View Full Version : First Gun Shot, and Where!
Hey All,
I thought of this idea today and I thought I would post it here for you all.
What was the first gun you ever shot? Where was it? And With Who?
The only rule is that BB guns/Air Guns don't count, and I would like to say .22s too, but I was always taught that a .22 is the most dangerous gun because people think it's not dangerous, so what the hell if you want to use a .22 for your story do it!!!
For me I was raised around guns, but I couldn't touch one till I was around 7. Before 7 I used to play toy guns with my friends, but when at home my Dad strictly insisted I follow all of the rules of Fire Arm Safety. If I picked up my toy gun, I needed to check if it was loaded. If I didn't have proper muzzle control I got in trouble. Ext. If I broke the rules I lost my toy. Then at 7 BB gun. I lost the BB gun at 9 because I got cocky. Got it back later.
My Dad taught me to shoot on the BB gun. To squeeze the trigger, to breath, to aim, ext. Spent some time on a .22 Marlin Bolt action once he felt comfortable.
Then one day I was Sage Grouse hunting with him, his best friend, and my best friend. They were training a new bird dog who would always chase up the grouse out of range. The hunt turned into a big joke. At the end my Dad and his friend asked if we wanted to shoot their guns. I said yes. I think I was about 10. Walking me through all of the steps I was coached through the shot. I took it, it spun me around a bit, and whoa. First high cal shot was a 12 gauge tall back out of a Double Barrel. After that day I was taught how to shoot center fire. Now 18 years later I have a healthy respect for all firearms, and I am looking to teach my future children and people of my generation about the proper use and respect of firearms.
How about you?
Ithica lever action 22 rifle with scope shooting peach pits off of a cattle fence in The Copper Basin in Custer County Idaho. I was 8 years old and I still have that rifle.
I was raised away from guns. It took a visit to the family farm to finally be exposed to shooting at the age of 9, and it was my uncle's single shot, bolt action .22 of some sort. My cousin and I hunted jackrabbits for days. He still has that rifle. Shortly after that I got my first BB gun, and after that, a Marlin model 60 which I still own.
crusader4x
06-30-09, 01:23
My cousin's 1st Gen. Glock 17 and then .38 specials through his (I think S&W) .357 Magnum wheelgun. I was 16 and couldn't afford .357 cartridges!
I'm happy to say that the first gun I ever shot was mine!!! A Benelli M3 Super 90. I saw it, I had to have it, I held it, I coughed up a deposit, I picked it up and then I went to the range!
Later that day was some .38 Taurus revolvers. But I still have my Benelli. I love that gun!!!
a 7mm magnum when i was 18... just signed up for the army, i went in search of a rifle- i didn't want my first time ever shooting a gun to be during BRM. I went to GI Joes, a sporting goods chain on the west coast that just recently went bankrupt, and told the guy at the gun counter that i'd just enlisted, and wanted the closest thing they had to what i'd be shooting in the army. I knew it'd be an M16, but i didn't know what caliber, or even really what "caliber" meant. I knew the m14 was a "7.62mm"... so when he handed me a remington 700 "7mm" magnum, and said "this is what we're shooting right now," i didn't really question it. i also snagged a box of ammo, of course- 20 rounds of 165gr soft points for $25- the guy said "we must be out of full metal jackets..." what a ****in moron.
i dragged that boomstick around in my cutlass for a few days, looking for a good place to shoot locally- i grew up surrounded by nothing but miles of flat, rural farmland, encircled by miles more of forested, hills, but by the time i got back from school and was ready to enter the gun world, my entire county had boomed into a technoindustrial wasteland, complete with strip-malls and oceans of beige-on-brown and brown-on-beige subdivisions with not a native tree to be found till at least three county lines over. finally realized i'd need to drive for a bit if i was ever going to fire that thing. After an hour and a half drive, i found a gas mainline that said "Public Day Use Permitted. NO TARGET SHOOTING" Perfect.
no ear plugs, I brought that buttstock up to my shoulder, aimed those open irons at a tree, and jerked the trig back-
And Trinity detonated.
