What firearm was it that you first shot?

I grew up in suburban Newark NJ. No one in my family owned a firearm. When I went to college, freshman were required to take ROTC and there I fired a single shot 22lr. I have no idea what brand it was. Shortly thereafter I changed schools, met a fellow who was a firearms enthusiast and got to fire his .270. These events occurred in the late 1960's.

First time shooting it was a Remington 510P which was given to me in 1958 at age 8 years old. Over a Thanksgiving Weekend my uncle and grandfather took me hunting in upstate Liberty NY. Every morning I was handed that 22 and dragged it up and down a mountain all day. No ammunition of course but I loved just dragging that rifle around. Then in the afternoons I was given a box of 22 LR and instructions on how to shoot. It was my uncle's friends rifle who owned the house and property we hunted.

All good things must come to an end and so went that weekend but as we departed Charlie gave me that rifle. That was November 1958 and the rifle is the one on the top pictured below. I still have it and still enjoy shooting it.



Ron

Like most I started with a .22 rifle. That was relatively unremarkable, it was the 2nd gun I ever shot that was the doozy. Dad had a Marlin 39a Golden Mountie that I was taught to shoot with and I killed countless pigeons on the farm with that gun. Dad was never much into guns or shooting though, so all he owned was two .22's and a single shot youth model .410 that he said had such a wide choke it wasn't even worth shooting.

At around 16 I decided I wanted to try hunting. I convinced my parents to get me an 12 ga 870 instead of a class ring (best decision ever!). I ended up with a combo; a 30" vent ribbed barrel and a 20" smooth bore rifled-slug barrel. Since I was after deer, I never even bothered putting on the 30" barrel and immediately installed the slug barrel, grabbed several boxes of 12" 1oz Remington sluggers and went down to the bottom field to sight it in. Keep in mind, up to this point in my life my firearm experience was limited to a Red Ryder, a Crossman airgun, and that Marlin. DAMN that first shot kicked WAAAAAY more than I expected it to! I literally dropped the gun to my feet in the cold mud of the bean field, trying to make sense of the sting to my cheek and the sudden rawness of my shoulder. I gathered my senses and proceeded to sight the gun in, calling it quits after about 20 rounds. A bruise showed up on my shoulder that evening and I begin to wonder if I had been silly to consider hunting.

Just a week later a buddy invited me to shoot clays with his family when he found out I had a new shotgun. I asked what to bring, and he said 100 rounds of 8 shot game loads should be enough. Now, still fresh in my mind was the powerful kick of those slugs. I just assumed that 1oz game loads kicked every bit as much as 1 oz slugs and I had NO idea how I was going to make it through 100 rounds of that type of punishment. I almost considered backing out, but I figured that my buddy was no more of a "man" than I was so I might as well suck it up and take the punishment. My buddy acted like it was a ton of fun, and while I couldn't see how getting punched repeatedly in the shoulder by Mike Tyson could be fun I didn't want to appear to be a wimp! With me being the guest, they invited me to shoot first. I was thinking this was all some sort of joke that they were all in on. I can still remember bringing that shotgun up to my shoulder in front of his dad, brothers and sisters, taking a deep breath, and preparing to get the snot kicked out of me. I yelled "PULL", tracked the clay, pulled that stock as tight to my shoulder as I could, shut my eyes and pulled the trigger.....and was rewarded with just a gentle push! I'm pretty sure I missed that bird, but you can't imagine my excitement of discovering that game loads were in fact not comparable at all to slugs!!

First firearm ever fired was an M16A1 5.56 that belonged to my uncle Sam.

troy fairweather said:

More then likely a 22 rifle can't remember i was to young.

Click to expand...

Same here. No idea. First gun was a Browning BLR22 Grade II at age 10 or so, but I probably shot lots of other guns before then. Too long ago to remember.

According to my Dad this Ruger Standard was my first firearm to shoot. Dad is gone but I still have the pistol and it still shoots great. Will pass down to my oldest son and hopefully he will pass it down to his son.

