[Guest]

Howdy and Merry Christmas:
My dad just gave me the first pistol I ever shot (at age eight in 1959). It is a Ruger 22 auto he bought in 1958 for $37.50 brand new.

Aside from some holster wear on the bluing it is in excellent condition. The bore is perfect. The only place I found some gunk on it was a little under the grips when I took it apart to see how it was after all these years.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. The first handgun I recall shooting was my father's H&R Model 922. The first semi was probably my uncle's old Llama 380, sometime in the '50's.

Best.

 

[Chris Stephens]

Hi there,

Growing up in suburban Maryland right outside the District of Columbia didn't allow the chance to shoot a pistol until I could get out of the city in my teens.
A friend of mine was given his father's 1911 A1 (his father was a retired Army General) on his sixteenth birthday and we took it to the country to shoot.
I can still remember the buck of the .45 in my hands and the smell of powder in the air.
I was hooked on handguns from then on...

Chris

 

[Guest]

Well, I found out that from the serial # this one was probably circa 1969. My dad is in his eightys and must have replaced the original one back then.
Bless his heart, I still will treasure this one.
Tucson Bill

 

[Guest]

My first handgun was my first bought, a Heritage Arms rough rider.

My first rifle was a Marlin model 60 when I was 8 or 9 years old. I got one of my own last Christmas.

 

[Guest]

Ruger standard auto, circa 1956. First centerfire a DCM .45, Easter Sunday 1959 with my dad. I still have the .45. And Dad, God bless him.

 

[Guest]

First handgun was Dad's H&R 923, a 2 1/2" (or so) nickle plated, 9-shot 22. First pistol was a friend's Ruiger Mark I 22. I put my left thumb over my shooting hand, and the first shot took a chunk out of my knuckle. Never did that again.

 

[kcii]

First pistol I ever shot was a Ruger MKII .22 that I bought when I turned 17 and finally got my permit. I do not come from a shooting family so I had to wait until I was old enough to get one myself. I still have it.

Shawn

 

[Guest]

Don't remember the exact date or age but it was a Ruger Blackhawk in .357.


RC

 

[Guest]

S&W model 10, 4" skinny barrel, my uncle's old service revolver.

 

[ace3]

The first handgun I ever shot, many years ago, was my uncle's S&W mod 10 with a 2'' barrel. His car gun at the time. I remember it as being very loud. I now own black powder canons that are really loud. Great place America.

 

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

All I can tell you is that it was a single action centerfire of some sort. I had no hearing protection and I had something in the neighborhood of seven shots to get rid of, so I bounced a milk jug around that the owner had set up at about 50yds. I had my BB gun training, ya' see, and I knew about sights

Never knew the owner prior, didn't catch his name, and have not seen him since.

Josh <><

 

[Guest]

In 1964 I was 8 years old , My dad let me shoot his old victory model .38 (I had known since I was 5 where it was loaded "and" that I could not mess with it) A pity kids no longer respect thier Dads as they once did !! Anyway he created a pistol lover at that moment even though he was mostly a rifleman. Darr

 

[larry]

Hi all,

My first gun was the Swiss Luger in 7,65 para that my grandfather gave me some years ago before passing in 1994 (I still miss him so much...), as I was the only one of his grandsons who went to the army. He was a captain in the Swiss Army during the Mobilisation (WW2 time), and was presented the weapon at the end of his service, as the tradition is here. My first shooting session was, believe it or not, in our basement, as my parents were out. The bullets coming back from the wall pretty soon convinced me that it was a bad idea. Than I shot a SIG SAUER P 226, and so many more since.

Bests

L.

 

[jimhigginbotham]

The first pistol I fired, when I was 5, was my Dad's 1911a1 in .45 ACP.

He had to help me hold it up (I suspect he also wanted to make sure I did not drop it and I am not sure it had more than one cartridge in it).

No ear plugs (which I later began to suspect was on purpose) and as luck would have it the empty case went right down the back of my shirt neck and burned me!

I never did touch that gun again (he traded it off before I got really intersted in handguns) - which I gather was the point of the whole exercise My dad was always a rifleman and cared not for most pistols but it was only when he was 70 years old and I had the privilege of certifying him for concealed carry that I learned he knew how to shoot a pistol too.

I guess he just never had much use for one

Onward,
Jim

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hahahhahahahha! I like the last line of your post. (He didn't shoot a .45-110, did he?)

My dad was very similar in that he preferred rifles. As he got older he wanted a handgun for around the house and I bought him a Model 19 4"; he simply preferred revolvers.

Now that he's passed, it's come back to me.

Best.

 

[jimhigginbotham]

Steve;
No his favorite rifle was always the M1 Garand.

Having survived the Depression and serving in WWII he had that strange respect for firearms but a desire to never waste money. Even though he advanced pretty high in civil service and made good money he would almost never spend anything on himself.

I finally gave him an M-1 Garand (I.H. made in 1953) for one of his birtdays. This was before all the imports and Garands were really expensive but I found one at a gunwshow for $400.

It shot fairly well and I took him to the range where he wore out "targets of opportunites" at 200 to 400 meters (so much so that two rifle instructors from Ft. Knox who were at the range came over and comment that they had never seen such marksmanship).

After he retired I talked him into attending an NRA High Power Clinic to qualify us for a DCM Garand. We shot the short course (200 yds. Standing, 300 sitting and 600 prone).

When they came in, mine was quite accurate but had a beat up birch stock. His was all walnut and it was one of the last ones made and looked like it was unfired!

Now he has lost most of his vision and he cannot shoot a rifle (he still does OK with a pistol at close range) but I will always cherish our Garands.

Press on,
Jim

 

[poohgyrr]

I grew up around relatives who made it through our Depression, and one branch who also lived through another in Europe. They are and were some fine people, who learned a lot that would be very useful to many people today, including myself.

But the first two handguns I shot were Ruger .22s, the semiauto and the convertable Single Six. I don't remember which was first. The third & fourth I shot were an old Star 5" steel 1911 .45 (brought back from WWII Europe) or a 2" steel K frame adjustable sighted Smith .38. Otherwise, our family pretty much preferred rifles or SGs... And something here made me think of Quigley, a pretty good movie.....

 

[jimhigginbotham]

Along this vein, the handgun my son first shot was a Colt .22 Match Target Woodsman when he was 4(at that time he already owned a Ruger Super Bearcat but had not shot it - he did that after he shot the Woodsman) . I let him hold it all by himself but I was pretty close by.

He managed to get 10 A-zone hits (very slow fire) on an IPSC Item target at 7 yards so I saved it and will one day give him the Colt too. Last week he took his Concealed Carry course (my, 21 years passes quickly!) and he shot one ragged hole with his Colt Govt. Model, we will save that one too.

Life is good!
God bless,
Jim

 

[Guest]

SAC knows my story as I have told it many times. When I was 21 I bought my first handgun and it was a 4" S&W M34. I practiced and practiced and still couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside. I gave up shooting handguns for ten years until I met 44SpecialDave and he had the patience to teach me. I can now ocassionaly hit a wall. Regards, Richard