I remember going to the beach around this little spot littered with casings, mostly shotgun shells, and a power pole with a sorry old transformer hanging from the top of it, riddled with bullet holes. That was the shootin' spot around our area, and still is for some people.

Anyways, my dad had a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver, stainless, I wanna say it was a model 68, with a 4" barrel and Hogue rubber grips. Can't remember how old I was, probably 5 years old. Of course, my dad was behind me, his hands wrapped around mine, and his shootin' finger over my finger, but it was MY finger actually touching the trigger I think I only pulled the trigger once that day, but it's one heck of a memory!

My dad also had a Beretta 92FS and a Ruger P-94 in 9mm, plus he had a couple of Marlin 60's at my great aunt's that I could have shot, but I had went to Service Merchandise with him to pick up that S&W, so maybe it was the first time we all shot that gun? (My older brother was also there, so he shot it too.)

I was just thinking about it because I'm now teaching my friend's 8 y.o. daughter to shoot, with "proper" learning ammo, no less, but I wouldn't trade the memory of one trigger pull on a .357 for a whole brick of .22s!

Other than a Daisy BB gun
A 20 gauge when I was about 8 years old. It left a bruise because I had it against my arm and not my shoulder, I was super proud of that bruise, I showed it to everyone at school.

Dad bought me an H&R 20 gauge single shot youth model when I was 9 or 10 from Gibson's in Mesquite, think it was around 30.00. It kicked like a mule but I just thought that was normal. Guess that's why recoil has never bothered me much.

My first "real" gun was a Stevens Crackshot 26 .22 single shot rifle. It belonged to my grandfather, and he gave it to my dad. Dad gave it to me when I was 8. My brother and I used to collect Coke bottles along the side of the road and cash them in and take the money to Western Auto and buy the little boxes of .22 cartridges to raise hell with the local squirrels and rabbits. We put a lot of meat on the table with that gun and my brother's Mossberg .22 automatic.
One day I shot a mockingbird off a telephone wire. I was real proud of myself for making that shot until my dad found out. He took away my gun (and my brother's because he was 2 years older, and should have known better)for a few weeks. That was the last illegal bird I ever shot, and I never shoot anywhere near high wires.
By the way, 52 years later, I still have the Crackshot. I used it to get rid of a skunk a couple years ago, but it spends its' life in its' case, waiting for the next generation to come along.

Remington Black Diamond Nylon 66. I hope my dad still has it. I could drive tacks with open sights with that gun.

First gun to ever shoot was a .22. Still sitting in pop's closet. I was 4 and as you can see in the picture...I shot with it resting on my shoulder because I couldn't reach the trigger otherwise.



My daughter started with my Ruger Mark IV .22 (it's not loaded in the picture, we were practicing form).

When I was very young, so young that I don't even remember this happening.
My grandpa was killing and butchering hogs. He laid the Springfield 22 down.
Well I picked it up and nearly shot him with it.
That was in the mid 1950's.
First shooting experience for me.

Mine was my Dad's Savage-Stevens Single Shot Blot Action .22 with shorts (shoots shorts, long and long rifle). I have it now. That was over 50 years ago. He got it when he was 9. It will go to one of my grandsons. Another will get my grandfathers 16 ga. shotgun and the third will get my father in laws Browning .22 pistol. Don't no what I will do if I get more grandsons! Guess I better talk Dad out of a couple more rifles...

ugh ... hard to recall that far back for specific first gun. I started off with a Daisy BB gun when I was barely able to walk plinking in the backyard. I got pretty good with it killing birds out of the large fig trees (Dad offered me one penny for every bird I could kill so there would be a good harvest of the figs). By about 3, I was shooting my dad's or my uncle's old school 22 pump and various pellet guns. By 4, I was getting pretty deadly and dad made up a target out of some old magazine (Field & Stream maybe?) using a photo of a deer with a dime sized target spot marked on the shoulder. Dad told me when I could hit the dot on the shoulder 3 times in a row from 25 yards, I could go deer hunting with him with an old lever action Winchester 218 Bee (my brother still has it). I killed my first deer (yearling) opening weekend when I was just shy of 5 years old (Dec. birthday)... that was in mid November 1963, a few days before JFK was assassinated … The next fall I started dove hunting with my dad using an old bolt action 410 (still have it stashed away in vault). I stuck with the 218 Bee & 410 up until about 10 years old.

When I was 6 my dad wanted to get me a BB gun for Christmas. My maternal grandmother absolutely forbade it. "He'll shoot his eye out!" Well, Christmas morning comes and I didn't get a BB gun, as he'd promised her, I got a Winchester 94 30-30 instead. Christmas morning we went out in the field behind the house and I plugged a quarter at 1,000 yards with it. (OK, thinking back, it was actually a coffee can at about 20 yards)

Benjamin air rifle, ~1976.

It was the first time hunting also. .410 for dove, and still my favorite to hunt.

