Your First Handgun & Do You Still Have It?

[Kframe]

Well, the subject line says it all.

Mine was a Jenning's J-22 in 1995, and the only reason I still have it is that it was the first one I ever bought.
I've heard some people's Jennings actually work well, not mine.

Anyway, I quickly bought my second, a used S&W nickeled M15 for $200 back in 1995.
I still have that one too, and will never sell it.

So, what about the rest of you?
-Kframe

[Watch-Six]

My age is going to show on this one. My first handgun was MAIL ORDERED when I was 15 or 16 years old from the Herters catalog. Oh my God! A teenager was able to mail order a handgun! Yes, it was in the 1960s and it arrived via US mail. A real dandy. Single action 22 cowboy revolver 4-5/8" barrel that cost around $20. I wore it out. It finally became unserviceable and I traded it off at a pawn shop for virtually nothing. Somehow I managed not to kill any of my school mates or rob anyone with it. I don't know how such a young kid could have handled all of that temptation. What happened to this country?

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Get your 1911s and AR15s while you still can!

[FUD]

Bersa single action, 10-round .22LR -- jammed at least once per magazine ... sold it within a year -- live & learn!
Share what you know, learn what you don't -- FUD

[CrociJA]

My first handgun was a graduation gift that my wife bought me back in 1995. A Glock-21. Unfortunately I had to sell it to a friend of mine because we needed the money...
Of course it has a good home, I would of never sold it to anyone else.
At the same time in 1997, when our finances were in a little better shape, I bought another G-21 and a G-30 to keep it company. Like close sibling's they get along very well with one another and round out my collection nicely!

Jon

[loknload]

Yes I do My first was a New Model Ruger Blackhawk .357 in SS. My second one was a S&W Model 37 Airweight .38. Still have them both and will never part with them.

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We preserve our freedoms by using four boxes: soap,ballot,jury, and cartridge.
Anonymous

[BlkHawk73]

Yes I do. It's a Blackhawk chambered for .45LC w/ a 5 1/2" bbl.
...incidentally, of all my handguns, I've only parted w/ one. That was a Browning Buckmark that I traded for a Ruger Single-Six to my brother. It's still in the family!

[Kframe]

Jon, maybe you could swap G21's with your buddy?
It's always nice to have the first handgun you ever owned.

Rifles too. Mine was a Marlin 70P, which I sold in a moment of weakness.
But, a year later I bought another 70P, so at least I have the same type.
-Kframe

[rock_jock]

Glock 17 from 1994. Yes, I still have it and will probably never sell it. My wife probably curses that gun since it got me started down the long run to becoming a gun nut.

Watch-Six: Your story makes me nostalgic for earlier times, even though I'm only 10-15 years younger than you. It also points out the fact that guns are not and never have been the problem. Why can't people get that through their head?

[jimmy]

Kframe--my earliest handgun buying experience sounds similar.

My first handgun is long gone. I guess it reflected my undeveloped taste in guns at the time. I had no idea how much guns cost. So when the dealer showed me a Colt, and I told him it cost too much, he offered instead an H&R sideswing .22 revolver, which seemed much more reasonably priced.

Well, this H&R worked okay at first, but loosened up quickly, stopped indexing properly, etc. So I gave it to my brother, and then went back to the dealer and bought an S&W Model 10, blue, 6-inch barrel.

I still have the Model 10--my second handgun. S&W refurbished it for me some years ago, so it's almost like new.

My brother must have ended up feeling the same way that I did about the H&R, because he finally gave it away, too.

Too bad I didn't just buy the Colt in the first place! But at least I learned something from the experience.


[This message has been edited by jimmy (edited June 10, 2000).]

[sarge83]

A nickel plated SAA Colt .22 LR with changeable .22 Mag cylinder. Grandfather gave it to me 3 months before he died. Had it for ten years now, my son will get it.

[pocketman]

S&W mod 14 38spl, looking back I wish i had never traded it, but I did within a few weeks towards an S&W 3914. been addicted since.

[PieterVN]

HK USP9F. Had the privilige of owning while I was in SoCa as a trainee.
Now that I'm back in The Netherlands it'll be more than a year before I'll even have a permit to buy something nice here.
Sorry for sounding bitter, but it can be hard reading about people ordering guns by mailorder while stuck in europe...

Do enjoy your right to own!!!

[robear]

My first gun was a Ruger MKII, bull barrel... Given to me by my father when I was 16 (1986) I can't tell you how many rounds I have put through that little gun.. It is still in like-new condition.. And yes, I still have it..

-R

[MikeK]

Ruger single six - new model. .22lr and .22 mag. Still have it and took my 11 year old nephew shooting with it in January. He liked the .22 autoloader better - too much work unloading the cases - kids nowadays.

[LawDog]

Savage Single Shot .22. Looks like a SAA, but the whole cylinder and barrel swing out to load a round.

The finish is gone, as is the rifling, the ejection rod doesn't and there's part of a case stuck in the chamber, but I still have it.

LawDog

[beemerb]

High standard 9 shot.About 43 years ago.No its long gone

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beemerb
We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world;
and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men
every day who don't know anything and can't read.
-Mark Twain

[Texaken]

My first, Colt Official Police, 38spec 4in blue, this duty gun was purchased and not issued in 1967. It sits in the safe, ready and willing, but I dont think the call will come, it is retired, thanks for the memories.

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No man is above the law and no man is below it,nor do we ask any mans permission when we require him to obey it.

[Mulio Rex]

Mine is a Ruger .22 Bisley that my GrandPa got me years ago... I bet that little pistol has spun a metric ton of lead.
..and the best part, I shot the lil'Devil toda.

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Big Guns again
No speakee well
But plain.
--H.C

Chrome 2 shot Davis Derringer in 22LR with pearl grips. Only one of my guns I have ever had to pull on somebody.

[DUDE]

Mine was a Colt-22 in 1997. it had a bull barrel and I still have it.

[Jeff OTMG]

Mine first was a 4" S&W mod 19 and I still have it. My father bought it new in 1967 to use as his service revolver after his Mod 10 was stolen in a house burglary. When I was 16, in 1973, he gave it to me when he decided to go with the Mod 66.

[Gremlin]

Colt Model N, 1908, .25ACP, vest pocket, hammerless automatic. Beautiful blueing, mother of pearl grips, gold trigger, safety, and mag plate. Given to me by my grandfather in 1974. Engraved with his name along the RH side of the barrel. He bought it new in 1919.

You better believe I still have it.

"...from my cold, dead hands."

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Take the long way home...

[tatters]

Yes I do
Phoenix Arms HP-22 bought new in 1995 for 99.95.

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And if you hear from my Louise, won't you tell her I love her so?

[M16]

A Hi-Standard Sharpshooter. Yep I still got it.

[JimFox]

1st. A baby Browning in .25 ACP. Traded something - I forget what - to a schoolmate for it. My grandmother made me trade back.

Ah, the late 40's, early 50s when such things were controled by parents and guardians - not Zero Tolerance School Zone policies.

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Jim Fox