My dad let me shoot a .410 shot gun. I was about 8 years old. It knocked me back a step or two, but I immediately wanted to shoot it again. Not bad for a skinny country girl.

The first time I fired a firearm was in Death Valley, CA, shooting my dad's 38 special snubbie. I remember it being terrifying and thrilling, and loud as hell. (no hearing protection) Shooting has become less terrifying and more fun, having lost little of its thrill... and I'm a lot more sensible with ear protection.

Double barreled 16 gauge pistol.

I don't know for sure but I think it was one on my mother's custom .22 pistols. My mother was a tennis player and she had to give it up due to a heart condition so she took up competitive pistol shooting. I have been shooting since I can remember -- maybe 3 or 4 years old -- and for my fifth birthday, she bought me a Colt Woodsman .22. So I have been shooting for at least 63 years and perhaps 65 years. After my fifth birthday, the guns began to accumulate -- handguns, rifles, and shotguns. I've been hunting small game since I can remember and I started on deer, antelope, and pheasants when I was 11. [You had to be 11 -- I think today it's 14 -- and have the Hunter Safety Course behind you to get a license to hunt that stuff in South Dakota.] My childhood memories are saturated with guns, bows and arrows, and horses.

Colt python. I was 10. I got knocked on my ass.

First gun was an old ass lever action, single shot piston pellet rifle in the back yard, my Dad taught me on that when I was 6 or 7.

First firearm was a single shot .22 Schultz & Larsen target rifle. Dad still has that one in Denmark.

dcramer64 wrote: I remember it being in the corner of my grandparents' pantry and I would sit and look at it for what seems like hours.

My grandfather kept his artificial leg in the corner of the pantry. It was as tall as I was. {{shudder}}

First firearm I ever fired was a Remington 788 in .243. My dad sold rifle. I wish he didn't.

Ruger MkII 22LR, back in 2007.

Let's see, I was about 9, visiting family up in Southern Illinois and my uncle took us skeet shooting, it was a pump action of some sort, probably 12 gauge. Didn't do too bad, hit more than I missed at least. I'll never forget the bruise I had the next day, it was so much fun I forgot the advice about making sure it was in my shoulder properly.

After that I didn't shoot another firearm until I was 23 and rented a Ruger Mark III with some friends while one of them was shopping to buy their first pistol. Then I saved up, bought my M&P and now I'm just saving up to buy more.

It was 1960, and I was eight. I'd wanted a .22, but my dad wanted me to respect guns. He got me a 1917 Budapest m95 straight pull carbine in the original 8x50r caliber. Kicked like crazy. I still have it.

CDFingers

First rifle was a sears bolt action .22. First shotgun was a 20 guage single shot of unknown lineage.

My dad taught me to shoot at age 7 with a late thirties Colt Woodsman, which I now own and shoot regularly.

Don't remember the make or model. It was on my Grandfather's farm in Kansas. .22 single shot with Grandfather and my Father supervising and giving me the basics of gun handling. That lesson stuck with me. I was eight years old.

An SKS rifle variant of some kind when I was 18 years old, on vacation in Guangzhou, China. I begged my parents to take me to a rental range advertised as "Various Guns Shooting" on a giant billboard. The rifle kicked like mule compared to the various Daisy and Crosman BB guns I was used to, and it sprayed oil all over the place because the range operator poured a tablespoon of lube into the action before he set it on the shooting bench for me.

CDFingers wrote:It was 1960, and I was eight. I'd wanted a .22, but my dad wanted me to respect guns. He got me a 1917 Budapest m95 straight pull carbine in the original 8x50r caliber. Kicked like crazy. I still have it.

CDFingers

Did he also teach you to drive in an old F100 with 3 speed on the column and no power steering?

nigel wrote:

CDFingers wrote:It was 1960, and I was eight. I'd wanted a .22, but my dad wanted me to respect guns. He got me a 1917 Budapest m95 straight pull carbine in the original 8x50r caliber. Kicked like crazy. I still have it.

CDFingers

Did he also teach you to drive in an old F100 with 3 speed on the column and no power steering?

Hey, I learned on a C-10 with three on the tree! It builds character.

Mohead wrote:Dad's old Stevens 12 gauge. Hurt like hell.

Ditto, on both accounts. Was at the farm in OK panhandle in the mid 70's. My older cousin and uncle were there, so I had to suck it up and smile, lest I be poked as a city boy. I think I only shot it 3-4 times, but dreamed about it for years until I got my great uncle's 1926ish Marlin 39.

nigel wrote:

CDFingers wrote:It was 1960, and I was eight. I'd wanted a .22, but my dad wanted me to respect guns. He got me a 1917 Budapest m95 straight pull carbine in the original 8x50r caliber. Kicked like crazy. I still have it.

CDFingers

Did he also teach you to drive in an old F100 with 3 speed on the column and no power steering?

He taught me to drive in a 61 Renault 4CV--thing weighed about a thousand pounds. I didn't learn the three on the tree with no power steering until I got a 66 Chevy van in high school that I traded my rebuilt 62 TR4 for. In the van, I hung an American flag from the front ceiling, with curtains between, and I'd paneled and shag-carpeted the rear and hung a Persian carpet on the ceiling, as was the fashion then. Had Cragar star mags all the way 'round with fat tires on the rear--got great mileage as it was always going downhill... Varnished redwood bumpers, as one might expect. The TR4 was cool, but the back part of the van was cooler.

CDFingers

First firearm for me was a Ruger GP-100 it had a 6 inch barrel. We went to a range and shot paper targets.
My friend also had a 10/22 rifle and let me shoot that as well.....I thought...hey..this could be fun!

Here I am 15 years later with 4 pistols and 1 rifle.

nigel wrote:

CDFingers wrote:It was 1960, and I was eight. I'd wanted a .22, but my dad wanted me to respect guns. He got me a 1917 Budapest m95 straight pull carbine in the original 8x50r caliber. Kicked like crazy. I still have it.

CDFingers

Did he also teach you to drive in an old F100 with 3 speed on the column and no power steering?

63 Ford Fairlane with three on the tree manual choke, 170 cu. inch straight six. no power steering or brakes no AC or radio

A single-shot, lever-action Henry 22. I was 10.

It was in an indoor shooting range at Furman University, South Carolina. It was my summer day camp after first grade.

It was a CMP single shot .22LR training rifle, although I recall shooting 22 shorts.

nmgonzo wrote:Double barreled 16 gauge pistol.

that would be a memorable introduction to firearms.

My Dad's Ruger Single Six revolver in .22 Mag caliber.