Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

First gun I ever shot was a my Dad's Steven's Model 87a, tubular magazine and a cool locking bolt that could convert it to single shot, a feature especially handy for shorts and longs, which didn't pack enough punch to cycle the action.
While he taught my brother and me how to shoot, he'd regale us with tales of his first groundhogs taken with a single shot breakopen .22 his dad had given him... he said the action was so sloppy he had to hold it closed to get a good hammer strike! And that with just one bullet and echoes of his dad telling him he'd better make his shot count. No pressure at all for a skinny 8 year old growing up in the middle of the Depression. Just reminds me we ain't seen hard times yet...

God Bless Dads and Rimfires - and for wonderful starts into the world of shooting sports.

Glen

Amen, Bro' - those were the days, eh?

My first was an old Winchester Model 62A pump .22LR. I wandered around the farm shooting blackbirds and starlings and pigeons and cans and buckets and anything else I thought I could get away with shooting lol. What a great gun. It fired every time I pulled the trigger even though I never cleaned it...Ever. Ahhh - those were the days

I think Dad still has that gun and I've been meaning to ask him if I can have it.

allingeneral wrote: Ahhh - those were the days

Same here! When my chores were done and the grass was mown, there was nothing like heading out on an 'expedition' with a WHOLE box of 50, and the rifle on my shoulder... man I was walking tall. Mom yellin' after me "Dinner at SIX! - Don't be late!"

Ipods and Xboxes can't hold a candle to that.

I remember once when Dad went all out and bought one of those slider top boxes of 100 Minimags by CCI - shooot - I was RICH! Those rounds are copper plated, and it was shooting them that I first really understood trajectory. It was 80 yards from the barn to the stumps in the corner of the pond. (Scott, I know you know them well, 'twas many a mess of bluegill lifted out of there with either worms or popping bugs hangin' out the corner of their mouths!) I would set up a sniper position in the loft of the barn, with the barrel out a wide crack in the boards. When I shot from the shade of the barn to the dark green of the water around the stumps, with the evening sun shining over the hill, I found I could see the copper bullet arcing all the way to the stumps. I could see it rise above the crosshairs and then settle in, right on the money. That put an end to those durned turtles stealing bream off the stringers!

allingeneral wrote:My first was an old Winchester Model 62A pump .22LR. I wandered around the farm shooting blackbirds and starlings and pigeons and cans and buckets and anything else I thought I could get away with shooting lol. What a great gun. It fired every time I pulled the trigger even though I never cleaned it...Ever. Ahhh - those were the days

I think Dad still has that gun and I've been meaning to ask him if I can have it.

Holy Shiat! My dad has that very same gun! Oh the memories. We lived on a lake and whenever a water snake would sun itself on our dock, my dad or I would yell out "snake!" It would then be a race between the two of us to see who got to the .22 first! LOL. Whoever got to the gun first, got to shoot the snake. And yes, every once in a while, my dad would have to replace a board or two after they got too many bullet hits, lol. We shot from the deck, standing, no support, which was at least 50 yards, so the dock took a few direct hits, haha.

My Dad was 20 years in the Army. We did a lot of traveling and he did a lot of traveling, so we never had that time to get real close like most fathers and sons. He did teach me to shoot, first rifle was a Sears and Robuck single shot .22 cal. I went out a bought a J C Penny scope and put on it. Little did I know I just set a pattern for the rest of my life. Dad never talked about his time in the service, just like I never talked about mine until a year ago. Sometimes I wonder if we did go down the same path in service. Guess we’ll never know, but I will anyways remember the times we had hunting and fishing.
By the way my Sears 22 is in the hands of my son and grandson now

My first real gun was a M-14 that I was issued at Parris Island in Sept. of 1963. I was brought up dirt poor and to have a gun would have been an expense that my father could not tolerate. He also did not want any type of firearms in the house nor did my mother. It's funny but me and 2 of my brothers grew up to be in Law Enforcement and carried a weapon every day and everywhere altho I am the only one that ever got into firearm's to the extent of owening dozen's of them from handgun's to shotguns to rifles. I have owned very expensive one's and very cheap one's. But as long as it went bang when I squoze the trigger I was happy. As are my son's and daughter along with my grand children today as they are all shooter's.
Bill

My first real gun was my Dad's Ugartechia 16ga over/under. Still have it. He had it made in Spain, at the factory, to his measurements, which happens to fit me also. He took it hunting once, and found he was not much of a sportsman. When I was in college I took it trap shooting whenever I could afford to. Still have it - Taggure fired it at Culpeper. Sweet, sweet shotgun.

@ KaosDad I can attest to that

Mine was a simple single shot .410, man the squirrels and rabbits that I put in the pot with that little gun.

My Grandpa would hand me the .410 and 4 shells and tell me that I hade better return with 4 squirrels or rabbits or the unshot shells. Some how it always had to add up to 4 of something

My first gun was given to me at four years old,a old spring action BB. gun that my Dad had as a kid. I shot it until I was five years old and my Dad bought me a Mossberg bolt action 410 single shot shotgun.From there on I've been steadily buying guns and shooting ever since, as has my Father. I still have both of these guns and they are both still good shooters.

First gun I ever shot was a my Dad's Steven's Model 87a, tubular magazine and a cool locking bolt that could convert it to single shot, a feature especially handy for shorts and longs, which didn't pack enough punch to cycle the action.

Hey join the club! My first as well. It is a Springfield 87a but there is know difference. I refinished my stock a while back.

My first was my dad's Nylon 66. He got it back in the good ol' days, when a kid could order a rifle through the mail that had no serial number, and no one thought anything of it.

It's mine now. I don't shoot it much - I have a later copy of it that I bang around with, though the old original still runs like a sewing machine (seriously, the 66 is the only semi .22 Remington's done that isn't total crap) - but I'll die before I sell it or let anyone else have it. Seriously. Cold dead hands.