What gun started your love of firearms?

[Pliskin]

I was a bit of a late bloomer. I was about 9 years old and I had ventured into the sporting goods section of Wal-Mart for the first time. Now I had loved the look of guns I had seen in pictures before as well as my nerf guns but seeing them up close I was amazed. I told my father I wanted one but he said I was not old enough and they were too dangerous. Everytime we went to Wal-Mart after that I went to look at the gun stuff first. After enough enquireing about it to my dad he bought me a Daisy model 840 for my 13th Birthday and it was the best present I had ever recieved or have recieved since. It usually shot a little to the left and wasn't very accurate past 20yds but I loved it. Then when I turned 18 bought my first real gun a Norinco SKS and man was that awesome. I put just over 1000 rounds through it before I sold it, but I really wish I didn't sell it. Still have the 840 though, round count unknown but well above 10k.

So what was the gun that made you a gun nut?

 

[Scott Hearn]

Shotguns!

I love the smell of a freshly fired shotgun. Can't figure out which I like better, that or Hoppes #9. It has to be one of the two.

 

[jtischauser]

Great thread! I had a Daisy pellet gun starting out. It was one of those sweet ones with the slide through mag that held 5 rounds. I think it was .22 cal. Man I slaughtered ever tweety bird, chipmunk, beer can, stop sign in the surrounding 200 acres. I then stepped up to the nylon 66. I thought that thing was an M16. I would love to have one of those again with 30 mags and a case of ammo. Then I got the badass Ithica Model 37 with the 20" deer slayer barrel. I still have that shotgun.

 

[bsdubois00]

I love some Hoppes #9

For me it was a Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle in 7mm-08. Killed many my first deer with that - and my dream pistol was an H&K USP - I bought one the day I turned 21 and haven't looked back

 

[45tostayalive]

Single shot 22lr... Was rabbit hunting with grandfather and that was enjoyment to me..

 

[DutchWrangler]

Although I was shooting unsupervised with one of my dad's .22 rifles at the age of seven in upstate New York along with my eleven year old brother, I guess I didn't really get hooked on firearms until I joined USAF in '83 and went through SP training where I got the chance to play with M16's, M60's and Claymore mines.

 

[264Magnum]

Winchester M67 .22 single shot.

 

[Biggsly]

It was my mom's "now mine" S&W 63. We shot 22 rifles and 410s as long as I can remember, but the day I shot the 63, which was the first hand gun ever for me, I was in love.

 

[JoesGlock]

My Dad's Stevens bolt action .22 with Weaver scope. I still have it and will never sell it. It is one of the most accurate rifles I have ever shot.

 

[michaelclm]

I learned to shoot on an old (very old) hex-barrel Winchester pump .22 starting at about the age of 5. When I was 15 I finally got my own gun: an Iver Johnson .22 M1 Carbine replica. Man, that thing was a shooter.

 

[pyplynr]

The old Crossman 760. I'd pump that damn thing until I was tired. Used to smoke the squirrels right out of the trees.

 

[redneck1861]

That gun right there, my great grandfather taught me how to hunt with that rifle, we would go out on his property in Healdton and go squirrel hunting, it also has spent many hours at the lake for snakes. He gave it to me about a month before he passed away, I have had it for 8 years or so and I shoot it all the time, to this day it is the only gun that I will shoot a squirrel with.

I added the scope after.

 

[win mag]

ruger 10 22. About every other week I would talk mom into a trip to Wal Mart for a bucket of bullets. then I did my best pop every turtle in Mclain county.

 

[tacticalj]

I started with a red rider bbq'd gun. Got my first real gun when I was 14. Single shot 20ga, don't remember the brand, but it was cool. However I started shooting with 22's. Got a Emmy fieldmaster 597 that belonged to my grandfather and my mom said it was what he learned to shoot with. Don't know how old it is, but there's no serial number on it. Anyways its in the safe and still shoots like a dream!

 

[Burk Cornelius]

Benjamin pump pellet gun and a Mossberg 410 single shot. I have them both today.

 

[redneck1861]

Got a Emmy fieldmaster 597 that belonged to my grandfather and my mom said it was what he learned to shoot with. Don't know how old it is, but there's no serial number on it. Anyways its in the safe and still shoots like a dream!

Thats one of those guns that is great to pass down to your kids or grandkids.

 

[stroker-c10]

Winchester Model 74 semi-auto .22. Grandpa taught me how to shoot when I was a kid before he passed away. My grandmother ended up giving me the rifle this past summer.

 

[tacticalj]

That 597 will stay in my family as long as I'm alive. No kids so I figure it will go to one of my nephews. One of them boys will be gun rich when I go!

 

[Rockon71385]

I got a Red Rider for learning my ABC's when I was three, but the first gun that I really loved was a bolt action Mossberg .410 with a 3 shot internal magazine. I remember going 10 for 10 on clay pigeons with that thing in front of my grandparents house.

 

[Deacon]

MAN, you guys have way more history in this than I do. I'm the first generation in several on my paternal side, and my maternal side skipped a generation, so I picked up the love of guns completely on my own; I theorize I inherited it from my maternal grandfather who was a WWII army / merchant marine vet, lover of the M1 and the 1911.

The first weapon I'd ever shot was the AR15 in basic training (1996). I did OK at best. I got a duty as a weapons escort and trained on the M9 and found my niche. Shortly after that I bought myself a 92FS centurion, then an XD, then....

As a bit of drama, I traded an unintentionally unused wedding ring for an AR15 in 6.8 SPC.

I realized quickly how much I DID NOT know about the ballistic arts and set about to learning everthing I can about firearms. It's been an educational (and expensive) several of years.