Feeling Nostalgic, your first gun - what was it?

I'm feeling a little nostalgic today. When I was a kid I had a Marlin Golden Boy 39A that my Uncle gave me. Sometime as a young adult I sold or traded it and have regretted it ever since. Today, I am acquiring a 1972 Golden 39A and looking forward to having it as an example of that beloved firearm.

It however, wasn't my first. I've owned hundreds if not thousands of firearms in the last 40 years. But my first was/is special. When my father was 13 he bought his first gun, a single shot Savage 3D .22 bolt action rifle. He got to where he could strike a match with it. On my 13th birthday, he gave me that rifle. It was used a lot by me until I got that Marlin from my Uncle. Then I set it aside because, well...repeaters are just more fun than single shots The reason I've owned hundreds, maybe even thousands of guns is that I don't hold on to them but with few exceptions. The Savage is one of those exceptions. I held on to it and presented it to my first son as his first firearm upon the occasion of his 13th birthday. Three generations, 3 13-year old boys - we all learned how to shoot with it. Dad will be 81 this year. He most likely won't live to see it passed on to the 4th generation. But it will - come hell, or high water, Hillary or Bernie - nothing will stop that from happening.

I know, threads are no good without pics. I'll update my post later with pics of the Savage..at work right now feeling old.

I had a Daisy Red Ryder bb gun first. Does that count?

Other than a BB gun it was s single shot 20 gauge shotgun.

Marlin/Glenfield Model 10 Single Shot .22 Rifle. Still in my safe 45 years later. My dad said a single shot would make me a better shot. He was right.

First real gun was a Spesco single shot .410. I still have it.

Sent out to find doves with a single shot .410. Exercise in futility. Shot my first buck at 11 with Dad's .30-30 (Marlin 336), that I still have.

First rifle that was mine, given to me at Christmas, was a Win. Mod. 88 (lever) in .243. I liked the design. 'Wouldn't group worth a dern though. Sold it to my brother. He rebarrelled to a 7mm-08 and I think has since sold it.

Savage Anschutz Model 141, .22lr. $87.50

Christmas 1962

Red ryder
Sheridan Silver Streak
Nylon 66
12 GA h&r single
16ga win 1400

The summer I turned 13 I worked all summer gutting fish at a trout farm to save up for my first shotgun. I finally saved enough for a Browning BPS. The next season I shot it and the weld on the barrel broke and the barrel just fell off. I have never bought another Browning product since.

Volunteer Arms Co single shot 410, and yes I still have it. It was actually my Mom's when she was a little kid (ca. 1930) and she got it from her uncle who was my great uncle. I haven't shot it in years, but its not for sale at any price.

First Air guns

Daisy Lever gun, cried when I killed my fisrt sparrow with it.

Later a Sheridan Blue Streak, 5mm. Shot my best friend through the foot with it, rat hunting

I can't remember which I received first. The Savage model 99F in 250 Savage, or the marlin 780 .22lr,l,s. But both originally belonged to my great grandfather, and those are the only 2 guns I will never get rid of.

Anyone that has a 99F in 250-3000 should never, ever get rid of it. Good on you.

3 years old, Great Grandfathers Ivory Johnson Champion 20ga. Wasn't allowed to shoot it until I was 9. Wore out a daisy bb gun and Crossman 760 before I got to shoot that shotgun. The shotgun was kept on a gunrack above my bed and I knew what would happen to my butt if I didn't leave it in the gunrack. Still have it trigger sear is worn to the point of being almost non existent and the firing pin my Dad made for it from a drill bit still works. That one is not for sale at any price. 80 years ago my Great Granddad paid $6.50 for it and a box of shells.

Glenfield 60 22 auto. Could not wait to shoot it so lined up a bunch of phone books in my bedroom when no one was home. Left 2 bullets in the wood floor.

I still have that gun and will never let it go.

My first rifle that I bought just out of college was my Howa 1500 in 270 Win. I used it as my primary hunting rifle for many years. I even took a long range shooting class with it out to 1K yards. It did fine out to 800. Since then, it's been bedded and the trigger tuned, and shoot well. I still have this rifle and will never get rid of it.

Bolt action 410 shotgun. Don't remember the brand.

First real gun was a single shot 12 gauge when I was 12. It was stolen when ur house was broken into years ago.

Started with a BB gun. First deer I shot @ 6 was with a 30 carbine my Dad borrowed. Next year he borrowed a 99 Savage in 243. I still have it along with the K-4 Weaver it wore.
First shotgun was an old H&R 'Topper' Jr 410. My Grandson has that one along with my 'second' rifle - Mohawk 600 243

A used, Winchester single-shot .22 that my dad bought from a co-worker at the paper mill where he worked. I seem to remember him paying $20 for it. A few years later, he gave me a Ted Williams (Sears) semi-auto .22 that was lost decades later when I let a co-worker borrow it to teach his son how to shoot.

