Not the first one you fired or the first one grandpa gave you, but the first one you pulled weeds, mowed yards, hauled hay and pulled folding money out of your pocked and bought...


I cleared the fencerows on a neighbor's place that hadn't seen sunlight in 20 years, fixed the fence and repainted the braces. I was 14 and it took me all summer. I had my heart set on an 8 shot Taurus .357 but my mean old dad wouldn't agree to let me have a pistol unless it was a Smith & Wesson. Ended up with a 4" 686-4 7 shot. My uncle is a master leather craftsman, and he let me "help" him build a rig for it. A good friend of mine who is a wizard with S&W revolvers patiently instructed me in the fine art of the India stone and we spent several hours polishing the internals and swapping springs. It has seen untold thousands of rounds and I still put it in the bag just about every range trip...





This rig has seen a LOT of miles...

My first firearm I earned myself was my Yugo M24/47 Mauser. My first milsurp and possibly my best.

KC your Dad was a smart man.
Mine was an old wore abused Ruger 10/22.I replaced most of the internals,refinished the stock,& added every extra you could buy out of a catalogue.

Winchester Model 63. Still got it, of course, and it still shoots great. It was late 70's and used 10/22's weren't bringing any more than old Winchesters, which is about all they were at the time to lots of folks, and I wanted a By God Winchester.

edited to add: Besides, all my "rich" friends had new 10/22's, and I wanted to get something different. It was my sweat, after all, that was paying for it.

The first that I bought my own was a Marlin bolt action. Bought it the day after I turned 18. Never really used it and sold it a few months later and bought a black rifle.

The first gun I bought was a Yugo 59/66 SKS, Blonde stock still in cosmo. Only $200 and back when 500rnds of ammo was $59 w/ tax. Boy those were the good ole days.

When I was 15 years old, I was breaking every rank horse I could sit on, giving riding lessons, and training show horses.

I bought a Remington 597 22LR. Turns out, those first 597s where POS and jammed every magazine. I sold it at a yard sale, and saved all my money the following summer and bought this Remington 11-87 Premier Light contour just before the opening of dove season. I over lubricated it once, and it wouldn't cycle. After that, it has performed flawlessly squirrel, rabbit, dove, and duck hunting for 12 years.

Remington 788 in 7mm-08 in 1982. $209 including tax at Walmart, tben drove 60 miles round trip for 1 box of ammo. It is still the go to deer slayer now wearing a scope that used was 2X what the rifle cost

Ruger P89.

The first one I saved money for was the one on top. I had seen one just like it that a friend of my dad had for sale but I didn't have the money for it at the time. So I saved up and found one on gun broker and bought it. Its a Ruger Super Black hawk Hunter in 44 mag.

I think it was a savage 243 for me.

I think that they first gun I ever bought was a Rem. 870 Wingmaster. Long gone, stolen when I was in Viet Nam. In 1969 while home on leave I bought a .22 Ruger Single Six with the mag. cylinder and still have it. I would guess that it has close to 10,000 round through it. Not much blueing left but it shoots just as good as it did
44 years ago. I plan on giving this to my grandson when he is old enough.

Me too. I mowed a lot of lawns to get it. It was a Model 80 with a Monte Carlo stock and a 4X Redfield scope.

Mowed lawns and bought a Remington 870. About 20yrs ago and still have it and use it regularly. I don't know how many thousands of shells through that thing. It will be passed on to my grandchildren.

S&W Model 28 Highway Patrol 4", $123.00 and a S&W mod 36 2" RB, $86.00.

The 28 was traded and replaced with a Model 27.

The 36 was sold/traded for ??????

Mossberg ATR .270

My first was a Smith and Wesson 586 with 4" barrel. I ended up having to sell it to pay for college texts one semester. I've never owned a revolver since and won't until I can get another 586.

Remington 700 ADL in 7mm Mag. I was 12 and only had half of the money to buy it from a local gun shop. Dad loaned the balance ($150) to me. My payoff was keeping my parents 10 acres mowed up for the entire growing season. Come to think of it, I got the shaft...

I don't shoot it much anymore, but it will be the last gun I ever get rid of...

Daisy 22....$60

J.C. Higgins bolt-action .22 rifle with a 7-shot magazine. I bought it new when I was 13 at Sears with money I had earned shoveling snow, cutting grass, and delivering newspapers. I still have it. All my kids and some of my grandkids have learned to shoot with it.

Ruger M77 in .270. Thought about selling it a few times but it is the last I would want to get rid of. Layawayed it for about 2 months at small ma and pa shop.

ruger 10/22

to be honest I can't rembember.

I've bought, sold, traded quite a few guns and all the ones that don't hold sentimental value get lost in the mind

S&W Model 25-2 in the wood box it too has seen hundred's of rounds it is the One I'll never trade or sell. Have had it since 1982 bought it at a GS in Corpus when I did shore duty there.

Glock 17.... One of the best I own