your first shotgun

[seansean1444]

lets hear storys about your first shotguns and see some pictures if you have any. my first shotgun is the top one of the 2 in the picture its a H&R single shot 20 guage with a 3inch chamber and mod choke.

[DiscoRacing]

first one i had was mossberg 500a... long long ago... dont have it any longer.. have 1100 rem and AL2 beretta:eek:

[zippy13]

Like DiscoRacing, my first shotgun was long, long ago and has been gone almost as long. It was a Sears (High Standard) entry level 20-ga pump. Next was Winchester Model 101 Skeet guns in 12-ga and .410-bore -- kept them about 20-years. Since then, I've picked-up a few comp guns.

[pabuckslayer08]

Remington 1100, still one of the best

[Ted]

My first shotgun was a J. C. Higgins bolt action 20 GA. forty seven years ago when I was thirteen years old. It was the best three shell single shot I ever owned. :) By the time you racked another shell in the game was far away. One shot kill or you went hungry.

[Mosinnagant]

NE .410 single shot still have it and still shoot it:D

[huntinaz]

My first was a 20ga single shot, possibly the same model in the picture. It was ok, I couldn't hit many birds with it. Clays I could do OK. I have a Remington 870 now and it's great. I'm much better with it than I was with that 20ga. I do wish I still had it though.

[frodo70444]

my first shotgun was a rossi .22/410 interchangeable deal i lost the 410 barrel over the years and i have a winchester model 370 my dad gave me that he had when he was a kid chambered in 3 inch magnum

[BANG]

In 1954--a 12-ga. H&R bolt-action, and it weighed a ton. Got tired of carying it around Pheasant hunting and traded it in on a Chicago Arms 16-ga. pump--a gun I really liked and kept for many years.

[model18]

real old H&R Topper in 12 gauge

[Spats McGee]

20 ga H&R single-shot. Looked just like the one in the OP's picture, except that it had some kind of screw-on choke tubes.

[jhog1]

My first shot gun was a Christmas present when I was 13 a Mossberg model 500 in 16 Ga.

[dmac2572]

Stevens single shot .410. Grandfather gave it to me around the age of 8 and I have since passed it on to my son.

[38superhero]

lol, im almost embarrased it was a mossberg bull pup when i turned 18... how mall ninja..ish

[Rifleman1776]

Stevens (I think) .410 double barrel. I inherited from my grandfather. Nice looking gun, some engraving on sides. But I hated it. Shot rabbits, saw blood on fur and they kept running. I considered, and still do, the gauge/caliber completely wuthless. Sold and bought a Ted Williams/J.C. Higgins (Sears-Roebuck made by Stevens) double barrel 12 gauge. Kept and shot for many years. I never fit me well and I was never happy with it. After more than 50 years I sold and bought an 870. BTW, I started shooting the .410 about 1950 and bought the 12 ga. about 1955.

[rigby06]

My first shotgun was a Benelli supernova, :) I traded it in on a Benelli M1 Super 90 :D

[rommer25]

was a Remmy 870 with a Poly choke. That thing would not shoot straight. I once used a friend's Ithaca 16 gauge double. The next pay day, I got a Stevens 311 in 12 gauge and have used that for many years. I also shoot a double 20 gauge but mostly use the old Stevens 12 gauge.

[Hawg]

1887 Winchester 12 gauge when I was 11. I used 2/34 modern shells in it all thru my teen years because I didn't know any better. Still have it and it's still in good shape. Can't find a full pic just a logo shot.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/rebel727/shotgun/Shotgun059.jpg

[LilHog]

My first shotty was a mossberg 500 cruiser with a PG in 20ga, I love that gun.
Since then I got a 870 tactical 20ga and a H&R topper single shot in 20ga.
The mossberg has since lost the PG and I added a stock. I love them all.

[Sand Creek Kennels]

Mine was a 1100..hunk of crap...brandnew it was a lemon back in the day...best single shot remington ever made!!! LOL I will stick with the Brownings!!

[Microgunner]

Winchester mod 12 12ga. that my Dad won in a turkey shoot. I was 10. Second shotgun, a Browning Citori 20 years later.

[Sand Creek Kennels]

hell of a wait there mcrogunner!

[Achilles11B]

Mossberg 500 with pistol grip and collapsible stock...purchased it about four months ago. Nothing too fancy, runs like clockwork. I recently got out of the Army and want to do law enforcement, so I figured a little extracurricular training wouldn't hurt.

[krimmie]

LC Smith field 20 gauge sxs....it was my Birthday gift when I turned 10; unfortunately stolen a few years back.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s274/krimgeo/lcsmith003.jpg

[Hawg]

When you've got a model 12 you don't need anything else.:D

[stick68]

I got a bolt action 20ga from Western Auto for Christmas when I was 13, that was 55 years ago, gave it to my nephew when I went in the service in 61' haven't seen it since,

[hogcowboy]

My first shotgun was a Remington 870 Wingmaster. Got it back in 1966 and still have it. Been one of my best purchases.