Crosman M1 Carbine bb gun
then an H&R youth model 20 guage single shot, kicked like a mule and I loved every minute of it. Dad bought it at Gibsons, about 30 dollars if I remember correctly.

First rifle I bought was a used Rem. 788 in .308 with a Redfield Wideview 3x9 scope. Paid 300 bucks in 1982 or 83 for it.

Savage 99 in 22 hi-power. Given to me by my grandfather.

Thanks for the replies guys. Here it is..Shows a lot of wear after almost 70 years and 3 teenage boys. With God's blessing, though I'll be gone hopefully it will still be teaching new generations of my offspring 70 years from now.

Besides air rifles my first gun was actually two guns for my eighth birthday. My granddad gave me a Parker SxS 16 gauge and his Winchester model 94. Still have the 94 and wish I still had the Parker.

Winchester model 37A youth in 20 gauge. Still have it.

Remington 600 in 308. Would love to have it back

My first firearm was a Mossberg 500 in 12 ga. that I was given when I was 15. I used it for dove hunting, rabbits, the usual thing. Over the years, I've had four of five of those, and own one today.

When I turned 18, I bought my first rifle, a Marlin 1895G, an 18" 45-70 with a square lever, straight-grip stock and plastic butt-plate. I used it to eliminate any tendency toward flinching, did some target shooting with it, and used it for deer hunting for several years. Once I had a scope on it, but not for long. - I really preferred the open sights on it. I have also owned several 1895's over the years.

Prior to owning firearms, I had a series of pellet rifles. - I still haven't outgrown those things, guess I never will.

Single shot H&R 12. I got it when I was seven and shot it until I was 12. I shot thousands of rounds through it. At one point the barrel split about three inches down the end. I sawed it off and shot bird with it until the hammer spring broke. I shot it with a rubber band to spring the hammer. That shotgun was old when I got it but it was completely worn out when I sold it to a buddy of mine that repaired it and sawed it off about a foot long. I killed truckloads of quail In the Sandhills with that shotgun and even remember killing the first bobwhite any of us had ever seen in our part of the country. I don't miss the gun but I sure miss the good times using it, the family that's passed on, and the great dogs we had.

Break over 410

The first gun I ever bought was a Sako .270. 1979. I spent most of my money I made sacking groceries that summer on it. My Daddy thought I was crazy.

I shot my desert ram with it December a year ago because I didn't want any other rifle in my hand for the most important shot I am likely to ever make.

Single shot Savage 20ga. Got it for Christmas when I was 12 and shot a mallard drake that same day with it. Still in the safe and will be passed to a grandson someday.

Other than BB or pellet guns, my first gun that went bang was a single shot Springfield 22 bolt action.

Ruger 10/22.

BB gun (Red Ryder) was first. After that, either a Stevens 410 single shot or a Stevens 87D 22 rifle. I think the 410 was first, so I could squirrel hunt with my Grandpa.

H&R plainsman 865 bolt action in 22RF. It is a repeater with a flush 9 shot mag. And it came with an extra mag. Still have it.

20 gauge coast to coast pump shotgun, paid my uncle $65 for it back in 1979.

Nickel Desert Eagle 50

Shot it once then sold it lol.

I just bought another one last year just as a keepsake.

First gun was purchased right when I turned 18. Drove to Mesquite to a gun store and bought a Hi Point 995 carbine. Paid $130ish for it.Shot it a few times and accurate as heck. Put it up and never shot it for about 14 years with the mags loaded and everything. Shot it again last year, added a cheap Tru Glo red dot to it because I don't know what happened to the irons on there. Sighted it in at 25 yards. Still love that gun.

Sheridan Silver Streak.

Remington 700 BDL 30.06. Still have it.

Remington 552 Speedmaster...still got it in the safe. Best .22 rifle ever made in my opinion. I've killed more squirrels, rabbits, and birds with that gun than I could count.

Benjamin 22 cal air rifle
Remington 870 Wingmaster - old model with the wonderful wood, fixed modified choke, but did have the vented rib.

1st was a Daisy BB gun.
1st one i paid for was a Ruger .22 pistol
1st one i actually bought was a Ruger Bisely in .41 magnum
1st rifle was a Marlin 1894S in .41 magnum

The first gun I ever shot was Dad's old single shot .22, but the first gun I ever bought with my hard earned money was an S&W Model 53. Some of you may remember it was a .22 centerfire. A .357 necked down to .22 and it was LOUD ! I guess it was a commercial failure, but I sure wish I still had it. Paid $91.14 for it at Highinbotham-Pearlstone in Dallas. I killed many a squirrell and a few rabbits with that gun using the .22 rimfire inserts. And a trainload of snakes. I couldn't afford the .22 Jet ammo, 'cause I was just a kid 16 years old when I got it. Just one more jewel that I let get away !

