What was the first firearm you shot?

[OrPackrat]

My grandfather introduced me to firearms.

Don't remember the first but I believe it was a 22lr.

And it was either the Winchester 04-22mod single shot 22.

Or.

A High Standard 22lr.

Later on a shotgun being a Winchester 1897 shotgun and a Winchester Ranger 30-30.

 

[JuglansRegia]

The first firearm l shot was a pump action .22, l believe it was a Rossi. I have been hooked ever since.

 

[Member 88163]

My first shooting experience was in the sasquatchy back woods of klamath falls area. It was with my grandpa and a good body of his. I was probably 8-9. I shot a 22lr semiauto pistol with a pretty good sized clip. I started at the target but then a large butterfly flew over head and I was blasting away at it!!! My Grandpa didn't get mad or correct me (as he often did and probably should have in this case). Nope I turned around with a big smile on my face and they were sitting on a stump laughing there asses off. Maybe it was the beers! I didn't shoot a bunch of guns as a kid other than a lot of bb gunning, but Ive made up for that now. I got grandpas old guns and a number more now! Ive also for better or worse, caught up in the ole beer department. Good times!

 

[fstdraw]

Winchester Mod. '05/06 pump .22. Still have it. About 9 yers old out back of the old farm house.

 

[jackrv]

I was around 7 or 8, it was my dad's Iver Johnson 9 shot target revolver and his Mossberg model 142A carbine. Both in .22.

Still have them to this day.

 

[Hotdog 7]

I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I'd speculate I was around 10 years old or so. It was the early 2000's (2002 or 2003 if I had to guess) and my grandpa and I went camping on the east side of Mt. Hood. I know for a fact it was the Tygh Creek area, southwest of Friend. It wasn't a designated camping area. It was a dispersed spot that he had been going to since the 1980s. I remember vividly it was a clear patch in the forest, with the nearby dirt road basically making a C-hook around the dispersed area, going up a hill and at the top of the hill it would hook to the right and keep going. A small creek flowed right through the middle of the dispersed area and if you followed it for a quarter mile or so, it eventually lead to a waterfall with a swimming hole. It was maybe a 100 yard distance to the top of the hill, but when you reached the top it gave you a view as far as the eye could see of the Tygh Valley area of Wasco County. Young me was absolutely mesmerized and I know for a fact that is when I fell in love with central/eastern Oregon. I've tried for years to locate that exact spot so I can take my own kids camping there but I believe the exact spot may be lost to time. I've developed some leads on Google Maps but I haven't taken the time to drive out that way to investigate.

Anyways, at the end of our first night there we were cooking something over the campfire. I had been drinking pop and my grandpa drinking coffee, like he always did regardless of time of day. As the pop cans started to pile up, he instructed me to go stack them at the edge of the dispersed camping spot. I thought it was an odd request but I did it. When I was done, I looked back to see that he had taken a small rifle out of his truck. He knew I loved shooting pop cans with my red rider BB gun and wanted to one day shoot a real gun. It turns out the rifle was a little single-shot .22 that his grandfather bought sometime back in the 1920s. I have no idea what the make or model was. He showed me how to load it, taught me the rules of safety, and let me start shooting the empty pop cans. I probably went through 100 rounds of .22, just having the time of my life shooting the cans to smithereens. We shot a little more the next day but we didn't have a ton of things to shoot, and my grandpa was very adamant about not shooting the trees, rocks, etc. because he was an ardent outdoorsman.

I don't mean to write a whole novella to answer such a simple question, but I vivdly remember this day and it was one of my favorite memories with my grandpa. It was an incredibly formative experience for me so watering my first shooting experience down to "I shot empty pop cans with a .22" doesn't do it justice. As for the rifle, I do not have it. The recession was not kind to my grandparents and they had to sell a lot of things. After my grandpa passed away I learned from my grandma that the rifle was one of those things that had to go. I would give anything to get my hands on that rifle today.

 

[Bobbygun]

My earliest recollection of shooting an actual rifle (not bb gun) is riding on the front fender of my dad's jeep on the ranch with a model 1906 Winchester pump .22 shooting digger squirrels. I was probably around 8 years old. My older sister was on the other front fender with a model 62A. I liked the 62A better because it had a peep sight instead of buckhorn. I have them both now.

My first try with a handgun was with a friend of my dad's Ruger Single Six. I might have been 9 by then. I was doing pretty well with it and having so much fun, Dad soon bought one for himself, then one for me a few years later.

Oh, and "no" I wasn't scared, and nobody "made me" do it. Unfortunately, Dad wasn't the kind of guy to wear hearing protection. I grew up shooting large caliber rifles off of a bench rest without any. No surprise my hearing is awful. My kids wore hearing protection even with .22s.

Those were good, simpler times. Sure do miss my folks and sister.

 

[bradsteen]

First firearm I shot was a break action 20ga when I was 10, my friend's parents convinced my parents that a gun safety course would be a good idea. And thus, a gun nut was born.

 

[nwslopoke]

M-16 at Lackland AFB in 1987. They were carry handles with the triangle hand guards. I passed but it was so regimented, it didn't make a lot of sense. We used the targets with multiple silhouettes. Load 3 bullets and do this. Load 5 bullets and do that.I didn't enjoy shooting for a long time. A lot of missed opportunities.

