What are some of the first guns you were given or bought? When I was 9 my Dad gave me a Winchester model 37 single shot .410. When I was 10 he gave me a Marlin model 99 M1 .22 rifle, For Christmas of my 11th year, my parents gave my brother and me 12 gauge 870 Wing master shotguns. When I was 14, my Dad bought me a Remington 788 243 with a Weaver K4 scope on it for getting all A's and B's on my report card. I still have all of those guns. How about you guys?

Ron

Well, I got a Daisy BB Gun for Christmas when I was eight (replaced with a Crosman .177 pellet rifle when I was fourteen), but the first real gun I got was a Remington Fieldmaster pump .22 for my sixteenth birthday.

I bought a Browning (Belgium) Sweet Sixteen in 1966. Still have it. Totally awesome shotgun.

Ithaca Mdl 37. Shotguns were all we did back then. Rifles were for rich people.

At 8, my Dad gave me a Stevens 22/410, which he had won right after WWII. At 10, I earned some money and split the price of a Remington Nylon 66 with my Dad. At 13 (I think), I split the price of a Browning Nomad 22 semi-auto pistol with my Dad. At 14, I saved enough money,mowing a few lawns and picking up pecans, getting enough cash to buy a Winchester Model 88 in .308 Win. At 17, I bought a S&W Model 28, which my mother had to sign for as recently the 1968 Gun Control Act had recently passed!

I starting hand loading, with a Lee Loader, at age 16 for the .308 Win. The rest is history! memtb

Nylon 66 purchased by me with paper route $$...I was 13...next was a Rem 700 ADL .243 pencil barrel with a Redfield 2x7 (50 years ago) still own and now sits in a tracker stock and Hart barrel...still killing stuff with it.

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My first rifle gift was a Marlin model 15Y .22. Now my son lights things up with it.

My first big game gun was a Savage 110E that I bought at 15. That action has seen 4 barrels since, and about to wear #5 in 6mm Rem.

My dad gave me a Winchester Model 63 when I was about 15 that he got for Christmas in about 1950. My parents got me a Ruger RST6 for Christmas in about 1976. My grandparents got me a Ruger SBH 7.5” for my 16th birthday. I bought myself a Ruger 10/22 Deluxe Sporter and a Glenfield Model 25 and a Mossberg 500 when I was between 15 and 17.

Hmm, I shot my father's Excell 410 single shot, and my brother's 22's. My first would be the PO Ackley 22/250 when it was a wildcat.

My dad traded a pig for a Winchester 37 in .410. I was 10 at the time and used it for a few years and got a Remington 11-48 in 12 gauge.

The first gun that was "mine" and given to me at age 10 was a Stevens 20 gauge single barrel. HORRENDOUS trigger probably 20lbs... very hard hammer to pull. Got a Winchester 94 at age 14. Was given a Ruger Security Six .357 at age 17...

Shot lots of ducks, doves and a few deer with them. Still have the single barrel.

Mother bought me a 552 speedmaster one afternoon while she was at the PX. No special occasion. Maybe I was 13,14?



Myself, I bought a 788 carbine in 308 with grocery sacking tip money. Took a lot of quarters and dimes. 👍



Then for some reason back to mother, she gave me a brand spankin new 7400 in 0/6 for Christmas same year.

I didnt need it. Actually hated it. Wish I still had it.

Still have the speedmaster and the 788


An aside: mother didnt want anything happening to me while I was always out arrowhead hunting. Same summer she bought me a S&W 422, 4” semi auto. I was packing illegal heat when I was 15, driving with a learners permit. 😃

I can't remember which guns actually came first. I got four in a short space. My Uncle gave me an old Marlin pump shotgun, which I still have. 12 gauge. My Dad bought me a Winchester model 270 .22 pump. My Grandma gave me my Grandpa's model 12 Remington pump .22. Just a short while later, my Dad got me a Browning model 2000 shotgun. I cannot recall which of the first two came first.

I bought my first big game rifle, a Remington 788 with a Tasco 4x scope installed. .308.

I also bought my first pistol, a H&R .22 nine-shooter.

first "real" gun and not a pellet gun was my grandads h&r 929 revolver. i was proud as hell of that gun. its not much of a gun but it was all mine. i still have it and it is my camp gun, hanging inside an old pair of coveralls.

