Do You Remember Your First Time?

[Jeff S]

I remember the first time I ever fired a gun. It was the summer of ‘64 and I was 6 years old. Dad had a US Springfield muzzle loader that had been converted in to a shotgun. He poured black powder down the barrel and tapped in a little toilet paper. Then he poured in some shot and tapped in some more toilet paper to hold the shot in place. Then he pulled back the hammer and put a cap on the nipple. I was quite intrigued. I sat cross legged in the front yard, resting the barrel on the seat of a chair. He told me to aim at a sheet of cardboard about 15 yards away. When I pulled the trigger, I couldn’t believe the kick and there was smoke everywhere. But when Dad showed all those holes in the target I was hooked for life.

Hmmmm…. My grandson is 3 year old. Maybe in a couple of years I’ll let him shoot that same gun.

How about the rest of you? Do you remember that magical moment when you pulled the trigger for the first time?

[fox-admin]

I was 13 YO in 1962 and we lived in Millis MA. I pleaded with my parents for BB gun for Christmas. Under the tree to my complete shock was a Ithaca Model 49 single shot .22 drop bolt lever action. My dad took me down to the local sand pit soon after Christmas and I pulled the trigger for the first time. I have been hooked ever since.
When I was learning to shoot it was all about marksmanship and making the first shot count. How things have changed in the gun culture and not for the better in my opinion.

[44whiskey]

my first shots were taken with an Ithaca 49 also. it was a second hand gun with a broken extractor, each shell had to be pried out with a pocket knife . i still recall the shells we used,nimrods,and the wonderfull smell they produced. thanks for posting this Jeff

[Jeff S]

Wow! Santa was good to you.

[Carver]

My first shot was likely a BB gun at scout camp. My parents had friends who lived on a farm and I recall shooting my first .22 there with their sons. My dad didn't hunt and didn't want me shooting a shotgun for the first time at my hunters education test, so my uncle took me out to a WMA for my first shotgun blast. I do almost all of my hunting with him and my cousin to this day.

[44whiskey]

Jeff, how was the conversion done, re barrel or drilling out rifle barrel. appx what gauge is it.thanks fred

[bbman3]

Very early 16 Browning A5 with no engraving with powder and shot removed and i was about 5 years old.Bobby

[vaturkey]

Had bb guns since I could lift a gun. The old Daisy cocking ones with the lever.

First real gun was my grandmothers Winchester model 67 .22 rifle that she used to kill groundhogs out the kitchen window when they were in her garden. She used that until she was about 90 and her eyes started to go. It was in the kitchen and always handy. Shells were up higher where us grandkids couldn't reach them. I was about 8 as I recall.

First shotgun was my uncle's single shot 12 gauge when I was also about 8. It knocked me over. My dad and uncle were laughing like crazy and my uncle grabbed the gun when I was falling backwards to keep the gun from hitting the ground. They figured I would be just fine. They set me up for sure. Uncle handed me the gun and told me to keep my feet real close together and to lean back as far as I could.

PS. Both gone now, but the memory remains. The .22 rifle was shot on the family farm in Harrisonburg Va and the single shot 12 gauge was at my uncles place located in Gate City Va.

[Jeff S]

Jeff, how was the conversion done, re barrel or drilling out rifle barrel. appx what gauge is it.thanks fred

Fred, the 1863 Springfield was converted long before any of us were born. Let’s just guess that after the Civil War there were a lot of extra guns in our country, and a shotgun was handy for keeping varmints away from the chicken coop. I also have a Civil War Remington that is .58 caliber. The “shotgun” measures .615” so I guess someone just honed it out a little. 150 years ago people were very resourceful and this is just one of those novelties from a bygone era.

[44whiskey]

good story Tom,what was humor back then would be child abuse now.

[vaturkey]

good story Tom,what was humor back then would be child abuse now.

Yep, this was the same uncle who taught me how to burn the garbage in a 55 gallon open drum using gasoline. Lucky to make it thru that one.

[Stan Hillis]

In 1959 I was eight years old. We lived on my grandaddy's big farm, where I still live today. A neighboring plantation was bought by a man from Augusta who had made a lot of money in the cookie business. He spent a lot of time at his new farm, and hosted many, many dove shoots and quail hunts over the ensuing years. He was very kind to me, and had become good friends with my family. One day he took me to ride down to his weekend home. When we pulled up in his yard he told me to wait outside a minute. He walked inside and returned carrying a J C Higgins, Tenite stocked, .410 S x S. He handed it to me and said "See how that fits you". It was much too long, of course, but I replied "Fits just right". He loaded it and said "Knock that pigeon off the roof of my barn". I shot and missed, but that shot changed me forever. I became a terror to the local squirrel, rabbit and dove populations with it.

Okay, I know you're wondering how a wet-behind-the-ears kid with a .410 could be a threat to doves. Confession is good for the soul, though it may be bad for your reputation. Grandaddy had cattle and fed loose salt and minerals in open troughs which had a little roof over them. I learned that doves would light on the ground by those troughs and pick up salt the cows had dropped. I could sit really still by a nearby tree and wait for them to light, then ground swat them. I got right good at it, even to the point I would wait for two to get "lined up" before pulling the trigger. Later I killed my first dove on the wing, my first flushed quail, and scores of squirrels with that little gun.

[Jeff S]

Great story Stan. .410 SxS’s are wonderful little guns.

[44whiskey]

yes great story Stan, i know you have lots of dove but are there still any quail in your area,take care friend,fred

[Researcher]

I do not remember my first shooting. My parents didn't believe kids treated BB guns and air rifles with enough respect, so I never got one. My first rifle was a Winchester Model 67 single shot .22LR that my father had dressed up by his uncle Art, a Seattle area gunsmith, with a black forearm tip, grip cap, checkering like a Model 70 Super Grade, an oil finish and fit it with a Mossberg scope. It was one of the guns stolen out of my father's house in 1978.

I know I was doing a lot of shooting before, but the first shot I clearly remember was the fall of 1960 with the first gun I bought myself, a vent ribbed Winchester Model 50. A rooster Pheasant that flushed just below me when I was about 2/3s of the way up a big Columbia Basin irrigation ditch bank. I'd shot pheasants the season before, but I don't distinctly remember any of them.