Later a cop friend from the National Guard took me shooting with handguns, around 1992. That was the first time shooting for fun.

 

[Sxsnuf]

I think I was about 5. I had 2 older brothers that Dad had introduced to shooting at about that age. The rifle was a Remington 511 that had been given to Dad for his 10th b-day. Somewhere along the line, he had broken the mag retainer spring, so it was always a single load/single shot.
I eventually ended up with that little rifle and discovered that Dad had picked up 3 Remington magazines for it at Coast to Coast. They still had the $3.99 price tags on them. I was able to get a mag retainer from Numrich, and now, it works as designed. Still a great shooter!

 

[Honest Injun]

Did it scare you? What kind of firearm was it? Was it dad that made you do it?

Mine was a 22short bolt action single shot rifleprovided by the BSA. It was for my marksmanship merit badge. Age 9. It began a 53 year love affair, turbocharged by serving my nation as a US Marine in 80s,

 

[1911Fanatic]

The first firearm I ever shot was an SP1 without forward assist. I know that probably tells you something about my age lol. It was in basic training in the late 80's. The second gun I shot was a S&W model 10 later that same day. Turned out I was something of a natural with a revolver. The seed was planted that day.

 

[dondoo1315]

one of the only found memories I have from my father he's not dead he is just a pos. But I was 5 and he took me out shooting for the first time he had his great grandfathers double barrel 12 gauge and let me shoot it. I don't know if I pulled both triggers at once or if the shotgun just was a piece of junk but I fired both shells which were made of paper and from the 50s at the same time and ended up on my butt. Most people that age probably would have cried and never touched a gun again but I was hooked Later that year I got a Henry 22 lr lever action for Christmas and have been a gun nut ever since.

 

[grumpychef]

Mossberg lever action 22lr

 

[GI JEW 555]

Model 60 that the stock had been electric taped from the old man splitting it over his hounds head.

He ran dogs for bear and lion back when you could. Was told the dogs would have fought to the death. He wasn't a small guy to say the least and said there was no pulling them-dogs apart by himself without getting bit. Also, a lesson as to why certain dogs you had to put last in the box and take out when running as well.

Watched that rifle take elk, and deer.
Not ideal for sure but it put meat on the table.

As far as purchasing, I was a quite young maybe 14 or so. I bust my butt all summer stacking and splitting firewood/ other odd jobs around the house…. 250 bucks was the deal from the old man for the work.

He put the cash and two rifles out on the table. A sears 101 20 gauge, and the model 60. Said cash or guns ? I took the guns without any thought at all.

In all honesty the cash had a face value worth more than the guns but didn't matter they were mine.

I tell my wife that I never learnt as I have been paying too much to this day for guns and that the lesson backfired so blame my father … RIP though the old man was one of a kind and they just don't make them like that anymore.

 

[1911Fanatic]

one of the only found memories I have from my father he's not dead he is just a pos. But I was 5 and he took me out shooting for the first time he had his great grandfathers double barrel 12 gauge and let me shoot it. I don't know if I pulled both triggers at once or if the shotgun just was a piece of junk but I fired both shells which were made of paper and from the 50s at the same time and ended up on my butt. Most people that age probably would have cried and never touched a gun again but I was hooked Later that year I got a Henry 22 lr lever action for Christmas and have been a gun nut ever since.

That's interesting. My father never taught me to shoot or hunt. He was a Lane County Sheriff's Deputy. When he got off shift, he would hang his duty belt with his S&W 357 mag revolver in the holster on the door knob. He told my sister and I that if we ever so much as thought of even touching it, he would beat our asses. I never touched it. But he never gave us any lessons on firearm safety….just if you touch it, I will belt you.

My grandfather showed me his Savage model 99 in 300 Savage and his High Standard Double Nine, and he let me handle them unloaded as a kid, under supervision. But he never let me shoot them. He handed me down the rifle after I got out of the service. We took the rifle and the Double Nine to a gun show and traded them off. My Grandpa didn't really know how to take care of firearms properly and there were issues with the guns as such.

The issue with the Double Nine was lot's of dry firing. It ruined the gun. He didn't know not to dry fire rimfire guns, and when introduced to it, at the time, neither did I.

 

[Kirkll]

In 1966 the first rifle i shot was my Dad's 30-06 Springfield with buck horn sights. I was 11 years old, and that thing kicked like a mule at that age.... My first rifle was a present from my dad the following year in 67. 300 Sav auto loader.... i loved that gun... shot a lot of mule deer with it over the years.... honestly... i cant remember when i sold it, but i remember buying another 300 Remington with a bolt action, and put a scope on that one.... That was an amazing hunting rifle i kept for many years.... Kirk

 

[orygun]

This Marlin 22 at about 6 yrs old. It had a smaller Weaver scope that I still have, too.

 

[CountBrass]

I remember it was a Czech mauser. It was one unpleasant surprise considering i was a young kid but it impressed me enough i stuck with it. Good stuff.

 

[bobsyouruncle]

1898 Winchester slide 22 WRF