Your personal firearm firsts

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Sevens
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Your personal firearm firsts

Post by Sevens »

Let's stroll down memory lane together! :P

Take a minute to talk about your personal firsts in firearms if you remember them. The first handgun, rifle and shotgun you ever shot. The first of each that you ever owned or bought. The first you ever sold. Maybe the first you ever regret for certain reasons... be creative if you want.

Let's hear some memories!
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by Sevens »

The first firearm I ever shot was a .22 rifle -- go figure! For me, the first was a bolt action and tube-fed Stevens model 86C. This was my Dad's when he was a teenager. Not a youth sized rifle, nice long barrel and the bolt was as smooth as butter. The bolt operation feels nothing like a new bolt action rimfire you'd buy today. The trigger sucks and the sights are worse, the stock is cracked and looks like hell. It's got no real dollar value but the sentimental value is quite high!

The first shotgun I ever shot was an Ithaca Featherlight model 37, 12-gauge. Best I can remember, it thumped pretty good. Still one of the lightest damn shotguns out there, IMO. Pretty cool pump with bottom eject.

Though I own three shotguns... I've never actually bought one. Got one for a gift and the other two are inheritances. I've never been much of a shotgunner.
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by Sevens »

First handgun I ever shot was a Ruger Single Six with the standard .22LR cylinder installed. I wanted one of my own after the first couple of shots. Later that day I shot my first center fire handgun, a Ruger Security Six with a 4-inch barrel, stoked with .357 Magnum. I was apprehensive... new to shooting, I thought it was going to flip backwards out of my hands. The gent who owned these two and started me with these two was a friend of the family. I asked him if he would shoot it first so I could see what was going to happen. He told me "nope... you don't have to shoot it, but you either shoot it or I'll just put it back in the house."

Of course I shot it... and loved it. And for Christmas that year, Mom gave me a 6-inch Smith & Wesson Model 17, .22LR revolver as a gift. Brand new. I was floored. Late in the following summer I was preparing to buy my first center fire handgun. The Guns & Ammo magazines I was reading at the time had me convinced that I should buy a Taurus Model 669, also 6-inch, blued, .357 Magnum. (that was mostly from Jan Libourel, the handgun editor) I was basically spending paper route money here, so the Taurus looked attractive. It had a full barrel under lug and was basically K-frame sized. It was a fine looking handgun.

As I got closer to ordering the handgun (from the same guy that started me shooting, he was a kitchen table FFL back in the day), I decided to get one of the revolvers that many of the police officers at my Sportsman's Club were shooting every weekend for the PPC events. I went ahead and ordered a 6-inch Smith & Wesson 686-3, .357 Magnum. I am VERY glad that I did.

My step Dad had a slight interest in owning a handgun for the home and he asked my opinion on the subject. He had little interest in becoming a regular shooter or sportsman, he planned to shoot it to get familiar with it, maybe shoot it again once in a blue moon. I suggested he might be well served by the revolver I had planned on getting, so he ordered it shortly after I got my 686. In retrospect, it was a very good idea... the Taurus is still in the family and although it's not fit & finished like my late '80s S&W, it's a very well put-together handgun. Would have made MUCH more sense to have him order one with a 4-inch barrel rather than the six, but I suppose that didn't occur to me at the time.
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by soontobedeity »

I had never handled a firearm, let alone entertained the thought of purchasing one for myself, until I bought my own home. But last year, the city began cutting back the police force, and there were rumors that my area might see more gang activity (I was never sure if they proved true or not - Toledo's crime is nuts regardless). Even with all that going on, it wasn't until my neighbor showed me his gun collection and invited me to the range with him that I finally considered buying my own.

My neighbor drove me down to a gun show in Dayton. I browsed around, and had zero idea of what I was looking for. I didn't even know the difference between calibers. But I knew I wanted to leave with a gun. I ended up purchasing a Taurus Millennium Pro PT145. I based the purchase solely on how the gun looked and the reasonable price tag. I have a clean record, but I still sweated the background check. :roll: While it was a little embarrassing to be at a gunshow and not know a dang thing, it did show me one aspect that I love about the firearms community - for the most part, everyone is wonderfully helpful and willing to indoctrinate a newcomer.