Mossberg 42M when I was 7. 22 Accurate and reliable even today. Still have it 47-48 years later. Plan to give it to a grand child if we ever have any.

What kind of trade would you take for it?

My first handgun, which I bought at age 19, was a Ruger Speed Six .357 Magnum. Still have it. My brother has my Remington Fieldmaster pump .22 (my sixteenth birthday present). I sold it to him when I was about 20.

That's essentially the semi-auto version of the Fieldmaster.

Wore out several BB guns in grade school no idea how old I was when I got the first one.
The first firearm that was mine was a depression era Remington 22 single shot my Dad gave me.
Saved and bought a Sheridan pellet rifle at 12 or 13 and a Winchester model 270 pump 22 before I was High School age

I guess that means "no".

Bristoe, he mentioned two guns. Which one were you interested in?

Scratch that. I see the you've since specified. Missed it.

first one my folks gave me was a model 58 Remington in 16 gauge, promptly shot a hole in the refrigerator with it, scared the hell out of my sister and didn't and see it again for a year!

788

I've become leery of listing guns that I no longer own due to a forest fire.

First; Daisy lever w/peep & globe, can't remember the model

First handgun; Walther P-38

1st 22; Winchester 290

Shotgun; Rem 870

Centerfire rile; sporterized Mauser in 30-06

My first true firearm was a Western Field .410 bolt-action that fired about 30% of the time.

Then, bought an H&R single-shot 20 gauge I could hardly pull the hammer on ($10 used).

Not too good for busting brush pile, fast-footing cottontails.

Paper route monies.

The following pump shotgun was like ascending to heaven.

At about 15 Dad bought an H&R Baystate 20 ga single shot. ($25 including a box of shells) My 12 year old brother and I shared it for a few weeks, and taught our stock dogs to point and flush (respectively) pheasant.

A pair of hunters from Boise who enjoyed hunting on our property brought along a Stevens bolt action 20 ga and gave it to my brother a couple weeks later. Then the H&R was all mine.

At age 22 I purchased my first game rifle. Everyone I knew shot 30-06, so that is what I got. But I broke from three generations of tradition and bought a Win 760 bolt gun instead of a Rem pump.

I followed that up the next year with the first varmint rifle between everyone I knew including my much extended family. I bought a MIJ Wea Mk V 26 inch in 22-250. I put a Redfield accu-trac range compensating 3-9 on it, with the TV screen lens.

Everyone I knew thought rifles were just for filling the freezer. So I took the 22-250 out and killed my first deer with it.

Ruger 10/22

Savage 99 .308

Mossberg 183-K .410 (C-lect choke)

Stevens single-shot 12 ga (forget the model - wood stocks, full choke, 30")

Ruger MK II

S&W 686

First gun was a .22, a Marlin model 60 for my 12th birthday. Got my Win 94 30-30 when I was 15.
Still have both. Lord did I run a ton of ammo thru that .22 when I was a teenager..

I remember selling a lot of Marlin Model 60s when I worked the gun counter at Hermann's Sporting Goods in the early 1980s.

My first gun was Daisy Red Rider that my dad bought for me. To this day I remember how excited I was and it was great until my best friend’s dad bought him a Crosman 760 pellet rifle and then I had to have one.

I used to stare behind the counter at K-Mart at the Remington 66 and thought that was what a rifle should look like. I day dreamed about hunting rabbits and squirrels with it. My Uncle bought a Ruger 10/22 for me but I was disappointed that it wasn’t the Remington 66. In hind sight it was the better rifle and I killed 100’s of chipmunks and a few crows with it... maybe a Turkey vulture or two🤫

My first deer rifle was a Remington 700 BDL 30/06 bought with a combination of paper route money saved and my Uncle contributing.

My first shotgun was a Remington 870

First “assault rifle” was a MAK90 that I bought with my own money for $290 when I turned 18

My first pistol was a Springfield 1911 that I bought when I turned 21

Win 67A boy's carbine - for my 7th birthday.
Parents wouldn't let me have a BB gun - too dangerous!
Moved to a farm later that year - I carried that little rifle every day, bringing in the milk cow.
Killed MANY jackrabbits with it! Later, had a Lyman peep installed, and shot competitively in the junior NRA.
(Ammo was ~ .38 cents a box IIRC)

As an aside - whatever happened to the (cent) sign? Us oldsters know - the "C" with the line through it?
Oh - obsolete - "sense" don't count, anymore!

