For some of us it was along time ago, for others just a few short years. We got our first .22 single shot and we thought, no we new, we were the terror of the wild with it. We shot it so many times it didnt have rifleing any more. We lost count on the amout of game we shot with it. Ground hogs were our grizzlys, rabbits we anything we wanted them to be.We brought home , to the disgust of company who didnt like guts hangings in their faces, our most prized kills that we earned by stalking them, like Selous,Taylor and others we read about and fell to sleep with the book still open. Then we got older we graduated to bigger things like our first 30-30 or .303. We still read the books , but by different writers who brought it out so vivdly you were almost their. We got our first buck kill, and it felt so good it didnt wear off for months.Then we went to college, trade school, ran the family business or got a good job, but we still read the books, and we still dreamed.Then one day our dream came true, we bought a Big Bore and booked a trip to our dream, AFRICA. We didnt sleep for two nights before the trip, we read the books on the long flight and dreamed. After a nervous start we finaly got our chance , we killed our first African Game, maybe a Springbock, or Impala, or Water Buck, it didnt matter, we were there and thats all that counted. We remember our P.H.'s words "take your time dont be nervous and squeeze of the shot" . A slap on the back on a "good shot" broke the tension. That night you talk with others and i gets in you soul,lifelong freindships are started, the smoke, the sounds its overwhelming.Its years later and we've been in so many countries you have to stop and think how many ,you were in, when and what for. We have walked past the .22 thousands of times only to look at our most recent prize in the case.We bicker amoung ourselfs on what caliber is the best in what gun and it goes on for ever. We think " if its not 500 grains at 2350 i dont want it,to slow for me.I need the 577 bigbadgunidacatalouge. Africa is just another hunt for a better what ever. We have become so complacent we forget how it all started. Then one day it hits as you,( no one else is allowed to),as you dust the indside if the case out, replacing the cartridges that keep it at perfect humidity and you touch the .22. You pick it up and the memorys flood over you. Personaly i am getting up going to the case pulling out my H&R Pioneer, the one with no rifleing left, and we are going for a long walk together to see if i still have what it takes. Then i am going to dream about the time when it was magic.
Charlie

Nice post. Thanks.

I still enjoy hunting rabbits with my .22 every week and also definitely enjoy a buff with a .375 or .450 in Northern Aust or Africa.

No complancency here.

It all began when I read Tarzan of the apes in the 4th grade as I recall..

I'm sitting here with my Win. 63 .22 L.R. on my lap and wondering how many deer I killed with it in the land south of the border feeding a crew of locals building fence for my dad....Not counting coyotes, Mt. Lion, foxes in traps or how many quail, Javalina or targets of opertunity...and it never failed me, but I was carefull and knew its limitations..It was my first gun and will be my last gun..

I enjoyed your post, I can equate with it, guess that comes with age, at least it's sweeter with age......

Thank you for your post! I look at my rack of expensive guns and wish I had my first 22 back.

I am sitting here right now gentley stroking my first love, it is a well worn winchester mod 75 .22lr sporter. It was also my dad's first gun. With it I've killed many hundreds of cape bunnalos and numerous 100lber tembojacks. Not to mention one or two rare and elusive brown badger grizzlies.

And yes I too can relate with your post. Each and every moment I spend in the field with my beloved double rifle in hand is more precious to me than most thing in life. It's hard to put it down in words.

I think thing that really put me over the top was when I was in high school I worked in gun store that was owned and run by a very serious worold wide hunter. During lull hours we'd sit and he wopuld tell stories of Africa and Alaska and let me look at his "big" rifles.

I recon between Bob Ward's tales and numerous heads on the wall of his shop and fine collection of rifles and Peter Capstick's books it just about ruined me for life..

Thank you good sir's.....

I still have my first .22 and shoot it often...more than any other gun I own for sure. I got it for my 8th birthday, just over 27 years ago.

I'll never part with it willingly.

