Teenage "cowboy guns".

[Wyatt Burp]

These were my fun guns as a kid. My first handgun was the Single Six on the left. I put genuine mother-of-plastic grips on it after watching "The Culpepper Cattle Company" where great character actor Geoffrey Lewis carried a pearled handled 5 1/2" Colt. I wore that gun anytime outside where I had the chance to. The longer Ruger was my dad's but it might as well as been mine, too. That's one of the two rigs I carried them in.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

My first handgun was a Ruger Bearcat. Brand new in the box was $40.00. I was about 14 at the time. A LOT of game and varmints fell to that little pistol. Unfortunately I no longer have it.................

 

[deadin]

My first handgun was a Ranger #2 (probably a Hopkins & Allen) in 32 RF.
Unfortunately my Dad had filed the firing pin off of the hammer.
I was 6 years old....

 

[TAROMAN]

My first gun was a Herter's 22 single action revolver. Bought it used from the local gun/boat/motorcycle shop.
It was with that little revolver that I learned handgun shooting, still my first love 50 years later.
Used to still hunt pheasants in the January late season in Nebraska. Head shots with 22 short HP.

 

[italiansport]

My 1st handgun was a High Standard Sport King with interchangable barrels. And yes I still have it!
Jim

 

[BigMuddy]

"Genuine mother of plastic".... I like that. One of my favorite movies too. Just hated the ending!

Thanks for sharing. I grew up with guns, shooting, and hunting but no handguns. My Dad never owned a handgun until I bought one for him. Not sure where I got my love for the durn things.

Dan

 

[jimmyj]

My first .22 SA revolver was also a Ruger "Bearcat". $37.50 new.

 

[Valmet]

Love vintage .22 wheelguns. Have a k-22 my father gave me on my 17th bday and I'm bonkers for LW Single-Six Tri-colors

 

[mojave30cal]

I wasn't so fortunate. My first cowboy gun was the " Fanner
Fifty". I remember it had a flat hammer and you had to insert
a flat roll the size of a quarter in it that had small amounts of
powder in it and when the hammer hit the powder pack, it want
bang.

 

[les.b]

Well, my first gun is one that you guys probably never heard of, American Standard Tool Company, looked just like one of those S&W tip-up barrel .22 revolvers from the 1860s. I'm not really into the early S&Ws, but will look it up and come back later and post. I was probably 9 or 10 at the time. I learned to shoot a revolver with it.

It was a gun that had been passed down through the family, and eventually came to me. I had a few boxes of standard pressure ammunition (although I didn't know the difference at the time), but unfortunately got ahold of some .22 short Remington "Hi-Speed" shells, (I still have that partial box of shells...think they were like 35 cents a box back then!!) and although at first they did no harm, eventuall cracked one of the hinges (I have since heard that young dumb budding pistoleros all over the country ruined similar valuble collectors items). It never cracked all the way through, but even as a kid, I knew something was going wrong. By then I had gotten a more modern .22 revolver, a single action western style of some brand that I can't recall right now.

This isn't mine but looks exactly like mine...found this photo on the Internet:

Any way, I still have that early tip-up, and many years ago I mounted it in a shadow box, behind glass so no one would ruin it any further.

Best Regards, Les

 

[crsides]

Hi Std double nine here. Brand new from the grocery store I worked at. $52.00, which sounds like a rip off compared to those $40 bear cats above.

Charlie

 

[walkinghorse]

High Standard Sentinel, 4" barrel was my first handgun.
Wish I had it back.

 

[DWalt]

One of the Iver Johnson "Sealed 8 Supershot" .22 revolvers, I was around 16 at the time. It came with a leather holster, all for $15. My mother had to buy it for me, as the gun store wouldn't sell it to me. I had a lot of fun with it, but for the life of me, I don't know whatever happened to it. I know I never sold it or gave it away

 

[jmace57]

My first handgun purchase was a Single-Six in 1976. I still have it sitting in my safe. I remember going in the gun shop with $100 and I could get the Single-Six or the Ruger Mark-whatever for $95.

 

[loknload]

My first handgun purchase at the age of 18 was my New Model Blackhawk .357
My dad had to sign for it because here in PA I couldn't own until I was 21.
But I was allowed to open carry it and I did at the time have a Sportsmans license.
For all the years I hunted and when out walking the hills that was always with me!
Don't really hunt anymore but I still have my first handgun!

The only thing I regret at the time was that I let the GS owner talk me out of not getting the 9mm cylinder for it since it was the convertible model!
But I still own it and it still shoots great!

Boy posting this brought back a lot of memories from the day! Wow was I proud of that handgun and it was the first new piece I purchased on my own! At the time I was really surprised that my dad signed for it!

 

[huntsman22]

 

[rburg]

I wasn't so fortunate. My first cowboy gun was the " Fanner
Fifty". I remember it had a flat hammer and you had to insert
a flat roll the size of a quarter in it that had small amounts of
powder in it and when the hammer hit the powder pack, it want
bang.

I had one too. Probably mid-1950s. We discovered it was more fun to take the roll of caps and hit with a hammer. They all went off at once, now called a sympathetic explosion. Very satisfying and sometimes cratered the concrete. At first my dad didn't approve, but then he realized you can't keep the boys safe all the time. Pick and choose your battles.

 

[lebomm]

My first was a $16.95 Webley Mk IV, mail-ordered from Klein's in Chicago. That's also the piece that got me started as a handloader.
Re: Culpepper Cattle Company - one of the cowboys in that movie wound up as my boss at a manufacturing facility in Seattle where I managed my first Tool & Die Dept.

Larry

 

[Wyatt Burp]

My first was a $16.95 Webley Mk IV, mail-ordered from Klein's in Chicago. That's also the piece that got me started as a handloader.
Re: Culpepper Cattle Company - one of the cowboys in that movie wound up as my boss at a manufacturing facility in Seattle where I managed my first Tool & Die Dept.

Larry

Which cowboy? Is he in this picture?

 

[Drm50]

First 22 handgun that I had was a Ruger Single-Six. Still have it.