What was your first gun?

alkaloid

alkaloid

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Hey all, I'm so new to everything guns. Absolutely ignorant about them aside from what I learned in the firearms courses, but I'm so ready and open to learn about everything. I'm so overwhelmed that I just don't know where to start.

How did you know what kind of gun you purchased for your first time? Were you able to get a feel for one beforehand or did you pick one at random and learn how to use it? Any recommendations for a reliable beginner?

I've gotten a feel for different kinds of guns without being able to fire any, but know I love the feel of a pump-action shotgun and would love to be able to go to a range soon.

Appreciate any advice, responses, etc.
 
Depends on what you want to use the gun for. Do you plan to hunt and if so what species do you intend to hunt? If target shooting are you planning to shoot rifles or shotgun for skeet?
 
First gun that I got was gifted to me, Remington 742. First one I bought was an SKS, because I was surprised we could own those at the time (for cheap).
 
I got a 200$ Savage Mo3 off GP the week after my license. I always loved bolt actions, 22's are cheap and this "looks" like what a classic rifle should look like.

Budget is the main driver. Then, figure out how often a year you'll actually shoot, and at what range.
 
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Inherited a Cooey Model 600 cottage gun from my dad.
It led to my getting my PAL/RPAL license (so I would be legal).
First restricted was a GSG-1911.
 
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Hey
In my opinion I would get a 22 rifle . Learn your technique on something cheap to shoot and low recoil. You won't be so discouraged if you miss. I see people at the range with a bunch of cool stuff but can't shoot it. By the time you get used to your 22 it will give enough info to figure out what you really want.
good luck
 
Springfield 1903 in 30-06

Was given to me by my grandfather but I didn't have an FAC when LGR came in so sold it and a Chinese 7.62 together for $100

I had full time school and 3 part time jobs. One of those jobs was at the RA Centre in Ottawa. Id literally serve the people taking the course but my boss said that if took a weekend off to take the course I could expect to be on the crappiest shifts for the next 3 months.

The FUD's around me were fear mongering me that I'd go to jail for keeping it so i dumped it.

That experience has jaded me towards any from of registration henceforth. I only buy NR and what i have is none of anyone business unless i choose to tell you.
 
Cooey Model 75, I was 14 years old, lived in rural Western Quebec. I bought it at a Giant Tiger in Ottawa (yes, they sold guns...later on I bought a Marlin 336 C at the same place for $85. new) the good old days. Sharpened my skills on groundhogs.
 
Cordeep said:
Hey
In my opinion I would get a 22 rifle . Learn your technique on something cheap to shoot and low recoil. You won't be so discouraged if you miss. I see people at the range with a bunch of cool stuff but can't shoot it. By the time you get used to your 22 it will give enough info to figure out what you really want.
good luck
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22 isnt needed. My father never owned a 22LR in his life. What the problem is, people are afraid to shoot closer distance till they get better. Also there is no shame in wearing a recoil pad.

I didnt own a 22LR till my 3rd gun. My 2nd was a 45 ACP. Then again ammo was way cheaper back then.
 
My first gun was a Savage Mark II in 22lr. I picked this for a few reasons, cost and learning to shoot accurately being the two biggest. I was brand new to guns (first gun I ever shot I bought) but I knew I wanted to get into hunting, so an affordable bolt action 22lr made the most sense to me. The rifle was affordable, the ammo was cheap, and it seemed like the best option to practice with considering I was assuming I'd be adding a bolt action hunting rifle in the future.

Brewster20 said:
Cooey Model 75, I was 14 years old, lived in rural Western Quebec. I bought it at a Giant Tiger in Ottawa (yes, they sold guns...later on I bought a Marlin 336 C at the same place for $85. new) the good old days. Sharpened my skills on groundhogs.
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Giant Tiger used to sell guns!? Lol

(My wife is from back East, she loves that place.)
 
I bought my own Daisy BB gun at around 11 or 12. Was given a Diana .177 pellet gun one Christmas a year or two later. I learned a lot about trajectory being able to watch the way BBs arc coming out of the barrel, and a lot about shooting using that pellet gun.

My dad had a Lee Enfield 303 as long as I can remember so I saw, handled and knew how they worked.

I was given a Ross 303 straight-bolt rifle by a family friend at 13 so I have pretty much been around rifles all my life.

I got a 2nd-hand copy of the 1966 edition of Gun Digest in 1967 and read that thing from cover to cover. There was a long list of cartridges int he back pages describing virtually every contemporary calibre and many obsolete ones from .22 BB cap to the 458 Winchester magnum. I thought the 6.5x55 Swede, 7x57 Mauser and 280 Reminton all sounded perfect and eventually, over a lifetime I acquired one of each.

I have only ever bought one new in the box rifle in the my life and that was a Remington Model 700 ADL in 243 I got in 1975. Even though no one I knew used a 243, my research indicated that it would be ideal for the Vancouver Island deer I hunted at the time. I had no intention of black bear hunting, but after my wife encouraged me to shoot a bear for the pot, I took to using the 243 for that too, starting in 1976.

I bought a few military surplus rifles over the years, but mostly my rifles have been gifts, donations or inherited.
 
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my first gun other then a pellet gun was a Cooey model 39 from my dad. he gave it to me when I bought my house(rural NS). He got it for his 11th birthday in 1972

The first rifle I ever bought myself was a Parker Hale custom no1 Lee Enfield from a buddy at work, then I bought an SKS because they were on sale for $189 a week later

out of the 80 or so rifles I've bought over the years the only gun I have ever bought new in the box from a store was a Derya mk10. I sold it 6 months later.
 
the first gun i bought was a chinese sks followed by a cooey 64b.... then a remington 870 magnum express..... after that it gets real fuzzy
I hunted with those 3 guns my first year as a self taught hunter. After that I borrowed my dad's old .303 sporter as my main hunting rifle and still hunt with it to this day although I only use it on certain hunts these days. Took my first deer with that rifle and also took my largest racked and bodied mulie (214 dressed/165.5 4pt typical) and I took it along this season for my early deer hunt and was successful. Might be one of my "lucky rifles" if there ever was such a thing
 
First gun that I used was likely my Dad's Cooey 60. First gun that was bought for me (by my Dad) was a Lee Enfield No. 4 to go shoot at deer - that rifle was bought for me in 1968 (?) - fired it a few times each fall towards deer - never did get one, though. First gun that I bought with my own earned money was a Remington Model 10C - later traded that up for a Ruger 10-22 (circa 1978 ?) - which I still have. My first new store-bought rifle for deer was a Winchester Model 70 in 308 Win - I bought that in 1976 - and did get my first deer with that one - with my first shot through it at a deer, although many dozens, perhaps hundreds of rounds were fired by me through it, before that. Our son still uses it most every fall.

OP - I have no clue how old you are - I am from an era and an area when most 12 year old "farm boys" were well practiced and good shots with .177 pellet guns or .22's - was not really a big deal to transit to center-fire rifles, once we passed Hunter Safety and could get our first deer tags. Most of our "learning" was what we chose to hear from our Dad's, what we "got away with", and then found out with our "buddies" out in a gopher pasture. It might be all different now-a-days where you are.
 
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My first gun was a savage 111 Hunter package in 300win mag Left hand model. Was a steal of a deal at the time but it beat the piss out of me for sure. I put a muzzle break on it and poured silicon into the stock which helped allot. Took a bear at 300 yards with it. It has since moved to a new home at a friends house and I have moved onto Tikka Rifles.

B
 
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