I put myself and my neighbor through the CHL process a few weeks later. Thanks in large part to the prevailing opinions of the users on this forum, I've carried nearly every day since.

My first handgun was the Taurus. My first (and only so far) shotgun was a 12 gauge Verona that I picked up at an estate sale for cheap. My first rifle was a Remington 700 in .223, and I bought a Ruger 10/22 to shoot Appleseed with. The 10/22 was also my first attempt at any sort of gunsmithing. I swapped out the mag release and installed some new trigger parts. It was a fun year. :)
Last edited by soontobedeity on Tue Jan 18, 2011 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by gabe »

Ok, my first handgun purchase:

I was 14 years old and every male member of my family had a "hog leg" and I "needed" one, so I went to the local candy store (read gun shop) to see what they had. This was about May, just in time for school to let out. 23 years ago the owner of the shop still had to tell me that I couldn't buy it on my own and I would have to have an adult buy it for me as bad as he hated to tell me that and he made a few political comments about freedom etc, that Istook to heart. I wanted a Smith but the price was outta my league. He showed me a Taurus 66 that he assured me was made with Smith molds etc and was every bit as good. I told him I would be back for it. At $3 an hour pitching Hay, sitting, and cutting tobacco, and shoveling horse... well cleaning stalls, or anything that paid I had Money in hand by September. Walked in my mom filled out the paperwork and I was good to go. That gun was stolen a few years later (yeah I know ho took it too) so it also makes my regret story as well. Also learned what crock insurance was when insurance came through with a check for $50 on home owners after deductible. Oh the life lessons from that one gun.

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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by XDSC9G30 »

Just recently started buying guns so that is easy for me. First purchased was a Taurus TCP 738, then a Taurus 24/7 PRO .45... Then a couple more (not another Taurus).

First I shot was a .22 rifle. Don't remember what kind or anything.
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by DOA33 »

my first gun I shot was back in 5th grade in summer camp. It was a .22 rifle shooting at a huge sheet with a target in center, I scored 48/50 points highest in the camp. :D Not bad never shooting before. The first gun I bought was a llama .45 from one of the members on here. I loved that gun but traded it for another gun with another member on here a few years later.
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by Babyboomer »

I got my first gun in 1958. It is a Beretta 22 semi-auto with a short barrel and a longer barrel for target pratice. I still have it.
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by Tweed Ring »

First time I fired a Thompson machine gun: Back in the mid 1980's, I had heard and read all the commentary that the recoil was going to me unmercifully difficult to handle. It wasn't, and it was fun to fire. Only got to shoot it once, but it was a blast and easy to handle recoil.
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by dl1911 »

Still a newbie in many ways. Shot my first handgun about two years ago, a 1911. Bought a Kimber Custom II the next day. That fall some new friends took me to Tusco for steel plate fun. First rifle they had me try was an AR-10. Then a M1A and finally an AR-15. Bought an AR-15 a few months later.
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by pirateguy191 »

I'm like Carmen, I don't even own a gun yet. 8)
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by FlyinCedar »

My first was a 16 gauge single shot that my dad got me for Christmas when I was 15. That thing was older than him, but I loved it. After that, I wanted a Mossberg 500, and I mowed grass for my grandma to save up for it, and he let me sell (he actually did it) the 16 single to get the pump. I sure wish he hadn't. I would love to still have that first shotgun
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by BobK »

I still remember being a freshman at age 17 and taking a riflery course at Ohio State back in 1973. We were shooting single-shot bolt action .22 rifles at 50 feet using the NRA standard small bore targets, 10 bulls to a page.

It was the first time I learned the proper form for prone, sitting, kneeling, and standing. I was also taught how to use the sling, sight picture, breath control, and trigger squeeze. Man, I just loved it.