Hard to believe that was over a decade ago..sometimes it feels like yesterday, most times it feels like a million years.
bongogator
06-30-09, 01:47
HA mine was a sawed 12g shooting at a snake in the water. I was 12 and it put me on my ass. My dad laughs every time he tell the story.
The first firearm I shot was a rifle in .22 LR, an old Springfield M1922. It's probably worth a bit now, but back then it was some old trainer gun that I believe was surplus from the military. I was 10 or 11 and it was at camp. The instruction wasn't great. They were more concerned with us not shooting each other than in teaching us how to shoot properly.
spamsammich
06-30-09, 02:11
Winchester Model 94-22 lever action .22mag. Sitka Alaska.
Ridge_Runner_5
06-30-09, 02:14
Either the 20ga shotgun I fired at boy scout camp ~1997, or the AR-15 I rented at Family Shooting Center in 2006 :D
Ruger 10/22 in 1978 with my Dad when I was 6 in West Texas, the first centerfire weapon I fired was the M16A1 in 1989 at Ft. Leonard Wood.
Robb Jensen
06-30-09, 07:18
In 1975 it was a M16A1 at Camp Pendleton CA. Same day I shot a Colt 1911-A1. I was 5, my dad was a active duty Marine stationed there.
I've been hooked ever since.
My dad's Colt .22 Single Action Revolver when I was 5. It was at my grandparents' ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Shortly after that I started shooting .22 rifles with my dad. My first non-rimfire was an AyA 20 gauge that was my grandfather's. I decided I wanted to go dove hunting when I was about 9. We were going out to visit my grandparents and stopped in town to get a box of 20 gauge shells. My dad set up a feed sack on a fence to see if I could shoot the shotgun. I decided to hold it 1/8 inch from my shoulder so it wouldn't kick so bad :eek: The first barrel knocked the absolute crap out of me. I pulled the trigger again and got hit even harder. I had a bruise on my shoulder for a good while and decided that was not to be my year to go dove hunting. It was 2 or 3 years before I shot another centerfire gun and that was my grandfather's .30-30 (made in 1922) which I used to kill a deer when I was about 12. To this day that 20 gauge is the hardest recoiling gun I've shot :p . It now belongs to me and I put dove in the bag with it every year. It doesn't kick so hard these days.
BTW, FMF Doc: I was also 6 years old in 1978.
I never had BB guns as a child, but when I was 11 my father gave me his fathers double barrel (side by side)12 gauge, my fathers .22L/.410 over under, and my grandfathers 32 winchester lever action. Not sure if it was that same year, or one year later my father saw a JC Penny 12ga pump shotgun for sale in the newspaper used for $50, so he got me that as well. This was all around 1982.
For a short time I had my mother's dad's 16 ga side by double barrel, but when my pap died my Uncle demanded the shotgun back so that he could throw it in a closet and never clean or oil it...and that really pissed me off.
I still have all of them, and in about 1994 I purchased my first pistol. This was a police trade in Glock 17. I still have it as well. As a matter of fact, I still have every rifle/shotgun/pistol I have ever came into posession of. I just can't sale a family member.
Business_Casual
06-30-09, 07:54
.22 LR at summer camp. The first pistol was a 1911 at about 18 y.o.
M_P
Detective_D
06-30-09, 08:06
I was 10 or so when I shot my dad's sawed off pistol grip 12 ga. He put his hands on top of the barrel to keep it from flying up and hitting me in the face. The only problem with that was that meant I only had one little hand at the back of the gun....recoil put the grip about 5 inches into my belly...:D
That was the only time I ever fired that gun....dont know what he ever did with that one.
~D
CryingWolf
06-30-09, 08:28
I too was raised around guns. My first gun was a 16 gauge Remington 11-48 given to me by my grandfather when I was born. It was the first shotgun he bought after WW2. The first gun I ever shot was a .22LR at age 10. My Dad and Grandfather were dove hunting in northern Nevada, and I came along on my first hunting trip with them. Someone had brought a .22LR, and I learned from my dad and grandfather how to load and shoot. On the way home I asked for a .22. My dad gave me a long speech on "responsibility" saying "we will see". A later that week my dad had found a Stevens .410 double barrel shot gun, which he fell in love with, and which he gave me. That weekend I was out chukar hunting with my Dad and his brothers in the Nevada desert. The .410 was my first center fire big gun I shot. Age 10, 1974 in the Nevada desert. I shot a 1911 .45 around that time too, just one shot and my ears rang for along time. I shot that 16 gauge around age 12 along with a 30-30 Winchester my grandfather gave me at age 12 to go deer hunting. I shot my first deer at age 13 and finally got my first .22LR that year for Christmas.