It’s a keeper, sorry.

¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

First gun (Glenfield Model 20, Christmas 1969), first deer rifle (Model 94 bought myself before deer season 1970), and first shotgun (Model 1100 from my Dad, used during hunting season 1969 but not officially mine for another year or so) are all still in the safe.

Hey Slumlord,
Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

1969 - thaca 66 Supersingle 20 Ga
1970 - Ruger 10/22 Deluxe Sporter Fingergroove Stock ***
1971- JC Higgins Pump 12 GA with a Dogdeeek Choke
1973 - Browning BLR 243 ***

*** Still have

Grew up hunting with 870 shotguns, 12 and 16. When I was 12 my father bought me a Sears Ted Williams 30-30 (Winchester). Next was H&R single shot 12 ga. shotgun. Next was a Ruger 10/22, all are sitting in my safe. Along with dad’s Model 81.

First gun I ever bought was a Ruger Security Six. Next was a Winchester Model 70 in .270. Had to sell both to make ends meet while in college. Somewhere along the line while co-oping in college was an H&R 300 mag.

First one given to me was a Model 72 Winchester .22, a year or so later, a Winchester 370 in .410 bore.

Those two guns accounted for a large amount of squirrels (and some songbirds).

First one I bought myself was a brand-new 1970 Model 94 Winchester .30-30. It's killed a bunch of deer and a couple pigs and black bears.

I still have them all.

My great uncle Bill Roggenkamp grew up on a farm in North Dakota at the turn of the century. He was a World War I vet who contracted the Spanish flu in basic training in Louisiana. Everyone in the Barricks was sick and, or dying and he decided to go AWOL and go back home to ND. After he recovered the army took him back with no hard feelings and he honorably completed his service. As a young kid his father would give them 2 or 3 shotgun shells for a single shot 12 gauge or 16 gauge to go get a couple pheasants and not come back without the birds. Later he raised champion English setters in Fond du Lac Wisconsin and shot a very early browning sweet 16. One of the best wing shots I ever saw.

Great stuff guys! I bought my first handgun when I was 20. S&W model 39 9mm. Carried it when I was bow hunting for protection. Don't have that one any more.

Ron

H&R .410, typical full choke. 12yo, reward for graduating hunter’s ed, basically. Rubbed that stock with formby’s tung until became quite presentable. Was squirrel crazy in those days, an upgrade from a Daisy 880. Guess dad figured I couldn’t get in as much trouble as with a rifle.

Aside from squirrels, learned to throw a clay from a pull-lanyard Trius trap, mount and pull back hammer, shoot with fair success.

Benjamin 22 Cal pump pellet gun when I was 7 for Christmas.
Awsome rifle and I still have it.
I was 13 at Christmas and my Dad gave me a beautiful Sweet Sixteen Browning.
I still have it, still love it, and it's a great gun!
My dad gave me my Grandpas Browning Light 12 for Christmas when I was 16.
Many many many guns later........
My Dad gave me a worn Nickel Plated H&R 38 that a Chicago Police Chief gave my Great Grandfather.
My Grandfather gave it to my Dad for his 35th birthday with a beautiful letter to my Dad about the gun.
My Dad gave it to me for my 35th with a lovely and touching letter.
In 2 years I cant wait to give it to my Son.

H&R 9-shot, break top .22, at 8 years old, S&W 41 the same year.
It's been S&W ever since

Stevens single shot 20 ga and a Win Model 94 30-30. Got them both when I was 8. Shot my first duck with the 20 that fall and shot my first deer at age 9 with the 30-30. Still have both of them.

A Coast to Coast .22 for my 8th grade graduation in 1968. I still have it.

kwg

I cannot remember not having a BB gun so I must have been pretty young when I got it. My first real gun was a Mossberg 142A - the one with the folding forearm, I got it for my 10th birthday and my grandson is using it now. If I said how many gophers that gun has killed I would be branded as a fibber but lets just say it has been in the thousands.

Oh yes, it not only had an adjustable peep sight but it also had Mossberg scope on it, but it disappeared somewhere during the years - no great loss.

drover

My mother got me a Remington 511 for S & H Green Stamps, my dad got me a Savage Fox 12ga. S x S. When I was in college I bought my first centerfire rifle a Winchester M/88 .243 from a fraternity brother. I traded it for a pre '64 M/88 .308 after my dad told me he didn't think the .243 was enough for whitetail.

