your 1st love? memorable or not

[del2les]

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.

I took the Rotor Wing Warrant Officer route through Ft. Rucker, AL after a stint in the USAF.

Thank you for our service!

 

[woodneagle]

When I was a kid living in Chicago's North side, in the summers my mom would send me to the farm in Northern Indiana to stay with her parents, Grandpa and Gandma. It was 280 acres, where they raised corn, wheat and soy beans, a few horses, some pigs, at least one dairy cow and some chickens. There were crows always flying overhead but they knew the range of a .22 rifle and stayed far enough away. I didn't know how smart they were until I got my first .22 , a JC Higgins a semi-auto, made by High Standard. It held 19 LR in the tube and fired them all reliably. It was "love at first sight" when grandpa took me into a local Sears and Roebuck in Lowell, Indiana. All the rifles and shotguns were openly displayed and you could pick them up and hold them up and sight down the barrels.

So, I wrote back to my mom and asked if I could buy that rifle and waited for the letter of approval. Finally it came but there was a restriction! Grandpa would be in charge of the ammo and only give me a little at a time. That was fine with me!
There was a sand dune on the East side of the barn and that's where I practiced at rusty old cans. I think there was a 3/4" diameter scope, a 4 X if I recall? I may still have that somewhere on a shelf. I'd take "pot shots" at the crows, but never hit a single one. It wasn't until I was 18 and got a Sako Vixen HB in .243 that I head shot my first crow at 100 yards, with a Weaver 10X fine plex.

Back to that JC Higgins. It stayed in the closet in the apartment in Chicago all through high school, until me and 2 buddies
decided to ride our bikes down to the farm in Indiana, about 60 miles. I strapped the rifle in a vinyl case to the center bar on the bike and rode with it in between my legs the entire way. No questions asked by law enforcement or anyone else.
Chicago was an entirely different place 60 years ago. We camped out that night and I was in charge of perimeter security.
Fast forward about 40 years and the rifle was hung on a coat rack through the trigger guard with a robe over it to hide it.
Sleeping away, until about 2 AM there's a tremendous crash outside the house, so I jumped up, grabbed the rifle and chambered a round. I went outside cautiously to see my neighbor's kid pulling away down the drive and my wood fence was completely
knocked over. I called the cops and they came out and we discussed who had done it and they said they knew were he lived and would follow up. I went back up stairs to get some sleep.

I hung the rifle back on the clothes tree and that's when it when fully automatic and fired about 5 rounds down into the floor and through the ceiling below. No one was harmed, just a single .22 hole in the couch cushion. I had forgot I had chambered a round, obviously!

A few years later and a broken stock, and I decided to make it more tactical, a Barska 3 X 9 scope, an 1/8"aluminum plate and PVC tubing for a cheek piece and butt plate. The forearm is a flat 1/4" aluminum and drilled and tapped for a vertical hand grip.
I must say it shoulders right up perfectly with the crosshairs ready for firing.
It will indeed get passed along to my son. We are both NRA Life members.

 

[Mike Matteson]

I use a model 62 Winchester Pump. It was my dad's. I purchase it when I was about 14 from him.I still have it. I already had a 410, 16, 12, and a old bouble barrel 16 hammer type. I had use it for several years, but became concren the it maybe a demask barrel. So it's been put away. I hadn't use it from age 14.
The interesting part of this is. My dad wouldn't let me have BB gun. I could have 22 or shotgun, and a high powered rifle, but no BB gun. My dad felt that a BB gun lead to no good. I kind of had to agree. That's the same way with I did with my boys.

 

[unclecroc]

When I was 10 my father and mother left me with my grandmother for a date night and returned with a henry mini bolt 22lr. It's the rifle I learned to shoot on and I have killed so many critters and I've busted so many random targets with it. I still bring it along on some range trips for cheap entertainment while barrels cool while shooting bigger stuff. I plan to pass it down to my son for his first rifle when he's old enough.

 

[Old Rooster]

My first gun was a winchester 22 bolt action,I think a model 52.The barrel had never been cleaned so a friend and I did the deal and that thing shot like a champ.I miss that rifle

 

[sturner]

Savage over and under 222 on top 20 ga on bottom
Killed my first buck with it
And it's in my safe from 40 years ago

 

[Gpkhill2]

For Christmas when I was 15. My parents bought me a Ruger 77 MkII in 7RM. Stainless with the boat paddle stock. I've shot a pile of deer with it. I put a gray laminate stock on it a couple years later and put the original stock away. 30 years later I rarely shoot it. But it'll never go anywhere. Might take it out of the safe this year for a walk a couple times this season

 

[436]

When I was a kid living in Chicago's North side, in the summers my mom would send me to the farm in Northern Indiana to stay with her parents, Grandpa and Gandma. It was 280 acres, where they raised corn, wheat and soy beans, a few horses, some pigs, at least one dairy cow and some chickens. There were crows always flying overhead but they knew the range of a .22 rifle and stayed far enough away. I didn't know how smart they were until I got my first .22 , a JC Higgins a semi-auto, made by High Standard. It held 19 LR in the tube and fired them all reliably. It was "love at first sight" when grandpa took me into a local Sears and Roebuck in Lowell, Indiana. All the rifles and shotguns were openly displayed and you could pick them up and hold them up and sight down the barrels.