I was so proud of myself when I shot my first 100/100. I still remember the feeling. Wish I had kept the target. Wish I had 17 year-old eyes again. :D
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by NKR »

First gun was a .22 rifle. After that, my dad got me a single shot .410 when I started hunting(about 8 or 9). Since then I have accumulated quite a few shot guns. I was given a Smith & Wesson Model 66-2 in .357 several years ago and that was my first taste of larger handgun calibers(before that was basically only .22 revolvers). Since then, I have loved shooting and shopping for handguns. :lol:
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Re: Your personal firearm firsts

Post by evan price »

My Dad owned a couple guns but my Mom was anti-gun. My Dad kept his guns locked up and never let us see them, he would even wait until we were in bed before cleaning them because my Mom refused to let them be around us kids.

I finally got to handle guns when my Cub Scout troop had the Boy Scout troop Scoutmasters set up a gun education class. This was in the cafeteria of our elementary school- they laid blankets on the table and laid out an assortment of a couple dozen different kinds of guns- pump, bolt, lever, top-break, pistol, rifles, shotguns... They had different kinds of ammo and posters and all kinds of stuff. Imagine trying to do that nowadays! I specifically recall the warnings about Damascus barrel shotguns still to this day along with the Four Rules (except they didn't call it that). It was s ort of an Eddie Eagle but before they had that program.

I recall I told my parents about it and my mom called up the Cub Scout den leader and complained about guns around her son. I recall there being a fight between my mom and dad over it.

So after I graduated from Cubs into Weeblos and then eventually joined Boy Scouts we started going on weekend campouts. Then I went to my first summer camp. My Mom had looked over the things we could do with me because you had to sign up for classes to earn your merit badges. She told me canoeing and all the other stuff were OK but she told me no rifle. She almost wouldn't let me do archery.

Anyway, at camp, you could shoot single-shot .22 bolt-action rifles even if not signed up for the riflery merit badge at the open shoot times. You bought ten rounds of ammo on a little wooden plank with holes drilled in it and the ammo standing up nose-down in the holes. Ten shots was a quarter. Some Scouts and troops had brought their own rifles and ammo and those were stored in the armory.

I wound up spending three days worth of free time at the open shoots and spent a lot of money on ammo. The adult Scout in the armory (he was maybe 18 I guess) took pity on me and would slip me extra ammo sometimes. I wasn't real good but one of the Scoutmasters missed me at chow call and found me at the range. He had been told (like all my Scoutmasters) I wasn't allowed to handle guns per my Mom. However he violated that and started to show me how to shoot a rifle, it was our secret. After the few dollars of pocket money I had got used up he wound up buying me ammo and helping me figure out trigger control, breathing, etc. A couple of the rifles took magazines and I was allowed to actually load my ten rounds into the magazine to shoot which most people were not allowed to do.

Camp was 7 days and 6 nights; on the 5th night there was an open shoot competition- each troop put up 4 Scouts to shoot one shot each at a target at 50 yards. The troop that won the shoot got watermelons on ice. The first two Scouts in my troop picked were the Scoutmasters' sons (who were good shots). The third guy was another guy who I knew could shoot. I got picked for #4. I can't recall what our target score was but I do recall that night we ate watermelon until we darn near burst!

That was a great summer. I wound up feeling guilty that I never told my Mom I had been shooting. I earned my Rifle merit badge the next year at camp. I recall that I never sewed it on my sash because I knew my Mom would be upset. I kept in the Scouts and went on camp-outs every time I could.

This one campout was in winter. We were down in the middle of nowhere at a hunting cabin one of the Scoutmasters knew about. A couple of the 'adult' scouts had Jeeps and an IH Scout. There was a big empty field and the adult Scouts went out snow-running and doing donuts and having fun. Us 'younger' Scouts weren't invited in most cases. So a couple of the Scout leaders and the Scoutmaster took us younger guys out for a hike along the railroad tracks. After a couple miles of walking we got to a railroad trestle and went down the embankment. The Scoutmasters set up some bottles, pieces of wood, and other stuff from under the bridge on the embankment. Then the Scoutmaster pulled out a .357 revolver, I think it was a S&W but it might have been a Ruger, I don't remember.

He showed us how to shoot with the pistol. I remember that he gave me a real close look and told me that if I didn't want to, I didn't have to because he knew my Mom would complain. I told him it wasn't a problem. I remember I was worried the Magnum would be too strong, but it was fun and I broke a bottle or two. Again, all of us Scouts kept our mouths shut and told nobody.