This brought back a bunch of memories. My dad didn't hunt when I was young but the rest of my family did so I had help.

My brother-in-law Don Stewart gave me a BB gun and a full box of red bb tubes the Christmas I was seven. Next he gave me gave me an 1892 in .32-20 with a 24" octagon barrel. I was eight.

For my ninth birthday I got a Model 55 Winchester and ammo from mom and dad. They let me keep it in my room with the ammo.

That summer when I was ten, my uncle Hubert gave me a tube feed Reminton bolt action .22. I sanded, polished and cold blued it, refinished the stock and put peep sights on it. I was a fool to sell it.

Don and an aunt lent me 94's in .25-35 for that fall and the next. The Savage and both 94's had Marbles tang sights. You can do nice work with those. These days I have an 1899 with them.

For my 12th birthday dad bought me a 99 Savage in .300 Savage. At the same time he bought a Model 88 in .308, the only rifle he ever owned.

When I was 15, I bought a Stevens 94 in 16 gauge with money from selling fireworks.

The next summer, me and three other kids from work bought Ruger autoloading .22LR pistols.

That was it until I got out of the Marine Corps in 1970 at 23. I sold most of them when I went in. I still have the Model 55, one of the .22 Rugers from a friend (who bought his when I did mine) and Dad's Model 88. It is my grandson's now.

A neighbor showed me how to reload for the Savage the year I got it..

After he left, the guys at the local Foster Sporting Goods let me use their gear if I bought bullets, primers and powder. 100 grain half jackets, 150 grain Hornady soft points and Ball C2 powder. You could still do worse.

I was given an Ithaca 66 12 gauge when I was eleven by a family friend whose son didn't want it anymore. I soon understood why. That shotgun would kick you down and stomp you.

My stepfather thought I was exaggerating. We were squirrel hunting one day and he fell in the creek. We built a fire and he was drying off. He spotted a squirrel and my shotgun was close so he grabbed it and shot.

It was comical as he shot in his underwear to see him spun around by the recoil.

That Christmas (1971) I had a brand new Rem. 870 Wingmaster 20 gauge under the tree from my stepfather. I passes it down to my son but it's still in my gun safe.

The first gun that was actually my own was a Stevens/Savage 20 Ga single shot,I think I was 11 or 12. It lived thru me,my brother, my cousin and both of my kids. Still in surprisingly good shape. Still kill a stray cat with it occasionally.

I was taught to shoot with a Sears bolt action 410. My first gun was given to me by my grandfather at Christmas when I was 10, a Remington 11-48. Didn't shoot it until I was 12 and still my go to shotgun.

All my sons each got their own Marlin 39 as their first rifle. As they got older, they got the following.

Rem 700 Classic in 250 Savage.
Savage 99A in 250 Savage.
1st year Remington 700 ADL Carbine in 30-06

I was not given my own firearm growing up. I used family guns. When my father passed in 2015, they all became mine.

The first that was actually mine, as opposed to family guns I had the use of, was an old FN single shot .22 that I was given when I turned 10. I'd already been out rabbitting with various family members from about the age of 7, so I was allowed to go out by myself on the family farm and those of the neighbours (all of whom were related to me). I would be issued a single round of ammunition, and expected either to come back with a rabbit or that round, or a good explanation.

When I turned 14 I was given a scoped Brno Model 1 .22, which was a big step up, though I'd tried various other .22s that my father and others had, such as Sportco, Browning and Ruger 10/22 self-loaders, a Winchester 1906 pump, and one or two others. The Brno was more accurate than any of them, and as well as shooting truckloads of rabbits and foxes I won several prizes with it. I also bought myself a new Winchester 1400 12 ga that year, with the 28" Winchoke barrel and 20" "riot" barrel. The latter proved ideal for close range bunnies and pigs, and I shot a lot of them, as well as shooting a lot of ducks with the longer barrel. I started reloading that year too, to keep the 12 ga fed.

The first gun Dad ever gave me was an old, very heavily used Ward's Western Field .22 single shot. It was pretty tired when I got it, but was very accurate.

At 11 my mom bought me an HR 410 single shot new from Kmart in Ogden Utah for $48. That same year I bought my own ruger 10/22 from Tom's marina in Burley, Idaho after a long layaway and many early mornings working at memorial monuments making wire rewards frames for concrete burial vaults.

