I've seen a lot of posts here over the years, but very few which celebrate the guns we first learned to shoot with. For most of us that was a rimfire, probably a .22, but possibly even a 25RF or .32RF. For a few others, it was an air gun (not including BB guns, which really aren't usually very accurate "firearms, at least partly because of their ammunition.) So....a couple of questions

Question:
Which firearm did you first learn to shoot rifles with?

Choices:
.22 RF
.25 RF
.32 RF
Other RF (.41, .44, etc., please name)
Air rifle
Centerfire rifle

Question:
Among the rimfires, there were a number of very inexpensive vbrands. Despite what we have migrated to as we aged, I suspect many of came from days when inexspensive guns were important accessories to our lives. So which of you began your RIFLE shooting avocations with the following?

Choices:
Mossberg
H&R
Winchester single shot or inexpensive bolt action repeater
Remington single shot or inexpensive bolt action repeater
Daisy RF
Benjamin
Savage
Other (please designate)
Marlin

 

I started out with a Daisy Pump BB gun, then a Remington 121 Pump 22LR, then a Ruger 44 Mag semiauto, then a pre 64 Winchester in 264 Win Mag...

Ithaca Model 49 single shot, 22lr.

I started shooting at the age of 4, .22 single shot before I had a Daisy BB gun but the BB gun I could shoot without supervision.
My dad taught me and my brothers to shoot with the same .22 single shot bolt action Cooey rifle that he taught my mom with. My dad bought it in Prince George or Hazelton B.C. I believe at the Hudsons Bay Company store when we lived up there. I've had both my boys shooting it too since the age of 4.

Single shot silver bolt Cooey for me...still have that old rifle, was great for teaching first shot kills as that's all one had...the first shot!!

First time I remember shooting was with a Nylon 66. The earliest "learned" shooting was with a cz 452. Also shot an Anshutz in college and learned some there as well.

A BSA air rifle when I was 12 or so then onto a single shot BSA 22LR, sxs 12G and a 303. Then I started to buy my own and it diversified somewhat.

Von Gruff.

I apologize to my fellow Canadians. I forgot all about the old Cooeys. I think maybe 90% of the Canadians I know not only learned to shoot with a Cooey, but still have one!!

I also forgot to list the BSAs for the Brits and other Commonwealth countries.

A Remington M34 NRA.

Daisy Red Ryder at about 6 years old, followed by an Enfield Mk1 .303 at the ripe age of around 10.

I was lucky enough (and still am) to have a good friend of the family with an expansive firearms collection and no children of his own! They're all willed to me and I hope I never get them.

Remington 511P. My father purchased it new in 1948 a few weeks before I was born. It spend decades behind the back door of the farm house. I have restored it to better than original bluing and wood and still enjoy it.

I started out with a BB gun but you said you didn't want to include those in the poll.

My first real gun was a 7X57 Mauser acquired after much nagging of my father from Montgomery Ward. Since he was a very frugal Norwegian who felt guns were frivolous, I had to go for cheap.

My getting the Mauser was a good strategic move since then I could plead economy and buy a 22 LR. My 22 LR was made by Marlin but sold, if I remember correctly, under a Sears brand name.

I learned to shoot with a Tikka 30.06 and a Fultons No.4 target rifle chambered in 7.62x51.

I do envy the guys who grew up in the country and have been shooting since they can walk, trouble with growing up in the city I suppose.

I won't count my Daisy lever action; used my brother's Browning semi-auto. Remington also made them at an earlier time, very neat bottom-eject action, loaded through a hole in the right side of the butt stock. Take-down model, too.

About 8-9 years old, I was allowed to shoot it behind my grandmother's house, my father and she keeping an eye from the kitchen.

It was some years until I discovered .22 ammunition could be bought more than one 50 round box at a time

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quote:

Originally posted by Ghubert:
I learned to shoot with a Tikka 30.06 and a Fultons No.4 target rifle chambered in 7.62x51.

I do envy the guys who grew up in the country and have been shooting since they can walk, trouble with growing up in the city I suppose.

-my seven year old cousin shot a deer and a bear over November and December- with some paternal assistance.

I started out with a Favorite single shot. My dad cut the barrel about 6in. shorter and made s short stock for it. We shot mostly 22 shorts a few longs and really thought we were cooking when we got to shoot some long rifles. I shot a raccoon when I was 6 and bunch of rabbits and tree rats. My brother still has that gun.

Marlin Mod. 88 semi auto 22 LR. roger

I started with a Remington 41 Targetmaster then graduated to a Remington 582.

First taken duck shooting aged ten days old, shit my first pellet gun aged 4. Then BSA cadet 177 cadet air rifle and a 410 army and navy single shot folding shotgun.

Then 22rf and 303 in the CCF.

Started in 1952 with a Remington single shot (handed down by my uncle) which is still in the family.

Remington M121 Fieldmaster pump action. My Dad had bought it new for about $12.00 prior to going off to WWII.

quote:

! They're all willed to me and I hope I never get them.

You know, I expect your friend feels very good about the thought that he will get to go hunting as a part of the guns he's leaving to you. I have always liked the thought that a good gun has a ghost that comes with it!

I learned how to handle a firearm first with an 870 Rem Pump Shotgun..then a 30/30 came later..Model 94...

in fact I was out with one of the Scouts this afternoon teaching him to shoot with the SAME shotgun... so he can qualify on the Shotgun Shooting Merit Badge..

yesterday I was at a friends house letting him learn how to load his own ammo...

