Your first firearm

[C.O.B.]

Parma isn't far from Jackson. My parents are still there but there's no action in Jackson anymore. I only go there to see the folks. I used to do some Pheasant hunting around Parma back in the day.

[Grantham Forester]

Originally Posted by Rich Anderson

Parma isn't far from Jackson. My parents are still there but there's no action in Jackson anymore. I only go there to see the folks. I used to do some Pheasant hunting around Parma back in the day.

We hunted the Bradley farm, and also the farms on Stepladder Road- near the Mullican meat packing operation, also the Glasgow farm- but as my father was a machinist at Aeroquip in Jackson, and his boss, Mr. Hurst- was good friend of the Deputy Warden at the Jackson Prison Farm- so we got permit passes to hunt there every Fall-

My father did a lot of "government work" for Mr. Hurst, who was a mechanical genius and was always "inventing" new fittings for the aerospace industry. His parents came over from Germany after the war, and he had a fine collection of Merkel and Krieghoff shotguns. I doubt if you could even find very many in the Jackson Co. area that remember Aeroquip, or Sparks- Wirthington, Crankshaft Machine, Lefere Forge or the big Goodyear tire plant- the old saying "The world takes what Jackson makes" is now ancient history.

[Phil Yearout]

My dad's Savage 775a 16ga autoloader. There was a .410 single shot that actually belonged to my oldest brother that I carred but it wasn't mine. Dad never actually gave the Savage to me; he just started saying it was too heavy for him and he'd rather carry the .410. When I was about 12 my dad lost an eye in a hunting accident and never hunted again. As was my dad's way there was never any formal presentation; it was just understood form then on that it was my gun. And yes, I still have it.

[Bindlestiff]

I had a Iver Johnson 410 single barrel with a hammer that put blisters on my thumb because the spring was so strong and I practiced cocking it on the rise whenever I had opportunity. I took my first rabbit with it at the age of 9, walking along side my dad.

It was handed down to me from my brother, who was 14 years older than myself. It was given to him by my Uncle Sam, a lifer U.S. Marine; I didn't know him because he died in the early days of WWII. The gun was stolen in the 70's, I wish I still had it today!

[Bill Tullis]

My grandfather bought me a new Marlin Glenfield .22 single shot. Shortly thereafter, a very nicely finished used H&R Topper in .410. This was around 1966. Both were under $20 each, and I still have them. The .22 has some stock finish loss from the OFF! insect repellant I used squirrel hunting. I used the shotgun last summer to put a water moccasin living under my barn out of business.

[fred]

You are right about the stiff springs. It required both my thumbs to cock, especially with cold hands.

[Big D]

20 gauge Remington 11-48 with IC choke. Later replaced by a Polychoke. Killed my first duck, a drake ringneck, with it.

As with many others in this thread, it went down the road in some forgotten trade/sale.

Nothing remarkable about it, but would like to have it in the safe today

[Captain Bob]

My first firearms came as a pair. A .22 Winchester 62A and a .410 Winchester 42 both in canvas and leather take down cases which had been prop guns in our family photography business and were given to me when we moved to the Philadelphia suburbs around 1952; I was 10 and the luckiest kid in the world. Still have the .22 now tricked out with a Lyman 103 tang sight adjustable for windage and elevation, with a Merit Disc, and a Lyman 17 globe front sight. It gets to the range to burn up a couple boxes of recently hoarded .22LR every so often. Just before I turned 16 I discovered W. Stokes Kirk Military Surplus way up the trolley line on 5th street in Philadelphia and sold off the 42 to fund the acquisition of an array of Civil War carbines and rifles. I remember one particular event with the 62A. Our next door neighbor at the time worked for Dupont in some capacity and one day he handed me a double fist full of .22 shorts in what looked like flat thin Chicklets chewing gum cellophane wrapped boxes each holding about 20 shells. They were called “Crumble Balls” or some such name, I suppose for use in carnival sideshows. Of course I shot them up as soon as I had a chance. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen or heard of packaging like that since and wonder if I they would be a collectable these days.

Bob

[Chris T.]

We had a number of family guns that sort of rotated households when I was a kid, but the first gun my dad gave me was a Rossi model 62. I picked it out at the Kittery Trading Post months before Christmas and it sat in the grandfather clock in mom and dad's room until the big day. I remember shooting it Christmas day when it was about 2 degrees outside. I still have it, the boys will be ready soon!

[Big Friend Ten (BFT)]

I started out with a Mossberg bolt action .22 borrowed from my uncle who was in the Air Force. After a year or so when he returned stateside from a tour overseas he wanted it returned so that he could teach his son to shoot.

I had saved for my own .22 and bought a Remington 581 bolt action and a Weaver V-22 3-6 power scope. That combination depleted the flocks of song birds and black birds around the farm. Oh, the stupid things we did as kids! I also shot a woodchuck with it which required me to empty the 5-shot magazine into it. I sold that and other guns when I was buying my first car. Nearly 40 years later I replaced that gun with a nearly new Remington 581 which I topped with a Redfield 1-5 power scope.

I also recently filled another childhood memory with a Winchester Model 52C like the one I shot on our high school rifle team. Imagine that, a high school rifle team. That was in Coudersport Pennsylvania during the 70's. The school long ago gave up its rifle team but the experience I gained from it served me well a decade later as a member of the Marine Corps Rifle Team, the Big F-ing Team.

I grew up hunting with my dad's Ithaca M37 12 gauge. At 16 years old I bought my own shotgun, a Savage Fox Model B 12 gauge with 24" barrels and 3" magnum chambers! That was wicked on rabbits and a couple of fast rising pheasants. The Fox-B was also sold off to raise money for my first car... I have no desire to add another of those to my collection but I do caretake for three Super Foxes and a handful of Ansley's other creations. Then there are all those Parker Brothers doubles to include a few big bores..