Then I bought an H&R 12 gauge single shot with a plastic button plate no recoil pad. My friends called it Mulie because it knocked a few of them to the ground with 3" XX lead shot.

At 13 my grandpa gave me his old 1903 A3 30-06 sporterized with a fiddleback myrtle wood stock. At 14 I bought myself a new 700 BDL in 6mm.

I still have the 410, the 30-06, and the 6mm.

Bb

I had an ancient Winchester single shot rifle, a gauge single shot shotgun as a kid. When I was , I ordered a .38 revolver from an ad in Outdoor Life.

When I first answered this OP, my eyes saw “guns”....my mind read “firearms”! So, I guess my first gun was at age 7.....a Benjamin Pump in .177 caliber! memtb

Stevens model 15 single shot bolt action 22lr. Dad got it for me when I was 7yrs old. I can still remember how hard it was to pull back on the cocking knob with frozen fingers. I don't recall what happened to it but I found one 40 years later in a pawn shop and bought it. I still shoot it at least once a month. It is a tack driver for it's age. By far my most prized gun.

Dad bought me a brand new Winchester 370 16 ga. when I was 13 or 14 then a Winchester pellet rifle and when I probably 17 he bought my brother and I a Winchester model 190 22 rifles each, all that I still have.

I didn't have any growing up.

My boot camp M16 was my first.

I bought a Glock 17 and a Remington 700 classic 375H&H in 1994.

I got a daisy BB gun at age 10, then a win.md37 20 gage at 12, but had to give it to my brother when he turned 12 I always thought that sucked. I bought a marlin 12ga. Bolt action at 14, a rem. Nylon 66 the next year and have bought or traded from my guns since. At 18 I saved up and bought my 1st deer rifle a Marlin 1895 45-70

My first gun was a Stevens 12 gauge I bought at a Globe store when I was 16 ( by myself) on North Shepard in 1968.

A Winchester 52 sporter, not give but loaned for about a year for Boy Scouts. First one I bought was a Marlin Model 60. Think it was $39.99 at Target. First deer rifle was a Mauser BCD code '44 still have that one.

I inherited my dads Marlin model 80 dl .22 rifle when i was 12,my grandfather had put it away for me when he died ,with instructions to give it to me on my 12 th birthday.If i had to keep only one,that would be it.

1st Shotgun - Remington 870 3" Mag

1st Rimfire - Ruger 10/22

1st Centerfire - Mark X Mauser in .270

My Dad gave me his first 22, a Remington single shotTargetmaster, which I still have when I was 8 years old. A couple years later he gave me a 20 guage Ithaca Mod 37 that I still have. Also bought a Belgian A-5 lightweight a few years later for me, and I still have that too. They will never leave until death do us part.

I was a freshman in college in 1968 and bought a Stevens model 311 for $60. Still have it.

1st centerfire rifle was actually two centerfire rifles, a Remington 660 in 6MM and a Ruger 44 International, still have both of them.

First rimfire rifle was a Remington Nylon 66, still have it.

First shotgun was a Savage 24 combination gun in 22M over 20 gauge, still have it and it is probably a contributing factor to me being close to the worst wingshot ever.

First handgun was a S&W 19 4", still have it.

Fire firearm that was purchased with money that I earned was an Venezuelan Model 24/30 military Mauser made by FN. I was a sporterized carbine with a short barrel. I managed to plug the barrel with snow, blew a chunk of steel out of the bolt face, and sent it to Creighton Audette in Springfield, VT, for a full rebuild. It has been a 257 Roberts for close to 50 years now and yes, I still have it.

Daisy BB gun for Christmas at 7.
A Winchester 67-A Boys rifle .22 for Christmas at 10.
A Savage 24 in .22/.410 on Christmas at 13
A Remington 552 .22 for Christmas at 15.
I bought my first centerfire with “yard money” at 16...a model 700 .243 Win for $101.89. Ammo was $3.40 a box so I learned to reload not too long after that.
I bought my first handgun, a Ruger Single Six convertible from my physics teacher my senior year in high school
I still have all of them minus the BB gun.

First real gun was a Stevens 94 20ga single barrel. First I ever bought with my own money was a Glenfield 60 .22 bought at Woolco for $45.