Yesterday he was Mickey Mouse around a Shot Gun.. today he thinks he is Superman..

I believe mine was a Glenfield. Simple little tube feed semi sold by Wards or Western Auto. I believe Marlin actually made them.

My dad's old Springfield .22....probably a Model 15.

quote:

Originally posted by Evan K.:
I started with a Remington 41 Targetmaster .

Outstanding trigger; I have one that's currently "a rifle in a bag".

My Father started me with a Savage Model 4C which was a bolt action clip fed 22LR. He also bought a Weaver 4X scope and a Weaver 'N' mount for it. He had no proper taps so he drilled and tapped the action and mount for 8-32 stove bolts which he DID have taps for. 4 Round Head stove bolts worked well for many years of very active use.In fact it was the only 22 rimfire I had until well after gunsmith school,college,and the Army when I bought an Anschutz and a Lyman Super Targetspot. I left it with my Father when I left home and I know he used it for over 30 years till it was stolen from his farmhouse where he kept it. I know he shot a turkey from his bedroom window once with it. Head shot,bang,flop, turkey dinner. For me it killed one heck of a lot of rocks,tin cans,bottles along with the occaisonal squirrel and rabbit, but far more rocks and tin cans.

Ruger 10/22. Still have it and have not touched the scope settings in 27 years. Will still drive tacks.

Remington Nylon 66 auto. I was only 8. When I was 9 my dad, who new little about guns but bought me whatever he thought I wanted, put a scope on it. It was a brand X 3x-9x and the POI changed whenever I moved the power ring! I got a chance to shoot birds and gophers in an orchard and the 9x setting proved the most useful, so it stayed on 9x all the time. This seeming disadvantage proved fortunate however as the hyper-critical eye relief on that low end scope made it imperative that I get a good and identical cheek weld each time. I can still shoot higher power scopes with ease. My current 22LR, 223 and 270 all have 10x scopes and I have no problems even with moving game.

I started out with Crossman 788 BB Scout. It was fairly accurate but getting close sure increased the odds. Then I progressed to dad's 10/22 and soon bought my own.

At around 12 or 13 I started shooting a CMP Remington 513T at the local gun club and took second place in the State junior match in 1988.

Chris

I started with a Red Ryder BB gun, hunted blackbirds, frogs, cottontails successfully with that. On to a Crosman 22 pellet gun, crows, pigeons, squirels added to the list.

Then on to Dad's open sighted Winchester bolt action 22LR. My first was a Ruger 10/22, still have the rifle and do not know how many thousands of rounds and hundreds of critters it has gone through. Still working fantastic.

quote:

Originally posted by ron williams:
Ithaca Model 49 single shot, 22lr.

My Dad's Ithaca 49 is what I cut my teeth on as well. I loved that rifle then and I love it still. Wont be long and there will be a 3rd generation squeezing the trigger trying to whack ground squirrels.

AC, its funny you had this thought for a poll as my pals and I were just talking about this very thing the other day.

I started shooting and hunted small game for years with my dad's old Winchester M-75 in a .22 LR sporter with a Williams aperture sight and front brass bead.

I dare say there were thousands of jackrabbits and cotton tails in the highlands of Northern NM that suffered the wrath of that little .22 between me and my brother over the years.

I've still got it but the Williams sight broke off a few years ago. My daughters are shooting it now with the V sight installed.

I did most of my learning with my dads Marlin Model 60. The first rifle that was all mine was a Marlin 25MN .22 Magnum that I saved up my lawn-mowing money to buy.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
I apologize to my fellow Canadians. I forgot all about the old Cooeys. I think maybe 90% of the Canadians I know not only learned to shoot with a Cooey, but still have one!!

I also forgot to list the BSAs for the Brits and other Commonwealth countries.

No problem AC!! I still like to take that old Cooey out & blast critters. Brings back some fond memories of yesteryear!! Between my Dad and I, we still have 4 old Cooeys.

U.S. Army M1 Garand 1962.

Browning T-Bolt with the single shot adapter when i was 8yrs old. Got the clip when i was 10 and a scope at same time.

SSR

Mostly granpas Rem 121 pump, but also dads Ruger 10/22. Alot of BB gun too.

Brand new wrapped in a bow under the Christmas tree Marlin/Glenfield Model 60 with the squirrel and acorns instead of checkering.

To this day, still the most exciting Christmas present.

quote:

Originally posted by keithv35:
Brand new wrapped in a bow under the Christmas tree Marlin/Glenfield Model 60 with the squirrel and acorns instead of checkering.

To this day, still the most exciting Christmas present.

My brother was a stockmaker among other things, he was fixing up a Savage-Anschutz 10-B for me, only gun of mine he ever work on, and at his suggestion. Anyway, he had a man engrave an acorn on the bolt knob (this is a very accurate beginner's target .22, great trigger, single shot, I added a scope- my squirrel rifle, still is). He had possession of the rifle when he passed away in another state; his guns were moved from his widow's house to keep her a bit safer from any thieving that might take place. I got the gun back after about three years, no problem, except it now had a different bolt, no acorn.

If I ever find the low-down SOB that took it I'll break his legs.

As "a Brit" it was .22 Martini, .22 Lee Enfield No8, .303 Lee Enfield No4 with, at home, the .22 Martini and a .22 BSA Airsporter air rifle.