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Your first really nice gun?


Utah Bob #35998

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Tough for me to pin down what "nice" means in this context, but the first gun I bought because I thought it looked nice was a Mossberg Silver Reserve shotgun. I liked the engraving on the receiver.

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Colt Python here too. Bought it from a newly promoted sergeant when I was a lowly jail deputy. Carried it for a few years on patrol. But, I never could shoot quite as well with it as my issued Model 15, so I sold it to another deputy.

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Nice means your first quality gun.

Quality is of course, subjective. ;)

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Guest Hoss Carpenter, SASS Life 7843

My first real nice gun was a new Browning 9mm Auto I bought in 1966 when I was a new 2nd Looie in the UASF. Unfortunately, it was stolen two years later in the BOQ; yes , I had insurance and bought a Colt 1911 Series 70. I still have it.

 

Hoss C.

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My Prize Possession would have to be my Granddads WWll Remington Rand 1911A1 .

I was given the gun when I turned 21 years old .

She now belongs to my 1 year old grand son.

I will just hang on to her for a wile for him :)

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When I turned 21 I bought myself a birthday present:

 

Colt Diamondback .22 4 inch barrel.

 

Paid 225 for it. For 250 I could have bought a Python.

 

Still have the Diamondback. Wish I had bought the Python too.

 

Back then .22 shells were .99 a box, .59 on sale. .38 shells probably around 8-10 bucks.

 

 

Waimea

 

:FlagAm:

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Easy choice here. Mine was a "hand-me-down" ;)

 

A .32 cal Pennsylvania Long Rifle totally hand made by my great grandfather circa 1860. My grandfather and mother presented it to me when I was a young man and I will hand down to my son one day. It is a beautiful gun inlaid with sterling silver, hand carved multi tone stock, showing old fashioned brooms, acorns and other designs carved into it, pristine condition and still 100% operational...a true family heirloom.

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No, it is the Colt. Paid $88 new.

The Bamberg Germany gun club had P38s for $35 and PPs or PPKs for $40. Couldn't afford any of them. with 2 little girls $222/month didn't go very far. Could have bought an E Type Jaguar or a Porsche 911 for $4000.

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Second shotgun I bought. A Beretta Silver Snipe, sometime around 1963. Fixed chokes, 28 in. barrels, non selective triggers (I think). Paid $240.00 for it. Had it for over 30 years before I traded it. That ol' Beretta took a lot of birds. Kinda wish I'd kept it, but I can say that about a lot of guns.

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When I was 12 I wanted a new shotgun for my birthday. Mom & Dad said it was too much $$$ for a birthday present. The gun I wanted was on the shelf in my Dad's gun shop, was a new Winchester M12 3" Duck Gun. I worked in dad's store dusting, emptying trash, sweeping floors and cleaning windows. We agreed that I would pay half (which was about $45.00 as I remember). Took me a long time to work off my part. 60 years later the gun is owned by my son. I gave it to him as he really wanted it. Shot lots if waterfowl and birds with it.....so has he.

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The Bamberg Germany gun club had P38s for $35 and PPs or PPKs for $40. Couldn't afford any of them. with 2 little girls $222/month didn't go very far. Could have bought an E Type Jaguar or a Porsche 911 for $4000.

I bought one of the P38s too, and an Astra 600. No wonder I never had any money. ;)

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I'm having trouble answering this question. All of my guns are nice, or I wouldn't have bought them, but are any of them what I would consider really nice? I don't know.

 

If really nice covers sheer beauty and some level of customization, then my Codymatic 73 and my Jimmy Spurs Marlin fit the bill.

 

If it's for style and accuracy, then the Marlin Golden 39A I bought my wife when we were dating some 29 years ago.

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I'm having trouble answering this question. All of my guns are nice, or I wouldn't have bought them, but are any of them what I would consider really nice? I don't know.

 

If really nice covers sheer beauty and some level of customization, then my Codymatic 73 and my Jimmy Spurs Marlin fit the bill.

 

If it's for style and accuracy, then the Marlin Golden 39A I bought my wife when we were dating some 29 years ago.

Not your nicest gun, but the first gun you got that made you say, "Wow, this is the nicest gun I've ever had!"

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First nice handgun was a stainless Ruger GP100. Still got it but it ain't been shot in years. Just fits perfect, accurrate, well built.

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Not your nicest gun, but the first gun you got that made you say, "Wow, this is the nicest gun I've ever had!"

 

Hmmmm, I guess that would be the first one I bought for myself, a 6 inch Dan Wesson .357 bought 30 some odd years ago, and I still have it.

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I didn't buy my first quality gun.

 

It was a 1959 made Colt SAA, .45 with a 5 1/2" barrel that my Dad gave me as a graduation present. He paid $119.95 for it plus 2% sales tax.

 

After refinishing it twice, putting a dozen different sets of grips on it, and repairing it several times, I traded it off in 1999 for a down payment on another gun... and I can't remember what that new gun was.

 

My second was a custom stocked SKB200E 12 gauge that I bought at the factory in Japan in 1974. One of my students at the Hiroshima English Cultural Society arranged it all through his gun club. When the gun was delivered to the Exchange at Iwakuni it was quite a sensation. Lots of people compared it to a stock version on the selfs and found the measurements were 3/16 longer and 1/8" higher at the heel with a 1/8"cast off. I could have used an off the shelf gun and never seen a difference. I still have that one.

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Mine would be a Blued 6 inch Colt King Cobra, very accurate and nice trigger,That is one I will hold onto and hopefully hand down to my Son or Daughter,Have the box and all paperwork for it too.

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Okay, not a difficult one to distill down to one...