I bought my son an 870 youth 20 gauge when he was 12. I bought him a 12 gauge 1187 and a Remington 700 ADL in 30-06 when he was 18. He's a great kid who was an awesome athlete who never gave me 5 minutes of grief. He's a 32 year old Aerospace Engineer now.

Ron

I bought a 300 Win Magnum in a Weatherby Vanguard Deluxe in 1980 with a part of the first Alaska PFD check. I still have it and it is a nice rifle.

My first two where a Mossberg 151 .22lr, and a Winchester model 12 12ga "duck gun".
Both from my grandfather that I never really knew. Never shot either one very well...

8, 410 H&R single shot.
10, '94 30-30 Winchester, fuggin cannon it seemed.
Had to wait till 12 before Dad would let me have a 22LR, shooting squirrels in trees can send a lead slug a long way if you miss, that rifle was a Remington Speedmaster! and it was a pretty bitch!

Happy memories.

The first "gun" I was given was a Daisy BB gun (which I still own) at 5 or 6, which Dad schooled me with on safe gun handling and the basics of shooting. Within about 1 year I was allowed to shoot the first real rifle I ever used, my dad's M62 Winchester pump 22 rifle. Age 6-7.

The first centerfire rifle I ever used was my dad's M95 Savage in 300 savage for killing deer and livestock on the ranch. Age 8-9 (I hated it then because it didn't fit me and I though it was a killer in recoil. But I did kill a number of deer with it and my first elk too)

The first real gun I was ever given of my own was an Ithica M66 single Shot 20 gauge. Age 12

My first centerfire I ever owned (and bought with money I earned myself) was a Winchester M70 in 270 Winchester Also age 12. That's also when I got my first set of reloading equipment.

My first handgun was an original Colt M1851 cap and ball at age 14. Needed work, but with help from a man who did restoration at the state museum, I was able to bring it back to 100% prefect operational shape. In that same year I made my first rifle stock, for a Mk10 Mauser in 270 Winchester, which I have rebarreled 2 times since then

At 15 I got a 1st generation B.P. fame Colt SAA in 45 Colt that was in pretty rough shape and again with supervision, I restored it to perfect functional condition. In that year I also make my first muzzleloader, a 58 caliber S.Hawken copy. At 15 I also saved enough money to buy a Beretta BL3 O/U 12 gauge.

Next at 16, I got a Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 mag which I thought was the most perfect and beautiful gun I ever seen at that time. I also got a Colt New Frontier 22 at the same time, within about 2 weeks of the Ruger.

At 18 I got a S&W M29 with an 8-3.8" barrel, just a few months before I joined the USMC. I had to sell the Colt 51 navy and the Colt SAA 45 to buy it.

Funny thing is ------I didn't own my own 22 rifle until I was 23. I bought a Winchester M94/22 when I was in the Marines. I started shooing a LOT of 22 ammo when I was very young, but all of the rifle shooting I did was with my dad's 22 Winchester. All the 22s I shot from a handgun was from my Colt, but I didn't own a 22 rifle. At 22 years old I got my 375H&H, and at 23 years old I decided I should own my own 22 rifle.

Been buying, selling and trading ever since.

My family had a Essex 410 single shot shotgun that my dad, and myself and my three brothers all learned to hunt with. So, I used that from age 5 or 6, up until I graduated to something bigger. I still have that gun. But, my first gun of my own was a Remington 511 22 rifle that I got for Christmas at age 12. Still have it also. A few years after that, I got a Winchester Model 12 20 gauge.

1st go bang was a Ruger 10/22 , 2nd go bang was a Ruger SBH in 44mag.

I have 5 brothers and we all got a shotgun and rifle for our 12th birthdays. 50-odd years later, most of those guns are still around. Mine are a Stevens 20 ga single shot and a LH Rem 788 in 6mm. I still hunt with both at times and the 6mm has proven deadly on quite a few deer and chucks. My kids got the same treatment. My son got a Savage 10 in 308 and a 12 ga 870. He also got a Marlin 925 camo 22 for earning Eagle Scout. My daughter got a Mossberg 500 and a Rem 700 in 243. Her 2 children will get the same treatment, though they won't have to wait until they turn 12. Her 7 yr old daughter is getting pretty good with a 22.

My wife and her ex bought each of their sons, as they were growing up...... a Browning 22 BLR, a Remington 870, and Winchester Model 70 Featherweights in 270 Win. A pretty good start for the young men! memtb

.22 Remington M33 which my Dad let me trade in on an Ithaca M49 in a fit of youthful foolishness.

