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What was the first gun you bought, and where did you buy it?


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Mine was a 5 1/2" .45 Colt SAA, old and worn out, but still shootable.  I had broken ivory grips and came with a holster and cartridge belt and 22 rounds of ammo.  I bought it in 1956 from Al's Bike and Sporting Goods in Logan, Utah for $15.00 + a 3% sales tax.  Willie, the old German gunsmith who worked there called my Dad for permission to sell it to me because I was only 14 years old and he didn't want to get on my Dad's bad side.  Dad asked if the gun was in good shape and if I had the cash to buy it because we didn't believe in credit.  The only paperwork involved was a receipt and a small NRA pamphlet., and  I walked out with a real "cowboy pistol" like Roy and Gene and Hoppy and Cisco and all those guys on TV used.

 

I've been hooked on 5 1/2" Colt SAAs ever since and .45 Colt is still my favorite caliber for a hand gun.

 

BTW, Mom and Dad gave me a brand new Colt SAA when I graduated from high school four years later and Dad took the gun back to Al's and asked them to sell it and donate the money to a charity.  (I had long since picked up a Hunter holster and gun belt.)

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15 hours ago, Dutch Wheeler said:

You could buy guns at a drug store?

 

Sure.   Before they needed an FFL to sell them.

 

Teddy Roosevelt even called his Winchester 1895 in .405  his "Big Medicine." 

 

Think Medicare would cover that prescription today?    :blink:   GJ

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13 hours ago, Ace_of_Hearts said:

a well used JC Whitney 22 bolt action singe shot rifle

 

Probably JC Higgins, one of several Sears private labels for sporting goods, named for a VP of Sears Roebuck and Co. 

 

JC Whitney sold mail order auto parts.  ;)

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My Dad owned a Sporting Goods Store/Gun Shop that I used to work part time in when I was in Jr & Sr HS. When I was 12  my Dad asked what I wanted for my Birthday. I said a new shotgun. He said what did I want, told him a Winchester M12 12ga 3" Duck Gun. Dad also was part owner in a duck club so I got to do a lot of duck & goose hunting with him. The gun was $78.00+tx. Dad said that was too much for a BD present, so we settled on me paying 1/2. I worked it out at the store for $1.00 per hour. I still have it.

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A Brazilian Navy contract 1917 Smith that had been converted to .45Colt.  Paid $250 out the door for it from a LGS.  About a month later, I picked up a 4" (not 4 3/4") Uberti Regulator in .45 Colt from the same place.  I still use that one for CAS.

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I had already been gifted a Cooey Model 60 .22 repeater and a 12 ga single shot Cooey shotgun, when I bought a sporterized Lee Enfield in .303 British from The Hudson Bay Co in Edmonton, while there on a visit from further up north.

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1971 ~ Scoped Marlin 336.  $145, from F. Bob Chow, in San Francisco.

 

Anyone remember Bob Chow...?  :)

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IIRC, I was still in middle school (in the 1959's).  Kid across the street had a J.C. Higgins bolt action single shot .22 long rifle.  He got a new one from his father, and sold me the J.C. Higgins for $5.00.  My mother would drive us both to one of the schools (suburban Chicago, no less!), with our rifles, where we would be greeted by a police officer...who took us to the gym where the department was running NRA gun safety courses!  They used one of those steel bullet traps with the snaildrum compartment.  Can't you just see that today?!!!:rolleyes::wacko:

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4 hours ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

 

Sure.   Before they needed an FFL to sell them.

 

Teddy Roosevelt even called his Winchester 1895 in .405  his "Big Medicine." 

 

Think Medicare would cover that prescription today?    :blink:   GJ

Got a Golden Spike Centennial set at Skaggs in Seal Beach, California.  Bought a .22 Marlin semi auto at a Mobile gas station in Toppenish, Washington.

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20 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I bought my first gun in early ‘83. It was a Colt Combat Govt. series 70. I paid $317 for it at B&B Sales in Hollywood, California. 

 

 

I left so much $$$$ in that store. :lol:

OLG

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A "Ted Williams" .22 rimfire bolt action rifle with an under barrel tube magazine that I bought through the Sears catalog when I was 15 years old.  Was delivered right to the front door where I received it.

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My first was a New Orleans Ace kit.
Image result for classic arms new orleans ace
Must have been around 1972 or so.  I was in high school.

Next was a CVA Kentucky Rifle, maybe 1975.

A few years later a Lyman kit Remington 1858.  

First cartridge gun was a cheap .22 bolt action.  box magazine.

Next was a Mod. 1 Mk.III* around 1988.

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In 1974 I purchased a Ruger Red Hawk in 41mag that was a project pistol a friend worked on while attending a gunsmith school in Pittsburg, PA. Was living in York, PA at the time and was required by law to take pistol to a sporting goods store and leave it for three days. 

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My first gun was a Ruger Blackhawk in .357, the old 3 screw! I loved that gun, don't know why I sold it!:blink:

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.357 Ruger single action.  Over 45 years ago and I don't remember the model.  I don't remember what became of it...