Thanks for the post Charles McWilliams!

Cheers,
Canuck

Thanks Charlie. Still have mine -- somewhere (not quite sure where, but I still have it), a J.C. Higgins bolt action .22.......gotta find it now that you've made me nostalgic.

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:
I still have my first .22 and shoot it often...more than any other gun I own for sure. I got it for my 8th birthday, just over 27 years ago.

Canuck, I keep forgetting you are so blasted young. You can carry BOTH rifles, the video camera and all the water while we are tracking mbogo in the burnt grass...

I shoot about once a week 80 miles north of Houston (closing in on Chicago as the 3rd largest city in America). I usually bring various medium and large bores but I alway include a 22LR, usually a Marlin 39. Enjoy it as much as the others, maybe more. For a walk in the woods, nothing beats it.

Thanks for the great post. It sure brought back the memories. Just after I read your post I was leaning back in the chair remembering all the miles I carried my first rifle and the thousands of rounds it has fired. After a few minutes of walking memoery lane my wife came over and asked me why I was laying back in the chair with my eyes closed and a smile on my face. I had her read the post but she just didnt understand.

I still have that rifle, and have had it since I was 8. It is an old Remington 510. It was my Dads 22 as a kid and will be my sons. It has had to have the trigger and bolt rebuilt but it still keeps going. It was also the first rifle I ever built a stock for. Just try building a gunstock in a jr high wood shop class anymore. I finally had it reblued a couple years ago.

As Ray so eloquently put it: "It was my first gun and will be my last."

I shoot about once a week on land north of Houston, usually bring various medium and big bores, always a 22LR, Marlin 39 my favorite.

Remington Nylon 66 for me. I still have it... (I liberated it from my dad who's never asked for it back).

The barrel had 8 sides, and the stock was broken, belonged to my Uncle Pete. But that was 60 years ago.....

I have my dads first guns, a benjamin 22 pump air rifle, and a Remington #4 rolling block 22 rf. They are no ware near perfect condition, but they are by far the most valuable guns I have.

That reminds me, I need to take the kids to the range so they can shoot their 22, and grandpas.

I bought a Remington 870 when I was fifteen. There is not a speck of bluing left.
My first rifle was an M-16 A1 in 5.56. I slept with it for several years. Then my uncle said he wanted it back.

lawndart

Nylon 66 for me too.

This last week was spring break for my youngest son. The weather has been kind of lousy. My wife and I work together and we've been working so hard that I almost forgot to spend,(invest), some time with my son. I told her that I was going to take the next day off. My son and I spent the next day out in the sagebrush with our 22's shooting at ground squirrels. We always try to shoot from an off-hand position to give the little buggers a chance and to hone our skills a little. I wondered "When did my son become such a good shot?". I pointed out to him that the Mossberg 22 he was using was given to me by my father when I went to college 36 years ago and that some of us in the dorm got together and refinished the stocks of all our rifles over a period of weeks right in the dorm. Can you imagine doing that today? Anyway, we had such a great day out there in the semi-desert and came home all smiles. When I read this thread it made me realize that I had passed the torch to the next generation. Made my eyes kind of blurry, you know?

It was Win Model 67 for me and I loved it dearly.

In 1973 my oldest brother stole it and traded it for a bag of Pot

It's been 32 years and I'm still pissed off.... In fact, I might have to go and whoop his ass tomorrow.

Elmo

The ".22" that ties us ALL together, regardless of experience.

I got my Dad's .22, a 'J.C.Higgins', aka, Marlin Model 81, just a few years ago.
I hadn't seen it in 40 years!
Now, my two young daughters both have a Marlin .22 of their own, bought by THEIR Dad - ME - and we can all go shoot a .22 that was either bought by or belonged to our "Dad".

It's good this Topic came up.
It reminds everyone here not to be a "BIG BORE".