[zippy13]

Greetings stick68 and welcome aboard,

I got a broken nose from a bolt action 20-ga, perhaps you got the better end of the deal. :)

[44 AMP]

For me, there was a difference between the first shotgun I got to use, and the first shotgun that was "mine". A few years difference, in fact.

The first shot gun I got to use was a bolt action, tube magazine .410. The only markings on the gun at all were "2 1/2 & 3 in shells" on the barrel. My Grandfather kept it (ot was his cousin's gun), but he let me use it. After a couple times, and shooting a whole box of shells (a major expense for me at the time), without hitting a single bird, I was disgusted with the .410.

So, in my youthful wisdom, I moved on, to my Grandfather's shotgun, an Ithaca double barrel that he bought new (and made to order for him) in 1909. Now that was (and still is) a fine shotgun! However, it has its ..quirks. the stock was made to his order, and has a bit more drop than is common today, so the gun comes "up" a bit more than you expect when fired.

The first shot I took at a patridge with that gun, I laid my thumb over the wrist of the stock after pushing off the safety. And I was promptly rewarded with a split lip! :eek: I never made that mistake again! :D

That gun and I spent many hours together, and it never let me down, once I learned to respect it. Grandpa let me borrow the gun, whenever I liked, but I was not allowed to keep it. It became understood that someday, that gun would be mine. But Grandpa, smart old buzzard that he was, made the rule, and while I would have that gun someday, it would only be after I turned 25 years old.

His concern was that, if I got ownership of the gun too young, that I might wind up having to sell it, as young men often do when they run short of money. And his wisdom proved correct, I did wind up having to sell some of the guns I had owned for just that reason. He felt that by the time I was 25, I would be responsible enough (and well off enough) to neither have a need, nor desire to sell that gun. And he was entirely correct.

The old man passed before I was 25 (and I miss him still) the Ithaca stayed at the house for a couple years, until I was of age to keep it myself. Mom & Dad saw to it that his wishes were carried out, and today I clearly see the wisdom of it. I've had that Ithaca for nearly 30 years myself, the only real thing I have of my Grandfather's, and it will never be sold, while I live, no matter what. In time, it will go to my granddaughter (at this point, no grandson, yet), probably, when she is old enough and responsible enough.

Next shotgun I got to use was a store brand 16ga that Dad loaned me. Broken stock with a couple of wood screws through the wrist. Beater gun for a kid to carry hunting rabbits & squirrels during deer season.;) The next season, the same, except the gun was a Marshwood double 12ga. 30in tubes. I remember that gun was heavy!

The first shotgun I ever owned myself was my 16th birthday present, a Winchester Model 12. 30in, full choke. Made about 1922. Bought at an auction, for $90 (an other bidder ran the price up, not even knowing what the gun was, beyond 12 ga pump). Still a lot of money for us in those days.
After I paid for the gun and was returning to my seat, the guy asked me what I was. I told him, Winchester model of 1912. He offered me $125! I turned him down!

That gun and I spent many good years afield, and I still have it, 40 years later. That gun and I just "fit". Once shouldered, it just seems to point and track by itself, and misses are few and far between, or were, back when I used it often. I haven't taken it out in some time, but as I write this, I'm getting the urge to spend some more time with my old friend.:D

[Dave McC]

First gun to use, a 16 gauge H&R single shot. It had been Pop's first also.

First of my own, an 870. Story told in an old thread here called "A Christmas Past".

Still have it, a half century later..

[radshop]

Ha! Funny that I was just thinking about my first shotgun right before I saw this thread. Mine was a youth model Marlin 20 single shot when I turned 12. I wish I still had it, but my parents sold it when they had to move while I was out of the country (not their fault - I left it as their responsibility and my dad was selling off much of his collection at the same time).
My son is now 10 and wants to go trap shooting with me, so I'm contemplating his first shotgun - which is why I was thinking about this before I saw the thread.

[30-30remchester]

Mine was an Ithica model 66 12 quage single shot I bought at a Gibsons department store in Hobbs New Mexico for $24 new. I was 12 years old and nobody said a word about it. I came walking out to our car with it under my arm. My dads only words were "what you going to kill with that cannon"? Ah those were the days.

[jimbob86]

First shotgun I got to use (and take care of) was a Shinkosha copy of a WIN mod 37 in .410 ...... dad bought it used for $12 in 1975...... when I graduated to a 16 guage SxS it seemd like I could not miss ..... the pattern on that full choked little pop-gun was so small ..... once I learned to hit with it, the absolutely gigantic pattern of the 16 guge with a mod. barrel was .....really easy to hit with......

I left to join the service and my younger brothers got those guns ..... and did not take care of them....... I got the .410 at mom's estate sale...... in pieces. The 16 guage disappeared.

On getting out of the service, the first gun I got was Mossberg 500a .... money was tight, but it worked......