Other than BB it was a single shot Stevens 12 GA. I now own it since my dad has passed.

A WWII Walther P-38 that my dad took off of a German soldier. I could barely operate the slide when I first shot it at arounde 5 or 6. I have the weapon with its original holster.

Thanks for all the replies, it's great reading them! As I said, I'm teaching my friend's daughter, and here she is. The reaction on her face is actually more than just hitting the bottle. It was her first "real" bullet, all else she had shot was Aguila and Colibri .22LR powderless bullets. They're great, and they will go through a 2 liter bottle, just not one that's been shook up! I didn't tell her this one had a little more oomph, although it is still a sub-sonic.

Mind you, this is only her second lesson, and she has less than 50 rds under her belt. 2L Cranberry Sprite at about 13yds, with a stock Crikett rifle. No bags on the table, so she was actually supporting the gun , more or less.

First gun shot was dad's Model 700 in .30-06. I was young enough you could consider it child abuse by today's standards. Dad taught me that no matter what caliber, the method and posture is pretty much the same. I have introduced many people to shooting handguns by means of a .44 Magnum. After their first shot, they say "WOW, let me have another." I don't intimidate and get people to try big calibers to make a fool of them. If I don't think a person can handle shooting, I don't take them.

Somewhere around three or four years old, my Dad takes me out. We went out into the desert (Arizona), and had a .44 mag put into my hand (the Dirty harry model) After 6 shots, the Ruger .41, then finished with an old Marlin 30-30...Thats as best as I can remember it.
It left an impact on me, and I loved it (Still love that gun too, so much fun).
The bigger impact came when I was around five, and I was very insistent I shoot the dead bloated calf that was out there...So come the end of the trip out plinking, Dad gives me the last six rounds to shoot what I want. A father knows his son most times, and mine knew me like the back of his hand. So he stand back about twenty or so feet and says ok you can shoot.
That smell is not something you forget.
He of course laughed at me all the way home,because when I perforated it all that gas came my direction like a wall...was bad enough I think we even left a couple shots early because we just couldn't breathe! I think it even surprised him, because he knew it would reek, he hadn't,however, seemed to expect it to travel at us like that! And I'm not sure, but I think he expected it to explode on me. Fathers can be necessarily cruel at times...and sometimes just for squats n' giggles.

Started shooting a BB gun and .22 Airgun at age 4.

My first gun was a Remington .22 Targetmaster. Don't remember when I first shot it. I have been shooting it from before I can remember. My dad bought me a Remington Model 1100 for Christmas when I was 12. I used it for rabbits and quail. Still shot squirrels with the .22 rifle. Shells were cheaper and it was less wasteful to shoot the squirrel in the head. I still like to plink with the .22 in the woods or at the range.

Dad had a Remington 22 automatic. It would only shoot shorts.......that had to be the first gun I ever shot. Had it for around 50 years then someone stole it.

I was young less than 10 for sure when my Uncle took me shooting with his Remington Speedmaster. That was over 30 years ago and I have the Speedmaster along with his Walther PP .32 have gave me a few years ago.

I was 5 years old and Dad help me shoot the single shot Stevens .410

Hex barrel Rem pump .22 with grandpa's supervision

My dads, Mossberg 12 gauge, 3", BB... I spit teeth.

Edit: I was 8 years old at that time

My dad had a little single shot .22. He grew up in the dust bowl in Oklahoma during the depression.
He said he hunted rabbits and squirrels with that little gun when he was a kid, and not for sport.
I used to sneak it out of the house and take it down to the local creek to shoot it.
Back then, a kid could buy a box of .22 ammo at the hardware store for about .50.

I thought that was great. I was a hunter when I had that little gun on that creek. I must've been about 10 years old.
Don't know what ever happened to it, I left home when I was grown and never saw it again.

Same here and when I turned 8 he handed it over. It is tucked away in my sons closet now

Hoban 22 SS

The first gun I ever had was a 22 rifle. It was my dad's, when he thought I was ready it was passed on to me, I remember lovin that gun! Once me an dad were out drivin around when we saw a Jack rabbit. Now at the time I was still young and not a very good shot. My dad told me to shoot the rabbit. I shot 7 times, 6 of which went through the rabbits ear as it remains still as a statue. The seventh shot I was determined to hit it. I shot an dropped the rabbit. That is my most loved memory of that gun.

NEF single shot 20 gauge, guess I was 6 or 7. This was after I shot my eye out with the red rider

C.I.L. single shot 410 and I still have it 35 plus years later

First gun, toy gun, I shot flies off the ceiling with rubber darts. First firearm, a 22 Stephens pump that dad had removed the wooden pump part so it would fit in the saddle scabbard better. Horse rolled one time with the gun in scabbard and bend it, the barrel, where it was notable. Said he straightened it out between two live oak trees and shot ok. When we were too young to hunt with the rifle, my brother and I would knock squirrels out of trees with rocks and the ranch dog caught them. On the 22, we took turns shooting cotton tails, rock squirrels, jacks, etc.

