your 1st love? memorable or not

[1maineguide]

Long story but the short version is Christmas 1965, 8 years old and my grandfather gave me a winchester single shot 22 lr bolt action used gun he had bought. 100 rounds of 22 lr ammo. that afternoon he takes me out behind the barn and teaches me to shoot. He would never let me have a BB gun because " all them **** things do is teach kids how not to handle a gun" We shot a box of shells up. Had me hitting the target at 50 yards pretty well so we called it a day. We come around the barn and MY rooster that I thought the world of was standing out about 50 yards. Gramp says you think you could hit that bird from here. I loaded the rifle, took careful aim and pulled the trigger. he commenced to jumping and flapping around. I soon realized I had shot my pet. He flaps around less and less and I am standing there crying my eyes out. I look at him and ask him why he let me shoot my pet bird. His answer is " I know that it is a hard lesson for you son, But always remember you cannot ever call a bullet back." Hard to swallow that day but I have never forgot any of his hard lessons. He use to give me 5 22 bullets at a time. He did not care what I killed with them , squirrels, birds, etc. but I had to bring them home and show him what I had shot. So if I shot three things and had fired all 5 shells than the next time I went hunting I would only get 3 shells. This went on until I had no shells to hunt with. I would have to wait a whole week before I could hunt again. Than I would get another 5 shells to hunt with. Repeat. It didnt take me long to learn to place my shots and make every shot count. He taught hard lessons but lessons that did not get repeated. I miss that man. My children learned similar lessons but I never had them shoot their pet.

 

[Airedale56]

1963, 2nd grade, Mrs Knothe….I always got into trouble so I had to stay after class and clean the erasers.

Oh, not the topic of this thread…..oops! Fix the title.

 

[LRNut]

Even though my dad was a bird hunter, he never agreed to let me own a gun. He came close when we lived in Palatine, IL but no cigar. When I turned 16 we moved to MN, officially in Hamel but our small group of newly built houses was surrounded by cornfields, woods, and ponds.

There were two kids in the neighborhood, both younger than me, and both had .22 semiautomatic rifles. My dad finally relented, by telling me if I got on a A honor roll in high school I could buy a .22 - with my own money.

I had never been that focused about school but having a clear goal and recognizing that if I wanted to get into college, I better apply myself, I got straight A's and got to buy a Winchester Mod 190 at Target (yes, they used to sell guns!) in 1975 with money I had earned working as a dishwasher at a Raddison restaurant on weekends. Since I was on the A honor roll, I continued. I applied to West Point, was nominated by Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nolan, and graduated in 1981 (Ronald Reagan was our graduation speaker). Was it first love or lust? Who knows - all I know is that Mod 190 completely changed the trajectory of my life.

 

[chindits]

Oh, not the topic of this thread…..oops! Fix the title.

Yup, safe to say not a single firearm or other inanimate object would be considered a love in my lifetime

 

[Calvin45]

I had BB guns and stuff when I was a kid but my first love, as per the title, was a single shot bolt action Cooey (not sure if that was a thing in America or not, but darn near every rural Canadian will be familiar with Cooey rimfire rifles and British .303 enfields, at least where I'm from)

A .22 long rifle, very accurate, iron sights with a properly narrow front blade sight, no big bead or other nonsense, no peep or target type sight to wreak havoc with my strong glasses (I've needed glasses since I was 5 years old). And a not bad trigger in hindsight for not knowing anything about triggers back then. 26 inch barrel, fairly heavy stock too.

It was the kind of gun where you have to manually pull back a plunger type hammer with every shot. This was perfect for learning and for safety with young people in general. It taught me discipline, to be deliberate about what I was doing, and to take no thoughtless shots. My dad still has that gun. I must have put between 10,000 and 20,000 rounds through it in my teenage years (with a single shot manual hammer gun this takes much more time than with a ruger 10/22).

I'd have fun trying to hit clumps of dirt on a hill about 400 yards south of our house shooting off the deck. If it was dry enough, in the spring and fall after the crops were harvested, you could easily see the dust puff from the impact and "walk it in". I've never had the time or opportunity to really try truly long range centerfire shooting, but sure did learn a lot in lieu of that by shooting 300-500 yards with an iron sighted .22 in various conditions. Don't take much wind at all to blow that little slow and blunt bullet all over creation. A great exercise that I'm sure many seasoned long range shooters with big guns and powerful scopes could still benefit from and have a lot fun with too.

 

[USNavy06]

First rifle at 12 years old passed to me by my dad. A Remington 572 fieldmaster in .22. Shot that rifle until I passed it to my grandson a couple of years ago so it's still in the family. Looks new.

I love those little pump action Remingtons. Don't really see them much anymore.