First for me was my Grandpap's Remington 12 ga Semi when I was 8. Unbeknownst to me, he put his hand on the top of the butt that was sticking out above my shoulder to make sure I didn't fly. One of my best days.
Probably 8 or so, single-shot .22 at a Boy Scout camp when I was still a Cub Scout.
Not much after that other than BB guns until we went to California and I shot 1911s in .22, 9mm, and .45, and FA MP5 and M16 with my uncle who was an instructor at Gunsite and with the Border Patrol, as well as being an active career BP agent. I was 15 at the time.
Then another big gap until I was 19 and I bought my first .22 rifle for $75 at Beckwith's Guns in Micanopy FL from Harry himself. It was a bolt action Marlin with somebody else's initials carved in the pommel, and I still have it now 16 years later. My friend bought an SKS around the same time and we used to go to the public range in Lake City to shoot.
Then I started shooting FDCC in the very early days (maybe almost 10 years ago now?) with those guys and it's pretty much been all action shooting and training since.
Freakdaddy
06-30-09, 09:13
I was 8 and the gun was a Marlin 81-DL in .22 LR that belonged to my Dad. He bought it while working the wheat harvest in Oklahoma in the early 50's from a guy that would throw walnuts up in the air and bust them with this gun. Dad was impressed with it so much that he had to have it. As I was right handed, that's how Dad had me shoot and he told me to center the front sight in the peep and squeeze. After 10 or so rounds, I still hadn't hit the can and he was getting fustrated and short tempered as I told him I couldn't "see" the can. Didn't know at the time my right eye was "weak" and wouln't allow me to focus on the sight and can as everything would start going black. He had me try left handed and from that point on, no can was ever safe. Still have the gun and it still holds that special place in my heart. I also made sure when teaching my kids to shoot to determine which was their dominate eye LOL!
Spring 1994 (I was 23).
On Target, Severn, Maryland.
A classmate in law school who was also a West Point grad and Ranger took my wife and me to teach us some basics and help us pick our first gun. The first one we tried was the one he was most familiar with, the Beretta 92FS.
That was fifteen years and about 500,000 rounds ago ...
Mine was a 12ga too....just a mush-brain at the time and begged Dad to let me shoot a can during a dove hunt. Fell on my butt, missed the can and destroyed a big stick next to it.
I was hooked....
Practicing for my first small game hunt at age 10 with a .410 side by side.
Thomas M-4
06-30-09, 09:51
I got a BB gun for X-mas when I was 8.
My dad and one of his friends now a retired SGT MAJOR decide to go shooting when I was 11 got to shoot a marlin 22 the whole time until we where getting ready to leave my dads friend was shooting ar-15 and I got to shoot the last 3 shots before we went home I couldn't even hold it steady to my shoulder and my dads friend had to reach over and help me steady it. Managed to hit the HUGE paper target all 3 times and was hooked for life.:D
decodeddiesel
06-30-09, 10:06
Like other have posted the first gun I shot was a bolt action (probably Marlin) single shot .22 at Boy Scout Camp when I was 11 years old.
First center fire rifle I shot was one year later with my buddy, a Winchester 1894 in .30-30.
Then that same year at a Boy Scout "Shooting Camp" I got to shoot a ton of different cool guns when a military weapons collector brought in his stash. I fired an M1 Paratrooper Carbine, M1 Garand, K98, M1A1 Thompson, Sturmgewehr, BAR, M1911A1, 9mm Luger, PPK and even an M1919 .30 cal machinegun. I only got to shoot 2-3 shots from each, but it was one of the coolest things I remember doing as a kid. I was hooked.
kaiservontexas
06-30-09, 10:16
I own the first two rifles I ever shot. The first I ever got to squeeze the trigger on was because I would not keep quiet about it. Grandpa said fine to teach me a lesson. This was in the early to mid 80s.