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On 3/14/2019 at 2:50 PM, Assassin said:

Marlin 30-30 336, WalMart , Zachary Louisiana, October 1977,  $79.95.

Exact same for me. Exception is that it was 1979, $89.99 and P& B Sporting Goods in Tamaqua, PA. I also got a box of shells thrown in.

Oops, I guess the only thing the same was the Marlin 336, 30-30 part. 

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On ‎3‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 5:54 PM, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

1971 ~ Scoped Marlin 336.  $145, from F. Bob Chow, in San Francisco.

 

Anyone remember Bob Chow...?  :)

 

Bob Chow, Jim Clark, Austin Behlert, John Giles.  I remember them all.  I've been scrounging up Clark and Giles guns over the last 25 years or so, because I figured when I was shooting I needed all the help I could get.

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Like it was yesterday. January 1966, in a pawn shop in Warner Robins, Ga. a Winchester '73 in 32-20, 24", oct. bbl. for the big price of $65.00. He had 2 of them and would let me have  both for $110.00 , but being in the USAF, married with one child ,,,, that wasn't happening. I got a part time job just to get that. But, I reenlisted in Aug. of '66 and bought a Blackhawk in 44 Mag. and a box of shells ,,,,, brand new from a gun store in Macon, Ga. for $98.00.  Friend and I went to the dump that weekend, shot 6 rounds, 3 each, we looked at each other, said "damn". I cleaned up, took it back and traded it in plus $5.00 for a .357. I've still got and shoot both.

Isom

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Not counting the black powder pistols and rifles i bought as a kid, the first "Real" purchase was an M1 Carbine in 1989 at a gun shop on the West Side of San Antonio, Tx. Got to pick from quite a few to get a choice example. Cost me a whopping $160, wish I still had That one.

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On 3/15/2019 at 6:24 PM, Subdeacon Joe said:

My first was a New Orleans Ace kit.
Image result for classic arms new orleans ace
Must have been around 1972 or so.  I was in high school.

Next was a CVA Kentucky Rifle, maybe 1975.

A few years later a Lyman kit Remington 1858.  

First cartridge gun was a cheap .22 bolt action.  box magazine.

Next was a Mod. 1 Mk.III* around 1988.

Joe, we traveled the same path just about 5 years apart, also had a plainsman pistol too after the Kentucky and I went with an 1860 where you went 1858

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This is an older topic, but it deserves to be resurrected.  I can't remember for sure which was the first gun I bought for myself.  It might have been the black powder guns.  A CVA kentucky rifle kit and an armi san marco 1851.  But my gut is telling me those were gifts.  The kentucky rifle was stolen about 15 years ago and the 1851 is locked up tighter than dick's headband because apparently I didn't clean it as well as I thought I did.  I took her to a couple of gunsmiths and both of them told me it'd cost less to just buy a new one. 

 

It might have been a taurus PT-101 (40 cal) in the mid 90's.  I still have the gun but I haven't shot it in years.  I think it cost $350 or $450.  I don't remember for sure where I got the money for it.  But I do remember that I was also looking at a medusa revolver that was going for about the same price, and I still kick myself for not getting the medusa.  If you don't know what that is, someone took a 686 and fixed the extractors so it could fire rimless rounds, and it could fire anything that was anywhere close to a .357 caliber.  Someday I'm going to find one for sale and fork out a lot of money for it. 

 

But the first gun I ever bought with my own money was probably a springfield M1A.  Again in the mid 90's, it was right before the assault weapons ban that forced them to remove the bayonet lugs and flash suppressors.  I think it cost $1400 and I worked all summer saving up money for it.  I had it on lay away because I wanted to get it ordered before they removed the evil features.  It came with a rynite stock, but I quickly found a surplus GI stock and fixed that abomination.  I still have that one too and shoot it more often than any other rifle I own other than my cowboy guns. 

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I remember *REALLY* wanting a Ruger 10/22 but I couldn't afford it.  After scrapping my pennies together from mowing lawns all summer I managed to save up enough for a brand new Marlin Glenfield Model 60 that was on sale and the local Coast to Coast hardware store because the new model didn't have the checkered stock, and looked to be a nicer wood.

I remember that my mother freaked out a little when she figured out it wasn't a bb gun...

 

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Circa 2001 - 1981 Browning Citori 12 gauge.  Purchased it from a friend, who had taken me to his club to learn to shoot.  Other than a .22 in Scout camp, it was the first gun I ever shot.

Somehow, guns never entered my childhood.  I was just shy of 50 yrs. old when I bought the Citori.  Things have accelerated a bit since then.

 

LL

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I grew up with guns and inherited a couple but the first I purchased was at the late lamented Hogan’s Sporting Goods in Pleasant Hill CA about 1984. For $59.95 I obtained a Steyr built 1918 dated Mannlicher M95 Stutzen in the original 8x50 caliber. Reportedly it was a GI bring back from WWII Italy but there were no capture papers. No ammo existed but I scrounged some up nevertheless. The trusty Stutzen formed the basis of my WWI collection of 20 some rifles and pistols from that conflict. 

 

Seamus

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