that present.

My first centerfire pistol was a seies 70 Colt Gold Cup National Match , Bought new when I was 21. saved for a long time to buy that. still have it , and it works flawlessly.

My 1st handgun was a cheap throw away found in parts in a bucket of junk. It was a U.S. Arms co. 7 or 8 shot .22 . Couldnt find the hand to turn the clyinder in the bucket. I was 12 or 13 years old. Tied the gun to a tree and test fired it with a string. Later my first good new revolver was a ruger convertable single six. Bought in 1961. I probley shot that gun almost as much as my next 150 to 200 handguns put together! I was young, shot almost every day for a few years and could very likely throw a bottel in the air, draw and hit it most of the time. I cant do that anymore.

bersa 380 wish i still had it, had to sell it to finance my first divorce. oh well. i sure miss that gun

The H-D Military High Standard and K-22 which my Father flatly stated WOULD be my first handgun.
As usual, he was right. And the guns are still is in the 4 gun hard case my Uncle used on the Navy pistol team. It was one of them he used. His K-38 and 1911 are in there too.

My first handgun was bought in 1960, a Ruger standard 6" model identical to this one:

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

My first handgun was a Colt SAA 6.5 inch barrel in 44-40 given to me by my grandfather who was given the gun by his father. My great-grandfather knew Pat Garrett, although he was about 30 when Pat Garrett was in his early fifties, I suppose, according to fanily lore. The 44-40 was supposedly Pat's favorite handgun cartridge. My GGF bought the gun in Las Cruces because of Pat's advice.

My first one at about 10 years old.It was a colt .38 cal. military revolver and holster that I found sitting on top of a garbage can when my Dad was helping my Uncle out on his garbage truck. It's ejector rod was bent but I was very happy till the end of the day when my Dad told me that Mom would have a fit so I sold it to one of the other guy's for 50 cent's at least I was able to get a couple of comic book's.MY fist real hand gun was a Browning H.P. that I had to have a friend buy for me . It cost $250.. brand new in 1973 I HAD TO WAIT 3 YEARS for it to legaly be mine.

My first was a Colt King Cobra six inch stainless steel, I still have it.

I've had three 686's and a Python since but the King Cobra is my favorite .357.

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Goal Life Member
Traveling Man

I think the very first was one of those cheap .22 saturday
night special jobs.. Got it free.. Probably because it was
basically junk.. Shot .22 shorts. It did shoot though..
The first "real" handguns I got, I bought three at once in a
package deal. I needed them for protection at a business.
A Llama .380 that I used as my "pocket" gun. A Taurus "I think"
.357 magnum that I kept in the back store room, and a Charter
Arms .44 special that I used as my "behind the counter" gun.
All are long gone now..

My "first" was actually 3 handguns. I was thinking of getting my permit in N.Y and got an offer from a friend who's friend had lost his permit.
I got a S&W 915, Ruger Super Blackhawk and an Old Model Single Six Convertible for $500.00. I can't believe I stuck with S&W after having that 915. Good thing I bought a Model 17 with a 8 3/8 barrel to get me hooked on Smith revolvers.

A new 5 screw K22 with diamond magnas for my 16th b'day. Still have it.

My first was a colt 1862 pocket navy passed down to me from my father, still have the colt, not the father.

bought a 64 4" new I believe in 78
still have it

rimfire: Ruger Single Six

centerfire: Sig P220

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442

I was 14 when is spent the money I earned cleaning chickens for market. I bought a Daisy single shot BB pistol, looked like a 1911. wish I still had it.

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Carpriver.

On my 21st birthday, I bought a Glock 30SF with night sights and a case of beer. The gun shop employee high fived me for being awesome, and the beer store employee gave me a bunch of free promotional key chains, bottle openers, etc.

I also accidentally went through a red traffic light (it was a very quick yellow and the road had a high speed limit) with a cop sitting there at the intersection. Lucky for me he either wasn't paying attention or didn't care. Regardless, I was really scared of getting pulled over on my 21st birthday with a handgun and a case beer in my truck.

A freshman in N.H. 1975 coming from a no gun/no hunting family with ABSOLUTELY no knowledge or experience, never even fired a gun. Police were just allowed to upgrade their 38 specials to 357's. All I knew is I could buy a mdl 10 for app 35$, drive it 15-30 minutes to another gun shop, sell it and make 5-10$. It kept me in pocket/beer $. Wish I had the sense to keep or at least fire a few of them. The first handguns I bought for myself 1977-78? were 2 used at the same time, both Rugers a MKl target 22lr and a super Blackhawk 44 mag. Both ended up stolen in 1983 Colorado.

Walther PP, brought back from WWII by a family friend who had taken it from a German officer "who no longer needed it." It was in splendid condition and had the late owner's name penciled inside the holster flap.

I was just a kid, with parents who had no interest in guns. Someone tried to steal it, and my mother sold it to a pawn shop for fifteen bucks.

