First Gun: What Was Yours?

My first gun purchase was at age 17 as a young GI going to school at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland in 1959. 6" Colt Python ser. #6303. Sold it to a German friend in 1964 while I was serving in Germany and now get to shoot it every time I go back to visit him. He still has it. At the time, I could just buy another one for $125.oo!

Stu
 
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Mine was a Western Field 12 gauge pump shotgun, manufactured by Nobel for Montgomery Ward. I bought it used (very used) a couple days after I legally could, following my 18th birthday, some 53 years ago. It was the only gun I could afford at the time, and for quite a few years thereafter. I shot everything with it, from ducks to deer, along with some trap and skeet, and even got a double on partridge (ruffed grouse) once, something that I've never been able to repeat with any of my current crop of somewhat more expensive double guns. It still occupies a special place in the back of my safe and always will, even though I wouldn't dare fire it today (the locking lugs have peened back to the point where the headspace has increased to a truly frightening degree).
 
We had .22 rifles and a .410 shotgun that really did not belong to anyone in particular - I did not consider them to be mine but could use them whenever I wanted. Don't know what ever became of them. The first guns I purchased myself was early 1976. First one was a 4" 28-2 and a couple of months later a 2 1/2" blue 19-3. Sine the 28 was not "cool" back then I eventually traded it for a 4" model 19. No longer have that particular 4" 19, but still have the 2 1/2".
 
Very first gun was an H&R single-barrel 20 gauge. Kicked like a mule and you could throw a cat through the holes in the pattern. Dad soon saw how poor of a gun it was and Christmas 1969 I unwrapped a Browning Sweet Sixteen. My brother still has it. First handgun was a 3-screw Ruger Blackhawk convertible in .45 Colt/.45 ACP. I was 18 and my mom had to sign for it.
 
My first gun was a Ithaca M49 .22 LR single shot. It had a lever that tilted the breech block, like a Martini action. Looked like a lever action Winchester. I received it on my 15th birthday. I was also given my granddaddy's Stevens .22/.410 O/U that same day.

That year, 1969, was a great gun year. That fall, I went to my first North-South Skirmish Association National shoot. My dad bought me a .58 caliber muzzle loading rifle, a Zoli Zouave. I asked my grandmother for a 28 gauge muzzle loading shotgun and she gave me the money for it-$24.95! I ordered it from Dixie Gun Works and it was delivered by mail on Christmas Eve.

I still have every one of those guns, except for the Zouave. I sold it to a friend in 1991 and sent the money to my dad, who put it towards a 1853 Enfield rifle musket replica. He paid for the rest. I later sold that Enfield and put the money towards a Parker-Hale 1853. So, in a roundabout way, I still have my first muzzle loader. :)
 
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cant remember if I've posted this before. Browning Nomad.22, bought in 1963, I was 14, paid $50.00 new, Lawerence holster cost $20.00. Couldn't believe my mom said ok! Still have today with the black and red plastic box.


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First gun a .22 single shot Stevens Favorite........... from my Dad's" stash of stuff" 1963..... hanging on my office wall
First new gun .... Remington 511-X ScoreMaster Christmas gift from my Dad 1964; on call at the Cabin.

First handgun a 4" heavy barrel used model 10 after law school...... 1978/79ish....... didn't last long .... traded for a 2 1/2" 19..... which became a 4" 686-nuttin
 
A Remington 1100 12ga. 28" barrel with the ventilated rib. Dad got it for me when I graduated high school in 1967. Yes, I still have it.
 
I had a .22 cal Crossman pellet gun, single shot, in Jr High. After High School I got an LC Smith Field Grade 12 gauge for duck hunting. I still have both guns.
 
My first non-S&W purchase was a Maverick 88 with long tube with regular stock and pistol grip...many years ago. But I soon learned how much 'fun' it was shooting 00-Buck shot with the pistol grip...so I had to try the 2 3/4 slug...LOL
 
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First rifle was a Springfield .22 semi automatic about 1964
First shotgun was a Remington 1100 Skeet (wife thought she was buying me a trap gun for Christmas)-- now have too many 12 ga.- if possible
First handgun was a Smith Model 36 - 2" (inherited)
First handgun purchased was a Smith 5906 9 mm - was afraid of gun and sold it to a State Policeman. Favorite handgun is a Smith 625-3
 
First handgun was a High Standard Sentinel w/ 4" barrel. Parents bought it for me, living in Mass. at the time,
Had it for multiple years, until something fancier struck my interest.
Been looking for a replacement recently, but always a day late.
On another thread advised of finding a Taurus 94, 4" SS, and will see how that works.
 
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The first firearm I purchased was a used stainless Charter undercover .38. I just needed those scorching hot +P rounds, so I traded it in on a new S&W 637.
 
First gun I bought was a Savage 110 30-06. Shot a few deer with that gun. Sold it while my wife and I were in college to help pay bills. Later replaced it with a Browning BLR 30-06. Still have that one.
 
In '68 I purchased a Colt Cobra, my first off-duty gun, for $85 and still have it. That was a lot of money back when my annual salary was $6800.
 
My first gun was a Daisy Red Ryder lever action BB gun for Christmas. I don't remember asking for it but I'm sure I did. My Dad was not a gun guy at all...he had a single shot 12 GA shotgun and a Winchester Model 62 Mom gave him. I shot the BB gun until the plastic stock broke off. Dad gave me total free use of the Model 62 which I used to rid the farm of pigeons.

When I graduated college and got a job I bought a Ruger Standard model 22 LR semi-auto. From there on I was on the slippery slope to more guns than brains.
 
My Grandpa's Stevens Visable-loader called the miserable-loader;);)
 

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Winchester Model 69 .22Lr/short rifle

Mine is a Winchester Model 69 that Dad gave me when I was young(6 or 7, can't remember), when he bought a new fangled Model 190 repeater. The M69 is from the 40's I think and I remember he was not too impressed with the quality of the 190 compared to the 69. I still have both and other guns I inherited from him, but that Model 69 always elicits fond memories of him teaching me how to shoot starting when I was five. Now it just does critter dispatching duty with ceebee shorts. At some point, I'm going to send it off to Ford's and get it restored to it's original state and from then on, it will occupy a place of honor in my safe until I pass it on.
 
An RG-38. Boy, was I dumb. I don't know if RG is still around. They shouldn't be. I think their revolvers were cast from pig iron or slag. Lesson learned. My next gun was a Ruger Standard Model .22.
 
First gun Hopkins & Allen falling block 20 ga. still have it 1964
First new gun Cooey 12 ga. Single shoot don't have it. 1965
First handgun Reck 22. cal. revolver don't have it 1971
First new handgun S&W Model 41 don't have it but three just like it.
 
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