The next year we had a get-together at a private gun club. I recall we were practicing for the next Klondike Derby. There was a shotgun range and some of the Scoutmasters were shooting clay birds. They asked later if we wanted to shoot too. Well, a 12-guage shotgun I'd heard kicked a lot and I was a bit nervous but said what the heck. I got a good hold and broke both birds my first time ever shooting a shotgun. It was awesome. I remember we all went out and looked for unbroken clay birds out in the field after shooting and collected a bunch so we could shoot some more.

My Dad left before I was in high school. Us kids stayed with Mom. My Mom was still anti-gun and vehemently so. One day I sewed my Rifle merit badge on my sash because I said the heck with it. She got angry. I told her to shut up. She smacked me in the mouth. Things could have gone further but it seemed like she knew a line had been crossed and so did I. She had always been physical. She liked to hit us kids whenever she got angry. But at that moment I knew I was bigger and wasn't going to take her crap anymore. She is a professional victim. Nothing is her fault, everything is inflicted upon her. If a light bulb burned out she would curse it to hell and say it was the fault of us kids for running around in the house too much. Things happened with kids in the house, stuff gets knocked over, walls get dents, etc. I'm not saying we were always the best kids but stuff happened some time. My Mom would even scream and curse and wail about the water bill going up, she would complain that us kids ran the water too much and we needed to not take showers because the G-D water company was trying to screw her over. She was the psycho divorced mother from the 1991 SNL skit!

My Dad visited sometimes and I remember going to the Powder Room in Powell (middle of nowhere, then) to go shooting. Since he didn't live with Mom he no longer cared if she liked guns or not. I spent a few afternoons there and had a blast.

When I turned 21 I knew I wanted to buy my own gun. I bought the gun magazines and looked over specifications and got advice from anybody who would listen or talk. I had narrowed it down to either a Ruger P85 9mm or a S&W model 19 357. I had made up my mind I wanted the S&W model 19 so I went to buy one.

There were two gunstores in town right across from each other. They had always been places of mystery and forbidden pleasures like a Burlesque house might be. They were not friendly places, there were the old guys that hung out there, they didn't like young people. They were always dusty and a little dim and smelled of metal and oil and gunpowder.

The first shop I went into I was ignored. I looked in the cabinets and cases and finally asked about what I wanted. I had decided ona S&W 19 so I asked for one. They didn't have one. I asked for a Ruger P85. They didn't have one. But they tried like hell to sell me a Colt 1911 and pretty much badmouthed any other gun out there, and told me that a Colt 1911 was what I wanted, I just didn't know it yet. They were pretty pushy and unfriendly. Then they offered me a nickle-plated POS whih was more my price range. I left.

The other store was smaller. They didn't have as much stuff. I looked around, the guy behind the counter asked me what I wanted so I told him. He asked me why I wanted that. I told him about my Scoutmaster's 357 and how much I liked it, and my Dad's 357 and I liked it. He agreed a S&W was a good choice but he didn't have one in my price range- would I be interested in this used Colt? He showed me a 4" barrel Colt King Cobra. It was love at first sight. We wound up doing a deal that included a box of Hydra-shok ammo and a hard case. The gun came with the original box. All for $300 plus tax, a steal nowadays!

I still have that gun, I shot the heck out of it. It's my favorite pistol. It's never for sale.

I picked up an old 8mm Mauser and found a gun store with a bunch of pulled-down surplus primed cases and bullets. I also found somebody who had powder in bulk and I would buy bulk powder and these pulldown components and hammer together 8mm ammo to shoot in the old Mauser. I was working off of advice from an old time reloader, an assistant Scoutmaster who told me about duplex loads to get slow powder to light off better. I'm lucky I have all my fingers and eyes from loading starting shots of 3031 and then filling a case with 7383.