I had a great child hood with my Brno Model 2 .22lr and I had some great times hunting with my Father. They WHERE the best days of my life.

Ah to be ten again and afield with my trusty Winchester M69A. It is at the smith being cleaned up before I give it to my son.

it all started with an old second hand daisy springer....

took about 20 shots to kill the local cottonmouthes and copperheads... but they were biting my cattle...

then, about 6, my dad picked up a marlin auto.. it was JUNK then, but since he had a quarter bounty on cottonmouths, I got pretty darn good with it.... enough to buy one of those pencil tube junk scopes, and I was hooked.

I wasn't allowed to carry the 22, unsupervised, until i could hit a dime, nearly every time, from 10 of Dad's then long steps... funny how that's seemed to even up...

about this time I started pulling the lever on his reloading press for 30 carbine.....

about 8, we modified a late war mauser98, and when he cut the stock down, i knew it was for me... he just (today i would call it bubba'ed) smithed on it, and basically took stuff off!! shorter barrel, trimmed stock, etc

I lost those when the parents divorced and the step mother "got rid of all the guns"... such is like

My wife bought me a springfield/flaigg in 257 roberts early on, and I've been back into them since...

my mispent youth, partly, was spent on the jROTC rifle team, where I was the armourer

As for big bores.. the first rifle *I* built was a 358 winchester... it's a north american big bore....

then a buddy owed me some money, and a 416 rem model 70 came out of the deal....

the rest is history, time, frustration and fun

jeffe

Weird as it may seem, in my case my first 22 LR was a match target pre-war Mauser, palm rest and running water, like O´Connor would say. May the Lord make me find that gun again before looking the roots of grass from beneath!

Wow, what a wonderful post I'm going to frame it and send to my hunting partner. I have an old cooey repeater that was old when I got it it's been to hell and back, Grandpa screwed the stock together where it got split I love that gun. I used to shoot the telephone wire when telephone wires were still on poles, not the insulators the bare wire, it never disrupted the phone service but took a hell of an eye. I've shot everything with that gun and I haven't shot it for years...thats going to change this weekend. I also have grandma's 16 ga double she needed a 16 cause she was only 4 foot 1 inch tall, it blew her on her ass the time she touched off both barrels. It too has a mended stock where uncle Marcel used it to club a duck running away (dangerous).

thanks for the great post

the chef

For me it was probably the first thing I ever bought with my money: a Remington 512, bolt gun. It had a barrel a block long. I used it to get my first marksmanship badges in military school. It sits in my gun safe today, over 45 years later with the original stock oil finished.

I have other .22's now: a little single shot Savage for potting squirrels, a Chinese rip-off of a German Mountain Carbine, and Ruger 10/22. Although I spend time working up loads, zeroing, and practicing with my 9.3, 375 and 40's, deligent practice on steel silhouettes is a integral part of my preparation for an African safari.

Clearly, the .22 is the go to gun for those who appreciate its versatility. Years ago, I did some penetration testing in wet newprint. Amoung the various .45, .38, .380 loads tested, the .22 LR high velocity round (basic .22) penetrated better than every thing except 357 Magnum. It is quite a cartridge, and there will always be a place in my safe for that 512. Kudude

Back to the topic; I just got old and fat.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
Back to the topic; I just got old and fat.

You, too?
Dang!

Good thread. My single shot Winchester mod. 67A is leaning in a corner in my gun room. Got it from grandad over 3 decades ago. I can't look at that gun without turning into a boy again. I can hear the birds and smell the tall spruce trees along that sunny Colorado creek bottom where I loved to hunt squirrels... Some of my favorite hunting trips of the year are the sunny fall days both above and below timberline hunting grouse and ptarmigan, with a .22, only now I carry a beautiful little Cooper. Thanks for the recollection.