 

[Citified]

Mine was well cared for and looks almost new. I shot this one a lot and it was pretty accurate. This was before I knew that different 22 ammo makes a big difference in group size.
I would post a picture but my grandson has it now. Wish I had tried it with Eley competition ammo. Shot a lot of squirrwls
And rabbits with that thing. Now I am down to a custom 10-22 which shoots great.

 

[LDHunter]

At age 5 I got a Red Ryder BB gun and killed a truck load of pesky starlings and squirrels that used to tear up everything.

On my 7th birthday my uncle gave me his old single shot Stevens (I think). It was surprisingly accurate with it's poor sights. Right after that 7th birthday I went with my grandmother to the hardware store in town and I fell in love with a Winchester Model 69. She let me buy it with my own money and I killed literally hundreds of groundhogs, coons, foxes and "chicken hawks" on our farm and the neighboring farms with that old 22.

The bounty money on those critters let me save up and I had an old Weaver 4 power scope (I think) put on it by a gunsmith. He helped me sight it in and I was then officially a young sniper. No varmint was safe out to about 80 yards where the ammo seemed to run out of steam and I got more wounded ones than one shot kills.

My next rifle was an old WW2 Belgian Mauser in 7mm Mauser and I became a deer and hog hunter but they were easy after cutting my teeth on starlings and squirrels. After that I got a pre 64 Model 94 Winchester in 30-30. It wasn't very accurate but I was a pretty good stalker so it was accurate enough and it was such a pleasure to carry and shoot.

I'd have to say my favorite rifle was that old Model 69 Winchester. It was stolen with 10 other long guns in 1986. I still miss that rifle to this day.

 

[brettman]

Ruger m77/22 target in 22mag back around 1994. Put a 4x40mm nikon monarch on it and had a local smith bed it and massage the trigger down. I had a couple 22s I was allowed to use before that one but that was the 1st that I bought and it was mine and mine alone! It was a pretty expensive 22 even then and as a 13 year old I mowed a lot of yards and stacked a lot of straw to save up for it. The local gun store owner must've seen the determination in my eyes cause he held that thing back about 3 months before I finally had enough to get it. I still have that rifle and it'll still remove a squirrels head at 100 yards. I joke with my son that it won't take up too much room in the box with me when I am done with it.

 

[ARlife4me]

A side note to my opening post is as follows.

I didn't have a bb gun until after shooting 22lr/22mag (about 5 yo). My dad had a motor grader w I closed cab (all glass included). Well 1 day I shot the windshield 1 time........and another.... and another until it was totally cracked. It never collapsed/fell. The next day he laughed as he KNEW EXACTLY WHO DID IT! It got replaced and my butt is still intact also.

 

[hunter0528]

My first gun was a H&R single shot 12 gauge, mom bought at work from a friend (Bendix Aviation) back in 1960. I was twelve and had it for 2 years before I could save enough to buy an Ithaca 37 12 Gauge, same as dads except I had the barrel cut and installed a Polychoke. Still have the Ithaca, and shoot it. (wish now I did not put the poly on, but it was a Full choke for trap shooting and not really good for rabbit and pheasant).

Added note Dad always said if I save 1/2 (50%) of what ever I wanted he would chip in the other 1/2. That worked for the Ithaca, a Ruger convertable, A S&W 27, and a Luger. Good training learned for the future. (I did the same for my son. teaches the value of money)

 

[Rosebud]

Yup, safe to say not a single firearm or other inanimate object would be considered a love in my lifetime

While I really liked my Rem 1100, love was never thing. Guns have been like other tools. If a better one comes along I'm looking at it. But, it has to be a great improvement before I drop $$$ on it. Today I'm looking at lighter, faster and more accurate. If said firearm doesn't meet the criteria, its a no go!

 

[Calvin45]

While I really liked my Rem 1100, love was never thing. Guns have been like other tools. If a better one comes along I'm looking at it. But, it has to be a great improvement before I drop $$$ on it. Today I'm looking at lighter, faster and more accurate. If said firearm doesn't meet the criteria, its a no go!

Yeah I don't know if love is the right word haha…but there are a number of guns that hold sentimental value or represent something unique and irreplaceable to me for various reasons.

I've posted these in another thread but these are three guns that are special to me for reasons including simply because they aren't made anymore.

Left to right a husqvarna m98 8x57, a BRNO ZG47 rebarreled to .358 Norma magnum, action made in 1956 in Czechoslovakia, and a savage 99 in .243.

 

[MtPockets]

I get it, love is not the right word but I also don't look at my guns as tools. Come to think of it, I guess I DO kind of treat them like vehicles- which explains why I still own the last 3 pickups I've bought.
To me, if they are completely a rash, spur of the moment kind of purchase then yes I can see sending them down the line.
I have none that fit that criteria.
All of my guns have either got a lot of great memories attached or are about to.