First guns…
My first gun was a Stevens Crack Shot .22 (which I still have), the 94 was given to me in 1963 for my birthday, the 4 inch Python in 1966, and I bought the 6 inch Python in 1972 when I turned 21. I bought the Ruger MK II bull barrel in 1982 to replace the MK 1 that I’d basically shot out…
And before you ask, yes those are Herrett Custom stocks on the 6 inch, with an action job by Reeves Jungkind. Sadly for my wallet, I didn’t stop there…
What was the first gun you ever bought? And do you still have it?
Colt .22 Peacemaker.
Yes I do.
First gun I bought was a used Ruger Standard (Mark I action) .22 cal. 6″ barrel. Yes, I still have it, I think I paid $50 for it, got a box of ammo thrown in. About the same time I bought a used J. C. Higgins (Sears) 16 ga. bolt action shotgun. I don’t remember what I paid for it but its chief virtue was that it was cheep. Kicked worse than Dad’s Remington model 11 in 12 ga. I sold it when I got a Winchester 1200 20 ga. pump one Christmas. That one I still have. This was pre ’68 GCA so a high school age kid could buy a firearm without getting in trouble with the Feds. Unwritten rule back then was if a kid wanted to buy a gun at a dealers, a parent had to accompany the kid and let the dealer know it was OK.
Colt 22 SSA pattern, but long barrel (“Buntline”) model. At age 16, and yes I still have it, 68 years later! I didn’t buy it — it was a birthday present. It was lovingly selected and hand fitted for me by my godfather, who was chief inspector at Colt Firearms.
There are a few other things in the armory… a Colt Woodsman (22 — with the right ammo, shoots like a dream, but is a bit picky) 1900 or thereabout Smith & Wesson double action hammerless .32 with an interesting palm safety on the grip. My grandmother’s — she entertained us shooting out the pips on a playing card at 50 feet… a Smith & Wesson .38 snubnse; my grandfather’s EDC gun (also about 1900 or so). And assorted long guns, various calibers… (my favourite is the 22 Henry lever action I gave my daughter for her birthday one year)
The first firearm I purchased was a Euroarms Rogers & Spencer clone when I was 16. My first cartridge firearm was a Marlin 1894 Cowboy in .45 Colt gifted by my parents for my 18th birthday. The first new firearm I bought was a Ruger 10/22 with fiber optic sights shortly thereafter. I had them all, up until the tragic boating accident…
My first was a Glenfield .22 that never made it through a magazine without some kind of malfunction , that one someone swiped they deserve it . Then I bought a Mossberg 500 .Figured with a 12 gauge pump I could hunt anything . The next year I picked up a new Marlin 30/30 .still have them .
First firearm was a Winchester single shot .22, birthday present at 12 years old. First shotgun, a Mossberg bolt action 20 ga at 13. First pistol, a Beretta model 70s, .32 ACP when I was 23. First firearm I bought, (actually traded for) a Mossberg tube fed bolt action .22 with peep sights at 16. I don’t own any of them today, all were sold / traded off for others that I “needed” at the time.
A wide range of assorted pistols, rifles & a few shotguns in the following years. Now at 81, the collection is slowly diminishing as my son the Marine adds to his collection. (He calls it re-purposing, I call it claiming.)
First long guns I had were gifts from parents or relatives. First handgun I bought was a Dan Wesson 15-2VH .357 Magnum with a 4″ barrel. I still have it, although my wife claims I gave it to her “years ago”. A disputed claim, of course.
Second one was a Belgium-made Browning Hi-Power, still have that one although it was absent from my possession for a few years after being stolen. Recovered by police in a town about an hour from home, it was returned in bad shape, so I had a since-retired gunsmith in Massachusetts, Mike LaRocca, repair it and customize it.
There was a phase where my father bought me some long arms as gifts while I was a boy and a few in my early 20s which was while I was acquiring others on my own, so which was the first one *I* bought for myself is now a muddled memory. We went to sporting stores together, and this was when you could live in MA and buy in NH or ME and just drive home with them. Even take them into Canada (Quebec) for hunting and you barely needed anything more than a valid library card to cross the border. I still have: my boyhood Ruger 10-22, a Spanish .45cal flintlock with a 42in barrel – I can still remember taking some of my most accurate 100yd shots with that one! – and a 1907 Oberndorf Gew98.
Model 1917 Smith 45 acp. Brazilian Navy I think… No, the ex was too ‘afraid’ to have it around. So I traded for a Mossberg 500ATP, got a bayonet for it, too. Still have that. First pistol after that was a 1911 Norinco. I shot the barrel out on that one and put in a Springfield Armory.
My first was an H&R Topper 20 gauge, a Christmas gift at about age 10. Years later, when H&R began making rifles on the same platform, I sent the back end to them to fit a 357 mag barrel and Mannlicher forend, IIRC, cost about $50. Still have both.