 

That would be a Winchester Model 62. I was about 22, fella at work asked if I'd be interested in buying an old gun. Well, of course I would!

 

So he brings in his GRANDFATHER's Model 62... quite pristine, with about half the original box of ammunition purchased with the gun. I suggested to the fella he might want to hang on to it for his own son (a toddler at the time), but he said no, he didn't want his kids around guns.

 

Well, okay then...! Gave 'im a hundred bucks for it. Put maybe another 25 rounds through it and put it away.

 

Many years later it made a most excellent 8th grade graduation present for Sassparilla Kid. ;)

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Springfield M1A and she was a tack driver. Sold it when I got heavily into cowboy action. But it still gives me pleasure to know that it helped me pay to get my wife and daughter into cowboy shooting. I would make that sacrifice over and over again!! :wub:

 

Cheatin'

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Not your nicest gun, but the first gun you got that made you say, "Wow, this is the nicest gun I've ever had!"

 

Well then, it couldn't be the first gun I owned, because it would've just been silly for me to say that! My first was a 9422M, and it was, and still is, very nice.

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I grew up shooting and was always around guns. At 35 I bought a Colt Python 8" royal blue that I considered to be my first nice gun and set me to keeping a small collection. I had owned 30-40 guns before that but they were always just functional guns. I shot DCM, rimfire prone, bullseye and single trap before then, but the guns were always just tools.

I wish I still had the Python, but it magically turned into a pair of Vaqueros and a Dan Wesson 1911.

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My first no kidding finest ever:

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115786146222945467962/CASMiscGunStuff#5477202831084399554

 

Built by a good friend and myself in his machine shop, Colt 1911 and a few McCormick parts.

 

Since then my No. 2 best gun is the Colt SAA on the bottom :

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115786146222945467962/CASMiscGunStuff#5601477297950398642

 

SC

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Not your nicest gun, but the first gun you got that made you say, "Wow, this is the nicest gun I've ever had!"

 

A Remington 58 Sportsman, 20 gauge, that my dad bought when I was still pre-natal. He had a H&R Topper that I learned on at first, but when he finally decided I was old enough for the 58, it was definitely "The nicest gun I'd ever had!"

 

He made me use it single shot while learning, and it was a big deal when he let me put in an extra shell and try for a double.

 

My kids learned on that gun, as will my grandkids if so ever blessed.

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Mine would have been a Colt Cobra, which I carried in a Berns-Martin shoulder holster. Think I paid $99.00 for it back around 1975. Sold it several years later and I really don't miss it. Would like the holster back, though.;)

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Feel like there have been many...

 

1980's S&W Model 29...I sent it to the factory for custom carry mods...Including a 4" barrel, bobbed hammer...Sold it...Miss it every day...

1990 - .44 Mag Desert Eagle...just big and bad

1985 - a near mint Walther P1/P38 police trade in from West Germany.

I have a Rossi Ranch Hand now...It is a hoot!

My modded Saiga 12 gauge...20 round MD drums, a Tromix Limbsaver stock and SAW pistol grip...

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My own brand new Marlin 336 in .35 rem my dad got me when I shot my first deer with his Marlin 336 .35 rem....Still have it, still use it

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Easy choice here. Mine was a "hand-me-down" ;)

 

A .32 cal Pennsylvania Long Rifle totally hand made by my great grandfather circa 1860. My grandfather and mother presented it to me when I was a young man and I will hand down to my son one day. It is a beautiful gun inlaid with sterling silver, hand carved multi tone stock, showing old fashioned brooms, acorns and other designs carved into it, pristine condition and still 100% operational...a true family heirloom.

And most of us would really like to see it.

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After thinking it over, I've got to change my story.

 

When I was in my early 20s I was just getting into deer and elk hunting, I had a cheap monkey wards 30.06, good enough, but it was right handed and working the bolt was a challenge for a left hander like me. About that time we moved my elderly great aunt to Colorado from Kansas and I finished out my sisters basement so she could live there. My great aunt loved catfish, so when I could, I'd catch some and take them too her to fry up. It wasn't far to my sisters house so I'd also try and have lunch with her now and then. It was one of those visits when she asked me what was the one thing I really wanted, but couldn't afford to buy myself, something to remember her by. I told her I was fine, and really didn't want anything, but she pushed. So I said I'd like a left handed rifle to hunt with, but that was way too expensive and just forget about it. A few weeks later she asked me to drive her to do some errands, and she said let's go by the gunshop. They didn't have anything I wanted, but before we left she'd ordered and paid for a Remington 700 BDL Left Handed that would come out of the custom shop. And to top it off a Leupold 3x9 Variable scope.

 

I took a few decent animals with it back in the day, but I'll treasure it more because she bought it for me.

 

I think it would have to be the last gun in the safe and life and death in the balance before I would ever sell it.

 

Grizz

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S&W Mod. 41, S/N 79009, 7-1/2" w/muzzle break, bought in 1967 for $85. Shot it in bullseye for 38 years. Moved to WV where there are no bullseye leagues available. Sold it to a friend who's son used it to win some JR shooting championship matches in MD and nationally. His shooting skills got him an appointment to the Naval Academy. I figure this is a lucky gun with a good future.

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SKB 200 20 gauge. My dad bought it for me for my 21st birthday, 1976. Wish I still had it, was forced to sell it years ago just to pay a few overdue bills.

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Mine was a Belgian Browning Light 12. The old one with a gold trigger and a rounded pistol grip. Long gone and missed often. only shotgun I ever owned that I couldn't miss with.

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First nice handgun was a stainless Ruger GP100. Still got it but it ain't been shot in years. Just fits perfect, accurrate, well built.

 

Yep, Nice revolvers! Got one too, a guy needed money and he sold it to me for $200.00

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