Winchester Model 70 pre-64 .30-06
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww256/crusaderwyn/misc%20firearms/LOGMod70.jpg
After that it was the Marlin .22MAG
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww256/crusaderwyn/misc%20firearms/MarlinModel78322WMR1.jpg
A Mak-90 ban-era gun in late 1994 or 1995. We were up in a range in WVa, my best friend Ryan and I, and we shot big gulp cups and shotgun shells at 25-100yds.
From there, I bought an H&K USP40 the next year and a Remington 270 shortly after that...
My first pistol shot was off my parents' porch when I was 4. The weapon was a Ruger Mark II that my father supported while I "aimed" (i.e. pointed at the ground) and fired. He didn't notice that my support thumb had drifted around behind the bolt, making sure I always remembered that day. ;)
While I can barely remember it my Father had a friend who was a Gunsmith cut down a Stevens Single Shot Rifle to fit me and gave the gun to me on my 4th Birthday...I didn't get a BB Gun til I was 7.
We were at my Grand Parents Log Cabin Home in Marion County Arkansas and I learned by shooting bottles and cans at the dump behind the house.
I had that rifle til I was in my late teens and someone stole it.
As for High Power Rifle I was 9 and Dad borrowed a .30 Carbine from his Uncle for me to deer hunt with, a year later I earned enough money mowing the lawn and working in the Garden with my Grandparents to buy a 6.5 Italian Carcano Mil Surplus Rifle. Paid $35.00 for it.
There was one Fourth of July when I was around 10 that we didn't have money for Fireworks. Dad pulled out every firearm we owned and let me shoot them several times. This included his single shot 12 gauge, .30-30 lever gun, a .41 Mag revolver, Rem 700 .30-06 and 8X57mm Mauser.
I remember laying the Bbl of that Old single barrel 12 gauge across the porch railing to shoot it. I had to get up on my knees in a chair to hold the gun...I had loaded a 3" Turkey load in it and when I pulled the trigger Dad grabbed the chair to keep me from falling over backwards. It hurt but I got up loaded the gun and shot it again.
I own that old shotgun now...and I still like shooting it at times.
I was 8 and the gun was a Marlin 81-DL in .22 LR that belonged to my Dad.
I've got a Marlin 81-DL that I inherited when I was 12. It was my maternal grandfather's. It's a wonderful shooting gun. Very accurate and has a pretty good trigger.
BigJim #1-8
06-30-09, 11:16
Long Ago...
Gramp's 1890 .22 short.Still have it,2nd Model,Blue,Mint Bore.Dad made sure I knew about cleaning & "Rigging "the bore after shooting.
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!!!
Wow this thread got me thinking. I remember some small details about the first time a shot. It was probably about 13 years ago at a buddies house. We set up cans on tree branches and blasted at those. The gun was a small carbine looking .22 that I believe my buddy said was his uncle's either issue or personal weapon as a pilot. Heck, now that I think back that was a pretty cool little gun. If anybody has any ideas what it might have been, let me know.
Around age 17, senior in HS; went with a friend and his dad to local range. Friend had just been given a Remington 710 .270 and wanted to put some rounds through it. I didn't know what I was doing and got a nice bruise above my eye from being to close to the scope.
sandman99and9
06-30-09, 11:48
First gun I ever shot was a .22 marlin self loader. I loved that gun !! I must have been around 12 or so. Then I got a 20 ga mossberg pump for my 16th b-day and used to walk the railroad tracks nearby and shoot dove and just about anything else that flew,ran,crawled,swims, e.t.c. I had a neighbor who let me shoot his 12 ga when I was about 14 and it kicked my shoulder hard as hell :D BTW, the railroad tracks I used to hunt for dove are right behind the place that is now spike's tactical. About half a mile from where I grew up. Never though that the old area I rode bikes,motorcycles, and 4 wheelers would turn into a place that sells the evil black rifle ...........lol
s.m.