So, I wrote back to my mom and asked if I could buy that rifle and waited for the letter of approval. Finally it came but there was a restriction! Grandpa would be in charge of the ammo and only give me a little at a time. That was fine with me!
There was a sand dune on the East side of the barn and that's where I practiced at rusty old cans. I think there was a 3/4" diameter scope, a 4 X if I recall? I may still have that somewhere on a shelf. I'd take "pot shots" at the crows, but never hit a single one. It wasn't until I was 18 and got a Sako Vixen HB in .243 that I head shot my first crow at 100 yards, with a Weaver 10X fine plex.

Back to that JC Higgins. It stayed in the closet in the apartment in Chicago all through high school, until me and 2 buddies
decided to ride our bikes down to the farm in Indiana, about 60 miles. I strapped the rifle in a vinyl case to the center bar on the bike and rode with it in between my legs the entire way. No questions asked by law enforcement or anyone else.
Chicago was an entirely different place 60 years ago. We camped out that night and I was in charge of perimeter security.
Fast forward about 40 years and the rifle was hung on a coat rack through the trigger guard with a robe over it to hide it.
Sleeping away, until about 2 AM there's a tremendous crash outside the house, so I jumped up, grabbed the rifle and chambered a round. I went outside cautiously to see my neighbor's kid pulling away down the drive and my wood fence was completely
knocked over. I called the cops and they came out and we discussed who had done it and they said they knew were he lived and would follow up. I went back up stairs to get some sleep.

I hung the rifle back on the clothes tree and that's when it when fully automatic and fired about 5 rounds down into the floor and through the ceiling below. No one was harmed, just a single .22 hole in the couch cushion. I had forgot I had chambered a round, obviously!

A few years later and a broken stock, and I decided to make it more tactical, a Barska 3 X 9 scope, an 1/8"aluminum plate and PVC tubing for a cheek piece and butt plate. The forearm is a flat 1/4" aluminum and drilled and tapped for a vertical hand grip.
I must say it shoulders right up perfectly with the crosshairs ready for firing.
It will indeed get passed along to my son. We are both NRA Life members.

Didn't I see the Sand People from Star Wars with that shooter?

Cheers

 

[JustMe2]

Mine was a Daisy Target Special BB gun with a peep sight at somewhere between 6-8 years old. My buddy and I ate many small birds and frogs taken with our BB guns while camping.

 

[bpwsm]

Christmas as an 8yr old. I got a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun just like Ralphie did with the same pomp and circumstance as he did in a Christmas Story. Won't ever forget it

Me too! I still have that BB gun! I think I got mine in 1975?? We lived in an apartment , so my uncle (with Mom's permission) set up a a target at the end of the hallway and I shot all the time... No holes in wall either!

My first real gun and my first love that got me into shooting and tinkering, was a Model 70 Ranger 30-06 I bought on closeout for $200. Practiced every shooting position all summer, read all the Jim Zumbo books and shot my first Elk that fall with open sights at 80yds! That gun will be buried with me!
And then there was Jenny!..

 

[Charlielee]

My first one was a Stevens bolt action single shot .22. It was not accurate, Dad told me that it had a crooked barrel. About 2 or 3 years later when I was about 10 I traded it for a Cushman scooter. It could haul two littler kids on back with sling shots for rabbits. It was a blast!
Dad asked me why I traded the .22? I told him it had a crooked barrel. He just shrugged his shoulder.

 

[cajun]

I remember it like yesterday. A two track off a gravel road in the middle-of nowhere. Kind of like that Bob Seger song night moves. At least until some coon hunters showed up and hit my
Truck with a spotlight. Oh wait ya'll were talking about guns

 

[hunter0528]

My first gun was a winchester 22 bolt action,I think a model 52.The barrel had never been cleaned so a friend and I did the deal and that thing shot like a champ.I miss that rifle

Still have my Winchester 52 Bull Barrel bought used in '65, at Ray's Sport Shop in NJ. Still shoots great.

 

[asd9055]

.303 Brengun, typically issued with 12 30round magazines and two extra barrels. Firing from open bolt, and if you didnt hold tight on to it, it would walk away from you. A five year old could shoot it with no problems. Well I did.