I think I was 8 at the time when Dad enrolled me and my brother in an NRA shooting course. We learned shooting with single shot .22s. After that Dad bought the both of us Daisy Red Ryders.

8 years old shot "Old Zulu" an 8 ga db sawed off shotgun. It kicked so hard I saw stars and landed on my butt. Dad said he would buy me a rifle once I could shoot "Old Zulu" and still be standing up after I pulled the trigger. Took me all Summer to be able to shoot that old bear of a shotgun. The biggest problem with it was you didn't know when it would shoot only one barrel,which was bad enough, or decide to shoot both barrels at the same time.

Didn't grow up shooting anything but air rifles. First firearm I shot was the M16A2, on the lovely coast of South Carolina in mid July of 1993. Started late but had some quality instruction! Now my sons are a different story. They have been shooting since age 4. It's been great watching them grow up shooting and hunting.

.357 qualified distinguished expert. LoL

Mossberg 351 KA .22lr semi auto stocked with Winchester Western .22lr ammo. Dad handed it to me and I emptied the tube into a Maxwell House can at 10 yards. Almost cut the can in half. I will never forget it!

Springfield single shot, bolt action, 22LR. Was bought new in 1946(?) for my dad's 10(?)th birthday. I was 10 when I first shot it. Barrel had been cut down and butt-stock "hollowed out" (think of a triangle cut-out with which you could put your hand through). Both modifications were done when the rifle was bought new to lighten it and make it more "field friendly" for dad. Has a skinny scope. No idea what magnification it is and don't know if it is factory - was on the rifle when dad opened the gift. Still in the family in very good condition aside from the mods.

As a young kid, was real good w/ an air rifle - but eventually tired of taking crows & sparrows. Got to shoot a 410 & 22 once or twice but had to immediately hand it back to my older brothers who hogged all the action.

Fast forward 25 years, and I finally fire a 12-ga (I bougt 7years earlier for HD) at some livestock predators , and I go like ' Wow, that felt good; really good' . Went dove hunting very next season, and deer the next; joined this site, & haven't missed a season since last 7 years!
Now have rifles, reload my own rounds, and process my own deer ( gotta make up for all those lost years!!!!!!).
But it was really that Winchester Defender 12ga pump -that I still have & will never part with, that 'set me in motion' !

First overall- DAISY pump action BB gun. First cartridge firearm- either Iver Johnson .410 single shot or a Marlin 72 semiauto (can't remember which came first)

Daisy Model 25 slide-action bb gun & a single-shot 410

Ruger 10/22, followed in short order by a Winchester Model 70 in .243 shooting mud pies after a big rain. My younger cousin got himself a nice shiner from the scope on the .243 kickin back at him that day. I got a better bruise, right on the shoulder!

When I was 9 or 10 yrs. old (1958-59), my family lived in Bethesda, Md.. My family went into Washington, DC quite often to make the tour of the monuments, federal buildings and museums such as the Smithsonian, Treasury, ATF and the FBI.

In the basement of the FBI building, they have a shooting range. My brother and I got picked to shoot a full auto .45 cal. Tommy Gun. Basically, the instructor held the weapon while I pulled the trigger. Coolest thing ever!

By the time we got home, my dad was ten pounds lighter because my mother chewed his rear end off for letting us do it.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Other than that, my uncle sent my brother and I a couple of Daisy BB guns for Christmas when I was 8 or 9. And, yes, I got the "You'll shoot your eye out!" speech from my mother on a regular basis.

Fortunately, when I was 15, I went to work for a veterinarian who was an avid hunter and president of the local skeet and trap club. Having been a sniper during the Korean War, he had an extensive knowledge and collection of long rifles, pistols, shotguns and loading equipment.

When I wasn't assisting him in surgery, I was reloading shells. When we weren't at the skeet range, we were in South Texas hunting.

I worked for him until I graduated from college. I've always loved the outdoors and I give "OL' DOC" the most credit for my love of hunting.

He passed away a few years ago and he is deeply missed. I consider him my second father as he always treated me like his son.

Stones1950

Lever action .22

I remember when Gibson's was in Mesquite! I bout a Remington 700 BDL 6mm there before my oldest son was born and he is now 29 years old and I still have it. .410 shotgun was my first gun to shoot.

Stevens single shot .410 that was passed down to me from my two older brothers. Some scum buzzard broke into my home may 1988 and stole it along with my other guns including the .22 Dad gave me when I turned 13, the 870 12 ga he gave me at 15, and the Winchester mod 70 .280 that I had scrimped and saved and made two trades in order to get after I got married and started hunting with the in-laws. I got some new guns, but they didn't really ever replace those treasures. Never caught the thief....

Probably Dad's Colt Woodsman .22.
Dad took my brother and I through a NRA training course when we were 9 or 10. Learned how to
shoot single shot 22s.