My first purchase (again, IIRC) was in college, a repro brass frame Colt 1851 Navy in .36 caliber. Sold or traded it later for an 1858 Remington Army. Also around this time, I stumbled into an original 45-70 Trapdoor Springfield rifle at a gun store in El Cerritto, CA. Still have it.
While stationed in West Germany, bought a Marlin New Model 1895 in 45-70, and a Remington 788 in .223 at military rod and gun clubs. Brought both home. Still have the Marlin. The 788 proved most dependable. 1-1/4 inch groups all day long, didn’t care what you fed it. Had a 1:12 twist, so lighter bullets only.
Forgot to add, sold the 788 to a buddy decades ago (at his request) with full disclosure.
Parker Ballard SXS in 12 gauge
First rifle was a Kraig .303 retired as a parade and burial piece by the VFW when they went to Springfields. That has been passed around relatives and is still taking deer.
Interesting ‘first’ guns! And a lot of family involvement too! I never got into shotguns until high school, and that was primarily to go hunting in SW Arkansas (30 yards if that). IIRC, a Ted Williams 16ga pump. And yes, I wore that old Stevens out too! 🙂
First firearm purchased with my own earnings ? Yes, still here, a mid 70’s purchased 12 gauge Remington Wingmaster with (then standard) 28″ modified vent rib. A lot of yards mowed and other neighborhood odd jobs done to get the money. Dad had to purchase it because I was about 15 years old.
This rounded out my childhood batter, a scoped .308 Win. Remington 600 carbine, a Ruger Super single-Six, a Marlin 81 .22lr bolt and a Savage 94Y .410 single shot. I still own all of them.
My first gun was a 2” Colt Detective Special. I traded it on another gun. My 2nd was a 4” Colt Python that I still have.
First gun given to me was a single-action Ruger Blackhawk and the carbine that went with it (both .22LR). Then a Taurus .38 snubby, aka “The Snubby from H-ll” because my wrists were so weak. I still have all those.
At one point I considered buying … I won’t name it, because the more I looked, the worse it appeared. A handgun by a well known maker that might have been made from spare pieces at 1645 on the Friday before a three-day weekend. Looking back, I wonder if it has started life as a decent firearm, then got “improved” by someone.
Sigh… We all seem to have ‘started’ the same way! TXRed- Yeah, ‘those’ are out there, Remington comes to mind with their R-51s. Five in the display, no two triggers were the same. Could also have been ‘improved’ too. I’ve seen those be everything from bad to unsafe to shoot.
6 in SS Ruger Security Six. Had a gunsmith red ramp, white outline the sights, added Harrett Shooting Stars and a Trapper spring kit later. Yes, I still have it…
I had some hand-me-downs, but my first was a Ruger Blackhawk, later confiscated by the cops. Second was a Norinco SKS I bought in 1992 upon discharge from the USN. It was stolen in a burglary in 2006, found and returned to me in 2019, so I still have that one.
My first firearm was a Revelation 101 .22 single-shot bolt action, given to me by my dad for my 4th Birthday. The first firearm I purchased was a Ruger .357 Blackhawk, bought at a Western Auto store in Williams, AZ.
My first gun was a Remington Nylon 66. Loved that little rifle and still wish I had it.
Ruger (seems a common thread here) Single-six.
Sent back for servicing once after 30 years of hard use.
Returned under a week.
Still have it. Excellent training tool.
All- Thanks, and yes, lots of Rugers. Ironically, I’ve never owned a Nylon 66. And didn’t have a 10/22 until around 2010 when my gunsmith built one for me. Everybody has that ONE favorite gun, and I for one am glad to see that!
This might sound weird but my father was totally against guns and hunting on Long N.Y. and wouldn’t let my aunt give me my uncle’s shotgun when he died. The year my wife (of 56 years) and we married she bought me a 16 gauge double for my birthday and the old guy we rented a trailer from let me come along when he ran his rabbit hounds and hunt on his hilly hundred acres any time. Still have it and my dad bought me a hunting jacket!
Winchester model 58 single shot.22 passed down from grandpa to dad to me. It helped feed the family during the Depression. My son wasn’t interested, he prefers his AR.
Colt Lawman MK 3. Still have it. Second was a Colt Combat Commander. Still have that one too.
First gun I bought with my own money was a Marlin 39A in 1965. It was $75.00 and had a Bushnell scope included. My first handgun was a Colt Python 6 inch in Royal Blue, just because I liked the looks of it! Still have them and with a few additions over the past 60 years.
10-22 I bought with tips from working at a lodge on the Denali Hwy; of course!
-JLM
You’re fortunate.
ALL my firearms were lost in that boating accident I had some time ago.
Do you have access to a boat?
:>(
All- Thanks…GB…LOL
a Colt 1911 I bought at the Exchange at MCRD and lost when thieves broke into my house in Oakland while I was in Kuwait on ‘business’ for Uncle Sam.