First gun I ever fired was a Browning T-Bolt .22 rifle when I was about 12 at Boy Scout camp, got my first rifle, a Marlin 39A Golden Mountie as a birthday present a few months later. Still have it, taught my son to shoot with it, and will be taking my grandson to the range with it real soon.

12 gauge shot gun. I was 12 years old and it took me 20 minutes to get up the guts to pull the trigger, but once I did, that started it all.

My bonehead Dad and his knucklehead friends took me with them to sight in their deer rifles when I was 7 years old. I begged to shoot a rifle. My Dad let me shoot his buddy’s 12 SxS double barrel shotgun. I could barely hold it up. I pulled trigger and WHAM! I was hooked!
The recoil knocked my glasses off my face and I fell back onto my butt, but I did not drop the shotgun.
I remember looking up at my Dad and his 3 friends. They were all grinning at me.
I said “That was fun! Can I shoot another one?”
They all laughed. My Dad picked up up and dusted me off. A little while later my Dad’s friend Virgil let me shoot his hunting rifle. I am pretty sure it was a .243 Winchester. I remember looking through the scope, my Dad’s friend Virgil helping me keep the rifle tight to my shoulder and supporting the forend and telling me how to aim. I fired and I remember it rattled my teeth and hurt my shoulder and it was invigorating!
I actually hit the paper at the top of the target. I remember being bummed that I didn’t hit the bullseye and everyone telling me what a great job I did.
It was a good day.

It was my grandfathers little revolver,,,
Probably an Iver Johnson in .32 or .38,,,
I remember him calling it his Owl Head pistol

It was the summer before I started grade school,,,
That would make me 4 years old.

We were living on Drummond Island off the tip of Michigan's upper peninsula.

Anyways, my grandpa always wore a denim jacket,,,
Even in the heat and humidity of the summer.

That pistol was always in the inner chest pocket.

All I really remember was that we went out back and he let me fire it into a tree stump.

From that moment on I was hooked.

Aarond

.

The first gun I remember firing wss an old single shot .410 at a friend of mine's dad's hunting camp. It turned an old coke caninto a pile of twisted aluminum. I was 7~8 years old and it felt like a kick in the pants to shoot a real shotgun. The next time was at boy scout camp where we shot some OLD Remington single shot bolt action rifles. That felt amazing too, especially the last shots of the trip where we blew up coke cans full of water. I gained a new respect for the lowly. 22 LR round that trip.

FlSwampRat said:

A lot of people mention Scout Camp and I remember shooting those old .22's, can't remember the maker.
Never shot a .410 myself.

Click to expand...

The reason I remember the maker for those rifles is I worked as a camp counselor a couple years later, and I had a picture of my "favorite" rifle. I have looked for that same model for sale with minimal luck.

FlSwampRat said:

A post by a new member here asking about a starting firearm got me to thinking, since most of the suggestions ran along the lines of "22, it's what I started with." I got curious about my fellow High Roaders. For me, it was a single shot bolt action Mauser in .22.

Click to expand...

High Standard Double Nine.

First firearm I shot was my brother's brand new Mauser HSc in the basement of our parents house way back in January 1976.

RETG said:

What no .357?

Click to expand...

I think that is what it was.....1970....back when it was funny to give a cannon to a kid and watch him hit himself in the head with hit......I don't think I hit myself in the head.....and as I remember I held on to the stupid thing.

and ears.....hell no...it was the 70's you pansy....put some mercurochrome on it and quit your crying

S&W 66 at age 5. Man I thought that 357 was a cannon. You couldn’t wipe that smile off my face for days.

Wish I knew what kind of gun it was but it was a single shot, bolt action 22lr rifle at boy scout camp. I'd like to add a similar one to the safe someday if only for the nostalgia.

FlSwampRat said:

I, too, later worked at my Scout Camp, however, I did it as a lifeguard at the lake, didn't have any guns there. Boating and swimming. I can row a boat, canoe?

Click to expand...

OK then what canoe was it you first got into?

Ron

Does the gun from Mario duck hunt count? Anybody else? No just me!? Ok great

The grey one or the orange replacement?

So I guess, technically, I shot out my first gun at nine or ten...