After a couple years I decided I wanted a semi-auto. The Ruger P85 had been replaced with the P89 and I was nol longer looking at them. The Glocks had gotten popular. I had a buddy who had an original G17 and after shooting it a bit and seeing how popular they were starting to become I was thinking about getting one. I was also thinking about a .45 and then Glock came out with the G21. I first saw a G21 in the turd movie Freejack and decided I wanted one even though I never held one. So I ordered one. My first ever new firearm. I shot it a little but it was just so dang big and clunky I never liked it. Plus the AWB hit in 1994 so I was worried about taking it in public with full-cap magazines. I still have that G21 and I bet it hasn't had more than 250 rounds through it.

The old Davis Guns shop moved to Plain City and I picked up my Swede M38 Mauser. Loved that gun and still have it. Also got my first shotgun, a Mossberg Maverick 88, at Davis. I still didn't keep much ammo around because I believed that it wasn't necessary. I was still a Fudd at heart back then. Keeping a BOX of ammo seemed like a lot!

I moved out of my Mom's house and went to school at OSU so I was living in Columbus and they had (I thought) a mag ban. So the Glock got left behind all the time... I wound up getting into sport shooting with 9mm Glocks, and started accumulating Glock pistols. Even before CCW under Prudent Man I carried. Problem was all I had was big guns of service size or larger. I needed a more concealeable pistol. This was 1996.

Vance's had a same-as-cash offer going so I went down there and shopped. Wound up with a small 9mm pistol from a company I never heard of, "Sig-Sauer". It had night sights and felt right in my hand. The counter guy assured me it was a very good pistol. It was a 1996 Sig P239 in 9mm. I paid $600 for it I recall. I shot it a lot, even at a range that used to be on 36-37 and I-71 called "Lighthouse Sports". It was a hole in the wall that also had a bar. It's gone now.

I came on some hard times and started selling guns eventually. The AWB was in full swing, I was working my tail off at 70 hours a week or more, and spending a lot of time out of town. That Sig got carried all over, and the Colt did, too. I've taken that Colt King Cobra all over the USA into over 23 states, plus Mexico and Canada (Yes, I know it's not legal, but back then I was dumb and lucky!) The Colt saved me on at least two occaisions when I am certain violent crime was about to occur- once at a rest area in a remote New Mexico desert and once at my apartment when the downstairs neighbor's psycho ex-boyfriend showed up and started smashing on the windows and threatening to kill her. I'm sure those stories are still out there to be found.

I didn't have much time to shoot, I bought my house and moved to the country and worked 70+ hour weeks plus 4 hours commuting daily. Then I went back to school, got married, got a new job, started travelling again, and a friend had a bachelor party at New Albany gun range and I hauled a bag full of guns over there. They had ammo on sale by the case so I bought a case of 9mm and a case of 45 and thought WOW I have a lot of ammo!

Then I discovered internet gun forums, reloading, and got interested in shooting again. The AWB sunsetted in 2004. I changed jobs after a lot of personal and family problems in 2006. I started working nights. I knew of an ODNR range near me but it was an abstract even though I had shot there once or twice. Now I had time to shoot. I started shooting at the ODNR and at Black Wing and realized what I had been missing. I got my CCW once I figured out Prudent Man was gone. Those were the bad days of the Buckeye Tuck. But you could buy 9mm Blazer Brass at Wal*Mart for $5 a box, and 22 LR Federal 550-packs were $6 a box. Reloading was a thing I dabbled in, I was a dilettante. I tried various powders and bullets with little or no guidance and made functional ammo. I never nailed things down, I paid too much for stuff, I didn't know what I was doing.

Got involved with OFCC and the rest is history. Started collecting guns again. Started getting involved with the RKBA movement and finally shed my Fudd shell. Bought my first FAL rifle and then figured out to make it run. Then I started building FALs myself. Got back into reloading but serious this time. Figured out what worked and started keeping records. Started accumulating supplies, magazines, ammo, etc. Got into shotguns, got back into revolvers.

There's something about revolvers. They are an old technology compared to semi auto. But the delicate yet durable lockwork, the hand fitting, the movement of the parts, it's a mechanical ballet and I like that sort of thing. Semis are functional but there's no soul in a factory made semi. Even my Sigs- as much as they are nice and fit me like a glove- are just tools in my hand. A hand-fitted Colt or S&W is like an artifact in my hand. I always like good machinery and I've gravitated back to revolvers for that reason.

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