Used mossberg 12ga. Killed my biggest buck with it.

Mine would have been an AR back when I was 16, I had an ipod touch I had traded for a stripped lower and saved everything I could from working part time to have Brandon from the forum build me an upper.

A Stevens double barrel 20 gauge that was handed down in the family.

Grew up with guns in the house, but the first one that was truly mine is a 1970 Winchester 101 12ga O/U.

Still have it, just isn't as pretty since the day my house burned down in 1997. But, it still shoulders and swings as sweet as the day I got it, so I like to bust some clays with it now and then.

Single shot .22. Still have it and wouldn't sale it for $1000. It is probably worth $50. That gun carries many memories.

Looks a lot like the OP's. I would have to look to see what model, never cared.

I had used family firearms or hand me downs all my life, but when I was 12, Dad gave me a Remington 870 Express Magnum for Christmas. He had won it in a raffle at work. I never could wing shoot with it very well, but I destroyed squirrels with it.

The first firearm I used was a Stevens single shot 20 gauge.

M16A4 (Ft Benning, GA) in 2005

Sheridan Silver Streak, still have it. Does that count? Dont know how sets of seals I've put in it, Still kills fine though.

Like so many others I wore out my Daisy repeater.
For my thirteenth birthday my parents (really Dad because Mom wasn't sure) bought me a Winchester 190. It came with a Weaver 4X scope as a package deal from the factory. I've lost track of the thousands of rounds that have been put through it. Still have it, still shoot it.

Daisy pump bb gun of some kind. First real gun was a Rem 870 12 ga bought when I was 9 or 10.

I received a Browning light 12 for Christmas when I was 12. I had to grow into it.

I still have it, it is like me , a little rough around the edges. In good shape for a 51 year old
field gun.

MO

Stevens Springfield Model 15, single shot, bolt action, .22. Still in the family since new in about 1940. Original scope. Monetarily not worth mentioning but means a lot as a family heirloom. Purchased by my paternal grandfather whom I never met as he was deceased long before my birth. My dad and aunt both learned to shoot with it (early 1940s), as did me, my sibling and my nephew. The obvious stock cut-out was done to lighten the rifle for my dad and aunt as they were both young. In addition, the barrel was cut down. At the time the chopped barrel was legal. Time passed, laws changed, dad had a smith lengthen the barrel before teaching me to shoot with it. Looking closely the seam of the original chopped barrel and the extension is visible. Finally, a simple "customization" was a small hole drilled in the stock immediately in front of the bolt handle - this kept a single round at the ready. Hard to see in the picture. Is this bullet holder an early, crude beginning of what eventually evolved into what we now know as a clip?!



-Mickey

No other takers to wax nostalgic?

Marlin 30-30. It got stolen.

Daisy BB gun.

Followed by a Crossman 760-xl pump--still have this in the utility room. It comes in real handy for varmints and nuisance birds--though my neighbor has often wondered about the noise.

First real gun was a single shot 20 gauge at age 12. Shot many a dove, quail, pheasant with it. I still have it and my son used it when he was young. It will go to my first grandson (or granddaughter if she is so inclined).

That is great. the first rifle I hunted with was a long barrel version of this one handed down through the family. Many a squirrel met its maker with this rifle

I still have that one and have the shorter barrel version like you show. These were a lot of fun. Though it has been forever since I shot them.

Savage 20g single shot.

When I was 6 my maternal grandmother forbade my dad giving me a bb gun. "He'll shoot his eye out!" So I got a 30-30 Winchester. In '75 Dad gave me a 742 Woodsmaster in .308, that was my deer rifle for about 20 years. When I was 14, after hauling hay all summer, we went to Gibson's in Marlin and I bought a 6" Colt Python I'd been drueling over for a year. For my birthday later that same year he gave me an 1100 20 gauge. Still have/still shoot them all.

NEF single shot 20 ga when I was 8, well really it was a red rider when I was 5, but I don't count that. Picked up an sks and a howa 1500 7 mag when I was 13, my first real deer rifle. Put a good cut on my eye the first time out.

Inherited a few of my grandfather's guns when I was 10. An Iver Johnson single shot .22, an IBM M1 carbine, and a Sears single shot .410.

Technically it was a Benjamin .177 air rifle, circa 1977, but then I also got a Remington 788 in .243 a couple of years later. Still have the 788.

S&W 25-2 45acp