What Shotgun did you shoot your FIRST bird with? and do you still have it?

It was a Savage/Foremost .410 pump gun with vent rib. First bird I shot with it was a clay bird, to get used to the gun. Then I went after grouse. I was 12 years old. Man I learned to shoot/hit with that thing. And I still have the gun 43 years later.
 
A Miroku 3700 o/u, no don´t have it anymore. Regret a bit today, nowadays those models are named Browning and are much higher priced.
Today my pet is a Beretta o/u. I will (try) to keep it. When younger I did buy and sell far too often, stupid as I was.
 
In 1953 I went hunting with the manager of the mine where I lived. He lent me a very trim little double shotgun and gave me a box of high brass Imperial cartridges. 1.25 ounce loads of # 4 and I think they 3.5 or 4 dram equivalent. Too long ago to be certain. I managed to knock down a nice drake mallard with my first ever shot with a shotgun.

The interesting part is the gun was made in Ireland by , to the best of my memory, Wm. Cavanough (or Cavanagh). It was Damascus barreled, probably only weighed 6 pounds, had 2.5" chambers and when I took it down to clean it afterwards found that it was proofed for 1 oz. loads with if I again recall correctly 2.5 drams of BP.

The owner had used it for many years with much heavier loads of the wrong cartridge length and thought it was just fine doing so. I recall the gun was still very tight and showed no sign of damage from the incorrect usage. It had lovely engraving. It remains the only Irish built gun I have seen. It was a fine little gun and it would have been nice to acquire it to hunt grouse with using proper loads. The mine manager died soon after and his widow disposed of all his hunting equipment very promptly and moved to West Vancouver.
 
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what i shot my first bird with

shot my first grouse with a cooey model 840 in 16 gauge, mom bought it for dad when he was 27 yrs old at a cost of 30$ with a box of imperial ammunition!!
i still have it, still looks like day he got it, its a great little gun!!
 
A woodcock that was feeding in a path through high brambles,it flushed and dissapeared,instinctively I ran where it was feeding,and caught it as it was passing through the last poplar.A snapshot with my Baikal IJ-18 single shot the bird took all the shot,came down stone dead.I sold this gun after 27 years.
 
I am assuming you mean gamebird? That would have to be a ruffed grouse with my Grandmothers Iver Johnson Champion single shot .410. I was 10 and out grouse hunting walking a bush trail with my Grandfather and his little dog. Dog put the bird up into a birch tree and I plunked him out of the tree.I wont ever forget that day and I now own that gun!:)
 
Cooey mod840, 20 ga. Borrowed from an uncle when I was 12. Given to me by same uncle same day after shooting my first Partridge. Still have the cooey. That was 34 years ago.
 
It was a borrowed Cooey 12 ga single shot. Took me a few shots to master the gun but eventually i did knock down a Ring neck pheasant on my fathers farm land.

The second bird i shot was with a Franchi 12 gauge semi auto i bought brand new. Used that gun until i left home 4 years later and then left it with my father. I was home for my fathers funeral last year and asked about the gun... my mother told me that my father had given it away when the long gun registry came into affect. Wish i had that gun back.

RDG
 
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