My father gave me a single shot .22lr when I was 12 years old, then he gave me a 16 gauge single shot when I was 15 and took me duck hunting. I gave the .22 to a younger cousin (he still has it) and I still have the 16 gauge. What this thread really shows is that if we don't do our part with our own children or some other youngsters, then the tradition and the dreams will die.

Love this post. Thank you.

Mine's a Remington 541 clip fed bolt action. My anti gun father bought it for me, nicest thing he ever did, just before he left us. We had just moved from Boston to Montana and I'd never handled a gun. I was 10 (19 years ago). Still have it and use it all the time on gophers. Bet a box car couldn't hold all the fur and feathers my .22 has downed.

quote:

Originally posted by Don G:
Canuck, I keep forgetting you are so blasted young.

Yah....here's a pic from just a few years back...



The thread got me feelin' a little nostalgic. This is actually my first big game animal and my first centerfire rifle (M94 Trapper). I was 11 yo at the time (and didn't know anything about hunting photo etiquette ).

Don, I'll carry your rifle but if we come up on the herd suddenly I might just have to shoot your buff too!!

Cheers,
Canuck

Cool photo Canuck!

My dad made Sundays special. After Church we would go to Grandpas house to visit. Grandpa would let me snap a cap on his muzzleloader he built from scratch, barrel,lock and stock. Then dad and I would retire to the back porch with a single shot Stevens 22. I got 10 shots at various targets. Dad was kinda cagey in that regard, he not only taught me to look forward to Church ( it ment shooting soon after ) but hooked me on guns and hunting. I thank the Lord that after 45 years both have stuck, and I have passed it on to my son........................JJ

Busmaster007,

Yep! I started with that same J C Higgins .22 bolt-action... A Model 42DL (Marlin Model 80 or 81), with the solid walnut stock, chrome bolt handle and trigger guard. It's been 30 years ago now but I still have that little rifle - hell it was old when I got it, so I suppose it's 40+ yrs old today). It's pretty worn but I have many fond memories of wandering the oak and maple forests of southern Illinois as a boy. A truckload of blackbirds, squirrels, rabbits, feral cats, etc met their Maker through the sights of that old .22 rifle.

Today I have many other rifles, some heavies of course, but the .22 rimfire still has a special place in my heart. If I could only keep ONE firearm as a survival tool to last me the rest of my days I'd have to seriously consider a .22 rifle.

Today my favorite .22 rifle is a battered and worn Ruger M77/22 All-Weather stainless/synth bolt action. It's a tack-driver and weighs in just over 5 lbs with factory iron sights - it would be the ultimate survivalists tool.

quote:

Don, I'll carry your rifle but if we come up on the herd suddenly I might just have to shoot your buff too!!

Cheers,
Canuck

Canuck, I was thinking about taking my first buff with my 416, then trying for a buff with my bow after you get both of your buffs down.

That way we'll likely both shoot at least one of my buffs!

A damn good post, no an excellent post! I have the same memories of those long, lost years and all of the fun and skills I learned back then. I have hunted Alaska, Wtoming, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Africa and agree with you completely. Thank you for taking the time to remind all of us of the " good old days".

Canuck,

Geez, add a few pounds and a goatee and you haven't changed a bit! LOL

Delightful post, thank you!

I got an air-rifle for my 13th birthday, no hunting was allowed with air-rifles in Sweden and my father did not approve of any form of hunting anyway. Hmmm... Let's say I tried to obey the none-hunting rule as far as I could, because I loved and respected him... But I was a hunter at heart then already.

It was many, many years later I became a hunter for real. Today, my eight year old daughter is shooting that old air-rifle.

Regards,
Martin

quote:

Originally posted by 458RugerNo1:
Canuck,

Geez, add a few pounds and a goatee and you haven't changed a bit! LOL

458Ruger#1, that's why I grew the goatee! I still have a bit of a baby face and despite being 30-something it was tough getting any respect at work. The old loggers and cat skinners used to give me a pretty hard time. At least I look my age with some fur on my face.

Cheers,
Canuck