I never got to shoot it.

Took a LONG time to forgive my mom.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Outside of a bunch of break open S&W's, H&R's, Iver Johnson's. Stevens, etc. The first real handgun I owned was a WW2 Luger about 1953. Cost was 37.50 with 3 boxes of shells. Wish I still had it.

Crossman 22 pellet Colt single action. Traded my 20 gauge single for it when I was 10, back in 59". Boy was my old man MADDDD! Said I couldn't hunt with THAT, got 2 rabbits the next hunt. All he said was HUh.

Oop,s I guess this qualifies as a hand gun. I was lethal to rabbits!

Zombie thread......but a good one. Ruger Single Six, which was stolen from me 32 years ago...........by my wife! She lets me shoot it once in a while........

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Even older, even crankier....

My first handgun, as you say sip, was after a .22 rifle. It was in 1960, and was a "mail order" .22 magnum copy of a Colt's SAA.

It was SO much like the Colt, the trigger/cylinder bolt spring broke. So often, I later,decided to learn "spring metal tempering", to keep them replaced. I still have the old thing, it is a "Hy-Hunter" imported by EMF, located in Miami at the time.

I had it delivered to my mom and pop's house,as I was in the Army at the time. They delivered it to me on a visit the weekend after it arrived.
Right to the "day-room" of my barracks, where all my buddies gathered around to look and handle. I doubt you want to try that these days !

Seems unlikely now, but I was able to keep it in the platoon armory, and check it out and go to the range whenever I wanted, if no other details were there.
Worked out great.
I worried the armorer so much we became friends, and he showed me more about the 1911s than anybody I have met since.
He was a "lifer", and had been to armorer schools all over. He often requested me as a helper following a week by our outfit in the "boonies", to help clean weapons.
Although us "grunts had to clean our own stuff, it was unusual for a field grade officer to be bothered with such. I didn't care, the more I got to break-down and clean, the better.
I realize now, I could have dug into those non-inventory, parts bins and loaded my pockets with spare 1911 parts, but, I was brought up honest, and the thought never crossed my mind.

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wanna do right-- not right now

My first handgun was a Colt Peacemaker .22 with the extra .22 Mag cylinder. My dad gave it to me, I can't remember exactly when, but I was around 20 or so.
The first handgun I ever purchased for myself was a Browning Buck Mark .22 with am Aimpoint electronic Red Dot sight. Great plinkers, both.

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Been up since before breakfast

1979, I was 19, I had my dad buy me an Interarms Virginian Dragoon, .44 Magnum, 8 3/8" barrel.

A couple months later I bought my first RCBS outfit. I thought it was funny that I couldn't buy .22 ammo because I wasn't 21, but I could buy all the stuff I needed to make my own .44 ammo.

That gun's long gone, BTW. Not real sorry.

6" stainless Colt Python. Satin because I couldn't find an Ultimate. Smitten by this "apogee of American gunsmithing" in all the glossy magazines and books, I ended up with something that would bind after a couple of cylinderfuls of hollow based wadcutters and I found it difficult to clean the cylinder that needed cleaning every 15-20. Traded it in part exchange for a tuned Smith 686 with adjustable foresight which worked like the Colt should have...then they banned handguns...

S&W Model 29 in 1978. Fallout from the Dirty Harry franchise. Still have it.

1946 S&W M&P .38 Special.

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Mafuta54

S&W Model 36 no dash blued finish 2 inch barrel made in 1972.

bought when i was either 22 or 23 years old sold it in 2011 when the family had money troubles.

My dad didn't like handguns so I bought one when I was sixteen and kept it hidden from him. It was a Hawes .22 single action cowboy gun with an extra .22 magnum cylinder. I bought it from a friend for 25 bucks in the mid 1970s and it also included a black Buscadero holster with .22 bullet loops. The loading gate would come loose once in a while but aside from that it was a good little gun. My first centerfire handgun was a S&W model 39, 9m/m which was a beautiful gun that I wish I still had.

first gun period i've had was handed down to me a couple years ago (at my tender age of 50), a Colt Challenger circa 1951 that was my father in law's and his in-law's before him. As i realized how much i enjoyed hitting the range, picked up a Buckmark as my first new gun to be my 'daily driver' so to speak. But every few months the Colt accompanies my Buckmark (and 9c) to the range, the old gal still is fun to shoot and dang accurate.

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mine was a browning high power from WW2 had german mint marks on it wish i still had it

My first handgun was a Ruger Blackhawk 6" in 1978. It was a 41 magnum and myself as well as several other shooters couldn't hit anything with it. About 6 months later I happily traded it even up to a guy for a Dan Wesson 15-2V which I loved. He got his truck stuck in the backwoods and had to walk out for help. While he was gone the Blackhawk was stolen and later used in a murder. He really liked it, but was about three years getting it back.