Thomas M-4
06-30-09, 15:30
Wow this thread got me thinking. I remember some small details about the first time a shot. It was probably about 13 years ago at a buddies house. We set up cans on tree branches and blasted at those. The gun was a small carbine looking .22 that I believe my buddy said was his uncle's either issue or personal weapon as a pilot. Heck, now that I think back that was a pretty cool little gun. If anybody has any ideas what it might have been, let me know.
Sounds like a armalite AR7 http://www.armaliterifles.com/item/3906_Henry_Rifles_Shotguns_Henry_H002B_US_Survival_A.aspx
30 cal slut
06-30-09, 15:33
1987.
Remington 870 12 ga.
PRGGodfather
06-30-09, 15:46
1968: Four years old. Coyote Point Firing Range in San Mateo, CA. 50-foot .22 LR line. Ruger 10-22. One-shot with Dad, after sitting quietly for 20 minutes.
Five years old. Ithaca lever-action single shot .22 LR with partridge sights. One box of 50 CCI mini-mags one weekend a month.
Eight years old. Ruger Bearcat .22 LR single-action revolver. Summertime plinker.
13 years old. Colt Diamondback .38 Special. Christmas.
18 years old. First rifle purchased: Heckler & Koch HK91.
21 years old. First pistol purchased: Colt Combat Commander.
And the list goes on...
citizensoldier16
06-30-09, 17:15
1989: My dad bought me a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun when I was 5 years old, and taught me to shoot in the backyard of our house. Many empty milk jugs and soda cans met their maker that way :)
I got my first shotgun when I was 12...a Remington 870 youth model in 20-ga. After that, I received a 12-ga 870 for my 16th birthday, and a G17 for my 18th.
I've gone hunting with my father ever since I was about 4. I really appreciate my father's love for hunting and wingshooting, and would like to someday repay him with the gift of a fine firearm. I was thinking of a Browning Citori Lightning...but come to find out, he already has one....Field Grade VI.
I still have my old 20-ga youth model shotgun, and plan to pass it on to my son (not born yet!) when he's of age, just as my father did for me. It gets taken out of the safe twice a year, cleaned, oiled, and replaced.
1995
A Harrison 20 ga break open shotgun, I was helping my dad train his hunting dogs and getting them used to the sound of the shot. I was 11.
Bolt action .22, I thik it was a Remington. I remember going to the range with my Dad to learn the same safety lessons that I taught to my own Son last year.
QuietShootr
06-30-09, 20:30
First airgun was an FWB 65 that I started shooting at age 5, and my first firearm was a 6" S&W K-22 Masterpiece that my grandfather, a national champion pistol shooter, started me on when I was six years old (1976). I had to learn on that before he'd let me shoot an auto. He had a bullet trap and a 15 yard pistol range in his basement, and since I lived with him until I was 9, I had a thorough indoc into shooting. After he was convinced I could safely handle the K-22, he introduced me to the Model 41, and later to the K-38 and finally the Gold Cup 1911. I was carrying a loaded Model 36 on my belt around the property before I was 10.
I didn't fire a long gun of any kind until I was about 11.
I saw someone mentioned a M1922M2 Springfield trainer - that was my first rifle, and he insisted that I learn position shooting and the use of the sling. I went to Culver Military Academy when I was 12, and was a walk-on on the rifle team because of it.
Grandpa is a Pearl Harbor survivor, and is hanging on by his fingernails in a nursing home as we speak.
My first shot was when I was 6 or 7. Me and my dad were in the cowfield, and he had a Mak90 and a couple other rifles. I guess I threw a fit cause he wouldn't let me shoot the Mak at first, and I refused to shoot the .22 and .410. So he let me shoot it finally. I would guess it shook me up a little, but it sure didn't turn me off of guns.
Smuckatelli
06-30-09, 20:51
M16-A1, Parris Island.