12ga Winchester M37 which I still have. The M33 and M37 were Dad's guns from when he was in college. He had little interest in firearms but enjoyed getting out in the woods and hunting.

Remington M10 12 ga pump which was traded off after the action was filled with sand. I stuck the muzzle in the bank hopping a creek and lifted the barrel up to see if it was plugged....it was until the sand plug fell past the choke and into the open action. Regret not keeping it and paying a 'smith to clean out all the grit.

Cut down Argentine M1891 traded for a FN98 30-06 with a Luxembourg crest and a Lyman peep sight when I realized how difficult/expensive getting 7.65 x 53 ammo was.

Ithaca M37 12 ga with a 28" modified choke barrel to hunt woodcock and grouse with. Hunting buddies were shooting open choke doubles and after the first season either missing completely or making woodcock burger the modified barrel was replaced with a cylinder bore slug barrel. Traded off after and unexpected discharge at the skeet range. A bad crimp resulted in a no. 9 shot finding it's way into the trigger group and it fired when I moved the slide forward while checking shell feed. Safe gun handling prevented injury and property damage, but it was a pant filler.

you were spoiled and probably the envy of every guy you knew. i got a marlin model 80. before that i got to use my father's 12 ga pump,

I bought a Stevens 16 gauge single shot at 14, then I bought a 22 mag Kodiak which I still have.

The first gun I had to use and carry , was a Marlin 783 .22 WRM. when I was 9. But right after I was born dad bought me a Browning A5 magnum that I was presented as a 10 year old! That big heavy full choked 12 ga was used for all my small game hunting . In the desert out side of Phoenix that meant doves,quail,rabits,and squirles up north and a couple times we went duck hunting.. Looking back I know how that wasn't a perfect choice for such uses but I learned how to shoot it well and to this day it is my go to. I shoot it better than any other shotgun I have tried.

On my 13th birthday, Dad got me a Marlin 60, my first .22. I still have it. The next year, I got a Winchester 370 20 gauge single shot shotgun, and the following year I got a Winchester 94. A High Standard .22 revolver was a Christmas present at 16. Somewhere in between, I ended up with a Mossberg 12 ga. 500, and it went away a couple of years later for an 870 Remington.

I'm not sure I can even recall all those that have come and gone since then. It's been a bunch..............

When I was6 my Grandfather died and I was given his Remington model12C pump 22. Dad bought me a New Haven bolt action 410 when I was 8. A
BL-4 20 gauge when I was 13. And a BL-22 for graduation. I wanted it instead of a class ring.

When I was 6 my father gave me a J.Stevens 141/2 .22 Little Scout he bought for $3.00 when he was drunk at an auction. The falling block spring was bad and if you shot anything other than 22. shorts it would pop open and the empty would hit you in the face. II rarely shot this gun, but kept it for many years. Great guy! The next gun I got was a Mossberg 183-K .410 (C-lect choke) he bought from a coworker in a machine shop for $10.00 and gave me at age 8. It had been used and abused and was longer than I was tall but I managed to kill sitting squirrels and rabbits if given enough time to shoulder it. It was confiscated by the Tulsa Police Department when I was 11 after he got drunk and was arrested for threatening to kill my mother, me and and my sister with it. Great guy! To make up for getting my gun taken away he bought me a used Mossberg pump 410 he bought from a known thief for $50.00 for Christmas that same year. I learned to shoot a shotgun with that gun and killed nearly every game animal available in Oklahoma except for deer with that gun. After my father died in 2017 I sold it and the Little Scout at a farm auction. The first new gun I got was when I was 12 and my mother bought me a Remington 742 rifle in 30.06 for Christmas because I had used a borrow one to kill my first deer that fall. The first new gun I bought for myself was a Remington 1187 Camo dipped 12 gauge.

A little youth single shot 20ga, I remember that gun kicking the heck out of me with 3in 00 loads at deer. 9yo, first time I ever shot at a deer was a doe at about 30 yards under a crabapple tree, must have been quite the spread because it dropped the yearling that was behind her, two with one shot. I still have it and a few years ago I tried some turkey loads out of thinking my son would be able to shoot it, punishing!

Other than that dad got me 10/22, marlin 883, and a model 7 243.