The first firearm I ever fired (I'd say 30 years ago or so) was a Marlin 99M1 .22LR and it would have been at the Fairfield Sportsmens Association here in SW Ohio. I still have that rifle. The first centerfire rifle I ever fired was our next door neighbor's Colt SP1, probably on the same day that I shot the .22. :cool:
Sounds like a armalite AR7 http://www.armaliterifles.com/item/3906_Henry_Rifles_Shotguns_Henry_H002B_US_Survival_A.aspx
Nope that's not the one. Unless my memories failing (dang am I getting that old already:() it looked almost like you took a 6920 and just shrunk it and almost positive it was .22lr
Great stories guys.
skeet shooting with my dad at 12 or 13...:D
The information about the first gun I shot is lost to history. I don't ever remember not shooting.
An Undocumented Worker
06-30-09, 22:56
First gun I ever shot was some generic .22 bolt action at scout camp.
thetallengineer
06-30-09, 23:20
An AR-15 at my grand parents farm around the age of 9-10. My uncle let each one of the cousins fire a shot and it was quite a thrill for me.
I didn't get to grow up around guns but always enjoyed war/action movies, Chuck Norris of course in the 80s haha, but luckily in high school (90s) my best friend and his dad would come out to our property with a variety of very nice hand guns and we would spend a Sunday afternoon shooting. That was always a treat and back when ammo was very cheap.
Gutshot John
06-30-09, 23:21
Dad's Marlin .22 lever, Parson's Island Chesapeake Bay.
Winchester pump .22LR in the foothills of Boise
A BB gun when I was 5 or 6. (back yard)
After that around 9 it was a .410 single shot shot gun. (deer camp) My dad would throw empty antifreeze jugs across the ground for me. A simulated rabbit I guess.
Shot my first deer in Nov '80 at age 12 with a single shot 12GA.
.
I own the first two rifles I ever shot. The first I ever got to squeeze the trigger on was because I would not keep quiet about it. Grandpa said fine to teach me a lesson. This was in the early to mid 80s.
Winchester Model 70 pre-64 .30-06
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww256/crusaderwyn/misc%20firearms/LOGMod70.jpg
Nice!
I've got an pre-'64 that was made in 1954. My uncle passed a few years ago and because is son is unable to own firearms it became mine. He was the first/only owner and killed many nice deer with it over the years. I've killed three buck's with it the last three seasons.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/AMMOTECH/STA75302.jpg
.
woodandsteel
07-01-09, 14:22
I was a second grader. My dad took me out to my Grandfather's farm. We shot my Grandfather's old bolt action Savage .22 rifle. It's the same gun my dad learned to shoot on. We shot at hedge apples in the timber.
I can still remember the smell of the gun powder and the timber. And I still love the smell of cleaning solvent.
My dad has that old rifle at his house now. I will try to take a picture of it. It looks like Savage tried to copy the looks of the old 1903 Springfield rifle. It is definitely a fun gun, although heavy gun, to shoot.
A bolt action .22 when I was 17
shot my friend's BB gun when i was 10 or so. my mom was horrified, my dad was cool with it. (just told me to wear safety glasses. he's missing an eye due to a childhood fishing accident, hence most of my childhood i was wearing safety glasses. )
next one was at my second cousin's place shooting an old winchester automatic 22. short long or long rifle. we were using shorts. keep it quiet for the neighbors.
also managed to get to try out his cheap 38 special snubnose. i was 11, with no ear protection. ouch. :eek:
i don't think i ever fired a centerfire rifle until i bought a yugoslavian SKS when i was 24.
My 5th Christmas. 16" .22lr gallery gun. 1,000's of rounds later and I still don't bag a squirrel that isn't an eye shot with that gun. Just need my specs to do it now.
Sometime in 1980 or so a friend of ours took me, my dad and my brother out shooting, started us with an old J.C. Higgins (Stevens/Savage, really) semi-auto 22LR, then a Colt Woodsman 22LR, and finally a J-Frame Smith.
I got the JC Higgins for my birthday the year after that - still have it, but it needs some rework, and is pretty low on the project list. Not ever getting rid of it, though. :D
If my non-violent, give-peace-a-chance mother knew then where that trip to the range would lead my brother and I, she would have cheerfully beat the crap out of all of us rather than let us go shooting. Mom still maintains the only reason either of us moved out was we got tired of sneaking rifles in and out of the house!
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